Whiz Comics #104 is an issue of the series Whiz Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1948.
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel and the World's Mightiest Machine"
Dr. Sivana is up to his rambunctious antics again by skywriting a giant message goading Captain Marvel to fly into the air to stop him. Billy soon sees the message and calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel and flies up to encounter him, only for Sivana to blast him with a black ray full of stars and curlicues, which he claims should kill ten armies. However, once the smoke clears, he finds that Captain Marvel is fine and is soon arrested. Captain Marvel asks him when he will learn that he would need someone just as powerful as him to even hope to destroy him and to enjoy being in jail. Sivana decides that this means that he must find a way for Captain Marvel to destroy himself and quickly escapes by removing a false tooth containing an explosive device to blow a huge hole in the wall. Some time later, Billy reports on a “Professor Brayne” who is building an entire power plant that just somehow makes electricity out of literally nothing and he is due to interview him soon! He heads out to Brayne Power Project Inc., built on a war surplus plant where he meets Prof. Brayne, who resembles Sivana wearing an unconvincing wig and beard with his ears tucked in. He says he needs help, since all of his workmen left due to how incredibly dangerous the job is! He therefore asks if Captain Marvel could be so kind as to help him as Billy openly questions if this is a project worth doing. “Prof. Brayne” insists that it will advance civilization by a millennium and will bring about global utopia, so Billy decides to call SHAZAM once he's behind a turbine to summon Captain Marvel. “Prof. Brayne” starts kissing his hand and then puts him to work constructing a dynamo. Prof. Brayne retires for now and removes his disguise to mention how Captain Marvel is secretly building the “World's Mightiest Machine” which will somehow kill him! He puts Captain Marvel to work doing the most dangerous jobs, proving that he can manage to stir two incredibly deadly acids, splice billion volt cables, hold 45,000º F tongs with his hands and can hold a lump of radioactive metal strong enough to kill 1,000,000 men. Finally, “Prof. Brayne” tells him he needs him to charge it up by pushing a wheel for approximately the rest of the day and retires to a secret room where Sivana is keeping a large secret bomb full of all the incredibly deadly industrial elements Captain Marvel has been working with.
Less fortunately, he starts cackling in his signature way enough that Captain Marvel stops what he's doing and goes to find him disconnecting the bomb from the charging tubes and reveals his “Marvel Bomb,” which is 16 “Thousand Million” times more powerful than the A-Bomb! Sivana says it's too late to stop it now as a “special device” in it will track him to the ends of the Earth, even capable of following the Speed of Mercury! Sivana watches by radar as Captain Marvel finds it's impervious to travel through water. Suddenly, while over the South Pole, the Marvel Bomb explodes strong enough to release shockwave felt round the world.. only for Captain Marvel to fly in revealing he's almost perfectly fine. He points out he went to the South Pole so it wouldn't harm anyone else, but that the Marvel Bomb was only made with a portion of his power and therefore, scientifically, cannot be stronger than the whole of himself. No less, the Marvel Bomb did affect him: his hair is slightly mussed!
Appearing in "Captain Marvel and the World's Mightiest Machine"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
- The World's Mightiest Machine
- The Marvel Bomb
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Golden Arrow the Robin Hood of the West and the Vanishing Payrolls!"
Golden Arrow is called in to stop a payroll bandit who can seemingly anticipate when the payroll goes out. The bandit tries to capture Golden Arrow and drown him, but he is able to drag himself out with the help of White Wind and unmasks the bandits as the Ranch's owner's partner, Tex, and a ranch hand, Mike.
Appearing in "Golden Arrow the Robin Hood of the West and the Vanishing Payrolls!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Tex
- Mike
Other Characters:
- Lem Blacker
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Double W Ranch
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Ibis the Invincible and the Tapestry of Terror"
Erik Charlton is a man of interesting taste heading through a Chinese bazaar where racist caricatures offer he buy likely overpriced rare pottery, but Erik points out he's not rich and the store owner instead offers a large tapestry of two broad well-fed Asian men in robes, but warns that it is apparently bad luck, since the two figures in this tapestry are two murderers that were sealed in the tapestry by an ancient wizard. Erik thinks on how this is what he's heard rumor of: The Ho-Lin Tapestry! Erik plays it cool and pays for the Ho-Lin Tapestry and returns home with it. Later, in his home, he tells the nobody in his home how the Ho-Lin Tapestry is named after the wizard Ho-Lin that sealed them away and he has the only known book on his works. Speaking the magic words, “Gisei, Loku, Maman! By the terrible names of three, I command you! STEP FORTH!” The two Thieves do so and kowtow to him in servitude as Erik orders them to steal the Ming vase offered to him in the bazaar earlier.
Elsewhere in the bazaar, Prince Ibis and Princess Taia note how they really do love China as it's one of the oldest cultures known to man! Hearing a shout, he dodges around the corner and finds the store owner from before, having been seemingly clubbed to death. He wishes for the Ibistick to show him which way the murderers went and a giant pointing hand begins to direct him there. Following the vibrations of the Ibistick, the thieves realize they're being tailed and turn on Ibis and Taia, trying to bash their heads in with a white polished club. Ibis unleashes a stunning high kick and knocks the club from his hand, then punches the thief in the face, only to find that this man does not feel like a person, having a cushioned body that absorbs his blows! What's worse, this leaves the other thief open to seize Taia, which is distraction enough for the thief to turn on Ibis and knock him out. They wake up a few minutes later, stunned but otherwise fine. Ibis notes that he luckily used the handle of his club and not the stone end or he'd have his head cracked like the merchant. Taia admits that his grip was soft and silky and Ibis realizes these likely aren't just regular people, wishing for the vase to trace a trail of fire through the air leading to it. They start following it and the thieves admit to Charlton that they murdered the merchant and were accosted by Ibis, whom Erik recognizes from their description. They further state they couldn't actually kill him, but instead struck him down to escape instead. To hide the evidence of such things, he is forced to speak the three names in reverse order (Maman, Loku, Gisei) and then then calls RETURN!
