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This is an in-universe article with out-of-universe material.

This article covers information about something that exists within the DC Universe, and should not contain out-of-universe material. Please remove all out-of-universe material, or include it in a separate section at the bottom of the article. And take off that silly costume.

"Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and The Book of All Knowledge"": The Wizard Shazam speaks on the nature of a book written near the dawn of creation that contains all knowledge past, present and future and whatever is written in it will certainly come to pass. Only one man has ever refused t

Captain Marvel Adventures #93 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1949.

Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and The Book of All Knowledge"

The Wizard Shazam speaks on the nature of a book written near the dawn of creation that contains all knowledge past, present and future and whatever is written in it will certainly come to pass. Only one man has ever refused to heed the warnings of such thing and this is his story: Marcus Eyon is an archaeologist excavating the Tomb of Shazam, mostly since he thinks there’s treasure inside, finding a well-preserved book that he deems to be some form of encyclopedia, but written in a language he just so happens to be able to read. Back in New York, Billy wakes up having heard the Ghost of the Wizard Shazam calling his name and calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel, returning to the Abandoned Subway Tunnel wherein his lair lies. He lights the mystic brazier and Shazam addresses his son to tell him that a “despoiler” has entered his tomb and taken the Book of All Knowledge. What’s worse, he can tell that Eyon is an evil man who will use his knowledge for profit. Captain Marvel offers to go there personally, but Shazam says he is no longer in Egypt, but on the way to Rome, offering he look for him in the Catacombe di Roma. Thus, he flies off to do so.

Within the Catacombs of Rome, Eyon tests his discovery from the past by checking on where the Book of All Knowedge claims Emperor Nero Claudius purposefully started the Burning of Rome to cover up stealing a ton of treasure from it, which he finds to be true when his men unearth it. Eyon then decides he won’t share it with the workmen and goes for a “dead men tell no tales” offer via a gun in his hand. Luckily, Captain Marvel flies in at just this moment, tiring from trying to find his way through the Catacombs and instead just crashes through the walls to get to him, blocking the hail of gunfire! Captain Marvel orders him to turn over the Book, but Eyon refuses, tossing a stick of lit dynamite at the roof of the cave and scarpers while Captain Marvel is buried under the rubble. The workers are terrified that he’s dead, but the World’s Mightiest Mortal soon emerges himself and drops them off elsewhere, telling him that the treasure of Nero’s Hoard is now the property of the Italian Republic.

Eyon moves on to find riches in the present and consults the Book to find find that a Tibetan monk named “Fo-Sar” has discovered a way to turn dirt into gold and decides to look into this while Captain Marvel is tracking him to Bombay, then to a town in Tibet named Vloten 70 miles inland. A day and a half later, Eyon nears the Yaki Monastery wherein Fo-Sar lives, discovering his gold machine. Fo-Sar however reveals he intends to use it to solve the problems of mankind, only for Eyon to threaten him with his handgun once more. Hearing Captain Marvel outside the window approaching, he instead pistol-whips him and changes clothes with him to escape the Monastery of the Yaki Tribe. Captain Marvel finds Fo-Sar is luckily still alive, but he admits that the temptation of man’s greed is too much for the Gold Machine to continue existing and promises to destroy it. Eyon finally tries to seek riches from the future in a nearby Tibetan cave, finding from the Book of All Knowledge that one “Joachim Leopold” in 2388 CE will discover a way to split the atom using solar heat and works on simplistic enough of a principle that anyone can do it. Doing so, he charges a normal rock with enough atomic energy to more or less create an atom bomb, hoping that it will be enough to destroy the World’s Mightiest Mortal. Captain Marvel arrives in time to run hands first into the rock, which does create a nuclear explosion large enough to destroy the entire mountain and quarry Eyon was in, including Eyon himself! Naturally, Captain Marvel is unharmed entirely and takes possession of the Book of All Knowledge back. We end with the Wizard Shazam telling us that Eyon foolishly didn’t read further enough to see where it read that someone who attempted Leopold’s experiments in 1948 died trying to… and that it was Marcus Eyon himself and that he could not save himself from his own folly, for so shall it is written, it must be…

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and The Book of All Knowledge"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Marcus Eyon (Dies)

Other Characters:

