Captain Marvel Adventures #131 (1952)

Billy Batson is talking with Pop Smith, Chief Superintendent for Station WHIZ going on 25 years and that he knows how everything works, since Billy is working on a story about how Station WHIZ is run. He remarks at the wonderful system of machines that keep the WHIZ Building alive and running for everyone and that they're very important for the station. Suddenly a man who looks like Jack Lemmon in a lime-colored suit says that it could all be thrown out and it's outdated junk. Mr. Morris introduces him as Cyrus Snell, an atomic engineer that claims his Little Giant Atomic Power Plant, which is about the size of a meat grinder, can power the entire Station! Snell offers to Mr. Morris that if he tries it for just 24 hours, he won't take any money from him for it. Mr. Morris notes that Station WHIZ was the first station to transition to television, have a World Broadcast, and invented color television and is happy to try ou the new “peacetime” atomic power. Pop Smith hooks up the appropriate cords to the Little Giant Atomic Power Plant and it makes noises like a coffee grinder. Pop Smith sees that it starts working into a smoother hum and bemoans that Old Betsy, his most powerful dynamo, could be scrapped so soon… The next day, Mr. Morris cuts Snell a check for $10,000 as he's convinced about atomic power! Billy is nervous to announce on WHIZ-TV that WHIZ is moving to atomic power, but Mr. Morris finds that it isn't nerves, the building is actually overheating! Billy is forced to call SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel who punches out the windows. He soon finds that the lights are exploding too and Pop Smith soon reveals that it's actually too powerful and is overloading the boilers, forcing Captain Marvel to crack a main pipe to relieve the pressure. Furthering their worry, Pop Smith finds it can't be shut off and is stuck on. Pop suggests Captain Marvel not try to punch a small nuclear reactor since it'll explode. Captain Marvel thinks on how best to fix this and finds an elevator is moving at a dangerous speed now and has to grab the cables to slow it down and tie it down for now. Captain Marvel reasons that Snell definitely didn't warn about how dangerous his atomic reactor was. Above, their power overcharges and the aerial melts into a searing hot liquid metal that tears through the floor of Mr. Morris' office. Captain Marvel blows on it really hard, which freezes the metal in place and hardens into a plug in the ceiling. When he gets downstairs again, he finds Pop turned off the Little Giant Atomic Power Plant. Captain Marvel finds Snell has skipped town with his $10,000 check and repairs the Little Giant Atomic Power Plant to work as it should and that it's now perfectly functional, though Pop is still leery of this. Soon, Billy is able to announce Station WHIZ is the first atomic powered radio and TV station out there! Snell, hearing that they fixed his supposedly worthless machine, decides to go back and try to steal it back. Snell sneaks into Station WHIZ and clocks Pop and Billy in the heads with a monkey wrench and decides to kill them by using the Little Giant Atomic Power Plant to burn them alive, but when he touches it, it shocks him, a security measure created by Captain Marvel. Billy calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel, who punches out Snell and arrests him. Later, Billy signs off saying that Station WHIZ is now 100% atomic, the power of peacetime and him and Mr. Morris find that Pop now has a more relaxing job and trusts this newfangled atomic power.