Captain Marvel Adventures #99 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1949.
Synopsis for "Airtown, USA"
John Standish is a man with visionary ideas, but is rejected by both standard banks as well as progressive ones. He is certain that if he just goes out into the street, he’ll surely find funding for his idea: creating a town that floats in the air, something he doesn’t explain the benefits of, but starts asking for contributions for anyways. Everyone begins to doubt him, saying that he’s crazy or trying to cheat them out of their money, despite him openly saying that he he’ll pay them back with interest… once it gets off the ground. Billy, noticing that people are about to riot over a man with a strange idea and calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel and fly him out of danger. John says he didn’t do anything and shows Captain Marvel his plans for Airtown, which Captain Marvel is supportive of! He offers that he will need money for raw materials and labor, both of which he intends to fix for him. First, he tears down trees equal to a logging crew’s week-longs work and soon establishes the foundation of Airtown, which is to be supported upon helium-filled pontoons. Soon, he digs out some monazite sand, indicating that there is Thorium “from which helium is made” and digs up tons of it in large boulders of ore for Standish, intent to tell the US Government about an ample supply of thorium. With everything ready, they throw a giant mousetrap switch that lifts all of Airtown in to the sky! John is confident that people will join now that it exists as Captain Marvel takes off, calls SHAZAM and lets Billy report about Airtown at Station WHIZ.
Soon enough, people are interesting in moving to Airtown, though one of them is a shifty customer, Harry Threpp, who is intent on fleecing people. Later still, Captain Marvel visits John and finds outside of Threpp’s Gambling Palace and says things are fine and most of their problems have been solvable ones. Suddenly, a woman runs out and says her child is missing and she’s worried that her son has fallen off of Airtown, though John assures him they put up proper barriers so this wouldn’t happen. However, they quickly that the boy is inside a compartment under the city where they can repair the pontoons. What’s more, the child has his fist holding in a busted hole, keeping it plugged until they arrived so they can get repairs pulled in. Captain Marvel is happy to find that all the problems there are typical and easily solved, only to hear ruckus from Threpp’s Gambling Palace where a man is thrown out for saying the games are rigged and they’ve stolen all his money. Threpp claims that he’s a troublestarter and that he runs an honest place and easialy lifts up his roulette wheel to find it’s wired for cheating. Threpp tries to have him thrown out, but his goons find he’s not so easily lifted. He throws the goons in to a table and orders Threpp to get out of town and in one hour and never return. Captain Marvel soon suggests to John he needs police and a judicial system to enforce the laws of Airtown and John decides to put up some fliers for a town election.
Meanwhile, Threpp and his goons are in a bright yellow helicopter heading from Airtown and decide that no one can really stop them from just stealing from Airtown, since they don’t have any cops. His goon points out they could just tell terrestrial authorities, but Threpp is still confident that Airtown will be a fine place to lay low at least and flies back. Captain Marvel goes to leave while the town election is in full swing, but hears that three masked men are robbing the town and escaped in a helicopter! They switch on the tower searchlights to look for them, but finds nothing on Airtown or on the ground nearby. Captain Marvel finds the 40 square mile lights find nothing at all and is stumped. In the following days, more and more robberies are made at a speed that no one sees them. He decides he’ll try to bait them out and will attack them when they try to. The next day, in the newspaper, there’s an article about how John Standish has $50,000 in gold in his private vault. That night, John waits with a flare gun to signal Captain Marvel as the World’s Mightiest Marvel flies around to try to intercept their landing. However, when he heads inside, John finds Threpp and his goons are already there. John admits it’s a trap before springing it and goes to fire the flare gun, only for Threpp’s goon to pistol-whip him to knock him out. Captain Marvel soon returns and finds Standish’s house has been ransacked and he hears a helicopter in the distance. He sees the green flare in the distance and John is revealed to have only pretended he was out cold. Threpp and his goon move in to finish him off, but Captain Marvel flies in to punch over Threpp as he notes they were hiding in the pontoon well, using a machine to create helicopter noises. Later, Billy signs off by saying that Airtown is growing fast and they now have a jail with three occupants and that John Standish is now also Mayor of Airtown and says that he’s going to arrest anyone who thinks they can rob Airtown, USA!
