Whiz Comics #104

When Billy Batson hears about Professor Brayne's revolutionary power plant, he offers his superhuman strength to help—but the scientist is actually the disguised Dr. Sivana in yet another trap to destroy Captain Marvel. As the world's mightiest mortal unknowingly powers an elaborate machine, Sivana's true plan comes to light: all that energy is feeding into a devastating bomb designed specifically to match the hero's own power. Captain Marvel finds himself facing his most dangerous challenge yet, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

Gloria, the daughter of the richest man in town, writes her school composition about poor people—only to discover her understanding of poverty is shaped entirely by her sheltered life of wealth and servants. When Miss Wells asks her to read the assignment aloud to the class, Gloria's innocent interpretation of "poor" becomes the source of unexpected humor.

Bell Bottom Bill cracks a joke about the moon being broke and down to its last quarter, but his humor takes a backseat when he encounters Nautical Nancy in tears—she's gotten sick after her father punished her smoking habit by making her finish a stolen cigar. A brief, lighthearted tale of misguided youth and its immediate consequences.

Doc Sorebones fields an urgent visit from a patient plagued by a single sleepless night, and offers up a remedy that's equal parts medical advice and tall tale. It's a quick, good-natured jab at how we tend to catastrophize minor troubles—and the doctor's deadpan cure is perfectly suited to the humor pages of *Whiz Comics*.

Prince Ibis investigates the murder of a Chinese merchant and discovers a dangerous secret: scholar Erik Charlton has acquired an ancient tapestry that imprisons the souls of long-dead criminals, bound by a wizard's curse centuries ago. When Ibis closes in on Charlton's guilt, the scholar's control over these supernatural servants unravels, and Ibis must use the power of his magic Ibistick to stop creatures that are far more than mortal men.

Croucher K. Conk, that self-proclaimed expert of all things witty, offers some hilariously misguided methods for sharpening the intellect in this half-page humor bit from 1948. From inflating your skull to taking an electric shock, each "technique" spirals into slapstick disaster before Conk arrives at his final, equally ridiculous solution. It's pure Golden Age comedy—broad, absurd, and mercifully quick.

Freshman Freddy thinks he's joining an exclusive campus club when his buddies convince him to throw a fancy dinner for its supposed members—what he doesn't know is that Ace and Stooge are setting him up for a prank, rounding up a few other guys to enjoy a free meal at his expense. When Freddy's new dog sneaks a taste of the food and mysteriously falls ill, the pranksters fear the worst and rush to the hospital, only to discover the real joke has landed squarely on them.