Captain Marvel, Jr. #119 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 1953.
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Regiment That Was Afraid to Fight"
Freddy Freeman reads about the War Department calling for help from Captain Marvel, Jr. for a special mission, so he calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to go see what the Pentagon requires of him as Captain Marvel, Jr. He is informed by a General that the famed Green Banner Regiment has suddenly become cowards who refuse to fight or attack the enemies. Thus, the World’s Mightiest Boy flies to the Korean war front to see what’s wrong. Thereof, he finds the Colonel in charge is upset because he broke a mirror and has become anxious this will cause seven years of bad luck and an imminent North Korean attack. Further, the Colonel complains they were ordered to attack on Friday the 13th. Junior says he’s reporting him for insubordination and dragging him back to GHQ, but soon hears gunfire… only to find the Regiment was shooting at a black cat crossing their path. He soon looks around more to find a different Sgt. Drury is talking with Jones, the cook, who thinks that he’s a total jinx and that he’s scared the other men with his black cat, but Sgt. Drury says they won’t be transferring him and that he doesn’t believe in superstitions. The men draw cards to see who covers the night guard and Drury draws the Ace of Spades, a card symbolizing death, but he says that superstitions still aren’t real. Junior decides to watch over him to make sure there’s no issue.
Junior soon finds the Communist forces firing flares and heavy artillery, but he catches all the shells and throws them back… only to find that Sgt. Drury is gone! Junior consults with the Colonel, who thinks it’s bad luck, but Junior refuses this belief yet again. However, when he goes to try to find him, he smells something familiar and finds Jones is cooking up Tabu Potion, which is used by “Primative Witch Doctors” to instill people with “silly, childish fears” and that he’s been using this to make the men anxious and jumpy about everything. The only person who didn’t drink the tainted coffee was Drury and he orders him to show him where Drury is. Later, they discover that Drury was being kept tied up nearby and Jones is actually a secret Communist agent! A squadron of Russian MiGs approach and attempt to bomb them, but Junior punches off one of their wings and the Green Banner Regiment charges into battle, driving back the Communist horde. The next day, Freddy reads in the paper about their victory and says that this time, they won’t be turning back.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Regiment That Was Afraid to Fight"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- The Green Banner Regiment
- Commanding Colonel
- Sgt. Drury
Antagonists:
- Red Army
- Jones, Company Cook
Locations:
Items:
- Tabu Potion (instills primitive superstitious fears) (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
- MiGs, squadron after squadron of them
Synopsis for Kanvasback: "The Big Businessman"
Appearing in Kanvasback: "The Big Businessman"
Featured Characters:
- Kanvasback
Supporting Characters:
- Mal Arky
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr.: Guilty of Murder!"
Captain Marvel, Jr. has been found by Officer Jim Bellows by the open safe of the Small Loan Association and he says that he doesn’t care about saving people anymore and he’s going to do good for himself. Junior tries to charge him and the gun goes off… killing Jim Bellows! Junior flies out the window, spotted by many people. The Daily Gazette, naturally, believes that he’s the main suspect, though Mrs. Wagner and the boarders seem to think better of it… until they hear on the radio that he’s confessed to the murder! Despite him confessing, he’s still taken to court and found guilty by a jury of his peers and sentenced to execution by electric chair! Another goon, Slade, says that Junior is now no better than them and he only hopes to live long enough to see him die. Slade offers that Junior just punch his way out, but Junior points out that if he did, the guards would probably end up shooting Slade to death… instead offering him a different escape plan…
Two days later, Captain Marvel, Jr. walks the mile and is strapped in… but they find that shocking him doesn’t kill him and instead, after running it ten times in a row, the prison’s power goes out and he breaks free of the electric chair and punches a hole in the wall, breaking out Slade and the other convicts. Later, Junior says that he’s working alone from here on out, but he wants a cut of stolen money that Slade intends to split among his goons. He reveals a strongbox with $1,000,000 from the Hink Robbery where he’d killed an armored car’s guard (which is how he went to prison to start with.) Instead, Junior takes the whole chest and flies off. The convicts laugh once he’s gone, since this was a decoy strongbox filled with counterfeit money and the real one they dig up nearby… only for Junior to return and retake the million, revealing this entire thing was a ploy to finding out where Slade had stashed the stolen money all along. Later, the Commissioner of Police commends Captain Marvel, Jr. and the living Officer Jim for their hard work and they laugh about having pulled it off, now planning on revealing it was all a scheme to stop crime.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr.: Guilty of Murder!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Officer Jim Bellows (Apparent death)
