| Issue | #21 |
| Published | Summer 1944 |
| Cover Price | 0.10 |
| Pages | 52 |
| Editing | Sheldon Mayer |
| Notes | The cover and splash are identical except that the Sandman and Doctor Fate only appear on the splash. Jerry Bails believes, because the Spectre and Atom were shown on the cover [but have no solo chapters inside], that the chapters for Sandman and Doctor Fate were originally written for those two heroes. The DC symbol on this cover is different fron any other ever used on an All- Star cover. The editorial page features a JJSA code message in the Hawkman code. All story synopses and notes by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). |
| Characters | Atom [Al Pratt]; Wonder Woman [Earth-2]; Dr. Mid-Nite; Hawkman [Carter Hall]; Starman [Ted Knight]; Johnny Thunder [Earth-2]; Spectre [Jim Corrigan] (all as the Justice Society of America/JSA); Professor Everson |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Pencils | Joe Gallagher |
| Inks | Joe Gallagher |
| Notes | The cover and splash are identical except that the Sandman and Doctor Fate only appear on the splash. Jerry Bails believes, because the Spectre and Atom were shown on the cover [but have no solo chapters inside], that the chapters for Sandman and Doctor Fate were originally written for those two heroes. The DC symbol on this cover is different fron any other ever used on an All- Star cover. The editorial page features a JJSA code message in the Hawkman code. All story synopses and notes by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Characters | Atom [Al Pratt]; Sandman [Wesley Dodds]; Wonder Woman [Earth-2]; Dr. Mid-Nite; Hawkman [Carter Hall]; Starman [Ted Knight]; Dr. Fate; Johnny Thunder [Earth-2]; Spectre [Jim Corrigan] (all as the Justice Society of America/JSA); Professor Everson |
| Synopsis | The President asks the JSA to visit a man at the hospital....a visit that may change a man's life. When they show up, they are greeted by Professor Everson, whom they had met back in All-Star #10. He tells them that the man whom they are to do something for is Joe Fitch, a man with a shady past who had worked for the professor for about one year. It seems that the professor had created two serums, one that could save human life and one fatal to it. Joe Fitch decides to become the guinea pig, and when the professor returns to the lab, Joe is dying, having taken the wrong serum. Joe was taken to the hospital and there made a request of the JSA to see if they could use the professor's time ray to go back into time and change that criminal past of his. Agreeing to this, the JSA hears of Fitch's criminal deeds, then, one by one, are put under the time ray to head back into the past of Joe Fitch and correct his mis-deeds before the man dies in the present. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Gardner Fox |
| Pencils | Joe Gallagher |
| Inks | Joe Gallagher |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Characters | Hawkman [Carter Hall] |
| Synopsis | Hawkman goes back to 1904 when young Joe was a bank teller and was invited to a gambling den for a few laughs. Joe lost everything, but the owner [Slim] said he would forget the thousands Joe owed him if only he'd provide the safe combination at the bank. Joe refuses and gets beat up....enter Hawkman on the scene, and the Feathered Fury makes short work of the thugs. Later, still owing the money and in a weak moment, Joe decides to turn over the combination. Hawkman intervenes, deciding to lay a trap for the thieves with that combination. Joe refuses the reward, deciding to give it to the head man's wife to help her get by while her husband is in jail. Fast forward to 1944: the mailman delivers a dusty envelope to an old lady.....Slim's wife, being told the mail was found in the old post office being torn down. The contents: the reward money on Slim. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Gardner Fox |
| Pencils | Sheldon Moldoff |
| Inks | Sheldon Moldoff |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Characters | Sandman [Wesley Dodds] |
