This is an in-universe article with out-of-universe material.
Whiz Comics #106 is an issue of the series Whiz Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1949.
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Modern Gold Rush"
Billy Batson is reporting at an Observatory to witness a big event of a planetoid breaking up in the Moon's gravity with one chunk of it falling to Earth, but the scientists need plenty of time to figure out where it'll go. Meanwhile, in the West, known dessert bandit “Jeep” Judson (seemingly because he drives a Jeep) and swings it in front of a rich Westerner's car on a bank delivery. Back at the Observatory, a scientist tells Billy the chunk should land in the desert, where it won't do any harm. To look into this, Billy calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel and finds the meteor is about to just crush the Rich Westerner. Just in time, Captain Marvel shoves his car out of the way and they both discover that the meteor seems to be made of pure gold! The Rancher takes as much as he can safely carry in his sedan, noting the irony that Jeep Judson only managed to steal a few thousand. Captain Marvel sits down on a pile of gold and begins to worry that people will starting a new gold rush. It very quickly does, but also planes and blimps are arriving with people openly trampling the World's Mightiest Mortal to get hold of it. Naturally, people begin having violent quarrels over how much gold they get. Soon after, a brutish man in plaid pants and suspenders decides he'll just beat everyone to death with a big rock and take it all for himself, which Captain Marvel stops by taking the rock away from him. Similarly, a rich man (also in plaid pants,) tries taking potshots at people until Captain Marvel punches him in the face, making him drop it. Captain Marvel begins to realize that there's plenty of fights to stop and likely even too many. Captain Marvel offers that if everyone gathers one mile away, they won't get into any fights, but a surly man (also in plaid pants) challenges Captain Marvel as to why he has to and Captain Marvel gives him a well-structured argument to the jaw, noting that some people just can't be reasoned with. Captain Marvel insists that everyone will get their fair share, which seems to calm people down, then makes people stop bringing weapons to the gold pile. He soon sets up a line for everyone to race to the gold, promising that whoever gets there first will get a larger portion. However, when the folk get close, they're instead met with gunfire as Jeep Judson has returned with his gang to cart away the gold themselves. The outlaws soon find that shooting at Captain Marvel tends to yield predictable results and Captain Marvel defeats one by wrapping his own rifle around his neck and punching the gold teeth out of another's mouth. Jeep Judson takes off to escape, but ends up at the same ranch from the man he robbed! Jeep pales in fear and begs him to hide him, even if it would cost half his own gold to do so, but the Rancher points out he has plenty of it himself and instead punches out Jeep for having robbed him before Captain Marvel does about the same. We also find that after the semi-literal gold rush is run again, that most of the men are too tired to fill or carry large sacks of gold, which they mildly admit is a smart idea. Later, Billy signs off saying that the gold field was picked clean by the thousands of folk there and no one was hurt, but he does think Captain Marvel sure wishes there weren't any more Gold Rushes!
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Modern Gold Rush"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- "Jeep" Judson
- Several Aggressive Men in Plaid Pants
Other Characters:
- A Rich Western Rancher
Locations:
- Earth-S
- A Desert in the American West
- A Desert in the American West
Synopsis for Kanvasback: "Sideshow Capers"
Kanvasback demands a dollar that his manager, Mal Arkey, didn't give him a dollar if he didn't lose any last week in the gym, but Mal thinks how he doesn't want to. Mal claims to have spent it and that he saw a freak show that made him think of him with a tattooed man. Kanvasback points out he has one & Mal asks if they usually wash off. Kanvasback admits that he doesn't know, he's only had his for seven years! They bicker that the other's failures are responsible. Kanvasback admits that his father was an animal trainer and hopes to get some money from the circus. Mal says he can follow circus parades plenty now... as a street cleaner, earning him a pasting from Kanvasback, who notes he won't get his buck back, but he'll hope that Mal has enough cents later to give it to him when he asks for it!
Appearing in Kanvasback: "Sideshow Capers"
Featured Characters:
- Kanvasback
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Mal Arkey
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Golden Arrow: "Golden Arrow, the Robin Hood of the West, and the Arrows of Destruction"
Golden Arrow is visiting a friend, Zeke Peters, at his home, finding him shifty and nervous about the safety of others for being near him. While snooping into why he's doing so, Golden Arrow is knocked out and carried off by two bandits that take him to their boss, "Giant" Simpson, a known outlaw, who has been forcing Zeke to house him. The next morning, Giant Simpson forces Golden Arrow to let him shoot an apple off his head, but uses the fired arrow to cut his ropes by quickly moving and Zeke and he defeat the bandits with two bare-knuckle brawling. Golden Arrow heads out and says he'll have to have a better visit with him when he finishes turning them over to the Sheriff.
Appearing in Golden Arrow: "Golden Arrow, the Robin Hood of the West, and the Arrows of Destruction"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Zeke Peters
Villains:
- "Giant" Simpson
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- American Old West
- The Western Hills
- American Old West
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Bulletman, the Flying Detective: "The Case of the Lapsed Memory!"
At the Huntington Estate, three goons are trying to blow open a safe with dynamite. Their safecracker, Alky, finds he can't get the combination right, so they instead use the explosives, then run off with pockets full of jewels, splitting up to make them harder to track, planning to reconvene later. Shortly after, at Police HQ, Susan finds Lt. Kent is heading to the Huntington Estate and she mildly asks if the Bullets could help him with this any. Lt. Kent elusively says “There's only one way to find out!” and the Bullets soon join him at Huntington Estate. Meanwhile, Alky tells his pals that he hid the jewels somewhere the cops will never find them. Their leader, Corky, decides that since this was “his idea,” he's taking a 50% cut and that the other two can split the other half, but Alky refuses, saying they should have equal shares. Corky promises that he'll return in a few hours and shoot them in the head if they don't provide him the “correct” amount. The other goon, Brett, says that Corky likely would do it too, but Alky is certain that he can make this work, offering that if Brett goes to Corky's house, he could more easily kill him and they can split the loot 50/50 themselves (mostly since Corky will be expecting Alky to do so.) However, when Brett heads out to do so, we find Corky was listening in on this and hiding behind the door and knocks out Brett with a blackjack, then runs off, despite the fact that he didn't actually here them say anything. When Brett gets up, he has severe head trauma and therefore amnesia! He only remembers he needs to kill someone he just worked with, but the only name he can think of in his head is Alky, coming back in and shooting him, much to Alky's confusion. In doing so, Alky tears a piece of Brett's necktie off.
