Captain Marvel Adventures #16 (1942)

One day, early in the Battle of the Aleutian Islands, Billy Batson and Sterling Morris receive a radio transmission from Olaf Smorgasbord, on Misko Island, Alaska Territory. While Olaf's reporting about how calm and peaceful things are on Misko, three Japanese soldiers (Hissyu and two enlisted men) climb in through the window behind him, and grab the old sourdough by the neck. Back in the city, Billy hears this happen, and immediately gets SHAZAMed up and flies to Alaska, arriving over Misko in thirty-seven and three-quarters seconds. Captain Marvel has memorized the location of every island on Earth. Sitting atop old Olaf's shack, Captain Marvel eavesdrops as the officer, Hissyu uses Olaf's transmitter to call his brother officer, Missyu, and declares the island to be undefended and ready to invade. Captain Marvel flies into the shack and beats up Hissyu and his squad. The radio equipment is still on, and Marvel uses it to talk some smack at Missyu, who laughs it off, and says to expect his arrival that afternoon. Then there's some shooting outside. According to Olaf, that would be Klondike Mike and Kodiak Ike, still pursuing their lifelong feud. Cap is very offended that two Americans should be shooting at each other, especially right now, and he flies into the woods to look into this, leaving Olaf and his rifle to guard the (four or more) prisoners. Cap finds Mike and Ike, interrupts their beard-pulling, ear-twisting fight, and tells them what's going on; they both declare themselves ready and able to take on the enemy. Marvel stations them and their rifles on some high ground overlooking the island's only harbor, the inevitable landing zone. Then he flies back to Olaf's shack, where he finds Olaf playing cards with Hissyu, and has already won his coat and cap. Meanwhile he's also been transmitting to the American Fleet, but with no reply so far. Captain Marvel then flies out to scout the enemy task force. He finds at least seven warships approaching, lands on one of them, and changes to Billy, in order to slither down a ventilation duct for better eavesdropping. He sneaks his way into the wardroom where Missyu is going over his invasion plans, out loud and in English, with a subordinate. The plan is to invade Misko with infantry, and to air-raid Dutch Harbor simultaneously. Billy sneezes and is caught. Billy is having an allergic reaction to the incense burning in the room, and is sneezing so much and so rapidly that he can't quite say his magic word, until after he's been thrown over the side. In the water, alongside the Japanese warships, which are now shooting machine guns at him, he finds three submarines, disguised to look like whales. Then he says his magic word, flies straight through one of the subs, and flies to Misko Island, from where he warns Dutch Harbor by radio. In the next room, Olaf and Hissyu are still playing cards; Olaf has now won almost all of Hissyu's uniform, and it's cold in Alaska. At the island's natural harbor, the Japanese invasion force is just landing its first boat when Mike and Ike roll some improvised explosive barrels down the hill to greet them, then open up with their rifles. The first landing party is repulsed, with 41 casualties. Captain Marvel flies back out to the Japanese flagship, lands, converts back to Billy size, and sneaks around some more, soon overhearing two officers plan their second move: sending one of the fake-whale submarines to the beach. Cap flies back toward the island, finding one sub already in the bay, and already encountering a real whale. That encounter quickly turns violent, and the sub is smashed asunder by the giant animal, which then rampages through the nearby fleet. Most of these ships, it turns out, are fake, made of cardboard and wood. Only the aircraft carrier and the flagship and a few of the subs are real, the rest are props for an enormous bluff. The flagship, however, still packs a formidable battery of big guns; Missyu starts shelling the island, intending to leave no creature alive upon it. That's when a task force of U.S. surface warships shows up, guns blazing. Missyu steps off-panel and commits hara-kiri. Captain Marvel congratulates and thanks his rifle team and returns to the radio cabin. Hissyu is now wearing only a barrel, Olaf has won his clothes, his money, the Japanese fleet, Singapore, and Tokyo. Outside, Klondike Mike and Kodiak Ike have gone back to fighting (now it's over which killed the most enemies), and Olaf Smorgasbord goes back to radio-reporting on how quiet things are on Misko Island. Captain Marvel flies back to civilization, and Billy gives the public a rousing pep-talk about Americans standing shoulder to shoulder against the enemy.