DC Database

"Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and 'The Atom Bomb on the Loose'"": “Gats” Gaxner is an ex-con from San Loma Prison who just finished a dime in the joint and has learned nothing, immediately thinking of how he’ll steal enough to make up for the decade he’s lost. One night, Freddy Freeman

I'll go to Phil's Barber Shop and have the job done right away! A trim, Phil! And do a nice, neat job! It seems my public thinks I'm sloppy in appearance!
Captain Marvel Jr., seconds before disappointing a barber.

Captain Marvel, Jr. #53 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1947.

Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and 'The Atom Bomb on the Loose'"

“Gats” Gaxner is an ex-con from San Loma Prison who just finished a dime in the joint and has learned nothing, immediately thinking of how he’ll steal enough to make up for the decade he’s lost. One night, Freddy Freeman is closing up shop when Officer Jim Bellows says he’s got a special duty at the Rensselaer Research Lab. Freddy, interested, decides to head out with him to take a look at one of the most modern scientific centers in the world. They soon finish up building an atom bomb there to deliver, only for goons to break in, having defeated the guards to steal highly expensive radium and shoot one of the scientists when he hits the alarm. The alarm going off alerts Jim and Freddy that something is up, so Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. Most of the goons get beaten by Junior, but the last one escapes with the package… containing an atomic bomb that they also armed to go off automatically at 5:00am! They try announcing on the radio that he has an armed nuclear weapon on him, but instead Gats decides that he can use this to really make money.

Meanwhile, Junior meets with Mayor O’Dwyer to find what’s going on lately and finds that Gats has sent in a message demanding $10,000,000 or he’ll hide the bomb somewhere “no one will find it until it’s too late!” What’s more, he intends to have the money dropped to him from a plane to his plane, to make things more complex. Junior comes up with a quick plan involving the goons he’s already arrested and has Gats’ two goons brought in to lean on them, only for one of them to snatch Jim’s gun and let the two goons escape. However, they planned for all this so they could follow them to where Gats is hiding out and Junior chases after Gats as he leaves in his plane into a cloud. Soon enough, Gats gets lost in the darkness and the cloud-line, but finds that Captain Marvel, Jr. was there the whole time, now leaning on the cockpit. Gats flings the bomb and gets punched out. The bomb drops… into the ocean, harming no one (except for Gats himself) and the next day, Jim is shocked to find that New York City was nearly destroyed by an atom bomb.

Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and 'The Atom Bomb on the Loose'"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • "Gats" Gaxner

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

  • An Atomic Bomb (Destroyed)

Vehicles:

  • Gats' Plane


Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and the Jewels of Jeopardy!"

Mrs. Wagner tells Freddy Freeman that she would love to get her Boarding House painted, but she can’t afford all that, but Freddy says he likes it despite that. Meanwhile, in prison, Jonathan Barko, former boarder at Mrs. Wagner’s, tells his fellow goons Squeezy and the Ape, telling him that he hid some stolen jewels in an easy chair. Squeezy tries to rent a room, but finds Freddy has already moved in and that Mrs. Wagner refuses to take double-pay either. Instead, they try to bribe Freddy to get into his room, which doesn’t work, so Ape just breaks in through Freddy’s window, but trips hard on his crutch, waking him up in the night. He calls CAPTAIN MARVEL and becomes Captain Marvel, Jr. and they scarper into Mrs. Wagner’s room, throwing her out a window to distract him. Mrs. Wagner finds she couldn’t recognize the men in the dark and neither did Junior really.

The next evening, the goons just ambush Freddy and knock him out to steal his key, leaving him bound and gagged in the yard, and lie to Mrs. Wagner, claiming Freddy “said” they could stay in his room for the night. They soon destroy her easy chair and find the jewels, only for Mrs. Wagner to go up and ask where Freddy is staying, only for them to slap the paring knife out of her hand and prepare to kill her. Outside, Freddy shoves his face into a hedge and slips his gag to call CAPTAIN MARVEL and fly in to the Boarding House as Junior to punch Squeezy and Ape out and the two goons are soon jailed in Jonathan Barko’s cell. Junior is able to cash in the reward money for the two goons so Mrs. Wagner can get the Boarding House repainted beautifully.

Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and the Jewels of Jeopardy!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Squeezy
  • The Ape
    • Jonathan Barko (Final appearance)

Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:

  • Mrs. Wagner's Easy Chair (Destroyed)
    • Stolen Jewels

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Jars a Joker"

Freddy Freeman is eating at Mrs. Wagner’s Boarding House with fellow boarders “Jolly” Cholly, a portly gent with a playful personality and the dour “Old” Bates. They are almost equally reviled by the other boarders because Bates is depressing and sour all the time and Cholly is constantly doing silly things that upset or annoy people, reaching a climax when he uses a giant fake arm to pick up dinner from the far end of the table. Freddy tries to be civil and talk to Cholly about his pranks, but Cholly just insists he has a reason he’s doing them all, but won’t say what it is. Later, a boarder nearly has a slip and fall down the stairs due to a prank of Cholly’s and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. to catch him and stop the others from just beating the tar out of Cholly. Junior forces Cholly to fix the step and then locks him in his room, but he uses his bedsheets as a rope to escape out the window and starts a smoke in the basement, thinking the Boarding House is on fire, but Junior finds there’s only a smudge-pot in the basement. He heads up to find Cholly has brought a goat into the Boarding House to attack people, but Junior (after getting butted once,) moves it into his room where it attacks him and knocks him down the stairs. Everyone laughs highly at Cholly, including Cholly, which everyone seems to forgive him over, since even Old Bates is laughing at him now! Cholly admits that he was doing this so he could get Old Bates to laugh again and everyone has a big laugh over it and forgive each other.

Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Jars a Joker"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • "Old" Bates
    • Other Boarders at Mrs. Wagner's

Antagonists:

  • "Jolly" Cholly
    • A Billy Goat

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

  • A Smoking Smudge-Pot

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Gets a 'Haircut'"

Freddy Freeman is out picking up newspaper delivery fees at Madame’s Beauty Shoppe and notices that the ladies sure do dress up to come to the parlor. Suddenly, three goons named “Haircut” (due to his nice hair,) Coughdrop (due to his habit of eating them,) and Lipstick, Haircut’s moll. A man implies that Haircut is going to get a perm and the other goons have to hold him back from getting into a fight. They soon invade and shove Freddy into a door jamb, so he calls CAPTAIN MARVEL and becomes Captain Marvel, Jr. to smack away bullets and give Haircut the old Sunday Special. Lipstick whips a woman out of her barber chair into Junior, letting them escape. Haircut gets it in his follicle-focused forebrain that Captain Marvel, Jr.’s power is somehow tied to his remarkable spit-curl hair and presumes that if it’s cut off, he’ll lose his strength (like Samson) and tries to reason how he could somehow trick him into doing so.

They put an ad in the paper for Captain Marvel, Jr. to receive a petition to have him get a haircut at Freddy’s usual corner of Main and Oak. He decides to call CAPTAIN MARVEL and see it out. Thus, Coughdrop disguises himself in a cheap suit and top hat with a fake beard, who shows him a fake petition and Junior decides to go get a haircut at Phil’s Barber Shop. However, before he can, he notices him tearing up the petition outside the window in direct sight of him while also shoving cough drops into his mouth. Junior gets out and demands to know where their hideout is. Haircut hides in an adjacent room as Lipstick meets Junior and claims he ran off. However, he notices a lit cigar and realizes that Haircut certainly is still there, but pretends to fall asleep anyways to lure him out. Haircut soon finds that scissors break against Captain Marvel, Jr.’s hair even and punches out Haircut, holding him by his hair. Later, Haircut is shaved bald when in prison. Later, Freddy wonders if he should get a haircut… even if he got one earlier that day in jail!

Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Gets a 'Haircut'"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Phil the Barber

Antagonists:

  • "Haircut"
    • "Lipstick"
    • "Coughdrop"

Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:

  • Scissors (Destroyed)
  • A Fake Petition (Destroyed)

Vehicles:




See Also


Links and References