  • Fo-Sar
  • Emperor Nero (Mentioned only)
  • Joachim Leopold (Mentioned only)

Locations:

Items:

  • The Book of All Knowledge
  • The Gold-Making Machine
  • Emperor Nero's Hoard
  • Atomic Rock

Vehicles:




Synopsis for Capt. Kid: "Capt. Kid and The Goat's Tale"

Captain Kid is pasting a large poster for a Captain Marvel movie playing at the Avon Theater called "Shazam Power," since the Manager therein offered him two free tickets if he put up posters around town. His ostensible girlfriend, Betty Mae, is tenuous, but accepts this for now. Minutes later, the Manager forks them over, but Betty Mae snatches them, accusing Captain Kid of being "careless" often. They're suddenly attacked by a goat that steal their tickets and is due to swallow them soon, prompting them to chase it into Joe's Barnyard through a hole in the fence large enough for an entire goat to fit through. Captain Kid finds the goat continually moves away when he moves closer and tries to use the "old bullfighter" trick to shake a red handkerchief at it. However, a larger goat behind him that he doesn't see butts him in the rump, knocking him off his feet and on his rear. While recovering and trying to pick up his handkerchief though, the original goat rams him in the rear as well, making Captain Kid slam him head into a tree as well. He climbs the tree and hopes to drop down on to the goat, but ends up landing butt-first on its horns just as Betty Mae arrives to tell him that those were two different shopping lists she had in her other hand, meaning she had the tickets that entire time! The goat seems pleased by this as it bucks off Captain Kid.

Appearing in Capt. Kid: "Capt. Kid and The Goat's Tale"

Featured Characters:

  • Captain Kid

Supporting Characters:

  • Betty Mae

Antagonists:

  • Two Goats

Other Characters:

  • The Manager of the Avon Theatre

Locations:

  • Earth-S
    • Podunk
      • The Avon Theater
      • Joe's Barnyard

Items:

  • Two Tickets to Shazam Power

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel — The World's Greatest Lawyer!"

We are introduced to star defendant lawyer Horace Slyby, who has a reputation for big stunts in court that happen to pay off. He illustrates this by “proving” a gun couldn’t be the murder weapon by attempting to pick it up and shoot himself in the head in court, and calls for dismissal of all charges, which he does. But to himself, he snickers about how he plugged the chambers with sealing wax in the cartridges! Similarly in the State v. “Two-Gun” Klench, he just brings a second unidentified man into the courtroom that looks exactly like Klench, which he uses to prove the witness couldn’t identify him beyond reasonable doubt, which Horace snickers over since he just paid some petty crook to get plastic surgery to look exactly like accused murderer “Two-Gun” Klench. On the steps outside the court, Klench thanks him, but Horace says he only does it for the money and he still owes him $50,000, which Klench points out his men are just going to steal from the Oats Exchange Bank to pay him with, then drives directly there. They find Captain Marvel is on the scene and are stunned to find that shooting him yields predictable results and he easily defeats the two goons by throwing one into the other. Later, Klench complain loudly how something should be done about Captain Marvel and Horace decides he’ll take the case and that he’ll frame him for the high cost of $1,000,000 using more plastic surgery…

Days later, Captain Marvel goes into his office and finds a man who looks exactly like “Two-Gun” Klench dead on the floor, then immediately picks up the gun he had on him. The cops show up right behind him on an anonymous tip and immediately arrest the World’s Mightiest Mortal, pending trial for murder! Horace, a defense attorney, shows up to tell him that he’s been indicted by a grand jury and that many witnesses have testified that Captain Marvel was going to “get” Klench. Captain Marvel meant because he’s a criminal, but Horace purposefully misreads this as “he only killed him because he’s a criminal.” Horace pretends to sympathize and takes the case pro bono, thinking how he intends to ruin him further. Days later, the trial begins and they cart out Klench’s widow who says she can’t afford to feed her three children now, the arresting officer and a random man who he asks if Klench was living in fear of Captain Marvel, who instead doesn’t answer that and says that “Captain Marvel has a terrible, quick temper!” Public opinion soon falls apart entirely as we see a man wearing what is clearly a fake beard and dark glasses in the background, who Captain Marvel directly recognizes. Instead of representing himself, Captain Marvel resigns himself that Horace will get him a life sentence if he’s lucky and then realizes that that man was “Two-Gun” Klench the whole time. Using a hairbrush and his cape, Captain Marvel manages to convince the guards he’s sleeping in bed, then just pulls the bars out of his jail cell quietly to fly off. Heading to Slyby’s, he finds Klench and Horace are working together and grabs Klench by the mouth once he’s alone and says he’s going to get a movie camera and go to his office.

