Nothing matters! Haven't you read this new scientific treatise by Dr. Hans Hogt? It proves conclusively that the Earth's topsoil will vanish completely in 782,000 years! When the topsoil is gone, nothing will grow! There'll be no plants of any kind! Every creature on Earth will die of starvation! Only 782,000 years to go! It hardly seems worthwhile to carry on! 
Captain Marvel, Jr. #97 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1951.
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. battles The Space Spy"
A shooting star heads towards New York City as Freddy Freeman is packing up his Newsstand for the day. Spotting the meteor, he calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to break it apart as Captain Marvel, Jr. and finds that it’s hollow, being used as transport for a strange invisible spy who resembles a colorless goblin with a mustache and a midsection that is all spinal cord. He says his name is Gol and he’s there to help spy on his planet from his own star light-years away. Junior decides to arrest him and Gol tries using his Detonation Wallop on him… only for it to do promptly nothing to the World’s Mightiest Boy. He punches him over and tells Officer Bellows to arrest him, but Jim can’t see the creature and says there’s no one there. When Junior turns back, Gol is gone altogether. Junior finds from a doctor that he’s in perfect working order and just needs “some rest and quiet.” Gol angrily tells Junior once he leaves that he thought all humans were as strong as him and tries to use the Detonating Wallop n a normal person, forcing Junior to fight him off and becomes a little frustrated when nobody listens to him as Gol escapes into the crowd, mocking that he’s going to go steal some military secrets, prompting Junior to go get a special audiometer and then out to the Secret Weapons Project. Gol soon exits, saying that their “secret weapon” isn’t enough to stop his invading force, so when he sends his report, they’ll be ready to conquer Earth. The guard says that no one can see or here Gol except for Junior until he turns on and tunes the audiometer, making the guard able to hear Gol as he flies off to take him down. Junior punches him out, but not fast enough for him to send a messenger rocket at 200,000 miles per second. He flies after the missive missile and manages to catch up to it and retake the military secrets within the machine and returns to Earth as Gol sets out Explosive Pebbles to try to spark the invasion… but they only blow him up himself, since Junior intercepted the rocket. Later, Freddy figures that since Gol never reported back, his planet decided it was probably too dangerous to invade after all, since they haven’t.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. battles The Space Spy"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Gol the Space Spy (Dies)
Other Characters:
- A Military Guard
- Officer Jim Bellows
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- A Secret Weapons Project Building
- New York City
Items:
- Gol's Explosive Pebbles
Vehicles:
- Gol's Messenger Rocket (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles The Sinister Snow!"
A rich man, Mr. John Elker, is upset at the amount of sunshine around and birdsong in the air. He’s upset because it’s winter and his ski resort will go bankrupt if there’s no snow! A man who looks like Sivana, Jr.’s wacky uncle, Tim Brumby, shows up with a large conical machine that he says is a Snow-Making Machine and it releases a special radiation that creates snow in the atmosphere. He starts it up and it does start snowing! Mr. Elker promises he’ll pay Brumby every day to make it keep snowing. Days later, Freddy Freeman hears on the radio that the Purple Mountain region is now covered in too much snow and the ski-train cannot get through to them. Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to figure things out as Captain Marvel, Jr. and soon finds the ski-train is stalled by snowdrifts and plows it along the path himself, wondering why it’s smoking as much as it is. Back at the lodge, Brumby tells Elker maybe they shouldn’t be creating a dangerous amount of snow and that he hid the Snow-Maker in a cave on Purple Moutain, but Elker is too blinded by how much money he’s making and breaks a pair of skies over Brumby’s head and locks him in a room. Soon enough, Junior saves a family from being crushed by the blizzard as it destroys their house. He soon finds rescue St. Bernards being sent out. An avalanche soon piles up to crush the lodge, so Junior lifts up the whole lodge and waits until its settled to set it back down. Within, Elker goes to stab Brumby with a ski pole so no one will know that he ordered him to keep using the Snow-Machine, only for Junior to fly in and punch him out. Brumby thanks him as Junior drags Elker to jail. Sometime later, Freddy finds the Snow-Machine was broken in the avalanche, the blizzard has ended, and Elker will only get one kind of weather in prison.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Battles The Sinister Snow!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Tim Brumby
