I guess I will never get over the fact that DC Comics now has the rights to Captain Marvel and the whole Marvel family. It's the boldest irony since it was DC that was responsible for putting Fawcett Comics out of business with their lawsuit alleging that the character was a copyright infringement of Superman. I would hazard to guess that the fact that Captain Marvel was actually outselling Superman in the 1940's played a big part in their decision to sue Fawcett, who ceased publication of their superhero comics in 1953. Still, if not for DC we probably would not be seeing these wonderful Golden Age reprints, the latest being the Shazam Family Vol. 1.

This edition features the early adventures of Captain Marvel Junior. The book reprints Junior's adventures from Master Comics #23 - 32, Captain Marvel Jr. #1, and also includes the first appearance of Mary Marvel from Captain Marvel Adventures #18. Most of the stories in the book feature art by Mac Raboy who is perhaps best known for his 20 year run as artist on the Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strip, taking over for the great Alex Raymond. Raboy's art is quite a touch darker and grimmer than most superhero titles of the day, certainly far darker than Captain Marvel's artist C.C.Beck. Raboy also produced some of the most outstanding covers of the Golden Age while working on Master Comics, which are thankfully reprinted in the book.

Throughout out most of the ten issues reprinted in this debut volume, Captain Marvel Jr. finds himself battling two main foes, the German villain Captain Nazi, and Mr. Macabre, sort of an amalgam of The Shadow & the Joker. Captain Marvel Jr. is Freddy Freeman, a crippled boy who sells newspapers and lives in a rundown shack. We will see in the origin story from Captain Marvel Jr. #1 that he was orphaned when Captain Nazi killed his grandfather and left Freddy for dead until Captain Marvel pulled him from the sea. Freddy is saved when the wizard Shazam tells Marvel that he can give the boy a portion of his magic powers. Now when Freddy says the name "Captain Marvel" he becomes Captain Marvel Jr. Oddly, he still remains a young, teenaged boy whereas Billy Batson becomes an adult during his transformation.

Mr. Macabre is introduced in Master Comics #24 and is a rather creepy villain who is killing his former business partners after announcing they will die over the radio. The mystery of how he kills the men is rather ingenious for the time. The Captain Marvel Jr. stories are more subdued than those of Captain Marvel who had many slapstick villains. The one weakness these early stories suffer from is the repetition of Captain Nazi and Mr. Macabre as his foes, neither of which really provides much of a challenge.

Mary Marvel would complete the trio and her origin is told in Captain Marvel Adventures #1. We learn that Mary is actually Billy Batson's twin sister and they were separated as babies when their parents died with Mary going to live with a wealthy family.

I really enjoyed the stories in this volume more than I thought I would because my expectations were for the same style of stories of Captain Marvel. But the main selling point is the gorgeous art and covers of Mac Raboy.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

These are some of the best comics ever produced, and certainly among the best-drawn! Mac Raboy was a king among comics artists! Gotta love Captain Marvel Junior. Also features the introduction of Mary Marvel! A thrill to behold and a joy to own!

I have to admit, ive been waiting for an archive take on Captain Marvel Jr. for a long time. This volume is well worth the wait, the stories here are vastly different from the Captain Marvel Sr. stories of previous archive editions in both tone and artwork. Cap Jr's tales are somewhat darker and more serious. The artwork is breathtaking, with a sense of realism and artistic grace not usually seen in comic books at the time. Mac Raboy's art on the Cap Jr comics will put you in mind of Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon" and Hal Foster's "Prince Valiant" comics. These tales were written when America was just shaking the dust off of Pearl Harbor and the mood of the country was prepping towards impending war. Captain Marvel Jr.'s battles with Captain Nazi is sprinked throught these pages. The fight sequences are always a thrill, through they tend to be a bit redundant. You will also notice the same artwork is used periodically in several stories, this was due to Raboy inability to meet deadlines due to his meticulousness of his artwork. Yet it is the artwork and earnest plotting that makes the Captain Marvel Jr. stories far superior to most of the superhero comics of the day.