Whiz Comics #117 is an issue of the series Whiz Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 1950.
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Versus Sivana's Science"
The World’s Wickedest Scientist is using an Ultra Sensitive Hearing Aid that allows him to hear even the steps of a housefly drum hard enough to create a pounding headache. Using it, he can listen to anywhere in thousands of miles from afar and, when paired with his Radar Spectacles, essentially allows him to see any given place he wants to see in his bifocals. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel turns a criminal in to jail and the Sergeant tells him that an airliner is lost at sea and he takes off to find it. Recognizing this will take him days even with his powers, he takes off in a rocket-ship to spy on a million-dollar shipment of silver and gold in an armored truck and takes out the guards loading it with tear-gas. However, at the same time, Captain Marvel uses a high point of the curvature of the Earth to see where the missing airliner faster in the vast ocean. Soon at the airport nearby, Captain Marvel hears about Sivana’s robbery. Sivana catches on quickly that he’s coming after him and takes off to escape in time, leaving an explosive “calling card” that causes a cave-in at a nearby mine, forcing the World’s Mightiest Mortal to stop to save civilians trapped within. Captain Marvel, and later Billy Batson, are both suspicious as to how Sivana seems to be one step ahead nowadays.
Later, Sivana crashes his rocketship directly into an exhibition of Crown Jewels and drops a firebomb to destroy priceless artifacts, leaving half the Crown Jewels in danger as Captain Marvel is forced to put the fire out. Back on his ship, Sivana wears a crown and hugs all his money and decides he’ll have to eliminate Captain Marvel to really succeed at this. However, now that he can just watch Billy literally anywhere, he finds a time when Billy is sleeping in the park and kidnaps him, leaving him bound and gagged on the floor of his rocketship and brags loudly about his Radar Spectacles and Long Range Ear, then drops Billy into a mountaintop eagle’s nest where he’ll be eaten by violent eagles. Luckily, he’s able to twist his head at the right moment so the eagle instead removes his gag and lets him call SHAZAM to go after Sivana as Captain Marvel once more. Sivana, at an atomic energy plant, waits to steal some, but finds only an airplane is nearby, not realizing when it crashes near him that the airplane was being flown by Captain Marvel as camouflage and punches over the villain, destroying his super sensory gadgets. Sivana, defeated, hugs Captain Marvel’s leg, unable to see properly as Captain Marvel promises he’ll feel iron bars next.
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Versus Sivana's Science"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Violent Eagles
Locations:
Items:
- Sivana's Long Range Ear
- Sivana's Radar Spectacles
- The Crown Jewels
Vehicles:
- Sivana's Rocketship
Synopsis for Golden Arrow: "Golden Arrow and The Cattle Fraud"
Dr. Dodge, a supposed government cattle inspector, shows up and declares that all of Pete Loomer's cattle have dreaded "hoof-and-mouth disease," meaning they are condemned to slaughter without sale and are entirely a loss until local hide dealer "Plug" Wilder shows up to buy them for a song and offers slaughtering on his own. Repeatedly, Plug continues this hoof-and-mouth purchasing scheme until the cattlemen decide to get a second opinion from a likely real doctor in town, Doc Morgan. Golden Arrow goes to get him, but the two outlaws ambush him and Doc Morgan, revealing this was a scam and that Dodge isn't a real doctor or G-man, leaving the two bound in Plug's distant shack. Golden Arrow manages to light a match while holding it with his teeth, lighting a candle so he can break his bonds. The bandits spot him leaving the shack and stampede the cows by firing at them to escape faster, but Golden Arrow stops them by just firing a hand-sized bottle of chloroform at them, which ends the stampede. Golden Arrow punches them out for their crimes and returns the cattle as the two bandits are arrested.
Appearing in Golden Arrow: "Golden Arrow and The Cattle Fraud"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- "Plug" Wilder
- "Doctor" Dodge
Other Characters:
- Pete Loomer
- Mr. Childs
- Doc Morgan
Locations:
- Earth-S
- American Old West
- Dry Gulch
- The Stagecoach Depot
- Pete Loomer's Ranch
- The Double Bar Z Ranch
- The Lazy B Ranch
- The Sheriff's Office
- The Large Bar U Ranch
- Dry Gulch
- American Old West
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Lance O'Casey: "The Plight of Homer Whittington, Jr."
Lance O'Casey is stopping off at Monaco Island and leaves 1st Mate Mike at the Starfish to visit his old friend, Homer Whittington, Jr., since his father (Homer Whittington, Sr.) has died some time recently. Within the Whittington Estate though, Homer, Jr. is in a straitjacket and his two "guardians" and former butlers, Perkins and Badger, are intending to have him declared insane so they can steal his fortune after having tricked his late father into signing them up as trustees. Homer refuses this by boldly jumping out his own window as the devious butlers worry he'll tell anyone that he's being cheated. What's worse, if Homer himself dies, the money will go to charity. Lance arrives to find the gate locked and climbs a tree to jump the gate and finds the two evil butlers openly talking about how Homer couldn't have gotten far. Lance almost immediately figures out what's going on and tracks down Homer hiding in his emptied swimming pool. After Homer calms down, he explains that he and his father wanted Lance to be his trustee, but somehow Badger and Perkins managed to convince him otherwise. The butlers arrive with guns drawn as Lance climbs out of the pool, only for him to kick it out of Badger's hand, then throws Badger into Perkins. Badger goes for his gun again, managing to wing Lance in the arm, demanding he stand down. Homer offers he'll agree to what they want if Homer goes free, but the butlers point out he doesn't have much room to negotiate, then decide to kill Lance by filling the pool up and drowning him in it due to him being bound hand and foot.