Appearing in "Airtown, USA"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- John Standish
Antagonists:
- Henry Threpp
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Airtown
- Threpp's Gambling Palace
Items:
- Thorium
- Helium Pontoons
- Flare Gun
- Helicopter Noise Machine
Vehicles:
- Helicopter
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel Stars in Television"
Henry T Schmoogle is a self-made real estate mogul. He finds someone has vandalized one of his signs, saying his houses are hovels and drawn a caricature of him. He notes this is the sixteenth time this has happened that day alone. He is angry that no one likes his abjectly poor houses and that he’s being mocked for his appearance. He soon heads home to find his less-than-attractive daughter Oogly Schmoogle, who has a large nose and a robust set of jowls. She shows off a 1,000 Beauty Secrets book to her father. He admits to his daughter that nothing can improve the beauty of the Schmoogle Family and that she has a face that could stop a clock (before she does just that.) He confidently decides that he’s going to make his daughter a star by putting her on TV and forcing people to put up with her by oversaturation alone.
Later at Station WHIZ, Billy overhears Hilton Earle’s voice angrily refusing Schmoogle’s “offer” of putting his daughter on TV. Schmoogle’s goons make it clear that if he won’t do it, they’ll harm him and Billy calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel to smooth things out. The two goons almost immedaitely faint in the presence of Captain Marvel and he decides to toss them outside in to the alley while Hilton orders Oogly to leave, saying she’ll never have a TV career (and that TV would be ruined if she did.) Later, the goons complain that they couldn’t help but fail against the World’s Mightiest Mortal and faint hearing his name in front of him, so Schmoogle decides to do it himself. He decides he’s going to sabotage everything to make sure both Hilton and any other guests on his TV show to make Oogly stand out. Soon enough, Hilton’s bus full of guests is stopped by his goons parked on the street. Hilton says they they need to be on the air in a half-hour, but Schmoogle says that just means that Oogly is going to make her debut that night. Hilton offers he just shoot him now to save him the trouble…
Back at Station WHIZ, Mr. Morris tells Billy nobody showed up and that he needs to cover for Hilton. Billy arrives in for the Earle Variety Hour is starting as he introduces the Topsy-Turvy Jugglers… only to find that they also aren’t there. To solve this, Billy calls SHAZAM and Captain Marvel starts juggling all fifty Indian clubs he’s got on hand. However, with the ventriloquist gone, Captain Marvel needs to also mimic him too! With a dummy, Captain Marvel makes an egregious amount of wood-based puns to get the audience going. The next performer is a female singer, which Captain Marvel figures he can’t exactly manage that even with the Strength of Hercules and flies off to follow their path. Suddenly, Oogly appears and Henry pulls a gun on Mr. Morris to get her on-stage, despite her pointing out she herself can’t sing, kicking her towards the stage. Captain Marvel soon finds the two goons and punches them out in one hit and flies the bus to Station WHIZ… only to find that Oogly’s poor singing is hilariously comedic and everyone loves her work! Henry Schmoogle is furious that his daughter is being treated like a clown, but she is more than happy to make a high-priced TV contract. Captain Marvel carries off Schmoogle off, saying that he should be in jail for doing all this, but Schmoogle says he’ll sue for people laughing at his daughter. Captain Marvel insists that they’re laughing with Oogly and that if he learns the difference faster, he'll be better off!
Appearing in "Captain Marvel Stars in Television"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Hilton Earle
- Mr. Morris
Antagonists:
- Henry T Schmoogle
Other Characters:
- Oogly Schmoogle
Locations:
Items:
- 1,000 Beauty Secrets
- 50 Indian Clubs
- A Ventriloquist Dummy
Vehicles:
- A Chartered Bus
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel's Absent-Mindedness"
Miss Jameson is answering at least six different rotary phones to make over 400 appointments for Captain Marvel, amazed that he that he can accomplish it all! However, in his office, Captain Marvel has a string tied around his finger for something he’s forgotten already. Miss Jameson bursts in and tells him that he needs to be at Dr. Carl Vydan’s lab for an appointment. He meekly asks about the string on his finger, but she tells him to keep going and he takes off for 247 Master Place to go meet him there. He tries to take some time to figure out what this sting is for.
