At an old bookstore! It's a collection of practical jokes! Some of them are terrific! Listen to this one! 'To summon the Practical Joker Demon... just repeat the words... DIABOLO JOKUS, VENI! 
- — Leroy Marks, summoning a Demon.
Captain Marvel, Jr. #117 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1953.
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Werewolf of London!"
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Werewolf of London!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Werewolf of London (Baron Drakis)
Other Characters:
- Prime Minister Winston Churchill
- A Scientist (Dies)
Locations:
Items:
- Drakis' Moonstone Ring
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Lost Space Ship"
Freddy Freeman is heading home for the night, passing by O’Riley’s Gas Station where he hears Red O’Riley make a loud shout. He heads in to make sure he’s alright, discovering that Red has managed to make contact with an alien race via his HAM radio. Freddy listens to it and finds it’s a distress signal, since aliens from Elluria need to land their ship with their help. Red tries to call in the hot news, but the Daily Gazette instead says the whole thing is fake and no telescopes can find the supposed ship he’s talking about. Red is ashamed and embarrassed for a few days, telling Freddy that now people are avoiding his business. Freddy listens to his HAM radio again and finds that the aliens are returning again and need to follow his radio beam, so Freddy decides to help by calling CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. Junior soon finds that there’s a man from the Four Continent News Service stuck in a hot-air balloon trying to find the aliens, saying he’s been shot at by a large caliber bullet. Junior worries that these perhaps invisible aliens may be attacking people after luring them in. Returning to O’Riley’s Gas Station, he finds the pumps are on fire and dashes off to a sand and gravel pit to dump plenty atop it to put it out. Red soon finds that it was shot at by a large caliber bullet and presumes that people in the neighborhood hate him and have decided to start attacking his business. Red gets a third missive from the aliens, who say that they’ve landed somewhere “near a river in rough, hilly country! Steep canyon walls rise on all sides!” and they crashed through a “towering red peak.” Junior figures via the Wisdom of Solomon that this indicates they’re 2,000 miles off at the Grand Canyon and flies there directly to the Colorado River… but finds that they’re not there either. Junior returns, alack to tell Red that this might just be some kind of horrible hoax and finds the next day that Red is disassembling his Gas Station, since no one wants him or Marvel Gas (with chlorophyll!) Suddenly, Junior realizes that the area the aliens were describing is O’Riley’s Gas Station and they’re actually incredibly small, having crashed into a flower box near the gas station and that the “bullet” was actually their ship crash-landing there. What’s more, the aliens inside are intelligent beetles that can read and wear glasses. The two are astounded. Later, Freddy reads in Evening Star that the Space Insects are now living at a new home in a Museum nearby.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Lost Space Ship"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Red O'Riley
- Ellurian Aliens
Other Characters:
- A Balloon Reporter
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- O'Riley's Gas Station (Final appearance)
- New York City
Items:
Vehicles:
- A Lost Ellurian Space Ship
- A News Hot-Air Balloon
Synopsis for Kanvasback: "The Clothes Horse"
Appearing in Kanvasback: "The Clothes Horse"
Featured Characters:
- Kanvasback
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Becomes The Funniest Looking Boy in the World"
It’s dinnertime at Mrs. Wagner’s and Prof. Edgewise is shocked and horrified to find the steaks has been instantly replaced with a tiny cows that moos at him! Leroy Marks reveals this is a hilarious joke he found in a joke book he’s gotten, which returns them to being normal steaks again. Freddy Freeman is shocked to find that this is basically a demonic spellbook, especially since he then uses it to summon a “practical joker demon” by calling DIABOLO JOKUS, VENI! A green, moderately-simian demon appears, chuckling at them, so Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. to force him back from whence he came, but the demon calls HIBEEDDEE… HIBBEDO… SKRUT, which changes Captain Marvel, Jr.’s face, making his hair frizzy and the color of a pale pickle, large, slightly pointed pink-tipped ears, an upturned red nose, large freckles and buck teeth. Unfortunately, the Professor and Leroy Marks both find his new face debilitating in how silly he looks. Searching through the spellbook, Junior finds that the Practical Joker Demon just naturally will leave Earth in 12 hours time… but he’ll cause a lot of problems while he’s there. Junior flies off to go find him and spots a classmate of Freddy’s, Mary Morison, but she doesn’t answer him so much as burst out laughing seeing him. He soon overhears a report from Station WHIZ that wild animals have disappeared from the zoo and reappeared in a department store, punching out a gorilla, Giant Swinging a tiger until it’s too dizzy to attack and lifting an elephant to take it back to the zoo. He is still confounded by how his apparently hilarious face, then notices it himself in a display window and is overcome with his own hilarious face! To keep people normal around him, he buys a Captain Marvel, Jr. mask at a costume shop and goes to find the Practical Joker Demon. He looks in town to see a passenger plane is taking off in Town Square, so Junior helps it by moving it straight up vertically as the pilots soon find that they’re not actually at the runway anymore. The Practical Joker Demon, laughing nearby, is stopped by Junior, returning to Mrs. Wagner’s, but says that the only way to undo his practical jokes is for a mortal to play a joke on him, which will earn them a single wish. Junior finds there’s only one minute for him to pull a fast one on him and finds the Demon isn’t receptive to an impromptu hotfoot, but when he goes to sit in a chair, he’s suddenly shocked to find that Leroy Marks installed a catapulting spring that bonks him into the ceiling. Thus, Captain Marvel, Jr. wishes all his jokes were gone and is returned to normal entirely. Later, Freddy notes that Leroy still doesn’t know why he didn’t get angry at his jokes, saying that he’s no longer the World’s Funniest Looking Boy!
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Becomes The Funniest Looking Boy in the World"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Practical Joker Demon
- Escaped Zoo Animals
Other Characters:
- Mary Morison
- Prof. Edgewise
- Mrs. Wagner
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- A Department Store
- Town Square
- New York City
Items:
- A Demonic Joke Book
Vehicles:
- A Passenger Plane
Trivia
- Despite the cover, the Practical Joker Demon doesn't show Captain Marvel, Jr. his own horrible face in a mirror, leaving him to bust a gut laughing when he sees it himself.
- The magic words "Diabolo Jokus, Veni" is merely Latin for "Come, Devil Joke!"
See Also
Links and References
Look at how sad this is making Batman. You did this.