The next day, Captain Marvel introduces evidence seemingly during his own sentencing, stating he does have new evidence that proves that Horace is the one who did it! Horace says he’s crazy, but the Judge allows it as Captain Marvel plays a film directly showing Horace entering his office to shoot Klench! Horace says it’s a lie, because he spoke with Klench last night, outing himself and proving that he’s an accomplice to a murder frame-up. Captain Marvel reveals once Horace is arrested that he couldn’t accuse Horace easily, that Klench is in a prison cell already and that he could have likely argued to get himself acquitted… unless he outed himself! The Judge asks how he got that video, but Captain Marvel says he just got an actor to play Horace Slyby and the Judge declares that Captain Marvel is the World’s Greatest Lawyer!

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel — The World's Greatest Lawyer!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • Horace Slyby, Esq.
  • "Two-Gun" Klench

Other Characters:

  • Impostor "Two-Gun" Klench (Dies)

Locations:

Items:

  • Hairbrush

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and His Bad Star"

Mr. Morris brings in Orion the Astrologer, who's hoping to get a horoscope-predicting show at the station. He tries to prove his abilities by reading Captain Marvel's fortune, and declares the hero's under a "bad star" and everything he tries will go wrong. This seems to come true, as Captain Marvel keeps trying to capture the aptly-named "Dodger" Duke, but Orion keeps tripping him up and letting the crook slip away. Finally, Captain Marvel manages to get one over on Dodger, and a badly-battered Orion says he misread as he's the one who everything went wrong for.

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and His Bad Star"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • "Dodger" Duke
  • Orion the Astrologer

Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:



Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Bridge to the Future"

Professor Theophilus Craig creates a bridge that seems to end in midair, but lets anyone who crosses it travel to the year 2048 (for $5.) He exalts in the possibilities, but the downsides are quickly made evident when an embezzler flees across the bridge to escape the law. He's caught by Captain Marvel when he's held up trying to spend his stolen money, which is useless as they've adopted a new currency system in the future. Things continue to get worse when more crooks cross the bridge trying to steal from the future city, figuring they can't be prosecuted when they retreat to the past because their crimes won't have been committed. Captain Marvel catches them and brings them back, but then thieves from the future cross the bridge into 1948. All valuables are worthless in the future with how they can manufacture gold and jewels, and there's no scientific discoveries worth stealing in the past. Instead, Captain Marvel catches them trying to steal coal, which is all used up in the future. With how his discovery was only abused, Professor Craig dynamites his bridge to end the madness.

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Bridge to the Future"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Professor Theophilus Craig

Antagonists:

  • An Embezzler
  • Thieves from the Past
  • Thieves from the Future

Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:

  • The Bridge to the Future (Destroyed)
  • Atomotors
  • Gold
  • Coal

Vehicles:


Trivia

  • Despite the cover, Marcus Eyon does not physically beat the Wizard Shazam to get the Book of All Knowledge and Captain Marvel does not punch him out before Shazam's Throne.
  • The Book of All Knowledge seems to be an evolution of the Historama, as it will later become one and the same on New Earth: a book containing any knowledge needed for the Wizard Shazam.
    • The Book of All Knowledge seems to be distinct from Prof. Universe's book Human Knowledge, which also claimed to contain the entirety of human knowledge from Special Edition Comics# 1 (of 1)
  • At no point in Captain Marvel's imprisonment pending trial for murder, does he resort to his most reasonable tactic of "returning to being Billy Batson, who isn't being accused of murder."
  • It is not explained why Horace would feign he had a loaded weapon in a courtroom or why the jury would think that he would have been allowed to load a revolver in the courtroom with the express end of pointing it at his own head and firing.
  • Since Captain Marvel's canon birthday is Leap Day, meaning he's not a Scorpio, but a Pisces, which isn't met with detriment by a star, but by the planets Mercury or Venus


See Also


Links and References

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