- Mrs. Wagner
Antagonists:
- Slade, Convict
- three other convicts
Other Characters:
- A Warden
- An Executioner
- A Medical Examiner
- The NYPD Police Commissioner
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Mrs. Wagner's Boarding House
- State Prison
- New York City
Items:
- chest full of counterfeit money
- chest full of real money
- chest full of real money
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Fourth Dimension Elephant"
Godfrey Chadwick is a big game hunter with a thin mustache and a pith helmet, who claims to have captured the largest of lions yet, but he’s bored due to not having any bigger game to hunt… Later, Freddy Freeman is visiting Prof. Edgewise at his ramshackle “new” laboratory, who has made a “Fourth Dimensional Trap” to catch things “from the Fourth Dimension,” hoping that if it works, Godfrey might endow him a better lab. Back at home, Freddy is naturally worried that the Professor will cause trouble, so he calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to investigate as Captain Marvel, Jr. He soon finds Godfrey’s limousine parked outside and the Professor preparing to activate the Fourth Dimensional Trap, which has caught a large red being similar to a large red obese man with tiny wings, an elongated snout, tusks and a curling hair or crest, its hand caught in the trap. The Professor decides to name it a “Bloopdig” and Junior warns that releasing it might be dangerous, but Godfrey decides he’s freeing it himself. Suddenly, the Bloopdig swells up in a strange defensive manner and, when Godfrey shoots at it, it releases a flood of deadly acid that starts to eat through a table that Junior puts between them. The Bloopdig is killed and Junior says they shouldn’t do this again since they were almost melted with acid, but Godfrey is too energized by the thrill of the hunt. The Professor equally worries he should destroy the Fourth Dimensional Trap, but Godfrey points out he bought it already, so he’s taking it hope and sets it to unleash… a gigantic Fourth Dimensional Elephant, twice as large as his house, destroying it immediately. The beast soon starts uprooting a tree to attack planes taking off at Godfrey’s private aerodrome and he runs to the city to broadcast the information of the Gigantic Beast! The World’s Mightiest Boy soon flies in to try fighting it, finding it’s much stronger than a normal elephant indeed and figures that he’ll have to use the Fourth Dimensional Trap as a trap to trap it, but sets the Trap to go into the Fourth Dimension and not return. Later, a humbled Godfrey Chadwick apologizes and says he won’t try to hunt game from other dimensions anymore, but more importantly will pay all damages. Junior says that the Professor got a lab out of it and nobody died, so that should work out.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Fourth Dimension Elephant"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Godfrey Chadwick
Locations:
- New York City
- Chadwick's Manor House and Private Airfield
Items:
- Prof. Edgewise's 4th-Dimensional Animal Trap
Animals:
- 4th-Dimensional Bloopdig (Dies)
- 4th-Dimensional Giant Elephant
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The City in the Maelstrom"
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The City in the Maelstrom"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Rhuk Barbarians, A Shark-Worshipping Violent Cult (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Conference Table of Archaeologists
Locations:
- New York City
- Archaeology Conference, "4000 miles away" from New York City
- Atlantic Ocean
- City in the Great Maelstrom (Destroyed)
- Atlantis (Mentioned only)
- Shark God Sacrificial Temple (Destroyed)
- Atlantis (Mentioned only)
- City in the Great Maelstrom (Destroyed)
Items:
- Statuette from Atlantis
Vehicles:
- Smith's Diving Bell (Destroyed)
Notes
- Final issue.
- Captain Marvel, Jr., Prof. Edgewise, Mrs. Wagner and Officer Jim Bellows return later in The Marvel Family# 84
- Also appearing in this issue of Captain Marvel, Jr. were:
- Judge Smudge by Howard Boughner
- Rubbernose Randolph by Art Helfant
- "The Hunted" (text story) by Donald Shaw
Trivia
- Despite the cover, Captain Marvel, Jr.'s hair doesn't stand up when he's "executed," nor does he make an exaggerated and goofy face. He's, if anything, stone-faced about it and calm the entire time since it doesn't actually hurt him and may even be entirely faked.
- This may be further proof, since they don't attempt to (or, more likely, physically cannot) shave Captain Marvel, Jr.'s head or apply a sponge, a common tactic to prevent people from catching fire during the process.
- Professor Edgewise is implied that he may know Captain Marvel Junior's secret identity, though he's also infamous for forgetting things all the time.
See Also