Like Gladys Needs An Excuse to Eat Chocolate

In Captain Marvel Adventures #26 in 1943. He was the mastermind of getting all of Captain Marvel's nemeses together to defeat him in a storyline that began in Captain Marvel Adventures #22 and ended in #46. Mr. Mind would be a thorn in Captain Marvel/Shazam!'s side for every other incarnation. He recently made a reappearance in Shazam! #2 last month. Mr. Mind technically first appeared as a voice but is physically in #26. Can you spot him?

I am also working to get "collected editions" of Story Series written and posted. You can see the link in the sidebar. Currently there is only one, Catman, but more will be added every month as I get them formatted. If you would like to support my writing or research, you can buy me a cup of coffee on Ko-Fi.

Coughing is usually suppressed just by having something coat your throat. Chocolate is very good at that. I looked this study up and the study was only conducted on 163 people in Europe but they were given either cough medicine with codeine or a chocolate-based medicine called ROCOCO. People using ROCOCO lost their cough quicker. But I bet the group taking codeine felt really good.

Captain Marvel Visits Kansas City, Missouri

Last month, I did some panel-by-panel snarking on the comic book story "The Vampire Fog" to overwhelming applause. I don't know what happened but over the first couple of days of posting, it acquired hundreds of views. I don't know why but I'm just going to assume that people liked it and shared the link. So I decided to do another one this month.

This month will be "Captain Marvel Visits Kansas City, Missouri" from Captain Marvel Adventures #54 from 1946. If you've never visited Kansas City, now you don't have to thanks to Captain Marvel and Fawcett Comics.

I'm glad that they specified that we are in Kansas City, Missouri and not Kansas City, Kansas. Because that'd be gross.

Sam Molen, a legit real person, was the sports director for KMBC for many years. He passed away in 2009.

So Kansas City is having a forum on juvenile delinquency by having Billy Batson--an orphan who works in a radio station and is the most popular superhero in the country. Yeah, I'm sure other juveniles will see themselves in Billy.

I bet Kansas City wishes it just has a juvenile delinquency problem these days.

He threw a brick at a policeman. That's, like, borderline police assault.

The Jackson County Courthouse shown here, only serves the western portion of the county. The eastern side is served by the courthouse in Independence which is the actual county seat of Jackson County, Missouri. This courthouse was built in an Art Deco style in 1934. Future President Harry Truman worked in both courthouses and actually chose the design for the Kansas City courthouse.

The Kansas City City Hall was built in 1937 and, like the courthouse, built by someone who owned a concrete business. That doesn't seem shady at all, does it? It has an observation deck on the top floor and is the fourth tallest city hall in the country.

Municipal Auditorium was built in 1936 by...well, well, city manager and concrete magnate Tom Pendergast. What a surprise. Maybe Billy/Captain Marvel should look into the obvious political corruption going on in the city at this time.

Heh, Biff and Chuck.

Does Billy always Shazam! in front of other people? Seems kind of dangerous since he's, you know, is a little boy.

A good talking to. I'm sure the kids will listen to a superhero known as the Big Red Cheese.

Playground? Those boys don't want to go to a park. They want some excitement, like stealing pop off the back of a truck and riding the rails. Next stop, Grand Rapids!!

Swope Park? Doctor Sivana can't stop Captain Marvel but Swope Park probably can. FYI, the swimming pool is still open if you wish to swim while visiting KC.

H. Roe Bartle was a Boy Scout executive and was very prominent in building up youth programs. Later in his career, Bartle would serve as mayor of Kansas City from 1956 until 1963. His biggest claim during his term was luring a Texas professional football team to KC. The team was renamed in his honor which is why they are called the Kansas City Chiefs.

"I'll give whoever throws a brick the furthest ten dollars."

"Oboy! We're in!"

"Bet you can't hit those windows."

"We'll show you!"

This is why Biff and Chuck, who look like miniature adults, are still kids. Because they're stupid.

There he goes again. Changing into Captain Marvel right in front of everybody.

Wait. Why are they telling Sam Molen about kids smashing store windows? Molen is a sports director, you should probably tell a news director.

"Gee, thanks Mister, that was fun, an' we get paid for it! Thanks Truman!!"

A gold cuff-link!?! I wonder who's behind this?

How did that ad get in the paper so fast? I don't care if it is the 1940s.

GR-5100 is the telephone exchange name for GRand 5100 which was a real exchange in KC. Currently, it looks like the phone number to Beverly Hills Wellness at 11th & McGee. (816)471-5100.

