Attention, Earth fools! We are close and now is the time to reveal the truth! We have come to conquer you! We give you one chance, Earth! Surrender in advance... or we will blast you to bits with a Million Atomic Cannon! 
- — Alien Warlords from the Pollux System
Captain Marvel Adventures #143 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1953.
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Starring in The Horror Hunt"
Captain Marvel regales the viewers of Station WHIZ-TV about a time he was in a horror movie… acting in one that was too close to the real thing! Billy Batson finds that cashew prices have risen by a fifth of a cent and Mr. Morris points out a jumper threatening to kill himself on a nearby building. Billy calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel, who flies with the Speed of Mercury… only to find the man has a jet pack of his own and that he intends to actually kill himself by blasting himself into the ionosphere where he’ll freeze, suffocate and then fall down elsewhere. Captain Marvel drags him to the ground and finds out this is Cecil Throckton, a movie mogul who has gone broke due to his bad movies. Cecil starts to get the crazy idea of getting Captain Marvel involved in a horror movie and threatens to jump in the river if he doesn’t do it. Captain Marvel says he’ll do it, but only if half the profits go to charity afterwards. However, Captain Marvel soon finds that he’s not a good actor, since he can move things effortlessly without straining his body in any way, which Captain Marvel is amazed to find takes some real effort. As they hear a loud roar from the cave, Captain Marvel is told he’ll be fighting puppets later in the studio, only to find that there’s a dragon inside the cave! The filming crew leg it and try to record the beast as it breathes atomic fire on to Captain Marvel’s chest while Captain Marvel punches the dragon, killing it and standing atop it like a big game hunter. Captain Marvel is much more shocked to find that the cave also contains a Roc, a Cyclops and a Sea Serpent. Captain Marvel defeats the Roc by hitting it with a windmill, then tying its leg to a big rock to keep it grounded while Cecil starts to record him from a Jeep and watches him using a huge pole to choke the Sea Serpent to death as it destroys an old galley set. Captain Marvel soon punches the Cyclops in the face and drapes it over a Trojan Horse lying around. Captain Marvel reseals the cave and is happy no one got hurt. Billy soon is returned and reports on Captain Marvel starring in the film. Cecil takes off in his Jeep to go edit the film while Billy finds a script he’s dropped on the ground… is actually a scroll warning about the Cave of Horrors he opened! Billy figures out that he tricked Captain Marvel into endangering people (and saving them) by opening the Cave of Horrors and Cecil rams into Billy, knocking him out. Billy wakes up, as usual, bound and gagged outside where Cecil is monologuing about how he fakes his suicide attempts too and that he’s going to get more shots by blowing up the Cave of Horrors, releasing its most dangerous monster, the “Formless Horror.” The gelatinous creature tries to subsume Billy into it as he cuts his gag on a sharp rock and calls SHAZAM, summoning Captain Marvel to throw his Jeep into the Formless Horror and it explodes, killing the creature with a huge chunk landing on Cecil’s head. Captain Marvel laughs it up and reseals the Cave of Horrors, then takes some footage of Cecil Throckton… in jail! Captain Marvel signs off, urging everyone to go see The Horror Hunt, especially since the proceeds go to charity and it could help save Mammoth Movies!