Once he falls in though, Lance reveals he kept quiet to keep his muscles soft, making it easier to slip his bonds, breaking free in time to not drown. Lance manages to sneak up to the mansion, grab the curtains to swing in and kick Badger in the face, then punches them both out. After freeing Homer, he admits he's barely wounded and turns them in. Weeks later, the Starfish sets out from America again and they find out Homer has donated the estate to underprivileged children on Monaco Island to join the Navy.
Appearing in Lance O'Casey: "The Plight of Homer Whittington, Jr."
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- 1st Mate Mike Bellew
- Homer Whittington, Jr.
Antagonists:
- Badger
- Perkins
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- The South Seas
- Monaco Island
- The Whittington Estate
- Monaco Island
- The South Seas
Items:
- A Straitjacket
- Several Firearms
Vehicles:
- The Starfish
Synopsis for Freshman Freddy: "A Course in Salesmanship!"
A Professor tells his class that for their Modern Salesmanship Course, his students will have to shadow a salesman for a day and write a report on it and they’ll find out what sort of tradesman they’ll be following from slips of paper in a fishbowl. What’s more, the proprietors won’t know that they’re expected, so they’ll just be bothering someone most of the day, hoping that the owners will accept you. Freshman Freddy is alack to find he’s working at Sorefeet’s Shoe Store, run by the infamously surly Mr. Sorefeet. As he enters to do so, Mr. Sorefeet tells him basically get lost since he runs a women’s shoe store. Freddy says he’s more interested in selling women’s shoes, but Mr. Sorefeet is also angry because he doesn’t have enough sales going on. Freddy tries to draw up an incentive of a “Free Pair of Shoes to the 100th Customer Today!” sign, but instead, the woman being fitted decides to leave and hopefully come back later (when she can win.) Mr. Sorefeet begins to start slowly strangling Freddy and threatens he’ll just force him to keep working there to make up for the loss of a customer so Freddy offers that he change the sign to read the “First” customer gets a free pair, making women storm in and all demand the free shoes at once (each one claiming to have arrived “first.”) One of the women becomes violent and punches Mr. Sorefeet in the jaw for not declaring her first and Freddy says that he already waited on the first woman (meaning the offer isn’t going anymore,) meaning all the women angrily leave without buying anything and after having wrecked the store. Mr. Sorefeet approaches Freddy with menace, growling angrily. The next day, the Professor finds that Freddy’s report shows that give-away deals like this make for poor salesmanship, which he learned from experience, the best teacher of all… after the right fist of an angry women’s shoe salesman.
Appearing in Freshman Freddy: "A Course in Salesmanship!"
Featured Characters:
- Freshman Freddy
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Mr. Sorefeet
Other Characters:
- A Modern Salesmanship Professor
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Podunk
- Podunk University
- Mr. Sorefeet's Shoe Store
- Podunk
Items:
- Two Discount Shoe Signs
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Ibis the Invincible: "Ibis the Invincible and Apollyon's Book"
An ancient book comes into the possession of Professor Hertz, "well-known authority on ancient legends". He realizes this is the legendary Book of Apollyon, a catalogue of infernal rites, and is about to cast it into the fireplace before it can do any harm. His assistant Brane has other ideas, killing Hertz with a clunk on the head from the fireplace poker, and immediately gets use out of the book by making Hertz's corpse disappear. Brane celebrates too quickly, however, as Hertz was friends with Ibis and Taia. The wizard detects Hertz' unearthly presence, and uses magic to give his ghost the power to speak and warn them. Coming up with a clever scheme, Ibis uses his magic to make the evil book hot to the touch, then checks the burn wards and finds out Brane checked in with injuries matching the ones he's looking for.
Ibis and Taia stake out Brane's place, see him taking out the book (using oven pads to hold it this time), only to witness him reading out the most dire spell in the book: one to summon Apollyon himself. The demon tries to pull Ibis back to hell with him after the wizard gives him a good hard punch on the jaw, but Taia uses the Ibistick to pull her boyfriend back to Earth. The book will never again have a chance to pose a threat, with itself, Brane and Apollyon now having finished their plummet to Hell.
Appearing in Ibis the Invincible: "Ibis the Invincible and Apollyon's Book"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Apollyon the Destroyer (Dies)
- Mr. Brane (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Professor Hertz (Dies)
Locations:
- Earth-S
- A City Hospital
- Hell
Items:
- Ibistick
- The Book of Apollyon (Destroyed)
Vehicles
Notes
- Despite the cover, Sivana doesn't use any kind of puppet-based crime or traps at all, instead using machines that give him mass surveillance ability.
See Also