Shazam! wasn't the only place to find the adventures of Captain Marvel. DC also produced 3 Limited Collector's Editions, reprinting the original Fawcett stories.
Limited Collector's Edition C-21
Well do this a little differently, as these had 6 Fawcett stories, plus historical retrospectives, character pin-ups, puzzles, games and, if you wanted to ruin the collector value, a 3-D diorama you could put together, with the cover. No one I knew ever did this.
Cover by CC Beck, with a classic Billy and Captain Marvel pose. I would hope that Billy is a little taller than crotch height, given his apparent age. Captain Marvel really needs to see an optometrist.
"Sivana's Time Trap"-Captain marvel Adventures #121, story by Otto Binder, art by Pete Costanza, edited by Wendell Crowley
Captain Marvel has once again captured Dr Sivana and put him in the hoosegow, to the tune of "Curses!". Sivana gripes about always losing, then hits upon an idea to change things, by making Captain Marvel his friend...
He will travel through time, to a period before TBRC and he were enemies and trick him into aiding him. With a simple mathematical formula, he walks through the prison wall to freedm. I tried the formula and I got a bad headache when I hit the wall. Must have forgot to carry the one.
Sivana heads to a secret cave, where he has a time ship stashed (of course, where else would you park your time ship?) and he sets the Wayback Machine for the exact time and date that The Big Red Cheese was created. He arrives in the past and finds a newspaper, reporting about a volcano in Java, which verifies that Captain Marvel doesn't yet exist (he'd have plugged the volcano, of course). We see young Billy Batson hawking newspapers, then be led by a shadowy stranger down into a subway station, where he catches the Rock of Eternity Express and meets the wizard, Shazam. Says the magic word, block crushes wizard, reappears on the street, yadda, yadda, yadda. Billy hears someone utter the immortal "This is a stick-up!" and says the magic word and Captain Marvel captures his first miscreant, a mugger who is holding up Sivana. Cap returns Sivana's wallet and the mad scientist cackles. He arranged the mugging.
Sivana introduces himself and Captain Marvel says scientists do good work, displaying the Naivete of Gomer. He has to rush off to plug the volcano, in Java (little late, since he reads about it in a newspaper) and goes off to shove a rock on top (which won't cause built up pressures to explode the boulder, obviously). He returns to the city and meets Sivana at his lab, where he helps him build a germ killing machine. Sivana then says they need to test it on Billy Batson and Captain Marvel uses the Stupidity of Curly and then switches to Billy Batson. GHe zaps Billy with the ray, which will actually destroy his red blood cells, but it doesn't quite work. he needs more power in the Z phase and Billy has to switch back, so Captain Marvel can fix it. He does, then tells Cap to change back and he starts to utter the word and then the Wisdom of Solomon finally kicks in...
Sivan screwed up and called Captain marvel by name, without being introduced and knew about the link to Billy. Captain Marvel socks him in the mush, destroys the germ machine, hogties Sivana, dumps him into the time ship and returns him to 1951 and jail. Cap doesn't know about the formula, so we might potentially have an infinite time loop.
Riddles and pictogram puzzles follow, then the next story.
"The Training of Mary Marvel"-story by Otto Binder, art by Marc Swayze, edited by Rod Reed (sounds like a porn star), from Captain Marvel Adventures #19, from 1943.
Mary Marvel is still new to the biz and is in training. Mary Batson is hanging out with Billy at the station, where he prepares for his radio broadcast. he meets ProfessorVan Ryne, who he knows, who introduces him to prof Greasely, who has returned from a scientific trip to Venus, where he killed the local fauna....
Great scientific achievement indeed, the slaughter of a harmless lifeform on another planet. For his next trick, he will hand out radium tablets to school children! Billy agrees to put them on the show and they leave and Greasely drops a phot on the way out. Mary picks it up and figures out, immediately, that it's a fake, that Greasely's superimposed and the beast is a fake. Just like a girl to be smarter than a boy! Billy dismisses it with chauvinistic stereotypes and Mary tells him to stick it where the lightning bolt doesn't strike! She goes off to check it out.
Mary heads to where the Professor has his show and jumps the line and stiffs the ticket taker for the $25 admission. She confronts the profs and denounces them as fakes and Greasely sicks his goons on her and she makes short work of them. They then call a flatfoot to arrest her. Mary breaks out of the handcuffs and flies away, then switches and cries like a girl, on Billy's shoulder. There follows some self esteem issues and Billy offers to coach Mary. A quick SHAZAM! and they head off to practice. The do a little skylight recon, then snoop and overhear that Prof Greasely is really just a carnival barker and Van Ryne is being duped. At the next showing, they expose Greasely by tearing off the disguise. Van Ryne thanks them, then warns of attacking goons. They break clubs over the Marvel heads and get laid out for their trouble.
The Venusian beast gets released and then bulldogged by Captain Marvel (or possibly Cowboy Bob Ellis), revealing it to be a bull (or a nin-cow-poop).Van Ryne guides them to "Greasely's" lab. Inside, they hear a cry for help and Greasely is caught by an octopus. Billy goes to say the word and is grabbed and gagged by a goon and tied up. Mary held back, this time and changes and whoops their hides, real good! She removes Billy's gag and he switches to help clean up the goons. The police are called and Captain Marvel says Mary is ready to solo.
