Pardon me for reminding you... but without friction, your feet will only skid out from under you, giving you no chance to land the blow! See? 
- — Oliver Philpott, the Unpunchable Man!
Captain Marvel, Jr. #84 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1950.
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Day the World Almost Ended"
Freddy Freeman is peddling papers to Mr. Crane at Lisbon’s Tea, then heads to the coal factory, only to be interrupted by a sudden earthquake! He calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. and saves a car from falling into a chasm and lifting a fallen farmhouse to save the family within. He’s further interrupted when a volcano erupts nearby, forcing him to gather up all the lava (by hand) and throws it at the ground to destroy it as people start to evacuate town in terror. A resting Junior puts his ear to the ground and can hear that there’s a glacier moving into a nearby logging camp and flies north to shove it back into its proper place. He worries that all of these disasters could easily just happen again and he wonders what’s going on as a tidal wave suddenly comes in! He quickly evacuates the small town of Seaward Cove before it strikes and finds on the ground in the rubble of it all… a script! And so far, all the things that have happened… are exactly as the script dictates! As it called for aerial shots, he presumes it was dropped from a nearby aircraft and soon finds that it’s indeed a movie… being filmed by aliens! The World’s Mightiest Boy soon punches a hole in their craft and their Director openly brags about how they are aliens from the Sirius System and they could easily destroy the Earth with one of their powerful natural disaster weapons so they can film it. Somehow, he plans to use this to also become Ruler of his home world too and activates a Moon Ray that will crash the Moon into the Earth. Junior tries to use his magic lightning offensively to blind them, but returning to being Freddy proves foolhardy, since Sirius is a particularly bright star and Freddy gets slapped in the face and captured before he can say the magic words again. He soon says he’ll use his film of destroying Earth to threaten his own planet unless he’s named Dictator and proceeds with the Moon Fall as his men throw a bound and gagged Freddy to the Earth along with it, but Freddy manages to fall into a sharp-branched tree with his face and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. once more and he pushes the Moon back into place, accidentally destroying the Sirian Rocket-Ship in the process. Later, Freddy is happy that he’s saved two worlds from a fiendish unnamed dictator.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Day the World Almost Ended"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- A Sirian Director (Dies)
- Other Sirian Movie-Makers (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Mr. Crane
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Lisbon's Tea
- The Coal Factory
- Seaward Cove
- Freddy's Newsstand
- New York City
Items:
Vehicles:
- The Sirian Movie-Makers' Rocket-Ship (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Captain Kid: "The Sleuth of Truth"
Reading about there being a third robbery in a row at the Podunk Hotel in the Daily Blurb, Captain Kid has ordered an Easy-Does-It Detective Kit, which includes a bright red deerstalker cap, a handlebar mustache, a pipe, dark glasses and a coat. His mother is already tired with him as soon as seeing him doing this and hopes he’ll go play with his friends instead of something strange like investigating robberies and Captain Kid promptly falls down the stairs due to his dark glasses and loses all his disguise. He smacks them all back on his face and then runs into his front door before he gets to the Hotel and they almost arrest him for looking really suspicious and ask him to leave. When he says this isn’t a joke, they presume he’s come to be a bellhop and give him a uniform immediately. Captain Kid takes the job so he can look around the Hotel and finds a portly man hanging around the lobby and learns from the manager that he doesn’t stay there. He goes to the Manager’s room, Room 212, and dashes off to find the portly man there and tackles him by the legs when he opens a locker and drags him downstairs, only to find that this is the Hotel Detective: a man who works for the Hotel to provide security. What’s more, the manager says that there haven’t been any robberies, he’s been stealing the stuff himself in his sleep! The Hotel Dick soon attacks him as the laughing manager says the $500 reward for the robber’s capture won’t be offered any further. Later, a beaten and defeated Captain Kid throws out his “Detective Kit” and decides to go play ball with the boys.
