I suppose you guessed my secret... how I made a big wind sweep through the city and bring all loose stuff to me! By means of my powerful suction machine! All the stuff from the town is piling up here in my warehouse in that net! A few repairs and I can sell it all secondhand and make a fortune! 
- — T.A. Basko, Evil Secondhand Store Owner
Captain Marvel, Jr. #96 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1951.
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Vanishes"
Edward Gluff is a convict on death row who killed a teller during a bank robbery and he’s only a few minutes away from facing the chair when a strange elderly man offers him three wishes with a magic parchment, which they let him carry on to even when they’re about to strap him in. He decides to try it out and wishes his last crime coup worked and he suddenly disappears. When he realizes where he’s at, he’s at his hideout with Grizzly (who is strong as a Grizzly) and Dutch (who is splitting the money.) However, before he can enjoy his ill-gotten funds, Captain Marvel, Jr. punches their wall in and punches over Dutch, then Grizzly. Gluff tries to drive off, but Junior flies after him, ripping the top off his car and preparing to punch him out, only for Gluff to wish Captain Marvel, Jr. had never been born! He realizes he’s back at his hideout again where nobody has even heard of Captain Marvel, Jr. Gluff tries to take half the take, only for his goons to refuse and turn on him, pulling guns. Gluff overturns the table grabs the money and shuts out the lights and legs it. He soon decides he’ll become an Underworld Ruler, only for his car to get run off the road by an armored truck and the finds that these aren’t cops in it, but they reveal they are part of Hijackers Incorporated and about to rob Station CRIME, an underworld radio station and show off their “Crime License” to do so, finding he doesn’t have a license to rob banks and decide to shoot him, but he fights back, punching out the Hijackers and scarpers into a busy crowd. He soon finds this crowd is for a parade for the Czar of Crime, an important gangster on a float in a large bubble, but when the Czar catches him not bowing, he is orders to be beheaded by goons with axes. He runs off and the Hijackers soon find and shoot him. He tries to appeal to two nearby “honest men,” but finds that they’re more than willing to let him die to sell his body for medical experiments and try to restrain him with a lariat before he can escape, but he runs off to the Railroad Depot. His two goons show up and try to come after him, along with all the other criminals he ran into and decides to spend his final wish: wishing he never made that wish about Captain Marvel, Jr. He wakes up to being punched in the face by Captain Marvel, Jr. as his car runs into an electric pole, which falls over. Junior is forced to stop and try to help a woman with a baby in a pram, only for Gluff to step on to the high-tension wires and electrocute himself anyways. Junior finds the magic parchment has been charred into being no longer readable and goes to return the money to the police.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Vanishes"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Edward Gluff (Dies)
- Grizzly
- Dutch
- Hijackers Incorporated
- Resurrection Men
- The Czar of Crime
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- A Railroad Depot
- New York City
Items:
- The Magic Parchment (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
- Gluff's Car
- The Hijackers Incorporated Armored Car
- The Czar of Crime's Float
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The World's Strangest Zoo"
Freddy Freeman is peddling papers as a woman races in, shouting, so he calls CAPTAIN MARVEL and Captain Marvel, Jr. stops her to ask what’s wrong before a Satyr charges in and body-checks Junior in the back. Junior angrily tells the Satyr that Satyrs just aren’t real (despite Pan being real), before he spots a Wolfman being attacked by a dogcatcher before. The dogcatcher says that it was an honest mistake and sheepishly leaves. Junior soon finds a Merman eating herring at a fish market and Junior snatches him away as the Merman complains that since he escaped from “Potter’s Zoo,” he hasn’t eaten a decent meal and Junior realizes that these monsters are all from Potter’s Zoo. He soon stuffs them into the dogcatcher’s van and flies them to Prof. Percival Potter’s zoo where he says he’s been collecting “weird specimens” happily until he picked up an Imp. He shows him the Imp is sitting lazily on a lit log in his fireplace and he says that Prof. Potter found him in the crater of Mt. Vesuvius. Prof. Potter says he wants all the “members” of his Zoo to be happy, but for some reason the Imp has upset the others. Junior immediately finds out why when the Imp drops a hot coal down his back and dumps a bucket of molasses on him to put it out. The Imp jumps into the fireplace again and disappears up the chimney and Prof. Potter angrily tells him to leave. Junior hangs around the top of the chimney, feeling he’ll be needed soon. Within, Potter finds the Wolfman, Satyr and Merman are at his desk, showing him a document that they claim Potter wrote saying he’s planning to have them stuffed and given to a Museum. He is shocked at this lie, but they decide to kill him, thinking his fear makes him guilty. Hearing shouts, Junior flies in and finds that they’ve mostly turned on each other (for wanting to kill him himself) and Junior soon stops them and grabs the Imp by the tail, who admits to his misdeeds. Potter thanks Junior for his help and asks him to take away the Imp, so Junior flies him off to a desert island with only crocodiles living there. Later, Freddy reads in the paper that the crocodiles are going to war with each other, likely due to the Imp’s meddling.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The World's Strangest Zoo"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Prof. Percival Potter