More picture puzzles then the next story, featuring captain Marvel Junior.
"Trouble in Troll Land"-story by Otto Binder, art by Maurice Del Bourgo (per GCD, though the comic says "Art by Mac Raboy"), edited by Rod Reed. from Captain Marvel Junior #11, 1943
Jerome Barney's freak show is going under and my heart bleeds. He needs midgets, fast. One of his flunkies mentions about Junior's recent encounter with trolls and they go off to capture some, for the show. It turns out that someone has trolls mixed up with gnomes or pixies....
The goon captures Ny-o, the dame, and Sher-Lock, the trademark infringement. Cap-ton escapes and rides off on a rabbit for help. He finds Freddy Freeman hawking papers and yells for help. Freddy yells out TCB! and becomes.....Elvis!
Er, he says "Captain Marvel," and becomes Captain Marvel Jr, the rudest superhero ever! See, he can't introduce himself, which is very rude. Just ask Emily Post!
Junior and Cap-ton fly to Barney's circus, where Sher-Lock and Ny-o are being coerced into signing a contract, at puddy tat-point...
Derek, my cat, is deeply offended!
Junior turns up and threatens Barney and a roustabout breaks an axe over his head and gets a bunch of fives. He goes after Barney, but he waves the contract. Junior threatens to tear it up, but Barney escapes, to hide it. Junior and Cap-Ton are forced to leave the others to be exploited. Junior tries to figure out a way to trick barney into revealing the hiding place and stumbles into a situation, with a downed trapeze artist. he switches costumes and bluffs his way into a replacement gig, then puts on an unbelievable aerial demonstration...
Barney offers him a contract and they go to his office safe, where he pulls one out and The King socks Barney and takes the troll contract and destroys it, thank you very much! He returns the trolls to their homes, sings a few songs and then goes back to selling newspapers.
A pin-up of the marvels follows, then more puzzles and then another story.
"Mr Tawny's Personality Peril"-story by Otto Binder, art by CC Beck, edited by Wendell Crowley, from Captain Marvel Adventures #115, 1950.
Mr Tawky Tawny is going through his mail, as tigers do and looks at a personality profile. He's not any of the examples and the final result is that he is drab (with stripes? Impossible!) Captain Marvel happens along and tries to cheer him up and makes it worse...
Tawny turns back to the booklet, which advertises the Personality Shoppe, which can transform him. he goes down and buys a personality altering kit, for the measly sum of a thousand bucks. He writes a check (would you refuse a tiger with a checkbook?).
Later, Captain Marvel checks in on his friends and sees a new debonair personality, which Tawny tries out on the neighbor lady, who liked him better before. He tries it again, as a great orator, and the neighbors yell for him to shut his yap! he tries being the life of the party for some kids, who think he is a doofus. He tries to be a tough guy and has to be rescued by Captain Marvel. TBRC goes down to the Shoppe to check out the proprietor. he threatens him and gets splashed with a childish potion and ends up in a sandbox. Mr Tawny sees and gets himout and they both revert back to type, to the acclaim of all...
Next is instruction about drawing Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel, from CC Beck.
Just draw in the Marvels lightly, add details, darken it up and add solid blacks and viola! Perfectly simple.
Captain Marvel Junior gets a bit more detailed instructions, since you want him to look like Elvis!
More drawing, then a Sivana connect-the-dots, and a puzzle to identify characters by certain identifying details.
"The Marvel family Battles The Primate Plot"-story by Otto Binder, art by Kurt Schaffenberger, letters by Ed Hamilton, edited by Wendell Crowley, from The Marvel Family #85, 1953
A PLANET WHERE APES EVOLVED FROM MARVELS? IT'S A MADHOUSE....A MADHOUSE! YOU BLEW IT UP! DAMN YOU; DAMN YOU ALL TO......
Um, sorry.
A crowd scatters as apes have escaped from the zoo. The Marvel family go after them, but back down when they speak to them. They don their formal attire, as befitting ambassadors from a hidden jungle ape civilization.
IT'S A MADHOUSE!...A MADHOUSE!
Pipe down, you!Captain marvel welcomes them and the leader says they need cars, machinery and medicines and TBRC takes them to where they can buy them. They offer high wages for contract labor (just surrender your passport...). The Marvels help them transport everything to their jungle civilization. The hired help gets to work clearing jungle and putting up buildings, while Junior stops a boa constrictor from crushing an ape. The Marvels then instruct the apes on modern conveniences and transportation, as well as proper care for working in tropical heat...
They change into their weak forms and demonstrate how to use the radio, by Billy making a broadcast. The king gives them soup, which turns them into apes and then they get bashed over the ehad and dumped in the jungle, to be eaten by crocodiles!
IT'S A MAD......
