By going to the Rock of Eternity, I can visit any time period I wish.
Captain Marvel Adventures #112 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1950.
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Fights the History Hoax"
Billy Batson is an MC on a new quiz program, only for one of the contestants to claim that he discovered the North Pole in 1902 and that he’s a famed explorer, Sir Christopher Hudson. He notes that he did carve his name into the rock, but it’s certainly covered by ice and that nobody would believe him because he’s 500 years old and drank from the Fountain of Youth back in 1490 when he beat Cristoforo Columbo traveling to the New World by two years. He also shows on a helpful card that he anticipated the California Gold Rush by two years also. Sir Christopher offers that Captain Marvel could sure help him find the markers he needs to “prove” his landmark discoveries by being witness to them himself and will name him as the Greatest Explorer of All Time. Billy figures in his office that it would be pretty crazy if Sir Christopher was telling the truth and calls SHAZAM to have Captain Marvel investigate further by swinging off the Rock of Eternity and into the past of 1902 and finds soon that Sir Christopher has arrived there two years earlier than Commander Peary’s expedition, only for his dogs to break free from his sled, forcing Captain Marvel to rescue him and his snow dogs. Captain Marvel pretends like he wasn’t there, willing to accept Sir Christopher’s claims, but once he’s gone again, Sir Christopher snickers about how he’s been pulling a hoax on Captain Marvel to become famous!
Next, Captain Marvel travels back to 1847 to see if Sir Christopher anticipated James Marshall and soon finds Sir Christopher has seemingly found gold in them there hills. Two bandits rush in to attack Sir Christopher, but as they ride in and kick up dust, Captain Marvel punches the two horses in the flanks, making them run off with the bandits. Sir Christopher again snickers to himself on how he’s done a great job of fooling the World’s Mightiest Mortal. Heading back to 1490, Captain Marvel finds that Sir Christopher Hudson certainly seems to have discovered the New World faster, finding friendly Natives there, but less friendly alligators that Captain Marvel punches over easily. Now that he’s confirmed all three cases, Captain Marvel reveals himself and shakes hands with Sir Christopher. However, on his way to go, Captain Marvel realizes that Sir Christopher referred to him by name which he shouldn’t be able to do (chronologically, they’ve never met!) To test things further, he calls SHAZAM to return Billy Batson, who Sir Christopher also recognizes despite it being 1490. When Billy calls him out on this, Sir Christopher smacks him in the head with the flat of his sword, knocking him out. When Billy comes to, he’s bound and gagged and “Sir” Christopher admits that he stole a Time Ship from a scientist and set up this whole madcap quest for Captain Marvel to “validate” his ideal of being a great explorer. To that end, he throws Billy in a river to be eaten by alligators while “Sir” Christopher leaves to the modern times of 1950 once more. Billy manages to slip his gag on an alligator’s sharp teeth and calls SHAZAM, summoning Captain Marvel who flies back to the future and Captain Marvel punches Christopher out of the car he’s riding in a big parade and takes him to prison. Later, Captain Marvel waves to people in a more fitting parade to honor explorers like Comm. Peary and Cristoforo Columbo.
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Fights the History Hoax"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- "Sir" Christopher Hudson
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- A Time Ship
Synopsis for Captain Kid: "Car Crazy"
Captain Kid is out with Pudgy trying to find a date for the dance tomorrow at the Skating Rink and if he cleans the manager’s midget car, he’ll get to drive it around and look totally cool… even if the Manager doesn’t know that Captain Kid plans on it. The Manager tosses Captain Kid the keys and says not to turn it on, since they’re harder to handle than normal cars. Captain Kid decides to do that anyways as Pudgy tells him they shouldn’t do this, mostly since Captain Kid doesn’t have any experience with normal cars either. The two accidentally drive on to a midget car track… only for all the other cars to crash around them while swerving. Captain Kid insists he’s an expert at driving by flooring it before they can be beaten by violent motorists… only to drive into a fire hydrant. Later, Captain Kid is being forced to sweep the skating rink while nursing a broken arm and a head injury...
Appearing in Captain Kid: "Car Crazy"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Kid
Supporting Characters:
- Pudgy
Antagonists:
- Manager of the Skating Rink
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Podunk
- The Skating Rink
- A Midget Car Racetrack
- Podunk
Items:
Vehicles:
- A Midget Car
- Other Midget Cars (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Myth That Came True"
Like most mornings, writer Alfred Henningwhey gets a rejection for another story he’s wrote, Jong, the Human Bloodhound Gets His Man, about the world’s greatest Tibetan detective. This last one makes 128 so far about Jong, a Tibetan man who definitely doesn’t actually exist, but Hemmingwhey decides he’ll do something to claim that the “Oriental Detective” is coming to America! He soon tells Billy Batson about Jong “coming” to “visit” on the SS India the next day. However, hearing the stories of the Greatest Detective in the World, known gangster “Reaper” Regan, who decides that after having killed 5 cops, 8 detectives, 11 rivals and 16 other people, he’ll kill Jong as well. The next day, Billy goes to meet “Jong” in person and Hemmingwhey runs aboard the ship to put on a very racist mask to pretend to be Jong. Regan tries to shove a huge crate off of the SS India to crush “Jong” to death, only for Billy to call SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel, pushing him out of the way to safety. However, in the fracas, the Jong mask is ripped while Captain Marvel goes after Regan who shoots open a crate of live King cobras instead. Captain Marvel returns and finds that Jong clearly isn’t real due to the broken mask and Captain Marvel chides him severely for not being honest with people! On the way to get him to admit his wrongdoings on a Station WHIZ broadcast, Captain Marvel realizes that the story of Jong was enough to lure out Reaper Regan and decides that he’ll use a different similar racist mask to try to trap Regan and announces on WHIZ-TV that Jong is going to catch Regan by hunting him across the East Side.
