The Marvel Family #46 is an issue of the series The Marvel Family (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1950.
Synopsis for The Marvel Family: "The Marvel Family and the Day Civilization Vanished"
The Marvel Family Round Table meets once more on Station WHIZ, having received a threatening note from Dr. Sivana, the World’s Maddest Scientist, telling them he’s going to prove himself a greater genius than Newton, Edison and Einstein put together and then he’ll proceed to taking over the world. They resolve that they will stop him. Dr. Sivana snickers in his secret hideout and activates his new Immateriality Ray that makes things turn both invisible and intangible, beginning by erasing all phones from the Earth! Just as a new listener calls in to the Marvel Family Round Table just as all phones disappear, followed by all electric lights disappearing. Captain Marvel Junior tries to look into it, by climbing on the eponymous table, only for Sivana to disappear all furniture too! As they fly outside, Sivana continues to disappear cars and the entirety of the print media, then begins disappearing buildings and cities as well! The final part of his plan continues as Sivana uses an Amnesia Ray Projector to erase the memories of all citizens of Earth, so people won’t remember any of the things that disappear and his own crimes too! What’s worse, when Captain Marvel asks for help from some citizens, he finds that they’ve forgotten who Sivana is… and who Captain Marvel is too! Naturally, the Marvel Family are the only ones unaffected. Mary Marvel breaks up petty fights over land, Captain Marvel, Jr. helps usher folks into a cave for shelter from a heavy storm and Captain Marvel finds hungry people trying to seize animals from a farmer for sustenance, telling them to just work together and the farmer would likely just share with them. Captain Marvel starts to realize that Sivana is trying to destroy society as a concept and wonders where he could be. Meanwhile, Sivana takes off in a flying craft out of a giant yellow blimp hiding above the clouds and goes to his “secret” hideout which has a giant sign in front of it reading Laboratory of Dr. Sivana: Inventive Genius, where he now pretends to have “invented” the inventions that he’s disappeared from the world. The Marvel Family soon find him trying to take credit for every modern invention, only for the citizens to try to defend him. Worse, they soon declare that Sivana should be King of Earth and orders his new army of goons to seize the Marvel Family, so they call SHAZAM and CAPTAIN MARVEL to return to normal, their magic lightning blinding the mob for a moment… only for Sivana to knock them out by shoving their heads together. When they awaken, they’re bound and gagged on his blimp as he offers he can easily return everything that he disappeared, since he’s now the King of Earth, but decides he’ll keep the Amnesia Ray on until he’s well-established. He then drops the three of them out of the blimp to their deaths, but Billy is able to use his shoes to slip Mary’s gag and she calls SHAZAM to save them and allow them to call SHAZAM and CAPTAIN MARVEL to become the Marvel Family! They soon crash through the machines causing all the chaos and Captain Marvel punches him once for Edison, once for Bell and one for Morse, then a few more for the other names he dishonored by trying to steal the world’s great inventions. Later, they’re able to drag Sivana to the street and find out that he’s clearly the World’s Maddest Scientist and they take him back to prison once more.
Appearing in The Marvel Family: "The Marvel Family and the Day Civilization Vanished"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Laboratory of Dr. Sivana
Items:
- Immateriality Ray
- Amnesia Ray
Vehicles:
- Dr. Sivana's Blimp
- Dr. Sivana's Rocket Car
Synopsis for Capt. Kid: "Handle with Care!"
A man from the Acme Collecting Agency comes to demand $10 from Captain Kid, who bought a watch on credit. Captain Kid is shocked to find that it’s the end of the month already and Captain Kid says he doesn’t quite have it, since he gave the watch to Betty Mae for a present, but the Collector tells him he needs to get it by 5:00pm (in three hours.) Captain Kid decides to run over to her house to trick her into dropping it so he can “go get it fixed,” only for Betty Mae to end up catching it and say she won’t hand it to him any further. Dejected, Captain Kid decides he’s going to have to go find a way to make $10 in a few hours, but finds no one on Main Street is hiring (or know better than to hire him.) Finding that Mr. Glass’ Classy Glassware is new and opening that night, he decides to offer himself a job handling glasses and keeping criminals from stealing them. However, once Mr. Glass leaves, goons slip into a window behind Captain Kid while he’s hard at work. He notes that he’ll make the money now if he can get home fast enough, but finds he’s sweating profusely from the hard work and his handkerchief is missing! Trying to reach into his back pocket for it, he accidentally yanks a tablecloth, tumbling all the glasses off and destroying them! However, the two goons cracking Mr. Glass’ safe are caught soon by the cops while sneaking out a window… alerted due to the sound of breaking glass! For his strife, Mr. Glass gives him not only the $10 he earned, but an extra $50 too! Later, a happy Captain Kid shows off to his pal Pudgy that he not only paid off Betty Mae’s watch, but he was able to afford one too!