At Dr. Vydan’s lab, he notes that his book of chemical formulas is a matter of national security and two escaped Nazis enter with a gun drawn to demand it from him. Captain Marvel tries to remember what the string is for as he flies in the window and almost remembers… only to forget it now as he holds his hand out to block a bullet and then Giant Swings one of the Nazis by the leg, sending him into the back of the other one. However, in the fracas of him doing so, a big jar of acid spills on to his book of formulas, destroying it! Captain Marvel studies a portion of it while it’s melting in his hands while Dr. Vydan says that he could never replace this over his years of work, but Captain Marvel’s Wisdom of Solomon and Speed of Mercury permit him to easily replicate the entire thing and then flies it off to the Defense Department. Captain Marvel, flying out, thinks on how Dr. Vydan thinks he’s a genius… but he still can’t remember what the string is there for!
Later, the World’s Mightiest Mortal arrives to save the Empress Maria, a luxury cruise liner that’s run aground on a mudbank. The captain tells him he needs a harbor pilot who can navigate waters such as these or they’ll just run aground again very quickly, so Captain Marvel dives under to take a total mental map of the entire underwater area, then uses that knowledge to push the ship back to dock easily, despite the Captain furiously saying he won’t be responsible for him acting alone as if he were some harbor pilot… The Captain immediately apologizes to him. Soon after, he is due to meet Mayor O’Dwyer who is installing a new police chief that is being targeted by underworld assassins… and he still can’t remember what that string is for! Just as he arrives and nearly remembers what the string is for before the Mayor greets him and he forgets again. However, when the first guest arrives, Captain Marvel easily discovers that this is “Gunman” Maguire, a known mob hitman in tails with a grenade under his top hat, arrested 23 years ago on suspicion of murder and having appeared in the rogues’ gallery at Gorham Prison. The new Police Chief is astonished that he remembered one face among thousands of similar ones, only for Captain Marvel to lift him over his head, recalling that Maguire was also arrested in Topeka, KS for a knife assault, just as Maguire lunges at him with his knife, crushing it to pieces against Captain Marvel’s chest before he’s punched out soundly. Soon enough, he arrives at Professor Foote’s Memory School, sure that he can help him remember and finds that he’s supposed to go there to give a lecture about how concentration is the key to a good memory! Captain Marvel recalls now that the string was to remind him to go there and gives a rousing speech about how people usually only lose track of memories due to concentrating on other, more important things and that he knows from experience!
Appearing in "Captain Marvel's Absent-Mindedness"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Miss Jameson
Antagonists:
- "Gunman" Maguire
- Two Nazis
Other Characters:
- Dr. Carl Vydan
- Captain of the Empress Maria
- The Mayor
- The Chief of Police
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Dr. Vydan's Laboratory
Items:
- Dr. Vydan's Book of Chemical Formulas (Destroyed)
- Jar of Acid
Vehicles:
- The Empress Maria
Synopsis for Captain Kid: "The Good Skate"
Captain Kid asks Betty Mae to join him and the gang at the Roller Skating Rink, but she says she isn’t going, since she spent all her money on a new outfit to skate in… but not the skates she needs. Capt. Kid promises he’ll get her a pair and goes off to do so, worried now that he is away that he’s also broke himself. Pudgy suddenly runs up at says he got $10 for nothing and that he won’t give it to Captain Kid, but he will explain how he got it: Old Man Jones is playing golf at a nearby course and he got hit by one of his balls, earning him something to ease Old Man Jones’ conscience about hitting children with golf balls, despite the fact that he isn’t really strong enough for them to really hurt. Captain Kid dashes his way almost directly into Old Man Jones’ path, but after he’s hit harmlessly on the head with one his balls, Old Man Jones walks off and another golfer drives a ball directly at Captain Kid’s head. Captain Kid tries to demand compensation from him, but the irate golfer smashes him in the shins with his driver for “ruining my shot.” Later, Captain Kid decides to amend his offer to giving his own skates to Betty Mae, saying it was no sacrifice for him to make for her… as he thinks to himself how he’s now crippled and can’t really use the skates, leaning on a cane!