While trying to run quickly out of there, Brett trips down the stairs and lands directly on the crown of his head, which manages to restore his memory, recalling that Corky was probably the person who struck him, goes to tell Alky and then assumes that Corky was the one who shot him. Thus, he decides to go to the police, hoping to get away with just not being involved in a murder rap and confessing to stealing the Huntington Jewels. Bulletman fires off to the skies to go bring back Corky while Lt. Kent arrests Brett, but Corky openly admits that he didn't kill Alky, but he did bludgeon Brett in the head with a blackjack. They arrest him as well and decide to look into Alky's murder to figure it out themselves, bringing the suspects with them to hopefully scare them into admitting who did it. Unfortunately, they both claim they didn't do it still until Corky finds the piece of Brett's tie in Alky's hand. Corky fingers Brett as the murderer, completely restoring his memory, prompting Brett to push Corky through a window to escape while both of the Bullets go after him. They catch him in time and Bulletgirl is passes Corky to take him in for robbery while Bulletman shoots off to the roof to head off Brett and takes him in as well. The Bullets tell Lt. Kent that they solved the murder while Lt. Kent says he also found out where the Huntington Jewels were and returned them, meaning all they have to do is to book these guys!
Appearing in Bulletman, the Flying Detective: "The Case of the Lapsed Memory!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Brett
- Corky
- Alky
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- The Huntington Estate
Items:
- Dynamite
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Freshman Freddie: "Hokus Pokus"
We see that Freshman Freddy is due to get into a fight with a man at a fancy hotel and then flash back to how it all started. At the Podunk Hotel, “Professor Presto” is due to have a magic act for the Little Moose Club Convention while Freddy is due to do a similar magic show for the “Pi Bate Annual Formal Dinner.” His friend, Horace, tells Freddy that since the Pi Bates invited Freddy, Horace has to be responsible for him and that if he shows any levity, he'll get an earful of it! We see in the hall that the two venues are across from each other while Freddy promises he'll be nothing but serious. Things start poorly with Prof. Presto finding that the rabbit in his hat isn't there and he doesn't have a deck of cards in his sleeve and he doesn't have the three-color handkerchief he needs, realizing he has the wrong jacket! Across the hall, Freddy takes his hat off to find he has a rabbit under it. Horace goes to introduce Freddy to the President of the Pi Bates, Theodore, who is furious when a deck of cards sprays from Freddy's sleeve. Freddy goes to dab the flop sweat from his brow, but it reveals itself as being color-changing, now looking like the French Flag. Both Freddy and Prof. Presto are thrown out of their events. We see that they must have gotten their jackets mixed and isn't this where we came in? We're offered as this was a good place to start, it's also a perfectly fine place to stop!
Appearing in Freshman Freddie: "Hokus Pokus"
Featured Characters:
- Freshman Freddie
Supporting Characters:
- Horace
Villains:
- Professor Presto
Other Characters:
- President Theodore of the Pi Bates
- The "Pi Bates"
Locations:
- The Podunk Hotel
Items:
- Numerous Magical Tricks
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Ibis the Invincible: "Ibis the Invincible and The Enchanted Maiden"
In the time of the Round Table, Merlin the wizard tries to get the villainous Sir Mordred to aid his campaign to overthrow King Arthur. Mordred's unmoved by any of the wizard's entreaties, but agrees to lend his strength to the wizard's efforts if Merlin conjures the most beautiful woman in history to be his wife. This proves to be Taia, and kidnapping her only motivates Ibis to transport himself back in time to resist their efforts. After gaining the assistance of the Round Table by conjuring a modern helicopter in front of King Arthur, the knights ride to Mordred's stronghold. After locating Taia, Ibis whisks them back to the 40's and lets the legendary knights do their job.
Appearing in Ibis the Invincible: "Ibis the Invincible and The Enchanted Maiden"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Princess Taia
- King Arthur Pendragon of the Britons (First appearance)
- Sir Lancelot du Lac (First appearance)
- Sir Gawain, Prince of Orkney (First appearance)
Items:
- Ibistick
- The Round Table (First appearance)
Villains:
- The Wizard Merlin (First appearance)
- Sir Mordred, Prince of Orkney (First appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Vehicles:
- A Helicopter
Notes
- Also appearing in this issue of Whiz Comics were:
- Culture Corner: "How to Belay Your Neck Array" by Basil Wolverton
- Judge Smudge: "Handy" by Howard Boughner
- Wicky and O'Shawnessy: "Wicky's Wild Ride" (text story) by Rod Reed
Trivia
- Lance O'Casey is missing this issue, replaced by Bulletman the Flying Detective
- Lance O'Casey will return next issue
- Due to a coloring problem this issue, Bulletgirl's usually red costume is predominantly yellow
- Due to a coloring error, there are points where Prince Ibis' jacket becomes white
- The "Pi Bates" are likely a ΠB (Pi Beta) Fraternity
- Despite the cover, Captain Marvel does not charge a man on a giant pile of gold in an urban street. Instead, most of it takes place in the middle of an unnamed American West desert
See Also