Appearing in Capt. Kid: "Handle with Care!"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Kid
Supporting Characters:
- Betty Mae
Antagonists:
- The Collection Agency Man
- Unnamed Safecrackers
Other Characters:
- Pudgy
- Mr. Glass
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Podunk
- Mr. Glass' Classy Glassware
- Podunk
Items:
- Betty Mae's Watch
- Captain Kid's Watch
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Mary Marvel: "Mary Marvel and the Adventure in Robot Paradise"
Out at sea, Prof. Homer Tomkin is an archaeologist in search of an island of “immortal people” supposedly there from a piece of ancient parchment he’s found. He soon finds an island hidden in the fog, explaining why the island is seemingly “lost.” Suddenly, he cracks into a large jagged rock and he tries to send out a distress call. Mary Batson, listening on the radio in America, hears news of the crash south of Ceylon and she calls SHAZAM to take off as Mary Marvel. Within minutes, she helps him to the island of “immortal people,” finding there’s no trees there and it seems to be populated… by robots! The robots immediately try to seize them until Mary Marvel punches them back. The robots decide to try diplomacy and reveal that this island, Robot Paradise, has always been home to these robots. Mary Marvel reveals that the “immortal people” are robots that are able to constantly repair themselves with merely oil and metals from a nearby pool of oil and a mine they’ve created. However, these resources are running low after millennia. When Prof. Tomkin asks who built them, they point out all known records are lost. Mary Marvel goes over the parchment he found using her Wisdom of Minerva and finds that an ancient civilization built them 10,000 years ago to be servants and workers. They were devoted to their human masters for long enough that they offered them a retirement: being sent to Robot Paradise. Unfortunately, the ancient civilization seemingly died off some time later, but further, they find that it’s illegal for humans to land on Robot Paradise, so as not to try to oppress the robots there. The robots decide that they must kill them, so Mary Marvel decides to convince them she’s just not human and they find that she is pretty indestructible… so they decide to kill Prof. Tomkin instead. Mary Marvel decides to help out by drilling deep into the ground to give them a new oil source and then cracks open a nearby mountain for them to find tons of available ores. The robots are unsure about killing Prof. Tomkin still, but decide that they can also just make their own laws, deciding that if a human helps them, they are permitted to go free. Mary Marvel leaves with Prof. Tomkin in her arms, deciding they should just leave Robot Paradise alone forever, so they can live a peaceful life unabated by human society. Prof. Tomkin agrees, saying he’ll report it as a mere unsolved legend.
Appearing in Mary Marvel: "Mary Marvel and the Adventure in Robot Paradise"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Professor Homer Tomkin
Antagonists:
- The Robots of Robot Paradise
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- The Indian Ocean
- Robot Paradise
Items:
- The Ancient Parchment of Robot Paradise
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Capt. Marvel, Jr. "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and the Mystery of the Vanishing Whales!"
