Captain Marvel, Jr. #80 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1949.
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles The Crime Germ"
Freddy Freeman trips while at work at decides to go see a doctor since there’s a bruise on his shin and visits nearby “Doc Snagge.” However, both Freddy and a man with a cold don’t realize that Snagge is no longer a licensed doctor and is instead testing crime germs, which make people do crimes! This proves to go poorly when the man starts trying to strangle him to steal his money. Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to stop him as Captain Marvel, Jr., who arrests him. However, when Officer Jim Bellows arrives to pick him up, he says this is Henry Peters, one of the most honest men he knows! Junior heads back inside and finds that Doc Snagge isn’t an MD anymore and that he somehow turned Henry Peters to crime and Snagge admits to most of it and sprays his Crime Germs in Junior’s face. He finds that they don’t work on him and so he instead sprays two other men in the waiting room to make them violent and try to attack him, though Junior finds these are Pete and Charley, two honest hardworking guys! Thus, Captain Marvel, Jr. gets to work creating a cure for Crime Germs. While he does so, “Doc” Snagge crop-dusts the small town of Midvale to start a Crime Plague to install a Crime Government with him as Crime Boss. Junior leaves two other scientists to work on it while he investigates the town and finds a Statewide Policemen’s Convention going on in nearby Dobbsville and recruits them to help stop the Midvale Riots. While he’s doing so though, “Doc” Snagge crop-dusts the nearby town of Larksburg to try to establish his Crime Government before Captain Marvel, Jr. is already aware of it and uses the Larksburg MFG Co to start manufacturing millions of gallons of Crime Germs. However, he soon finds two men in Larksburg attacking each other and finds that they’ve been poorly hiding their need to commit crimes and find that goons won’t talk to Captain Marvel, Jr. now, but when he returns to being Freddy, the goons are more willing to say he’s at the factory. He soon heads off to the factory, but Snagge gasses him with Crime Germs and he joins the Crime Government to drive “Doc” Snagge’s car, but ends up calling DOWN WITH CAPTAIN MARVEL, JR. which turns him into Captain Marvel, Jr. again. He is soon given the antidote to Crime Germs, Law Germs, which he uses to cure the Crime Germs of Larksburg and punches out the fake doctor.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles The Crime Germ"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Officer Jim Bellows
- Henry Peters
- Pete
- Charley
Antagonists:
- "Doc" Snagge
- Violent Larksburg Citizens
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- Midvale
- Dobbsville
- A Stadium hosting the Statewide Policeman's Convention
- Larksburg
- Larksburg MFG, Co.
- New York City
Items:
- "Doc" Snagge's Crime Germs (Destroyed)
- Captain Marvel, Jr.'s Law Germs
Vehicles:
- "Doc" Snagge's Crop-Duster
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Case of the Broken Heart"
Freddy Freeman is enjoying a bucolic weekend in the countryside as he sees a hunter being pursued by a black horse. He runs after him and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. to grab hold of the horse to stop him as a boy runs in and says not to hurt the horse, since it’s his. The man is upset that he’s been chased by a horse, but the boy points out he had an apple in his lunch-sack that the horse, Black Wind, wanted. The hunter is confused, since he didn’t pack an apple, but a man creeping in the bushes thinks to himself that he was the one who planted the apple and he’s named Zeke Bloocher, who wants to somehow own the horse instead. Junior asks why the boy has a horse for a pet and the boy introduces himself as Tod Dawson, a farm boy who raised him from a colt last year when Black Wind was sick and dying. Feeding him apples, Black Wind grew strong and survived the harsh rain. When Junior looks back, Black Wind is gone, having leaped over a wall to a garden when Zeke threw an apple into it, hoping to get him killed for stomping the farmer’s corn, but Junior flies in and moves him off the property. Dawson’s father angrily says that a hunter and a farmer had a problem with Black Wind, which he says is reason enough to sell the horse to Zeke and Tod promises he’ll just keep Black Wind locked up when he’s not riding. Junior decides this is a decent enough accord and returns to being Freddy to enjoy his vacation while Zeke unbars the stable in the night and releases Black Wind to eat a storekeeper’s apples. Pop Dawson, having heard enough, sells him to Zeke. Junior looks around and finds that there are apple peels from where Zeke was luring the horse to the store. Junior goes to see Zeke’s house looks abandoned and that Tod has run away from home to find Black Wind. Tod soon finds that Black Wind has been entered by Zeke into the County Fair Feature Event Horse Race for a pot of $5,000, but Zeke appears and says he bought him legally, which he imagines makes it okay to beat a child with a horsewhip. Junior runs in and punches him over, saying he knows he lured the horse and demands he talk. Zeke says he found out that Black Wind’s owner was Man O’Might, an amazing racing horse and that he wanted him to win the race. Junior says Tod’s joining the race as Black Wind’s jockey and he quickly does so, winning Black Wind essentially a lifetime supply of apples. Junior is just happy to see the friendship between boy and horse.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Case of the Broken Heart"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Tod Dawson
Antagonists:
- Zeke Bloocher
Other Characters:
- Mr. McCall
- "Pop" Dawson
- A Confused Hunter
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- Dawson's Farm
- The County Fair Horse Race
- New York City
Items:
- Apples
Vehicles:
- Black Wind
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Captain Marvel, Jr. Meets Crime Man!"