The "famous" Pickwick Hotel was built in 1930 by the same architects that did the courthouse and city hall and was probably okayed by that Pendergast guy. Currently, it still stands at 9th & McGee and is being renovated into low-income apartments.

There's somebody at the door.

There's somebody at the door.

There's somebody at the door.

"It's a kid! Named Herman Shmutz. That doesn't sound right..."

And nobody heard that thunderclap coming from the hallway? Nobody?

Can fingerprints be left on a collar? The collar has fabric on it, right? I don't understand how this works and I'm guessing it's some sort of thing that could only happen in comic books...or the '40s.

The General Post Office is still there on West Pershing Road across from Union Station and next to the Liberty Memorial.

"Slow down, Captain Marvel, everything that you do is inadmissible in court!"

*breaks down door*

"Well, this case is getting thrown out of court."

"What th...! It's Capt. Marvel! What's he doing in Kansas City? We're barely a major metropolis!"

It took one panel to wrap up this story. One. Panel.

Well, I'm glad the poor man's Archie and Jughead have changed their ways. Too bad it took the threat of jail to make them see the light of day. I would hope that your average juvenile would think twice before just throwing a brick at a window just because some guy asked you to.

Let's just all take a second to look at that pun in panel 4 and consider the mistakes we've made in life.

"They would have time for real criminals!" These two boys get into trouble and Captain Marvel is worried about the taxpayer?

Why are they called "playgrounds"? Was that what they were called back then because I just consider them "community centers". I wonder if any of them are open anymore or if they were all consolidated because they were expensive to maintain.

I also wonder if Judge Cowan was supposed to be Judge Ray Cowan, a real Kansas City judge back in the day. I would assume so but I can't find any proof.

Based on this comic story, the juvenile delinquency problem in Kansas City has been solved. It was just those two kids.

Sunday Comics #14: Captain Thunder

In the early 1940s, Captain Marvel was the best selling superhero in America. The comics had it all not only just from a superhero standpoint but it had humor, down-to-earth but whimsical stories, funny animals and, probably the most important aspect, a young boy was the star of the magazine. Given the gift of supernatural powers by a ancient wizard, young Billy Batson could become the powerful mortal Captain Marvel with the utterance of one simple word...

"S  H  A  Z  A  M!"

Captain Marvel began as any other superhero at that time. Fawcett Publications saw how popular comic books were becoming and decided to open a comic book division. Bill Parker, who had written all the other features to appear in Flash Comics #1, created a story about a team of six people who were each given a mystical power. Fawcett executive director Ralph Daigh suggested merging the heroes together into just one hero. Parker agreed and created Captain Thunder, along with C.C. Beck who created the design. Flash Comics was sent to the printer and published in order to obtain a trademark along with another comic called Thrill Comics with the same content. Fawcett failed to secure the trademark on either title and Captain Thunder. They renamed the comic Whiz Comics with #2, renamed Captain Thunder Captain Marvel and introduced their new hero in almost the same way that DC did with Superman.

They even copied the guy in the green pants.

The look of Captain Marvel was inspired by Fred MacMurray while everything else was added in tribute to Fawcett and its founders. Billy Batson was named for founder Wilford Fawcett, who went by "Billy", Captain came from Fawcett's rank in the military and even Whiz Comics came from Fawcett's first magazine Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang. Parker and Beck even took the more familiar aspects of Superman (alter ego, reporter, most of the powers) and put them into the character. The major difference was that all of this was put into a 10- to 12-year-old boy.

Captain Marvel was an immediate success and became the best-selling character of the 1940s spawning a whole franchise of ancillary characters known as The Marvel Family. By 1944, every Fawcett comic featured one of the Marvels and several solo titles were created. In 1944, National Publications (now known as DC Comics) sued Fawcett over copyright infringement. The two companies tried to settle the conflict out of court but in 1948, the case went to trial. The judge ruled that National had failed to properly register the Superman copyright so there was no infringement involved. National appealed and another ruled that while the Superman copyright was valid, no infringement could be seen on the character itself but on certain aspects and stories of the character. The judge sent the case back down to a lower court but by this time, comic books had fallen out of favor, especially superhero comic books. Fawcett agreed to an out-of-court settlement. They ceased publishing comics by 1954, paid National $400,000 in damages, and agreed never to publish the character again.