SHUT UP!!Since these apes can't speak, they can't say "Shazam or Captain Marvel or Lancelot Link." The Monkey Family uses their tails to escape, then ponder how and why the king transformed humans into apes. The spy on the ape city and learn that the king is actually Professor Ira Gloot, who transforms into an ape, via a potion, to try to take over the world! Narf!
Captain Monkey swipes the potion and he and the rest transform back into the Marvels, then go kick some simian hinder. The king is using a plane to spread the potion by air and they stop him, but he escapes into a crowd of apes, who all look alike (Specist!) The king organizes the apes into a rebellion and they then plot to overthrow the rest of South America, then head north. They fly in B-17s to attack and the Marvels throw up a fog of feathers to force them down. Next, they try tanks in a Battle for the Planet of the Apes....
The Marvels flood the area to stop Old Bananas & Guts, but still can't find the king. he launches a rocket, which saturates the atmosphere with the potion. Captain Marvel uses the Wisdom of Solomon and the Family builds a giant vacuum cleaner, to suck it away. They head back tot he Amazon and catch the king, force him to drink the potion and jail Prof Gloot.
There is a color page to color Mary marvel (based the cover of issue #5, of her comic, by Jack Binder)
Answers to the puzzle pages, then a story.
"The Missing Red Suit"-story by Otto Binder, pencils by CC Beck, inks by Pete Costanza, edited by Wendell Crowley, from captain Marvel Adventures #68, 1946
Captain Marvel stops a hood, but gets ink on his suit and has to take it to the cleaners...
Billy Batson takes it in, but gets back a musketeer costume, instead. he goes to the dry cleaners, who figures out they sent his suit to a hood, attending a costume party; a hood who looks like captain Marvel...
The real Big Red Cheese turns up, looking like a wedge of brie, but the hood calls for the police and says he is Captain marvel and TBRC is a fake. The cops come and Cap defers. The hood goes to WHIZ, to steal money for charity and Real Captain Marvel turns up late, but no one believes that Porthos is actually Captain Marvel. Then, a truck is out of control and Billy's secretary tells Fake BRC to stop it and he is forced to jump out a window, with no powers and only a convenient awning saves him. Captain marvel save the man in danger, but the fake takes the credit. He hits on an idea and switches to Billy and appears before Mis Jameson, who knows the secret of Billy Batson & Captain Marvel, then he transforms back and kicks the thunder out of Fake Marvel and gets the suit back.
A profile of CC Beck follows....
,,,or is that Dr Sivana, in disguise?
and then the diorama pieces, on the back cover.
Thoughts: Terrific collection of stories, demonstrating why the Marvel Family ruled the Golden Age. We get a glimpse of them across the period, from 1943 to 1953 and see the variation between Captain Marvel stories, both the lighthearted and while battling Sivana, an early Mary feature, and one of the storybook Junior adventures, as well as an epic Family tale, with an absurd and imaginative plot. Imaginative describes the whole shebang, as Otto Binder concocts one great fantasy after another. You can see how his switch to DC helped revamp the Superman Family into something that could survive the blandness of the Comics Code, in the Silver Age.
The Mary tale shows that, despite being aimed at girls, the story is rather chauvinistic, though this was not from a Mary Marvel comic. Still, Mary save the day, after Billy screws up. A key feature to the character was that she was brighter than the two boys, making Mary Marvel that wiser. Junior's tale shows the more classic illustrative style, with the mixture of realism and fantasy, as Freddy lives a storybook life (an orphan in a boardinghouse, sellig newspapers for money, who transforms into a hero and hangs out with trolls).
What it really demonstrates is how much better Fawcett was at producing stories for these characters than what DC had done, so far. Otto Binder was unable to provide the stories for DC and died not long after Captain Marvel debuted at DC (though he did live to see it and send them a letter). It would take until E Nelson Bridwell took on the writing, with Kurt Schaffenberger drawing, to really start capturing the feel of Fawcett (Bob Oskner did some good Mary stuff, as we will see).
The Otto Binder ape story predates Pierre Boulle by a decade!
Back in the early 90s, while stationed in Charleston, SC, I took a trip up to Charlotte, NC (did this about every month or so), to visit the big Heroes Aren't Hard to Find main store (while stopping in Columbia, SC, along the way, to hit a comic store there, as well as a used bookstore) and discovered they were having a big warehouse sale. The warehouse was an old store, a block away and I went over and looked around and found a treasure trove of Marvel treasury Editions and DC Collector's Edition tabloid comics. I walked out of there with a massive stack of Famous First Edition reprints, Marvel treasuries (Howard the Duck, Fantastic Four Holidays with the Heroes, Star Wars, Spider-Man, etc...) and Limited Collector's Editions and All-New Collector's Editions, including the three LCE with Captain marvel & the Marvel Family, Superman vs Shazam, Secret Origins of Super-Villains (with Dr Sivana's origin story) and many more (including the Legion ones, with Mike Grell covers, including the All-New one, with Lightning Lad & Saturn Girl's wedding). These things, plus the Tarzan ones, really took advantage of the format to reprint great old classics. These, along with the Digests and pocket book paperback reprints were the trade paperback collections of the Bronze Age.