Moments later, Ibis and Taia arrive at Charlton's house, denouncing him as an accessory to murder and owning a stolen vase. Without actually proving it, Erik merely claims he did buy the vase and tells him to basically get lost, which Ibis decides to agree in doing so. While doing so, Ibis insists he'll keep an eye on him and prove these things in time. Soon after he has, Erik uses the magic words to summon the two thieves of the Ho-Lin Tapestry and laughs that if he destroys the Tapestry, there won't be any evidence against him… only for one of the thieves to grab him, revealing that the spell to return them to the Tapestry doesn't work and they are not intending to return again, seemingly melting his face with a torch off-panel. Ibis, hearing him scream, wishes the Ibistick to fly him into the room and sees Erik Charlton dead on the floor while the thieves put out the torch and move to kill Ibis. Ibis soon recognizes the two thieves from the ancient Ho-Lin Tapestry and wishes the Ibistick destroy them by unraveling the Tapestry entirely! Thus, the two thieves are reduced to piles of silken thread and Ibis calls the police to tell them Erik was behind the murders, but notes well to Taia that the police will never believe what really happened and that no one will likely ever solve this mystery!
Appearing in "Ibis the Invincible and the Tapestry of Terror"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Erik Charlton
- The Thieves of the Ho-Lin Tapestry
Other Characters:
- A Chinese Merchant
Locations:
- Earth-S
- A Chinese Bazaar
Items:
- The Ho-Lin Tapestry (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "In the Dog House"
Freddy shows off his new puppy to Ace and Stooge as Ace offers he should try to enter the exclusive Campus Dog Club. Freddy points out he hadn't heard of it, but Ace insists it's very exclusive and nudges Stooge to agree with him. Stooge chuckles inwardly, since they are lying about this, likely as a prank. Ace offers he'll have to get in with the other members and says he will round up all six members for dinner at his house that night! Freddy asks who's actually coming and Ace tells him just not to worry about it. Once Freddy runs off to prepare, Ace admits to Stooge that this is just a ploy to get a free dinner and to embarrass Freddy. They soon meet up with four other members of their gang at Podunk U Library soon after. Meanwhile, Freddy gets two turkeys, three pheasants, six steaks, 2 lbs of butter, 3 qts of milk, 5 pints of sweet whipping cream, 5 lbs of potatoes, 3 lbs of tomatoes and 6 lbs of green peas at the cost of his entire month's allowance. So as to not “take any chances” with it going wrong, decides to make it all himself with a cookbook he assumes he can borrow from his landlady.
Later, the “Campus Dog Club” laugh at how much hard work Freddy has done to make dinner for them for free, only for his unnamed dog to jump on to the table and steal a turkey leg. Freddy tries to stop him, since he portioned it out for six people, going off after him. Ace insists it's fine and they'll split up the rest, but Freddy goes after him anyways. Later still, they are a good way through the meal before they look outside and find Freddy's dog… is dead! Stooge assumes they've all been poisoned by Freddy's poor cooking and they all rush to the hospital in terror, demanding a stomach pump for each of them! Later still, they all come out, literally emptied of all food. They try to walk back to Freddy's house… only to find that Freddy's dog was just playing dead!
Appearing in "In the Dog House"
Featured Characters:
- Freshman Freddy
Supporting Characters:
- Freddy's Unnamed Dog
Antagonists:
- Ace
- Stooge
- The Other Four Members of the "Campus Dog Club"
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Podunk University
- Podunk University Library
- Podunk University
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Perils of the Pearls!"
Lance and his First Mate, Mike, arrive on a South Seas island where Mike enjoys thinking of the attractive young Leechee, the Chief's daughter, and they meet with Chief Tiiko, finding Leechee has become a beautiful young woman. They soon discover that the caricatured Japanese man running a General Store on the atoll, Tooshi is planting bombs in oysters to hide an underwater cave, where he's harboring a former member of the Imperial Japanese Navy and wanted war criminal, Yogisuchi. Lance waits until Tooshi leaves, finds a trap door in his floor, follows it and is nearly stabbed by Yogisuchi. Lance lays into him while Tooshi meets up with Mike, finding he lied to him about his boat needing repairs, and pistol-whips him and rows back to his store. Tooshi pulls a gun on Lance when he sees him emerging from the trapdoor, but Mike reveals he wasn't knocked out and brains Tooshi with a vase before Lance punches him out. Chief Tiiko thanks Lance and Mike for their help and that they can continue diving for pearls again.
Appearing in "The Perils of the Pearls!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- 1st Mate Mike Bellew
- Chief Tiiko
- Leechee
Antagonists:
- Yogisuchi
- Mr. Tooshi
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- An Atoll in the South Seas
Items:
Vehicles:
- The Starfish
See Also