Captain Marvel Adventures #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCaptain Marvel Adventures #13 (cover-dated July 1942) is a representative artifact of the peak early run of what was, by circulation data, the best-selling superhero comic of its era — a series that at its height moved tens of millions of copies annually. The issue showcases the multi-story anthology format that defined the title and kept young wartime readers coming back each month. While it does not introduce a major recurring character, it preserves a snapshot of the C.C. Beck Shop's visual house style at its most confident, and it features Billy Batson's recurring supporting cast — including Steamboat — at a moment when Fawcett's Captain Marvel universe was expanding rapidly toward the landmark introductions that would follow in later 1942 issues.
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The issue went on sale July 24, 1942, per the copyright entry record, and carries a cover date of July 1942. Art credits were disputed for decades; the Grand Comics Database notes that a C.C. Beck pencil credit was ultimately removed after research by Craig Delich, with credits formally verified through Marc Swayze's testimony published in Alter Ego #141 (August 2016) and further clarified in Alter Ego #145 (March 2017). The stories were produced by the C.C. Beck Shop — Fawcett's in-house studio — with contributions from Al Liederman and Marc Swayze, reflecting the industrialized but artistically cohesive production model Fawcett used throughout the series' golden years.
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- Published by Fawcett Comics with a cover date of July 1942; on-sale date recorded as July 24, 1942, per the U.S. Copyright Office Catalog of Copyright Entries.
- Cover depicts Captain Marvel punching the head off a diamond-eyed idol — the central image from the story 'The Idol of Doom,' a cursed-diamond adventure in which Billy temporarily forgets his magic word after the idol's curse strikes him.
- The lead story, 'The King of Storms,' features a con man named J.J. Drupp who exploits islanders by posing as a weather controller; Drupp dies in the story, making this his sole appearance.
- Recurring supporting character Steamboat Bill appears and plays an active role, rescuing Billy Batson before Marvel can stop the storm — one of his more heroic moments in the series.
- Art production was handled by the C.C. Beck Shop; pencil credits once attributed to Beck were revised following research published in the fan/scholarship journal Alter Ego in 2016–2017.
- The issue is an anthology format running approximately 68 pages and also includes a Captain Kid backup story by Al Liederman, consistent with the series' multi-feature structure.
- Captain Marvel Adventures was at this point one of the highest-circulation comics in America — series-wide annual sales reached over six million copies in 1942 and would nearly double the following year.
- Note: Some third-party price-guide sources incorrectly attribute the first appearance of IBAC to this issue — all major reference sources (Wikipedia, DC Database/Fandom, GCD) confirm IBAC debuted in Captain Marvel Adventures #8 (March 1942), not #13.
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