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Starring in The Horror Hunt"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Cecil Throckton
- Caged Horrors
- Dragon
- Roc
- Sea Serpent
- Cyclops
- The Formless Horror
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- The Mammoth Movie Studios
Items:
- Cecil Throckton's Jet Pack Tube
- Cecil Throckton's Film Camera
- A Prop Windmill
Vehicles:
- Cecil Throckton's Jeep
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "The Man In the Moon"
Billy Batson finds that local pharmacist and amateur scientific genius Doc Quartz has been out to lunch for almost a week now until he hears at a Station WHIZ Listening Post that he’s on the Moon! Billy calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel to fly to the Moon and look into things further. He soon finds Doc Quartz getting tangled in his climbing lines on the lunar regolith and takes him back to his ship where they can talk. Therein, Doc Quartz reveals he’s using his Atomic Rock Drill to cut a Welcome Monument to space travelers after picking up signals a month ago from space radio. The repeating message is that the aliens are telepathic and can project their thoughts like radio and also translates it into whatever language one speaks. What’s more, they’re on the way. Soon enough, the aliens arrive from the Pollux System. Doc Quartz asks Captain Marvel to keep the secret for the sake of surprise and they work together to start it, only for Doc Quartz to drop it, creating a nearly atomic accident until Captain Marvel is able to pin the drill against his chest, stopping it. Captain Marvel finds Doc Quartz working on the sign, which is a giant face, but he’s too close to easily tell who it is, not realizing that it’s a ridiculous modern art version of his own face, reading GREETINGS FROM CAPTAIN MARVEL, WORLD’S MIGHTIEST MORTAL! Captain Marvel laughs uproariously as Doc Quartz realizes that sculpting is not his forte and asks Captain Marvel to destroy it rather than leaving the Moon defaced. Captain Marvel soon hears the telepathic radio and hears that the aliens from Pollux are actually going to invade now that they’re closer and are wielding a Million Atomic Cannon. Captain Marvel flies out and finds he can’t find where a telepathic radio signal comes from and instead punches the Welcome Monument, changing it enough that it looks like his face grimacing seriously and reads now “WARNING FROM CAPTAIN MARVEL! THIS WORLD IS PROTECTED BY ME!” The Pollux Aliens decide to not invade the world and get into a panic trying to retreat in space. Returning to Earth with Doc Quartz, Captain Marvel points out that no one on Earth can see the Welcome Monument (it’s on the dark side of the Moon) but it did save the Earth from being invaded. Later, Doc decides he’s not reopening his pharmacy until he finishes inventing a way to turn the Moon around!
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "The Man In the Moon"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Pollux Aliens
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Doc Quartz's Pharmacy
- New York City
- The Moon
- The "Welcome" Monument
- The Pollux System, Gemini
Items:
- Doc Quartz's Atomic Rock Drill
Vehicles:
- Doc Quartz's Rocket-Ship
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Vengeful Vine!"
Billy Batson is announcing the Pilgrim Club, a society descended directly from the Plymouth Rock Pilgrims, one of which is Mr. Morris. Within, he finds that Pa Potter and Dexter Knox were preceded by Deacon Potter and Ezekial Knox, are also members. They start trying to remove junk at the Pilgrim Club to make for more space, but finds a coffin with a skeleton inside. Mr. Morris decides they’ll bury it and they’ll go back to remodeling the place next week. Billy finds it strange that nobody buried a dead body lying around for that long. That night, Pa Potter is attacked by a living vine that tries to strangle him, but wakes Ma Potter, who screams for help. Billy leaps out of bed and calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel, finding the vine has a purple flower with a witch’s face on them and follows it, not noticing it escaping into a storm drain. Captain Marvel soon hears shouting from Dexter Knox’s Private Laboratory and see him being thrown off his own roof by the vines. He tells Dexter he has no idea what kind of plant this is, but he’s going to stake out and watch all night. The next day, Billy arrives at Station WHIZ and resolves to warn people about the vines, only to see Mr. Morris swerving in his car, calling SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel uses the powerful vine attached to one of the wheel wells to drag it back into place, but when he tries to find the other end, it’s broken off. Over the coming nights, the vines strangle people in the night, throw a man into a furnace at his night job, and drag another man into the bay to drown him. Billy soon finds that these are all members of the Pilgrim Club and does some research to find that an Evil Witch cast this spell in 1628 when the Pilgrims accused her witchcraft and had her drowned. Before she died, she swallowed some strange kind of seeds and swore revenge forever. In fear of her rising again, they never buried the coffin, but kept watch over it, which is how the Pilgrim Club more or less got started. Billy goes to call Station WHIZ about it, but is choked out by the Witch Vine that drags him down the stairs to his basement! Billy finds it preparing to rip his limbs off and realizes it might feel pain, so he bites it hard and the Vine recoils enough for him to call SHAZAM and summon Captain Marvel, who tears the Witch Vine out by its roots, finding it’s grown through the witch’s corpse to grow from her. He tears the Witch Vine loose and destroys it and Billy later does an interview with Mr. Morris at the newly remodeled Pilgrim Club, reminding us that the Vine didn’t actually manage to kill anyone.
