It's smart business to copy the methods of a competitor! 
- — Satan
Captain Marvel Adventures #8 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1942.
Synopsis for "Macro the Giant"
The newly-installed Mayor and Sheriff of the rural town of Squankum are captured by some destructive invader that wrecks the entire building where their offices are. Billy arrives to investigate, following a trail of enormous footprints into the woods. Someone with tremendous strength picks him up and hurls him over the treetops, but he survives by changing to Captain Marvel before he lands. Billy spends the night at the home of Hiram Suggs, who prints the town's newspaper. A giant hand slips through the window and poisons their stew with arsenic. Billy survives by changing to Captain Marvel again, and hurries the poisoned Suggs to a doctor. Deciding to get to the bottom of this mystery once and for all, Marvel heads into the woods and finds himself clubbed directly into the ground by a nine-foot-tall man. Easily surviving, Marvel forces the giant's story out of him: Macro was only able to get work in sideshows because of his great size, but agreed to earn money for kidnapping when approached by a man from Squankum.
The missing mayor and sheriff are tied up in a cave, but Marvel frees them and brings them back to town to finger the culprit: Hiram Suggs, who would've been the next to inherit the mayor's office so he could start swindling the town. After capturing him, Marvel has Suggs tested by a doctor and finds out he'd been taking small doses of arsenic to build up an immunity, proving he was behind the attempt to poison Billy. Marvel then admonishes the town to give Macro an honest job; he's not a bad guy, just one with no options.
Appearing in "Macro the Giant"
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Antagonists:
- Macro the Giant
- Hiram Suggs
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Synopsis for "The Adventure With the P.A.L."
Billy saves some members of the Police Athletic League from a bully. When the boy reports this to his father, physical powerhouse and career crook Baboon Franks, the man makes to attend the P.A.L.'s meeting and show how powerless they are compared to him. After they try and fail to pit their might against Captain Marvel, both Billy and Baboon are offered second chances, and reform.
Appearing in "The Adventure With the P.A.L."
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Antagonists:
- Baboon Franks
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Synopsis for "The Curse of Ibac"
Small-time criminal Stanley Printwhistle attempts to bomb a railroad trestle and loot the wreckage, but is caught in the act by Captain Marvel, who punts his bomb away and drops Printwhistle himself off the bridge. Printwhistle is saved from a fatal plunge by the sudden appearance of Satan. The Prince of Darkness offers him powers akin to Marvel's, which are provided not by mythical gods and heroes, but the worst qualities of some of the most wicked men in history. Saying the word formed from their initials, he becomes Ibac, and after using his powers in a series of brazen crimes, becomes a force to be reckoned with in the criminal underworld.
Some derogatory remarks about Ibac's subhuman appearance over Billy's broadcast prompt Printwhistle to sneak in and impersonate the boy broadcaster so he can insult the listeners and torpedo Billy's reputation. Billy changes into Captain Marvel to have a superhuman brain to figure out who could've been behind this development. While looking into the sabotage of his alter ego's career, Captain Marvel intercepts Printwhistle's men when they rob the home of a wealthy art collector, and shortly afterward Billy stumbles upon Printwhistle himself. Both change to their superhuman forms and a ferocious brawl breaks out which ends when Marvel hits Ibac so hard the evil spirits empowering him are knocked apart, leaving only the helpless Printwhistle. Marvel extracts a promise from the crook not to transform again or he'll be in for another licking.
Appearing in "The Curse of Ibac"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- IBAC (First appearance)
- Satan (under the name Prince Lucifer) (First appearance)
- Ivan the Terrible (Ghost)
- Cesare Borgia (Ghost)
- Attila the Hun (Ghost)
- Caligula (Ghost)
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Synopsis for "The Amazing Case of the Clue in Music"
Trigger Danny, the only witness in the "Filpots Case," has been shot and rushed to surgery. Some of Filpots' henchmen storm the operating room to try and silence him, but fortunately Billy Batson was allowed to enter, and transforms. Captain Marvel easily defeats the assassins, but flies away despite the doctors' attempts to get him to stay and collect his glory.
Mr. Morris alerts Billy to a news story about a secret ship being destroyed by Japanese bombers. Somehow, the enemy is discovering top military information. Such an exchange takes place then, when a man waiting at "American Naval Headquarters" demands to see the CO, is told off, but whistles as he leaves. A portly fellow with a banjo plays his tune underneath a window and is angrily told to leave, but the man who did so then tells his compatriots to transfer the latest message. The next day, a disguised Billy intercepts the angry man from before, but he's silenced by a bullet from the portly fellow with the banjo. Next morning in the paper, Billy reads a story about Captain Marvel going bad, and figures it's the spy ring trying to discredit the biggest threat to their operation.
Visiting the navy offices again, however, Billy realizes the secretary is actually sending code messages with the sound of the keys tapping on her typewriter. The courier who was passing on her message fights his way past the officers trying to arrest him and makes a break for the hideout, Billy following him to a boat. There Captain Marvel beats up the spies and hurls Mr. Banjo, the mastermind, overboard where he sinks out of sight. A remaining spy, the one who'd been impersonating Marvel, admits Banjo and Filpots were the same man. The attempted murder of Trigger Danny was a ploy to divert attention away from their spying activities.
Appearing in "The Amazing Case of the Clue in Music"
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Antagonists:
- Mister Banjo (First appearance)
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Notes
- In his first appearance IBAC's costume consists of a green shirt, black pants, yellow trunks and sandals. Strangely the two-page spread introducing the story shows him in the more recognizable black pants, bare chest outfit he would have from his next appearance onward.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Captain Marvel Adventures series
- Images from Captain Marvel Adventures Vol 1 8