| Synopsis | The Sandman arrives in 1906 [or 1907 as a later caption states] in San Francisco just as Joe Fitch arrives to his new banking job. One evening, he viosits the Golden Slipper and is enthralled with a performer, Lily D'Arcy, and he goes backstage to ask her out. At dinner, Lily is approached by a Mr. McCullum who takes exception to her going out with Joe, and Joe defends her honor....with his fist! McCullum swears revenge and the Sandman, who overhears the threat, decides to tag along with Joe and see what develops. Joe continues to see Lily and asks her to marry him....but she refuses, saying that if she marries McCullum, then Joe will be safe. Joe goes home and gets a gun and heads to the theatre to get McCullum, ignoring what the Sandman is trying to tell him. The gun goes off and McCullum goes down just as the famous San Francisco earthquake occurs, and the theatre goes up in flames, burning McCullom's body to cinders, and Fitch fleeing into the night. Pondering what he'll tell the other JSA members upon his return, Sandman sees a politician named Palmer with a gun in his hand, and surmises that he shot McCullum, not Fitch. But without a corpse, Palmer's guilt cannot be proved. Fast forward to 1944: an old lady, named Lily, reads an article in the paper that it was Palmer, not Fitch, who killed McCullom and she is much relived. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Gardner Fox |
| Pencils | Joe Gallagher |
| Inks | Joe Gallagher |
| Notes | Pencil & ink credits from Craig Delich (April 30, 2004). Pencil credits originally given to: Jack Kirby and ink credits originally given to: Joe Simon. This is the last appearance of the Sandman in All-Star. |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Characters | Starman [Ted Knight] |
| Synopsis | Joe Fitch then fled to Mexico, where in 1914, Starman caught up with him. It seems Joe joined up with Pancho Villa and his gang, acting as an expert shot. Villa gives him the job of dynamiting the Horseshoe Saloon, owned by a rival named Smith. As Joe rides into town, he passes two fellows that also have intense hatred for this Herman Smith, but Joe pays no attention and continues on to look over the saloon. Starman sees Joe and goes back to his camp to disable all of the dynamite, then watches as Joe returns for the explosives, watches him go back to town and plant the dynamite. To the Astral Avenger's surprise, the dynamite goes off, destroying the saloon, killing and injuring many. Joe flees at the horror of what he has done while Starman chides himself for goofing up the assignment. Then he spots the two men Joe had passed earlier in the street and overhears them bragging about blowing up the saloon. He quickly dispatches them, but fails to locate Joe. Fst forward to 1944: on the very site where the saloon stood years before, a group of engineers uncover sticks of dynamite that hadn't exploded.....because they were full of sand, not gun powder! |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Gardner Fox |
| Pencils | Stan Aschmeier |
| Inks | Stan Aschmeier |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Characters | Hop Harrigan; Tank Tinker |
| Synopsis | In an emptied B-25, Hop & Tank fly out over the English Channel toward Tunis carrying a glass cyclinder containing a potent and powerful gas, efficient and painless when they were suddenly attacked by an ME-109. Just as quickly, six more appeared from nowhere, hot on their tail. Just then, one of the Nazi planes went down in flames, apparently shot down by the others, who quickly re-grouped and continued on their way, mystifying Hop and Tank. Suddenly, a German spy, who had hidden aboard the plane, emerged from behind Hop and Tank, demanding they fly to Berlin. As they neared Berlin, Hop mentioned to the spy, Chambers, that the box at their feet contained a secret invention. Tinker was forced to open the box and he quickly dropped the glass cyclinder, letting the gas overcome the German, while Hop & Tank put on oxygen masks. The spy fell over and Hop re-directed the plane back toward Tunis. |
| Genre | aviation |
| Letters | typeset |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Characters | Dr. Mid-Nite |