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Vengeful Vine!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- "Pa" Potter
- Dexter Knox, Boy Scientist
- Mr. Morris
Antagonists:
- The Witch's Vine (Destroyed)
Other Characters:
- "Ma" Potter
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Haven House
- Pilgrim Club
- Dexter Knox's Private Laboratory
- New York City
Items:
- A Coffin with a Dead Witch Inside
Vehicles:
- Mr. Morris' Car
Synopsis for Capt. Kid: "The Fishy Fish Yarn!"
Captain Kid returns from the river upset that he doesn’t have any fish to bring to the fish fry that night! To assuage this, he decides to go buy a fish and pretend he caught it. His friends show up before he can do all this and they mock him for talking big about how much he said he would do before and an offended Captain Kid claims he didn’t have time to catch any fish: while in the middle of the lake, he was trying to feel the temperature of the water, dropped his ring in the lake and had to dive in after it! He never found the ring, but when he went to the shore, he did catch one, but he ate it there. But while eating it, he bit down into something hard! When he asks them to guess what it was and his friends presume it was the ring, he jokes instead and says “No…. A fishbone!” and they punch him in the face for making a bad joke. A battered Captain Kid takes a quantum of solace in knowing that they won’t be thinking about him having not caught any fish at least.
Appearing in Capt. Kid: "The Fishy Fish Yarn!"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Kid
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Pudgy (Final appearance)
- Captain Kid's Other "Friends"
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Podunk City
- A Lake Near Podunk City
- Podunk City
Items:
- A Bait Bucket
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and The Human Hawks!"
Billy Batson is reporting from Station WHIZ-TV about a discovery of an unexplored portion of the Himalayas. To try to look into it, famed explorer Dudley Wright has leaped across them with a rocket. Billy soon meets him in the Kingdom of Nepal, only to find his craft has been seized by some form of winged man and calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel. He finds the violent “Human Hawks” speak in an “Ancient Sanscrit,” but when Captain Marvel translates, he gets quiet and is arrested by the Nepalese Police. Soaring into the valley himself, Captain Marvel finds that a fairy-like Butterfly Girl also exist in this valley, but are attacked by more Human Hawks while she’s collecting nectar from a very big flower. Captain Marvel flings the nectar at the Human Hawks, making them fall from their flight. The Butterfly Girl says that they are the two tribes left alive in this isolated valley, since no one ever crossed the mountains and they are trapped in the bullying realm of the Human Hawks, who also captured Dudley Wright. Captain Marvel tries to fly directly into the Human Hawks’ base, but finds this time-consuming, then throws giant flower petals everywhere to confuse them. Flying in, he punches out the Human Hawks, but finds out that Dudley has joined them and wants to teach them how to use Booster Jets to invade the Kingdom of Nepal. Captain Marvel asks why he’s doing this and the Human Hawks leave with Dudley in tow before he can answer and Captain Marvel is confused to find them mysteriously gone. He calls SHAZAM and returns Billy, who’s immediately noticed and captured by Human Hawks, who drag him to be a slave to their new ally. Dudley himself punches Billy in the face when he arrives and he wakes up, as usual, bound and gagged and strapped to a jet pack that rockets him into the Himalayas. Billy finds that by angling his feet into the jet-stream behind him, he can slide down a mountainside on his chest, slipping his gag and calling SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel once more.
Flying back to the Human Hawks HQ, he rolls a giant snowball into the invading Human Hawks and burns down their grass eyries. The Butterfly People soon show Captain Marvel that Dudley was fed some kind of “poison” that “turned his mind evil” but gives him a nectar-based antidote. The Butterfly People promise they remain in the valley and be peaceful collecting their nectar, which Captain Marvel is fine with. Later, Billy rewards Dudley with a medal for being the Last Explorer and that everywhere on Earth has finally been explored, though Dudley implies he might have some spots he might want to visit...
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and The Human Hawks!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- The Butterfly People
Antagonists:
- The Human Hawks
Other Characters:
- Dudley Wright, the Last Explorer
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- The Kingdom of Nepal
- The Lost Valley of the Human Hawks
Items:
- Giant Flower Petals
- Bowls of Giant Flower Nectar
- Poison that Makes People Evil
Vehicles:
- Dudley Wright's Rocket Tube
Trivia
- The "Formless Horror" would predate the hit film The Blob by nearly five years!
- This issue marks the final and mysterious disappearance of Al Jetter, Art Editor for Captain Marvel Adventures
See Also