Your troubles are just starting! I'm forbidden to work for anybody! So you're going to work to support me! 
- — The World's Worst Kind of Genie
Captain Marvel, Jr. #102 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1951.
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles Big Smoky"
“Big Smoky” is a sentient forest fire that explains it was created when a careless person tossed a lit match into dry leaves by the roadside. A mere gust of wind turned him towards a cradle of pine needles and he soon grew larger and larger, taking a form of man-shaped smoke. The only thing he fears is Man. A forest ranger soon spots Big Smoky and calls in firefighters, but find that it’s jumped a clearing and is spreading too fast to be stopped by only these six men. Big Smoky starts to travel up the Old Smoky Mountain and the rangers decide to get diesel engines and McLeods (a combination of a shovel and a rake, used to dig firebreaks.) Soon, Freddy Freeman hears about the fire on Old Smoky Mountain and Leroy Marks says it could spread really easily in the hot summer weather, even enough to destroy a nearby village. Thus, Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. and teams up with the Superintendent and starts giving the aerial reports. He soon finds Big Smoky and they start coordinating to stop the fire together with Junior causing a small avalanche to crush it out. They soon get it routed into a circular area behind firebreaks, but soon find a wind shifting has caused a crown fire, which catches from top to top due to wind and could overtake a nearby lumber mill. The workers are able to evacuate in time as paratroopers arrive to backfire Big Smoky as Junior saves a few parachuting men caught in a downdraft. Junior manages to clear room for them, then returns to being Freddy while in the fire area to let the other firefighters take over. However, he’s soon knocked out by a large piece of bark falling from the sky while the firefighters are establishing a backfire and both get caught between the two. Freddy manages to wake up enough to call CAPTAIN MARVEL (weakly) and becomes Captain Marvel, Jr. in time to drag them out of the way of a falling tree on fire. Big Smoky soon is crushed out by the new firebreaks and the backfire together as Junior crushed out the last ember with a footstep. Dead, Big Smoky says that he will return soon enough, since he is a spirit in every fire...
Appearing in Capt. Marvel Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles Big Smoky"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Firefighters
Antagonists:
- "Big Smoky" (Destroyed)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Mrs. Wagner's Boarding House
- A Nearby Forest
- New York City
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Truthful Lie"
The Liars’ Club is a club for aliens of all sorts to tell tall tales in competition for money as the wacky Googla arrives to say he has the best yet: he returned from another world in his space-ship and found a planet with a flying boy, pretending that having seen Captain Marvel, Jr. will be too much to believe. He goes on that he has a body harder than any metal and could beat down any criminal with ease. He soon finds him knock the top off of a mountain to save a plane from running into it, holds a collapsing bridge in stability until it can be repaired and flies an ocean liner out of a hurricane. Although he dropped his camera he was recording it with, he guesses he can wind the pot of gold at the Liars Club instead. The other aliens decide that it’s a great lie and offer him the pot of gold… only to be interrupted by a large blunt-toothed dragon! They all wish that Captain Marvel, Jr. were real, who does show up, punching the beast’s tooth open and then throws it into space by its tail. Though the Liars’ Club are furious that Googla brought truth there and Googla admits his deception in truth-telling, so the Liars’ Club decide to get together money to pay him for bringing Captain Marvel, Jr. there (who found Googla’s camera and managed to use it to track him to his planet.) Freddy Freeman gets confused trying to explain how it worked out, but it did.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Truthful Lie"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Googla
Antagonists:
- A Giant Dragon (Dies)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- New York City
- A Different Planet
Items:
- A Pot of Gold
Vehicles:
- An Ocean Liner
- A Plane
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr.: Slave of the Genie" or "A Slave of the Genie!..."
In the year 3,998 BCE, a sorcerer grows tired of his boastful genie and ordres him back into his jar with the words OMNA VREEJUM KABISJKULA! The sorcerer thanks Vishnu that he’s gone and buries the jar so he won’t encounter it again and curses the genie to not work anymore and instead, the curse will force whoever finds the genie to serve the genie instead! In the modern day (of 1951,) a farmer named Kedal Saudi finds the jar and opens it, finding he’s now slave to a genie. Saudi is especially upset as he is forced to carry the overweight genie on his cart, despite being weak and old himself.
Meanwhile, in America, Freddy Freeman finds Mrs. Wagner is working hard as always with her cooking and cleaning. He offers she hire someone to help her, but she says she can barely meet expenses as is and that Freddy is a good helper enough for them. He soon heads to work and sees Saudi pulling the Genie on a rickshaw before he collapses on a train crossing. The Genie threatens him and Freddy, spotting them, calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. to stop them from being struck by an oncoming train. The rickshaw is destroyed in the crash and Saudi explains all, saying that to disobey a genie is bad luck in his culture and it could doom his family to refuse him, hence why he’s served him all the way to America. Junior offers he take the old man’s place instead and the Genie, finding that he’s stronger, young and can fly, thinks he’s the better choice anyways. The Genie orders him to bring him a fortune in gold, but Junior goes to drop off Saudi at his farm. He soon digs up a rich vein of gold and brings only some of it back for the Genie (leaving the rest for Kedal Saudi) and the Genie soon orders him next to build him a palace worthy of his riches. The Genie soon finds that he wants servants, but since Junior doesn’t want to enslave other people, he just does all the work himself until he finds the Genie asking him to read to him while polishing his toenails, he refuses. The Genie says that he can only earn his freedom by fighting him in combat, which Junior is more than capable of doing. Defeating him, he breaks the curse and now the Genie can live as he likes. The Genie says he actually enjoys obeying commands and it was the curse that made him so evil, so he demands work to do… and becomes a helpful cleaner at Mrs. Wagner’s Boarding House, more than happy to do the jobs without pay just for fun!
Appearing in Capt. Marvel Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr.: Slave of the Genie" or "A Slave of the Genie!..."
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Kedal Saudi
- Mrs. Wagner (Earth-S)
Antagonists:
- A Cursed Genie
- An Ancient Sorcerer
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- A Rickshaw (Destroyed)
Trivia
- Despite the cover, the Genie wears green harem pants, doesn't wear a vest, earrings or a mustache and has a green turban. Further, the Genie doesn't have an accompanying jar he is trapped in and Captain Marvel, Jr. isn't sealed in a lamp either.
See Also