Antagonists:
- John Elker
Other Characters:
- Rescue St. Bernards
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- Purple Mountain Region
- Elker's Ski Lodge Resort
- New York City
Items:
- Brumby's Snow-Making Machine (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Meets The Last Man on Earth"
In the future, only one man is left alive on Earth, Kenneth Ozgar. He is shocked to hear that there’s someone knocking at his door though, interrupting his sad, lonely writing. In the past, Freddy Freeman sees absent-minded Professor Edgewise about to walk into an open manhole while he’s peddling papers and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to cover up the manhole in time. Edgewise says that careless won’t matter anymore, since he read a study that says the Earth’s topsoil will die out in 782,000 years, which will stop growing plants, dooming all life n the planet. Junior decides to look into this odd idea and hangs off the Rock of Eternity to travel to the distant future of 783,951 CE, where he soon finds and meets Kenneth Ozgar. Kenneth tells him that other humans do exist, but have left for other planets. Thus, he’s been living on strict rations to create a Soil-Making Machine that will convert inert rock into rich topsoil. Olivia, the last woman, and another guy, decide they’re leaving for Venus and that Kenneth has been working on this invention for months. Junior decides to help Kenneth and finds that the Soil-Machine can be fixed to work correctly and goes about twisting up some metal parts he needs for precision tool work while Kenneth cooks some food. However, the food starts to create a scent for wild wolves, starving from lack of food (having eaten other animals to survive,) but Junior throws them away pretty easily. They finish up the tools and drill up some lubricating oil. Junior goes to test it and Kenneth starts to become worried after a long night of no word back from him… assuming now that he’s the last man on Earth. However, he turns and hears a knock at the door and finds that Olivia has been flown back to a now fertile topsoil Earth by the World’s Mightiest Boy. Freddy says that later, many people returned to the fertile Earth again.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. Meets The Last Man on Earth"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Kenneth Ozgar
Antagonists:
- Wild Wolves
Other Characters:
- Olivia
- A Different Man
- Prof. Edgewise
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- New York City
- The Rock of Eternity
- The Year 783,951 CE
Items:
- Ozgar's Soil-Making Machine
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Moon on Fire"
Prof. Edgewise discovers that a large asteroid has “broken free” and is going to hit the Moon! He tells the University President and that he has to tell Mrs. Wagner he’ll be home late, but gets confused about the order of this business, so the President just calls the police on him and throws him in jail for “being crazy.” Freddy, Red and Leroy go down to bail him out and he tells Freddy that an asteroid is going to not only hit the Moon, but will light it on fire! Before Freddy can call his magic words, there’s a sudden and shocking blast of light that nearly makes a girder from a construction site fall on Prof. Edgewise. Freddy calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. and push it back into place as Edgewise says the Moon is on fire now, creating a horrible red second Sun in the sky. The added heat starts to weaken the polar ice caps and causing tidal waves everywhere. He consults with Prof. Edgewise about how long the Earth has to last and Edgewise says the Moon should go out in 72 hours, but all life on Earth would be dead by then. Thus, Junior physically shoves the Moon to a farther orbit, knowing that the Earth will be able to drag it back into orbit within 72 hours. Some days later, the Moon is back to normal, though Prof. Edgewise is busy eating tapioca pudding.
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and The Moon on Fire"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The President of the University
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Freddy's Newsstand
- New York City
- The Moon
Items:
- Tapioca Pudding
- A Girder
Vehicles:
Trivia
- It is not made clear how the Moon is able to light on fire in the vacuum of space where there is no oxygen.
See Also