Appearing in Captain Kid: "The Sleuth of Truth"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Kid
Supporting Characters:
- Mrs. Kid
Antagonists:
- A Hotel Manager
- A Hotel Detective
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Podunk
Items:
- An Easy-Does-It Detective Kit (Destroyed)
- The Daily Blurb
- A Bellhop's Outfit
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Boy Headline Hunter"
Freddy Freeman is peddling a new paper, the Boy Bugle, which is run by kids and for kids, led by his friend John “Inky” Davis (who is Editor, Publisher, Reporter, Typesetter and Printer) via some reproducing machine that isn’t full of toxic chemicals. He soon runs out in his Whoopee Cap and tells Freddy he’s going to be a big star reporter like a grown-up and finds a fire engine go by, meaning there’s a big fire to report on. He finds it’s a warehouse burning full of junk, but decides it could make for a good front page photo and a headline. A wall suddenly falls towards him and Freddy quickly calls CAPTAIN MARVEL and becomes Captain Marvel, Jr. to drag him out of the way and tells him to stop trying to be a reporter because it’s dangerous. He ignores this and instead runs directly at a truck finding it’s brakes are broken to get a better picture straight on. Junior more assertively asks him to not get involved in danger the rest of the day, only for Officer Jim Bellows to dash out to attack a bandanna-masked criminal, only for Inky to get in the way and get thrown into Jim, knocking him out. The goon, “Ugly” Ullster, escapes and removes his bandanna. Junior says this is entirely Inky’s fault as Jim revives himself and drops him off as the Boy Bugle office. Junior soon looks around the rough side of town to find Ugly as Inky realizes that he got a picture of the crook and prints a special edition of the Boy Bugle and has his friend Dick deliver them all. Junior flies by Ullster, not recognizing him in the tussle well and Ugly finds the Boy Bugle offering that they’re going to print his face as tomorrow’s headline and ties out a trip-wire for him when he shows up… only for Ullster to come in through a window, but Junior flies in and punches him over. He reveals that this was all a trap by Inky, who never had a picture to start with. Inky says that it was clever, but he isn’t going to chase big news anymore, instead running the headline: CAPTAIN MARVEL, JR. BAGS BANDIT
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Boy Headline Hunter"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- John "Inky" Davis
- Officer Bellows
Antagonists:
- "Ugly" Ullster
Other Characters:
- Dick
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- The Office of the Boy Bugle
- New York City
Items:
Vehicles:
- A Runaway Truck
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and His Aromatic Adventure"
Freddy Freeman is attending a Pet Show where Captain Marvel, Jr. is award the Blue Ribbon! He’s amazed to see people bringing in all sorts of animals, ranging from a small elephant to a flea. Hearing people freak out, Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to investigate as Captain Marvel, Jr. and finds that beyond the crowd is a man with five leashed skunks that actually… have a pleasant perfumed smell (everyone else was just freaked out seeing them) and the man responsible, Prof. Blake, says that it’s due to a highly special diet he feeds them at his skunk farm, raising perfumed pet skunks. Rough fur dealer Ivan Snorkle dashes in and offers to buy the skunks so he can use their fur, but Blake says he’s taking them to a pet show to win instead. Junior soon begins judging the animals, finding almost all of them are nice (except for a large hissing snake) and decides the Perfumed Skunks are the cutest and the most unique and really just a nice, pleasant surprise and points out to everyone that they smell good. However, Ivan Snorkle cracks rotten eggs (which he had on his person) near the plinth the Perfumed Skunks are on, confusing and upsetting everyone. Junior finds Snorkle and toe-kicks him in the tailbone, booting him to the street. Soon, everyone loves the Perfumed Skunks and Blake is happy that he can sell pet skunks to everyone and Junior wishes him luck. Later, Blake feeds his skunks their special good-smelling skunk food, but Ivan decides to kill him and releases a wild lion he bought with the last of his money. Junior lands nearby and the lion runs away… scared by the skunks into his cage! Ivan is punched out and Junior promises to drop him off at jail.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and His Aromatic Adventure"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Professor Blake
- His Perfumed Skunks
Antagonists:
- Ivan Snorkle, Unscrupulous Fur Dealer
- A Lion
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- A Pet Show
- New York City
Items:
- Rotten Eggs (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Man Who Destroyed Friction!"
Freddy Freeman is bothered by Mr. Oliver Philpott, a man who says he’s working on a Perpetual Motion Machine and that he needs the “tiny” sum of $5 from him yet again. Freddy offers him a fiver, despite know that he’s a crackpot working at a shack labeled “Perpetual Motion, Inc.” However, today he finds that Philpott has succeeded to do so, creating a Friction Nullifier and pushes a large wheel on an axle, showing that it now has perpetual motion! Unfortunately, his jacket gets caught in the wheel and Freddy is forced to call CAPTAIN MARVEL to save him as Captain Marvel, Jr. Junior leaves him to be a lucrative energy baron, but Philpott soon figures that he’s going to make sure that he wins out by activating his Friction Nullifier to a wider range, making it shut down other dynamos in town by overrunning them, quickly burning them out. Freddy soon finds at his Newsstand that friction is breaking down for people too as he slips and falls and finds the ground slippery as soap, calling CAPTAIN MARVEL to be able to fly around to avoid this trouble. Junior soon finds a car spinning its wheels as if it were in neutral (since it can’t gain traction) and a man who can’t light his pipe since matches can’t strike on walls. A streetcar finds they can’t stop, since brakes naturally work on friction, but even Junior finds he can’t stop it, since his feet can’t gain traction on the ground either. Only Philpott is able to walk “normally” on the ground using suction cups on the soles of his shoes and confirms that the city’s power plant has shut down… right in front of the World’s Mightiest Boy, who finds even the Strength of Hercules is complicated in a frictionless world and Philpott runs off. He decides to return to being Freddy so he can go see Philpott and tries to call CAPTAIN MARVEL, but he instead just slips and falls again and hits his head on a hard surface nearby. He wakes up, as usual, bound and gagged on the floor where Philpott says he’s going to push him into the Perpetual Motion Wheel to mangle him into a fine paste… only to find that he can’t; the Wheel is breaking down due to being used heavily without rest and that it’ll end up flying apart and destroying his laboratory and them with it! Freddy soon figures out that his bonds can be pretty easily pulled off and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to punch the Friction Nullifier until it breaks and stops the Perpetual Motion Wheel. He punches out Philpott and later, Freddy reads about how he was arrested in the Evening Star.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Man Who Destroyed Friction!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Oliver Philpott
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- Perpetual Motion, Inc.
- A Power Plant
- New York City
Items:
- Philpott's Friction Nullifier (Destroyed)
- Philpott's Perpetual Motion Wheel (Destroyed)
- Philpott's Suction-Cup Shoes
Vehicles:
- A Frictionless Car
- A Brakeless Streetcar
See Also