Captain Marvel, Jr. snatches up a red sedan and shakes goons he’s pursuing out of it, watched by another man through binoculars in bed. The man is responsible for a bank robbery these men have seized and is upset that it’s been ruined. He asks how many of his men have been captured so far by Junior this month alone of his butler, Stephen, who says that he’s lost 18 so far, ranging in sentence from 10 to life. What’s more, he’s gotten a memo in a severe drop in goons, since they don’t want to try fighting Captain Marvel, Jr. This mastermind, “Sultan” Sully, decides he’ll find the strongest man in the underworld, someone who can beat Captain Marvel, Jr.! A burly bank robber (who can tear doors off of hinges) decides he’ll try his hand. Meanwhile, Officer Jim Bellows tells Freddy Freeman about it while he’s peddling papers at his Newsstand. To investigate this strongman contest of crime, Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr.
At an abandoned theatre on the outskirts of town, the large bank robber from before has donned a yellow long-sleeve tee with a red C on the chest and trunks, calling himself Crime Man and showing he can lift 20,000 lbs with a single finger, punches a hole in a brick wall and shows that bullets bounce off his chest! Junior flies in and punches him… but hurts his hand! Crime Man punches him over and Junior goes flying! Crime Man points out everyone generally knows that Captain Marvel, Jr. can’t be killed, but that they’ll likely win now that he “knows that he’s met his master!” However, this wasn’t the real Captain Marvel, Jr.! Later, “Sultan” Sully laughs with Crime Man how they’ve faked the whole encounter to drum up more goons to work for him and that Crime Man was just wearing a bulletproof vest under his shirt and the barbell and brick wall were secretly both made of cardboard. Meanwhile, the real Captain Marvel, Jr. stops three other robberies and is promised by many goons that “Crime Man” would be coming after him. However, the other goons soon realize that only Sully’s competitors have caught on, including “One Eye” Conroy, “Battleship” Briggs and even “Hairpin” Harry Malone. However, before they can argue more, Junior flies in and defeats all of them, including Crime Man and rolls them all up in a carpet and drags them to jail, saying he just kept an eye on the guy making the most plans and it turned up him. Freddy later notes that there rather isn’t anyone big or strong enough to save criminals from the long arm of justice!
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Captain Marvel, Jr. Meets Crime Man!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- "Sultan" Sully
- Stephen the Butler
- Crime Man (Single appearance)
- "One Eye" Conroy
- "Battleship" Briggs
- "Hairpin" Harry Malone
- Impostor Captain Marvel, Jr.
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- "Sultan" Sully's Abandoned Theater
- New York City
Items:
- A Fake 20,000 lb. Barbell (Destroyed)
- A Fake Brick Wall (Destroyed)
- A Bulletproof Vest (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
- A Red Sedan
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles The Weatherman"
A massive sandstorm begins that ends up allowing goons to escape after robbing the Graybar Bank in a green touring car. Freddy Freeman, managing to vaguely spot them the police, calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to help out as Captain Marvel, Jr. and pushes the officers from hitting a light pole. The next day, a plane runs afoul of an ice storm weighing them down, only for them to be mugged when they land! That afternoon, Freddy is peddling the Daily Gazette headlining about the crimes and a man notes that the Weatherman sure was wrong: he said it’d be cloudy and warmer! Thus, Freddy decides to talk to Thomas Frye, the local weatherman at the Weather Bureau and Frye says he thinks that his former assistant Harry Hott, has been using some kind of crop-dusting plane to commit crime, like creating a convenient ice or sand storm… They soon discover that the temperature has reached 105ºF and people start to flock to the beach to get away from the heat, prompting criminals to raid their abandoned homes, all but confirming Harry Hott is the Weatherman running this new Hold-Up Gang. Thus, Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Junior again and flies off to look into things, finding the Sun is glaring especially due to being behind a nearby mountain and that there’s a gigantic glass refractor that functions like a giant magnifying glass. When he flies in, they light a house aflame with it and Junior’s forced to tear up a water tower to put it out before he punches out the goons and destroys the Glass Refractor and goes on the hunt for Harry Hott. He soon heads out to Hott’s Farm Spraying Service and finds that they’re just normal crop-sprayers and tries to look into things closer, sending a fake teletype to Frye to say there will be rain tonight when the plane takes off and then gets on a transport plane as Freddy. He catches the Hold-Up Gang dropping ice crystals into the cloud to attack the plane and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Junior once more, tilts the plane out of the sky and seizes the black-masked Weatherman, finding that it was Thomas Frye all along! He soon turns him over to nearby awaiting police.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles The Weatherman"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Weatherman II (Thomas Frye) (Single appearance)
- His Hold-Up Gang
Other Characters:
- Harry Hott, Crop-Sprayer
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- The Weather Bureau
- New York City
Items:
- A Giant Glass Refractor (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
- An Icy Plane
- A Sandy Police Car
- Harry Hott's Crop-Sprayer
Trivia
- Despite the cover, none of these adventures involve Captain Marvel, Jr. leaving the planet. Or the Moon? The highest he gets is some minor dogfighting with enemy aircraft.
See Also