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in: Comics Published by Fawcett Publications, Otto Binder/Writer, Wendell Crowley/Editor,
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The Marvel Family Vol 1 41

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"Marvel Family: "The Marvel Family and the Great Oxygen Theft"": At Station WHIZ, Billy gets a transmission in from Dr. Sivana, saying that he needs help on a planet in the Sirius system that’s in trouble and this will also break Sivana’s heart. The good-natured Billy decides to look into this,

The Marvel Family #41 is an issue of the series The Marvel Family (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1949.

Synopsis for Marvel Family: "The Marvel Family and the Great Oxygen Theft"

At Station WHIZ, Billy gets a transmission in from Dr. Sivana, saying that he needs help on a planet in the Sirius system that’s in trouble and this will also break Sivana’s heart. The good-natured Billy decides to look into this, calling up Mary and Freddy to meet him and call SHAZAM and CAPTAIN MARVEL to become the Marvel Family and fly off to the distant planet, the only one in the system. Arriving, Sivana exits his large green rocket-ship and says he’s always been interested in “doing good” before he notes that the world is devoid entirely of vegetation due to a gigantic blight a month ago. Sivana points out the citizenry have 10 years worth of frozen foods to get by without it… but they’ll suffocate soon enough and Captain Marvel realizes that this is due to the Oxygen Cycle, wherein plants release oxygen, people release CO2 and we absorb each other. Sivana puts on a rebreathing device as a man gasps and chokes from thin oxygen in the city. The Marvel Family take off to look into this as Sivana goes back to his ship, talking loudly about how he created the blight himself and that he did all this just to keep them busy while he does the same thing on Earth!

The Marvel Family split up to tackle the issue with Mary Marvel working alongside a chemist and the Wisdom of Minerva to create an antidote for the poisonous blight and starts mass-producing it in a huge vat and starts to crop-dust it around the planet. However, she finds that the last plant has already died, meaning only the soil is cured… Captain Marvel, Junior assembles a large machine that will condense the CO2 in the air into dry ice and also fire it into space. However, he finds that there’s still a dangerous lack of oxygen to contend with… Captain Marvel is meanwhile flying around space and finds a world where oxygen is frozen in a solid “ice” state and shoves the new ice-cap of life to the planet, though he worries this may only create a week’s worth of oxygen for them. Thus, the Marvel Family decide they need to create new vegetation. Thus, they dash back to Earth to collect all the supplies they’ll need and start to reseed the planet. On one of their return trips, they are shocked to find that Earth is suffering from a similar blight and worry about the blight spreading.

Nearby, Sivana thinks on how he intends to do this sparsely on Earth enough to threaten them so he can be King of Earth entirely, broadcasting this to the rest of Earth. The Marvel Family take off to find him and use a normal potted plant like a canary in the mines to track where the blight is and then crash together into Sivana’s rocket-ship, destroying it and sending him to jail. Later, Billy, Mary and Freddy think on how nature is great and plants are very important to both Earth and humanity!

Appearing in Marvel Family: "The Marvel Family and the Great Oxygen Theft"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Humanoid aliens of an unnamed planet (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

  • Sivana's Rocket-Ship (Destroyed)


Synopsis for Mary Marvel: "Mary Marvel and the Playwright Plot"

Aspiring playwrights of the Playwrights Club have joined together to try to sell something and put together something they admit isn’t exactly Shakespeare. Suddenly, a portly evil bald man and unscrupulous publisher JB Gnasher offers them a big handful of money and a contract, but the playwrights refuse, knowing that he pays little and will pocket most of the money himself. Gnasher is miffed, but decides they’ll crack soon enough when they need to eat and looks over at a bust of Shakespeare they have, wishing that the real Shakespeare would show up to take his contract. Outside though, a man who looks suspiciously like the Bard of Avon decides they’ll “know” him there and enters, spouting his favorite lines until the playwrights throw him out for being annoying and assuming he’s from the Actors Club. They nearly end up throwing him face-first to the gutter as Mary Batson walks by and calls SHAZAM to keep him from smashing his face into the pavement as Mary Marvel. The man says he is William Shakespeare and claims he bought a Future Potion from a sorcerer and arrived in the modern day! Mary Marvel isn’t sure about that, but the playwrights, overhearing it, decide that he might be interesting if he is real. Mary Marvel openly points out that’s impossible, since he died over 300 years ago, so they do a quick handwriting test to find that he is seemingly the real deal. The playwrights immediately begin fawning over him and Gnasher demands a contract for him to make millions and write new plays, but Mary Marvel pushes him away, knowing Gnasher is a vulture. “Shakespeare” asks Mary Marvel to be his bodyguard and manager, since he is unfamiliar with the modern day of 1949 and she decides to do so, finding him a quick studio to work in. He begins work on a new play called Pilgrim’s Landing while Mary Marvel sits in an outer office to handle his business, which is entirely shouting producers hoping to get money on to a new Shakespeare play! Back inside his studio though, Shakespeare is suddenly knocked out, bound, gagged and kidnapped by Gnasher and two evil bald goons. Mary Marvel goes in to tell the Bard of Avon about his million-dollar offer, but instead finds disrepair and the new play on the desk. She flies off to go find “Shakespeare” and finds him being pressed to sign a contract, deciding to wait until after he signs it for a reason unknown. Soon, she flies in to grab Gnasher, but he says he did sign the contract, meaning he gets every new play he writes for $49.98 apiece! However, she suddenly punches Shakespeare instead, revealing that this man is an actor who copied Shakespeare’s signature to sell a big play, pointing out how he called her Lady Marvel without knowing that’s her name and that he was writing a play about the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, something that happened four years after the death of the real William Shakespeare. Gnasher is upset that his contract is worthless now and “Shakespeare” is upset that he was being swindled, but Mary Marvel points out they both broke the law and are going to jail. Later, Mary Marvel tells the Playwrights Club about it as they figured out the signature was faked and she offers she might have an idea for a good comedy for them!