| Synopsis | Remorse for what he had done drives Joe Fitch back across the Rio Grande into Texas and spends two years cow punching before he is drafted into the A.E.F. He is sent to France....suddenly a German bomber overhead drops some bombs and the explosions literally drive Joe mad, as he remembers what had happened at the Horseshoe Saloon, and thinks himself a coward. Dr. Mid-Nite arrives at that moment and tries to convince Joe that he is not a coward, but he won;t listen. Later, Joe's commanding officer refuses to allow Joe not to go on the latest assignment, and when the battle begins, Joe starts to desert his unit. But Dr. Mid-Nite talks to Joe and revives his spirit and he goes out and saves his unit and Lt. Ed Jones from an enemy grenade. Fast forward to 1944: former Lt. Ed Jones, wheelchair bound since the Great War, suddenly feels that he wasn't really wounded in that attack and gets up and walks! |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Gardner Fox |
| Pencils | Stan Aschmeier |
| Inks | Stan Aschmeier |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Genre | gag |
| Script | Ed Wheelan |
| Pencils | Ed Wheelan |
| Inks | Ed Wheelan |
| Characters | Dr. Fate |
| Synopsis | It is now 1924. After the war, Joe wandered up north to the Canadian northwoods and became a fur-trapper for several years, then worked his way south and then east, and is now transporting rye and scotch to warehouses in the city. Joe's boss tells him that he wants him to be his lieutenant and get cut in on a share of the action. Handing Joe a gun, he leaves, and the next day Joe reads about his boss putting on a party for children. The real reason his boss, Al Crump, wants Joe as his lieutenant is that the philanthropist is annoyed with a certain newspaperman named Nason, and wants him eliminated. Joe is called in and told to do the job.....and that they know all about Joe's criminal past. Joe has no choice and tracks Nason down, ready to shoot him when his gun suddenly points to the floor and goes off.....Nason falls over....dead! Doctor Fate is responsible for that maneuver with the gun, and shows Fitch that Nason has been poisoned, not shot, and that his boss was setting him up for the fall. Together, they go to Crump's HQ and put an end to his activities. Joe sits down at a typewriter and types out a complete affidavit for the Police about Crump's illegal activities. |
| Genre | occult; superhero |
| Script | Gardner Fox |
| Pencils | Joe Kubert (signed) |
| Inks | Joe Kubert (signed) |
| Notes | This is Doctor Fate's last appearance in All-Star. |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Genre | gag |
| Script | Ed Wheelan |
| Pencils | Ed Wheelan |
| Inks | Ed Wheelan |
| Characters | Johnny Thunder [Earth-2]; Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt |
| Synopsis | It is now 1932 and an older Joe, now living in the mid-west, applies to Gus Gordon for a job on the local election board for the up-coming election. Joe realizes that Gordon has always been the "honest" politician, but overlooks that fact in order to gain maybe an office himself soon, with Gordon's backing. Just then, Johnny Thunder arrives, and tries to convince Joe not to do what he's thinking, but Gordon's thugs promptly throw Johnny out on his ear. Johhny decides not to take this lying down, and infuriates members of the gang, who promptly knock brother John around. Later, Johnny visits Joe and again tries to convince him not to do that illegal act. This time, Joe sees the light, and Johnny & the Thunderbolt make short work of Gordon's plans. Joe decides to beat it, however, fearing retribution. |
| Genre | superhero;humor |
| Script | Gardner Fox |
| Pencils | Stan Aschmeier |
| Inks | Stan Aschmeier |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |
| Characters | Hawkman [Carter Hall]; Starman [Ted Knight]; Atom [Al Pratt]; Spectre [Jim Corrigan]; Dr. Mid-Nite; Sandman [Wesley Dodds]; Johnny Thunder [Earth-2]; Dr. Fate (all as the Justice Society of America/JSA); Professor Everson |
| Synopsis | Back in the hospital room, Joe Fitch tells Professor Everson that he suddenly feels like a different man as though he knew that he never committed any of those crimes. As the JSA members reappear and Joe is thankful, there is a knock at the door and in walks Lily D'Arcy. She walks over to Joe's bed and tells him she she accepts his proposal of marriage, even though she knows he is dying. Later that evening, Joe passes away. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Gardner Fox |
| Pencils | Joe Gallagher |
| Inks | Joe Gallagher |
| Notes | Wonder Woman does not appear in the conclusion. |
| Reprinted | in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #5 |