In 1972, looking for new characters that they could publish, DC bought the rights to Captain Marvel from Fawcett and a new series called Shazam!, due to being unable to use the name Captain Marvel because of another character named that who was owned by Marvel Comics, began the next year.

The following year, in 1974, Superman #276 went on the shelves introducing a new villain for Superman--Captain Thunder. Everything about Captain Thunder was similar to Captain Marvel except for one crucial detail: Instead of a yellow lightning bolt on his chest, there was a yellow sun burst.

Make Way for Captain Thunder
Originally published in Superman #276 (June 1974)
Written by Elliot S! Maggin
Penciled by Curt Swan
Inked by Bob Oksner
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
All characters and stories (C)1974 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

"In a dingy Metropolis alleyway appears a brilliant flash of light that suddenly becomes a bewildered Willie Fawcett" is how the story starts out. Willie looks exactly like Billy Batson except for his crew cut. The narration box tells us immediately that Willie has strange and enormous powers. Willie catches a glimpse of Superman flying through the air and wonders out loud who it is. A drunk man says that it's Superman which confuses Willie even more. He takes a bus (35 cents!!) to where he thinks some place called WHAM-TV is but instead finds Galaxy Broadcasting. Once again, Superman flies by in pursuit of a weird, see-through flying lizard. While Superman is tangling with the lizard, Willie notices a helicopter closing in on an armored car. With a rub of his belt buckle and saying the word "T H U N D E R" Willie transforms into Captain Thunder. But as Captain Thunder flies off, something strange comes over him as if he mustn't stop those crooks. Captain Thunder arrives to help the criminals (!) and takes off with the armored car with the crooks in the helicopter close behind.

Superman finally disposes of the flying lizard who was apparently a menace to the city despite being just an illusion and discovers another costumed person helping the crooks escape. Superman tells Captain Thunder to surrender but is instead kicked in the face. Captain Thunder throws the armored car at Superman and returns to his alter ego of Willie Fawcett, who doesn't know what the heck is going on. Willie decides to return to the Galaxy Building to see if someone can help him get a word to Superman. He is directed to Clark Kent who listens to Willie tell the story of Captain Thunder's origin.

Turns out that Willie is an orphan and every year the orphan kids were sent to summer camp which I imagine was just an excuse to get the kids out of the orphanage so they could bug bomb it and one summer, while everyone else was asleep, Willie followed an owl into a mystical cave where he meets Merokee, a Mohegan medicine man. Merokee reveals that legends foretold that Willie Fawcett would be given great powers. With Captain Thunder here, Merokee goes to "a far better place" leaving Captain Thunder to fight evil. We get glimpses of Captain Thunder battling bank robbers, not-Doctor Sivana, and rescuing ships from storms.

The last thing that Willie remembers is battling the Monster League of Evil which consists of the Universal Studios Monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, and the Wolfman).

Thunder traps them in another dimension but Dracula laughs that they did something to him and that he will never be the same. Willie thinks that he has arrived in the future but Clark tells him that Captain Thunder has never existed on his Earth. Clark agrees to help Willie but thinks that the boy is delusional. Soon, Clark, Lois and Willie are walking to the police station to see if anyone has reported Willie Fawcett missing. Clark notices that a criminal is breaking out of jail and runs off to grab a hamburger for Willie but instead turns into Superman to stop the vehicle that helped the criminal escape. As a reflex, Willie rubs his belt and shouts "Thunder!" turning into Captain Thunder who slams into Superman causing the criminals to escape.

A battle ensues as Superman flies high into the air and uses storm clouds, mountains, static electricity to stop Captain Thunder. Superman is finally able to get a hold of Thunder and trick him into rubbing his belt buckle while saying

This kid has said "Creepies" 16
times in this comic. Superman
should snap him in half.

"Thunder" which turns him back into Willie. Superman puts Willie into a body lock and convinces Willie to say "Thunder" again. With Captain Thunder unable to move,
soon, Thunder is able to break whatever spell the Monster League of Evil had on him and knows how to get him. He rubs his belt buckle again, says "Thunder" and is gone to whichever planet Captain Thunder calls home.

In the epilogue, Lois convinces Clark to take her to lunch at a fancy restaurant and Clark opines in his head that he's glad that somewhere Captain Thunder is fighting for the weak and helpless for no other reason than because it is right. Clark's prime sirloin arrives and he promptly pours ketchup all over it, baffling Lois, because God forbid Clark not act like a doofus for once in these stories.