Appearing in Mary Marvel: "Mary Marvel and the Playwright Plot"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • J.B. Gnasher (An unscrupulous publisher) (Single appearance)
  • Unnamed actor posing as William Shakespeare (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:



Synopsis for Captain Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and the Newspaper War!"

Mr. “Blow-Up” James is a man who “explodes” when he doesn’t get his way, angry that he’s lost out in the latest election due to a big story from the Evening Star about how he’s a racketeer with a shady past. At the Evening Star offices, Freddy and the other newsies are hanging around as one of them spots James sneaking into the presses as something falls out of his pocket. One of the boys tries to eat the “candy” falling from his pocket, but Freddy notices it’s dynamite and smells something burning, calling CAPTAIN MARVEL! Quickly, Captain Marvel, Junior flies in to find the dynamite and flies it up and out to explode harmlessly in the sky. Blow-Up James runs off angrily and breaks a lamp in his apartment that Junior got in the way of his plans and thinks up a plan to discredit him with a “newspaper war” that will put the Evening Star out of business too. So, he starts the Daily Scandal, the only newspaper written, edited and mostly about criminals and they soon “find” ads by threatening people around town. Freddy gets the brunt of this when his own adult newsies decide to take over his corner and coldly shoves Freddy out of the way, saying he’s taking over. He soon calls CAPTAIN MARVEL and Junior decks him to teach him not to push people around before he returns to normal. Officer Bellows wanders over and arrests the goon for trying to steal Freddy’s newstand and finds out that the Daily Scandal is embroiled in this for hiring the goon. He goes to see the editor and a burly receptionist assembling a Tommy gun tells him he’s in his office. On his desk, he finds numerous blackmail evidence against wealthy merchants (next to the incoming and outgoing mail,) so Blow-Up James grabs him by the face from behind and tells Receptionist Slug to help him to dump him into a vat of stereotyping lead, but he calls CAPTAIN MARVEL just before, meaning that Junior is able to ominously emerge from the lead and scare the two goons as they leg it, throwing newspaper equipment at him and try to shove the blinded hero in to the presses directly, only for it to grind off the lead “overcoat” he has on, allowing him to punch them out and arrest them. Afterwards, Freddy goes back to selling papers while James is blowing up again in jail, angry that there’s nothing to throw!

Appearing in Captain Marvel, Jr.: "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and the Newspaper War!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • "Blow-Up" James (Racketeer, failed politician and publisher/editor of short-lived newspaper The Daily Scandal) (Single appearance)
    • Slug
    • James' employees at the Daily Scandal (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Newsboys employed by the Evening Star

Locations:

Items:

  • Dynamite
  • Stereotyping Lead

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Sails Before the Mast"

An old-time “windjammer” sails out like a ghost to Cape Horn run by thrill-seeking adventurer and young rich man Quentin Vandecker. He notes that this was one of the most difficult feats for sailors of the era and he’s going to do it for thrill in his retrofitted ship with Billy Batson aboard to report on it and to wear a sailor outfit as his Cabin Boy. Running the ship is Captain Barton Bryce, who is being awarded a $10,000 bonus if he can get them around the Horn. Capt. Bryce insists he will do it, but charges Billy to stop loafing around and get some work done. A large storm soon blows in, endangering the crew and prompting Billy to call SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel who rights them. Vandecker tells Capt. Bryce they need to turn around or they risk killing the whole crew, which Captain Marvel agrees with, but Capt. Bryce says he wants the money and doesn’t care who has to die to make it happen and punches him in the jaw, but he angrily declares that the Captain is Supreme Boss aboard a ship and that “old sea law” gives him full authority entirely, so Captain Marvel permits himself to be clapped in irons in the brig for “insubordination.” However, when they come upon sharp rocks, Captain Marvel breaks free to try to appeal to Capt. Bryce about not getting everyone killed, which prompts Capt. Bryce to order him a flogging of 100 lashes, which does nothing but mildly embarrass him in front of the crew. Captain Marvel decides to keep quiet and do as he’s told, since mutiny is wrong… only for Vandecker and the other members of the crew to do so instead. Captain Marvel tries to tell them not to, but the mainmast breaks off and a leak springs, forcing him to keep working to stop it. Once they finally round Cape Horn, Vandecker offers Capt. Bryce his promised $10,000, but Capt. Bryce demands twice as much as a “fine” for attempted mutiny, which Captain Marvel starts to wonder about the nature of maritime law concerning. Thus, he heads to Capt. Bryce’s cabin to return Billy to look into things. He finds that Capt. Bryce has been had his marine license revoked (for “unfair practices at sea”) only for the evil Captain to knock him out from behind with a club and orders him keel-hauled while unconscious. Luckily, Billy wakes up before he can hit the water and calls SHAZAM as Captain Marvel swims under the ship, but Capt. Bryce finds that the rope is empty when he goes to pull up Billy as Captain Marvel flies in to punch him over, reveals him as a fraud and gives his money back to Vandecker while Bryce is thrown in the brig, then orders the crew to generally just get them to port.

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Sails Before the Mast"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • Captain Barton Bryce (Ship captain) (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Quentin Vandecker (Single appearance) (Rich, young thrillseeker) (Single appearance)
  • Ship's crew (Single appearance)

Locations: Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:

Notes

  • "Captain Marvel Sails Before the Mast" was reprinted in Shazam! #17.



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