Mary Marvel #17 is an issue of the series Mary Marvel (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1947.
Synopsis for Mary Marvel, the World's Mightiest Girl!: "Mary Marvel and the Dog-Nappers"
Mary Batson goes to visit Uncle Dudley at Shazam, Inc., but finds that business is lofty lately. A rich woman named Mrs. Upcreek begs for their help finding her dog, Brutus, and gives Uncle Dudley a written description. He promises the dog will be back in 24 hours and Mary finds the description went out the window by accident. Uncle Dudley presumes that with a name like “Brutus,” he’s likely a big dog and changes into Uncle Marvel to go to the dog pound. He accidentally leaves a door open and the dogs run out, forcing Mary to call SHAZAM to become Mary Marvel and gather them up quickly. They decide to see if he’s been reported found in the paper and they find that kidnappers are demanding $10,000 ransom. Uncle Marvel goes to deliver the ransom, but reveals that it’s fake money and tries to cross up with him, but he merely throws the money in Uncle Marvel’s face while his goon, Mike, kicks him in the tailbone. Mary hears him and calls SHAZAM and becomes Mary Marvel, punching them off of him and Mike and his boss, “Barky” Bowzer. They manage to wrangle the dog, who leads them to Barky’s hideout. Uncle Marvel grabs one of their guns and holds the goons up, but Barky calls in his other attack dog, Rex, who bites him in the rear. Mary Marvel charges in to find that they’re all laughing at Uncle Marvel, who is hanging from a light fixture on the ceiling. They defeat the goons quickly and find Brutus was locked in a closet and satiate the attack dogs with some meat in the fridge. They’re soon arrested and go to deliver Brutus back to his owner. Unfortunately, they find that this isn’t Brutus, but a neighbor’s dog named Bonzo who also went missing. Suddenly, a tiny Chihuahua leaps out of a fruit bowl and bites Uncle Marvel on the hand, revealing that Brutus was hiding in her house all along!
Appearing in Mary Marvel, the World's Mightiest Girl!: "Mary Marvel and the Dog-Nappers"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Dog-Nappers
- "Barky" Bowzer
- Mike
- Rex (watchdog)
Other Characters:
- Mrs. Upcreek
- Brutus (dog)
- Bozo (dog)
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Shazam, Inc.
- The Upcreek Estate
Items:
- A Fruit Bowl
- Meat
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Freshman Freddy: "The Diamond Ace"
Freddy is the Bat Boy for the Podunk U Baseball team as the Coach orders him to take all the bats ready. Suddenly, Freddy gets a telegram from his father, saying he’s very proud to hear he’s on the baseball team and they’re coming to see “his” big game against Squeedunk that afternoon. The Coach is supportive, but points out Freddy isn’t very good at baseball, since he can’t catch. The Coach offers he start as a pitcher and let himself get beaned in the arm, then he’ll have a semi-legitimate reason to go sit down for the rest of the game. Freddy throws Ball 1 by throwing it to first base instead. He manages to get one strike. He tries to throw it high and gets strike two, then strike three. Freddy tries to call the “My arm hurts” method, but the Coach says he’s a crackerjack pitcher and it’s working. Nine innings later, Freshman Freddy pitches a no-hit, no-run game, amazing everyone. Freddy’s Father shakes his hand and everyone agrees he’s the best pitcher they’ve ever seen.
Appearing in Freshman Freddy: "The Diamond Ace"
Featured Characters:
- Freshman Freddy
Supporting Characters:
- Podunk U Baseball Coach
Antagonists:
- The Squeedunk Tech Baseball Team
Other Characters:
- Earth-S
- Podunk
- Podunk University
- Podunk
Items:
- Baseball Bats
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Mary Marvel, the World's Mightiest Girl!: "Mary Marvel and Aunt Agatha's Secret!"
Mary Batson, as usual, is on vacation somewhere boring, a small town hanging out with a lovable elderly lady about town named “Aunt” Agatha, delivering food to the needy. She notes that she’s feeling blue because her ancestral home is going up for foreclosure. Mary asks if there’s anyway to pay the mortgage, but Aunt Agatha says that Horace Scrunch would never sell it to her, since she refused to sell herself for years until he managed to buy out her mortgage. She especially wants a trunk in her attic from her Great-Great-Great Aunt who was accused of witchcraft centuries ago. Aunt Agatha gets out an umbrella and goes out. At the big house, Horace Scrunch thinks that having a big house will make people not look down on him and gloats loudly about how Aunt Agatha didn’t read the deed very well. Aunt Agatha kicks the door open and into Horace’s face, saying that he doesn’t all the stuff in the house and says she wants her trunk back and she’s going to go get it. Horace refuses and tries to beat her with a lamp, only for Mary to call SHAZAM and become Mary Marvel, who tackles him out of the way. Mary Marvel punches him over and carries Aunt Agatha out of the window and she admits that he might have a legal right to her trunk due to her having misread the deed and he seems to have the only copy.
Mary Marvel decides to go check the City Hall of Records about it and that night, Aunt Agatha just climbs up the ivy trellis on the side of the building and sneaks back into the attic on her own, deciding she’ll lower it out with a rope. She cracks it open to find that it includes one of her Great-Great-Great Aunt’s dresses and a proclamation saying she’s a witch. She accidentally scratches her wrist on a splintered piece of wood. She rubs a salve from the chest on it and finds that she can now suddenly fly! Horace finds the witch order and her escaping as she rides on her umbrella to guide herself via the Magic Ointment. Mary Marvel finds that Scrunch has no claim to the contents of th ehouse and a special clause says that an original family member actually can’t be evicted from it, meaning Horace was lying about it. Aunt Agatha decides to try going back for the Magic Ointment, but Mary Marvel returns and says that they can just take what they need from Agatha’s house, but everyone is really freaked out about seeing a witch flying through the night. Aunt Agatha decides when she’s gone that she must retake the Magic Ointment or Scrunch will use it for wickedness. She finds that she enjoys using an umbrella and flying, but Mary Marvel soon confronts her about this. She admits it all and they decide to go get the Magic Ointment, which Mary Marvel wants to study. Aunt Agatha expresses worry that she’s going to be stigmatized as a Witch, only for Horace to rush in and just snatch the jar from Mary Marvel. They both insist he not mess with it, but he rubs a lot of it on his arm and floats out the window and starts falling into the sky, since he doesn’t have any guiding tool with him, but whilst holding the Ointment. They decide not to go after him. Mary Marvel lets Aunt Agatha know that she never needed to leave her house in the first place and that Aunt Agatha who is regretful that she won’t be able to fly anymore, even if it seemed to unnerve her neighborhood. Mary Marvel makes sure to state that no one ever saw Horace again.
Appearing in Mary Marvel, the World's Mightiest Girl!: "Mary Marvel and Aunt Agatha's Secret!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Aunt Agatha
Antagonists:
- Horace Scrunch
Other Characters:
- A Man at the Records Office
Locations:
- Earth-S
- A Little Old Town
- Aunt Agatha's House
- The City Hall of Records
- A Little Old Town
Items:
- Aunt Agatha's Umbrella
- Aunt Agatha's Magic Ointment
Vehicles:
Notes
- The Dog-Nappers is reprinted in Shazam! #8.
Trivia
- Despite the cover, Aunt Agatha doesn't wear a blue dress and shoes with a summer hat riding a broom, instead wearing mostly black and riding an umbrella. She also has white hair and purposefully only flies at night.
See Also