- A Satyr
- A Wolfman
- A Merman
Antagonists:
- The Imp
Other Characters:
- A Dogcatcher
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- Potter's Private Zoo
- New York City
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles The Wind from Nowhere"
Freddy Freeman finds his shoe has torn the sole off and he’ll have to get a new pair, so he heads back down to Basko’s Second Hand Store, but finds Mr. Basko is fresh out of secondhand shoes, but says they’ll be stocked up again tomorrow. Meanwhile, Freddy decides that a torn sole won’t be a real problem unless it rains and it’s due to be fair and mild, according to the paper. Suddenly, a sharp and powerful wind strike and Freddy has to hook his crutch on a power pole and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. and starts helping people into buildings. The wind smashes in many windows and scatters furniture entirely out of the broken rooftop. Junior sees a shoe in the windstorm too and thinks on if Basko is somehow involved in this… He starts to follow the wind to its source, but it soon stops altogether and he returns to Basko’s, which now has a giant rooftop sign. He returns to being Freddy and goes in to get some shoes, but when he gets near his warehouse in the back, Basko kicks his crutch out from under him and knocks him out with a secondhand stolen shoe. Freddy is soon bound and gagged on the ground as Basko shows off his Suction Machine that sucks things in and the giant net that uses for his rooftop sign that catches it all and funnels it in. Freddy realizes he was wrong in trying to follow where the wind was going and not where it could be sucking things in instead and Basko goes to shove him into the blades of the Suction Machine, which is basically a giant fan. Luckily, it pulls his gag off and he calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to break it as Junior, then punches out Basko himself. Later, Freddy has new shoes and notes that Basko won’t get such nice shoes in jail.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles The Wind from Nowhere"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- T.A. Basko
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- Basko's Secondhand Store
- New York City
Items:
- Basko's Suction Machine (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Dumb Dodo"
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Dumb Dodo"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- The Dumb Dodo
- Prof. Edgewise
Antagonists:
- Professor Brudge
Other Characters:
- The President of a University
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- Mount Trespass
- A University
- New York City
Items:
- A Dodo Egg (Destroyed)
- A Goose-Neck Lamp Incubator
- The Life and Habits of the Extinct Dodo Bird
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles Vengeance Mountain"
Freddy Freeman goes to deliver some papers to an old crumbling building and delivers one to depressed young man Watson Meer, hoping it’ll cheer him up. Watson tells him that he’s inherited a fortune from his late uncle… but only if he spends one night on Vengeance Mountain and get there by nightfall. Watson isn’t sure how he’ll get there and Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. to fly him there. Arriving there, two farmers complain they have to plow without a horse due to the Meer family taking all her crops, who they call tyrants, treat them like slaves and might even kill them. They’re happy to say that the Mountain seems to kill one tyrant every year for centuries due to a curse from a farmer killed by the first Meer ancestor. Just a few days ago, Josiah Meer was crushed by a falling boulder, who was Watson’s uncle. Watson says his uncle always seemed to hate him and Junior assumes that Josiah wanted Watson to stay there probably in hopes that he’ll die there too. They soon find it’s really cold on this mountaintop and they gather up some scrub oak for firewood and build a fire large enough to keep them through the night.
Later, Watson says he used to stay on the farm, but he left because of how horrible his uncle was to his workers and that he’ll change things soon. Suddenly, there’s a loud crack and a tree falls at them and Junior punches it to break it, then dives them both underground to survive an avalanche and drags him to safety again. Junior starts to think there’s a human element involved here and builds a giant stone tower in seconds to guard Watson and leaves only when he hears someone else screaming and finds that it’s from Echo Canyon, which can make screams last for about an hour. When he returns, he sees the tower has a hole torn out of it and scrape marks on nearby rocks prove an easy trail for him to follow. Junior finds inside a cave is Josiah Meer, who has tied up his nephew and thinks that if he kills Watson on the mountain, he won’t be the Meer who dies on Vengeance Mountain that generation and faked his death to this end. Junior blocks his shot with his hand and the shots cause a cave-in that crushes Josiah, fulfilling the prophecy. Watson says Josiah told him that he killed someone else to fake his own death to incriminate him. Junior is happy and tells Watson that he’s happy that he’ll be able to change them for the better.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles Vengeance Mountain"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Watson Meer
Antagonists:
- Josiah Meer
Other Characters:
- Some Meer-employed Farmers
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Watson's House
- Vengeance Mountain
- Echo Canyon
- New York City
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also