Well if you came in in 1954 you caught a lot of Gould’s good stuff (not quite as good as the 40s, but still good) if you are comparing what Curtis is doing to that era, good for you, but it ain’t. It is not even as Good as the 60’s, not my fave.
There were quite a few pre-Flattop villains who were good; Mr. and Mrs. Pruneface, Laffy, Littleface, Trigger Doom, even Krome. The strip did not begin with the most famous and oft imitated Flattop
Albeit very short lived, Scardol was a good villain and the admittedly brief arc was better than anything we’ve seen recently as Curtis meanders about searching for a decent story
Yesterday..Move on