Appearing in Captain Kid: "The Good Skate"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Kid
Supporting Characters:
- Betty Mae
- Pudgy
Antagonists:
- A Surly Golfer
Other Characters:
- Old Man Jones
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Podunk
- A Golf Course
- Podunk
Items:
- Roller Skates
- Golf Balls
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel and the Rain of Terror"
Billy Batson reports on a herd of 200 cattle disappearing after a sudden rainstorm in Dry Hulks, a small Western town and though they’ve searched at least a few hundred square miles, there’s been no sign of them. Billy wonders what happened and decides that Captain Marvel will know as he calls SHAZAM to summon him. Thus, he flies out to Dry Hulks to look into this. Thereof, Rand Crawford is an argument with Marko Brower, who wants to buy his land for $1,000 and nothing more due to the sudden smaller size of his herd, despite having offered ten times as much the week before and being rejected. Brower tries to coyly ransom the cattle, so Rand attacks him and nearly strangles him until Captain Marvel arrives. Rand admits he can’t prove that Brower did it himself and Brower says that he’s just crazy and that tomorrow there won’t be anything for him to sell. Rand says he better come shooting if he returns to his ranch. Once he’s gone, Rand apologizes to the World’s Mightiest Mortal and says that Brower has done this exact crime before, but Captain Marvel is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Investigating, Captain Marvel finds the grass around the area is dying out, but the soil is the same and the rocks in the area look as if they were harmed by some kind of violent rain. Thus, finding a suspicious rain cloud in the sky over Crawford Ranch, he flies over to stop it by removing his house from its foundation and moving it somewhere else, as the cloud immediately disintegrates their former basement! They both assume that this acidic rain is likely what happened to Rand’s cattle too. Captain Marvel decides he’s going to ask around about this from the other afflicted ranchers. Later, a goon reports to Brower that Captain Marvel is asking a lot of questions and Brower openly says he doesn’t care, since he intends to kill him with acidic rain. Captain Marvel, walking back to town to give himself time to think, finds that the rain has come again and the trees are all melting around him. He finds the “rain” is a deadly acid and soon decides he’s just going to break into Brower’s barn to find his acid-rain machine that he likely has. He also decides that, to keep it a secret that Captain Marvel wasn’t melted by acid rain, he’ll return Billy Batson to investigate a building he hasn’t entered and finds that there’s a large cannon in his barn that fires CO2 pellets and acid, a process similar to how other scientists create “artificial rain.” Brower and his goon arrive and immediately pistol-whip Billy into unconsciousness. The goon worries that he may’ve told other people about all this, but Brower decides he’ll just melt Billy too and destroy his whole setup to erase any evidence of it. When Billy awakens, he’s bound to a support post and gagged while Brower says he’s going to use acid rain on the barn they’re in now and blatantly tells him his plan is just what they thought it was: destroying farms with rain so he can buy them up cheaply and also pretend he’s a victim in it all. Billy is astonished that he could get away with a murder that leaves no body, but the acid rain luckily manages to melt through his gag from Billy twisting the right way, allowing him to call SHAZAM and for Captain Marvel to punch out the goon as Brower fires out another three clouds of death into the air to distract him. Speedily though, Captain Marvel catches the three shells and throws them to the surface of the Moon where they’ll do no harm. Brower runs off to escape him, thinking a storm outside is one of his acid rain clouds going off and builds a fire to hide out. However, Captain Marvel flies in and retrieves him, saying the smoke gave him away and that this is just normal rain, meaning that Brower is the one who’s all wet in the end!
Appearing in "Captain Marvel and the Rain of Terror"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Rand Crawford
Antagonists:
- Marko Brower
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Dry Hulks
- The Crawford Ranch
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Despite the cover, Captain Marvel does not learn about the acid rain in a doomed newspaper, but from Billy's job at Station WHIZ
See Also
Links and References