At night, Billy follows “Jong” (since Captain Marvel is too showy,) but is knocked out in the dark by Regan and his men and Hemmingwhey, as “Jong,” uses his confidence to bluff that they won’t manage to shoot him, which distracts the goons long enough for Billy to recover and call SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel, who quickly arrests them all. Later, Captain Marvel decides that they can use the story of Jong further to intimidate criminals and Billy more or less recruits him into getting his own TV show where he tells his many storied detective tales.
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Myth That Came True"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Alfred Henningwhey / "Jong the Human Bloodhound"
Antagonists:
- "Reaper" Regan
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
- The Original Jong Mask (Destroyed)
- The Second Jong Mask
Vehicles:
- The SS India
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Worrybird Terror"
Billy Batson is meeting with Roy Drooze, an explorer returning from a jungle expedition, but Drooze has had some form of mental breakdown where he screams loudly about the slightest worry when his caged bird is nearby. Billy decides to help by calling SHAZAM to have the World’s Mightiest Mortal carry him to the hospital directly. When they arrive though, his doctor makes it clear that nothing is wrong with Drooze: he’s become a paranoid hypochondriac and that he should be fine in a few days. Drooze begs Captain Marvel to take care of his very rare bird, the prize specimen. Later, after Billy’s broadcast, he brings the bird to Mr. Morris’ office and voices his worries that being involved in radio makes him feel like he’s become part of a dying form of media and they both start to become worried about how much these things are costing, making Mr. Morris worry that he’ll be ruined soon. Billy doomscrolls on the teletype to find that the steamship Bolivar has run aground on a reef outside the harbor and calls SHAZAM so Captain Marvel can investigate while taking the rare bird with him. When he arrives, the Captain is at first completely unwilling to try letting Captain Marvel easily push the ship off the reef. While he isn’t looking setting down the cage, the very rare bird flies away… and everyone starts to feel more relieved than they were! Captain Marvel makes sure the Bolivar makes it to harbor while the Prize Bird flies into the New York Stock Exchange, nearly causing a new Great Depression until Captain Marvel disperses the crowd by punching the sidewalk a few times. When Captain Marvel finds the bird again and finds the President of the NYSE gets really depressed talking to it… the Bird is causing anxiety in people! Removing him from the room, the Stock Exchange levels out again and Captain Marvel decides to take this “Worrybird” back to the jungle where it won’t harm society. Later, Captain Marvel confirms with Drooze that the bird literally just gives you telepathic anxiety and that the only worry they have now is finding that bird ever again!
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Worrybird Terror"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Roy Drooze, explorer
Antagonists:
- The Worrybird
Other Characters:
- President of the New York Stock Exchange Emil Schram
- Captain of the Bolivar
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- WHIZ Radio
- The New York Stock Exchange
- New York City
Items:
- A Teletype Machine
Vehicles:
- The Steamship Bolivar
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Man Who Owned All the Wheels"
Joshua Dun is a man who hates the noisy nature of the modern world. One day, he finds his great-great grandfather left him a document that claims and proves that his ancestor invented the wheel itself! Soon, he files a patent for the concept of wheels, facing many challenges in court, but he finds that he now controls the patent and has started just ordering cops to remove wheels from cars, saying that rims and watches run on wheels and that he’s shutting down the drawbridge too. To avoid having to deal with his ranting madness, Captain Marvel ties a long steel cable to the cars and pulls them along through the air with the Strength of Hercules. When this doesn’t change his tune any, Captain Marvel flies him to the countryside, pointing out that wheels are also helpful to farmers too and then to show him Australian Aborigines, who have lived the same way they did since 5,000 BCE, saying that many did not live long lives and helps the Aborigines by punching out a hungry dingo attacking them. Further, he points out that though many cities worked well in the ancient times, they still stand and have too many citizens living there without enough hunters to hunt for them all. Captain Marvel sets him down for a moment to stop two trains from almost colliding while Dun decides that he’s not going to let trains exist anymore because he thinks that they only cause accidents and that he’s quitting society as a whole also. Captain Marvel goes to spread this news, only for Joshua Dun to be bit by a snake. Captain Marvel wryly points out that he cannot use telephones or ambulances to get him to safety, since those all require wheels as do wheels to take him to an OR or the serum used in a cold storage vault, which can only shut if it has wheels in it. Dun agrees to rescind his ridiculous demands and is taken to a hospital. Later, the doctor tells Captain Marvel that Dun was actually fine and was bitten by a non-venomous snake the whole time, but Dun has also changed his ways and become a happier person due to it. Billy signs off later reporting on how Joshua now runs a wheel of his own… a Ferris Wheel!
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Man Who Owned All the Wheels"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Joshua Dun
- A Large Dingo
Other Characters:
- An Aboriginal Tribe
Locations:
Items:
- Wheels
Vehicles:
- Joshua Dun's Ferris Wheel
Trivia
- Much like in the real world, Earth-S for a long time considered that Captain Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. discovered the North Pole, which has been disproven since 1989. Captain Marvel suspiciously never confirms if Capt. Peary succeeded in reaching the North Pole himself.
- This issue implies that someone on Earth-S, Joshua Dun, does in fact hold a valid patent to all wheels, but was also generous enough to permit their continued use in everyday life.
- "Reaper" Regan accidentally misspells his own surname as "Reagan" on a personal list of people that he murdered.
- Unlike many issues of Captain Marvel Adventures, Mister Tawky Tawny does not appear this time, but will return next month.
See Also