Freddy Freeman reads in the Daily Gazette that all whales have disappeared from the sea and might even be extinct after no whale sightings for a week. After heading out to the docks, Freddy meets his whaler friend Old Cap’n Greg who says he hasn’t seen whales in months and that whale populations have been slowly disappearing over the course of the last year. Since Freddy isn’t sure that all whales have been hunted to extinction and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to become Captain Marvel, Jr. and flies off to the oceans, finding only one whale left in the Pacific Ocean. One whaling ship comes for the remaining whale, only for a second whaler with a submarine to appear, calling himself the Whale Master and that he owns all whales! When Junior tells him to explain things, the Whale Master refuses to talk, instead harpooning the other ship with a bomb-tipped harpoon, forcing Junior to leave to save the ship as the Whale Master rams his submarine into it too. The Whale Master leaves while Junior patches up the freighter. Following the “last” whale’s wake, he finds the Whale Master is luring it with a school of artificial fish. Following them to a Pacific atoll, Junior finds that all the whales on Earth are trapped in an atoll. To figure out why he’s doing all of this, he lands atop a whale and returns to being Freddy to lure the Whale Master out of his submarine. However, before he can call CAPTAIN MARVEL again, he slips and falls off the top of the whale, hitting his head on the submarine’s aft deck. The Whale Master decides to leave him bound and gagged, bragging that over the course of a year, he captured every whale on Earth so he can create a whale monopoly that runs up the cost of whale oil and ambergris worldwide! He then proceeds to throw Freddy into a whale’s mouth to let it eat him! Freddy manages to use one of the whale’s teeth to hook his gag off and calls CAPTAIN MARVEL to punch the Whale Master in the neck as Captain Marvel, Jr. and then punches him atop a whale’s spout, opening the gate and saving all whales on Earth, flying the Whale Master to prison, where he’ll only get a monopoly on a jail cell!
Appearing in Capt. Marvel, Jr. "Capt. Marvel, Jr. and the Mystery of the Vanishing Whales!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Old Cap'n Greg
- Every Whale on Earth
Locations:
Items:
- The Daily Gazette
- The Whale Master's Bomb-Tipped Harpoons
Vehicles:
- The Whale Master's Submarine
Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the People Who Turned to Stone!"
Billy Batson is in Volcanoville, a city built in the hollow cone of a dead volcano. He finds it’s essentially just a normal town as scientists have said there is no risk at all of eruption, only the occasional volcanic gas leak, which only happen every few years. He soon finds that there’s a Taxidermy Parlor run by one Joe Jark, noting they look less stuffed as much as petrified! Billy goes in to ask Jark about them, but he tells him to basically get lost and says the dime exhibition advertised is no longer available, shoving him out and putting a CLOSED sign on the board outside. Billy soon tours the entire town and finds there’s a shocking volcanic gas leak! Billy is horrified to find that this gas apparently paralyzes people, as if they were turned to stone! Billy quickly manages to call SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel finds the source and rips up a slab of sidewalk to choke off the gas, finding that everyone in that part of town is frozen stiff. Flying nearby, he manages to get the rest of the town to safety and whirls his arms fast enough to make the gas disperse harmlessly. Captain Marvel goes to find a way to fix the gas vent for good, but when he gets back, he finds that a man in a gas mask has dynamited the hole, releasing the vent! Though less gas has escaped this time, Captain Marvel worries after he shoves a tree into the vent and figures that Joe Jark and his petrified animals are likely related to it all. He finds Jark’s shop has a small rear window in it, so he returns Billy to have him climb in the window, finding that Jark has stored up canisters of the gas to freeze people. Billy accidentally breaks a vase, prompting Jark to smash him in the head with a gas tank before he can call SHAZAM, then drags him to the sewers to petrify him while he’s bound and gagged. He notes that if he releases the gas on to Volcanoville, he can make a fortune showing off his “petrified city” and boasts that the gas hardens people’s skin, which he implies will kill Billy very slowly over the course of hours. Pulling off his gag to see him petrified, Billy calls SHAZAM after having kept his mouth open while being sprayed with the gas. Captain Marvel punches him over and notes the irony that Jark will be an exhibition himself… in prison! Captain Marvel is able to figure out that he can punch people very lightly to shatter the hardened skin shell around them before they die. He soon flies off, thinking how Jark’s plot is ruined and how this will make a great story for Billy!
Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the People Who Turned to Stone!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Joe Jark
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Volcanoville
- Joe Jark's Taxidermy Parlor
Items:
- Tanks of Skin-Hardening Volcanic Gas
- Joe Jark's Petrified Animals
Vehicles:
Notes
- Despite the cover, Dr. Sivana does not utilize any kind of lamp-shaped gadgetry, nor does he fire it at the Marvel Family. Instead, he fires a ray at everyone else that erases all forms of modern living and people's memories of relevant inventions.
See Also