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"Justice Society of America: "The Man Who Hated Science!"": The Justice Society of America fail to appear to testify at the murder trail of Professor Zodiak. The Professor boasts that the Justice Society will not appear beca

Quote1 Careful now, Pal! I want to take you to jail in good condition! Quote2
Green Lantern

All-Star Comics #42 is an issue of the series All-Star Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1948.

Synopsis for Justice Society of America: "The Man Who Hated Science!"

The Justice Society of America fail to appear to testify at the murder trail of Professor Zodiak. The Professor boasts that the Justice Society will not appear because he has personally taken care of them, using the elementary principles of alchemy. Incredulous, the judge insists Zodiak must be insane, but Zodiak convinces the judge to let him speak for fifteen minutes. Zodiac recalls his story.

A Spanish scholar discovered the Four Wonders of Alchemy. He used them to travel to America, and survived for over 400 years by means of the Elixir of Youth. The scholar revealed his secret of the Four Wonders of Alchemy to the Justice Society, but died before revealing their hiding places. Unfortunately, Professor Zodiak happened to overhear their conversation. The professor had secretly been studying alchemy for years, and was determined to find the wonders before the Justice Society.
The professor disguised himself as a criminal called the Alchemist, and followed a clue about a vein of gold in a subway station to recover the Philosopher's Stone. The Flash and Hawkman were waiting to protect it, but the Alchemist turned the subway's girders into gold, causing them to collapse on the JSAers. The Alchemist brought the unconscious pair to his house. Having heard a news story about a vanishing millionaire, both the Alchemist, Doctor Mid-Nite, and the Atom went to his mansion to find the Universal Solvent. The Alchemist arrived first, but Dr. Mid-Nite and the Atom trapped him. To escape, the Alchemist used the solvent on the house, causing the house to crash down on the pair. Next, the Alchemist attended a top-spinning contest, disguised as a judge. Wonder Woman and Black Canary also decided to look for the Top of Perpetual Motion at the contest. When a boy's top didn't stop spinning, the Alchemist stole it. Wonder Woman and Black Canary pursued and captured him, but he threw an Alchemo-Bomb at them, which turned them into children.
A colleague of the Alchemist grew flowers that would not die. He knew they must be planted atop the Elixir of Youth, so he killed the man to get it. Green Lantern attempted to stop him, but the Alchemist's bombs turned Green Lantern's power ray solid, and the Alchemist knocked out Green Lantern with his own ray. The Alchemist affixed the powerless male members of the Justice Society to a giant fan, powered by perpetual motion. Then, to complete his master plan, he surrendered to the police and demanded a trial.

As his story ends, the professor reveals that he is the Alchemist, and challenges the police to stop him. He destroys their guns, then summons the members of his "Alchemy Army" to take over the courthouse. He sends demands to congress to make a new cabinet post and appoint him the Secretary of Alchemy. The male members of Justice Society, who used the Elixir of Youth to transform into children as a means of escape, after finding Wonder Woman and Black Canary, enlist the help of a courthouse guard to trick the Alchemist into attacking them with an Alchemo-Bomb, which restored them as adults. The JSA subdues the Alchemy Army, but Zodiak dies and the alchemical treasures are destroyed when his alchemy-powered plane crashes into the sea, done in by his scorn of the sciences.

Appearing in Justice Society of America: "The Man Who Hated Science!"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Galio (Flashback and main story) (Dies)
  • Christopher Columbus (Flashback only)
  • Horace Albrook
  • Jameson
  • Jimmy
  • Professor Michaels
  • Susan Mason

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

  • Alchemo-Plane


Synopsis for Johnny Peril's Surprise Story: "Kismet"

Johnny Peril lands with his airplane in Marakan. There here meet Susan, Major Benet's daughter. The duo takes flight and land in a oasis, while they were in way to Fort Louis. Peril realizes that the oasis water is poisoned after see a hyena corpse. Peril takes some of the water in his canteen for further analysis. Hassin the Hassan and his warriors furtively beats Peril and kidnaps Susan. The bandits flee when they see the French Foreign Legion approaching. Major Benet takes Peril for Fort Louis. Hassin send a ransom letter, demanding 50000 francs. Peril asks to Benet to equip his airplane with machine gun and grenades. Peril flies to Dakeen oasis, where is Hassin. In air, Peril drops grenades in Hassin's camp, and dogfights with a airplane piloted by one of the goons. When he land, the warriors quickly subdue and tie him in a post. Hassin pretends kill Susan and Peril, even with a necklace worth of the ransom. Peril kicks Hassin when he is close, and Susan takes his sword from the ground and free Peril from the ropes. Peril demands a fair fight, which Hassin cowardly refuses and give orders to his people kill him. His own people demands that Hassin accept the fair fight ("You fight him! You great chief, Hassin!"), and he and Peril begin to fight. Peril, unarmed, wins the fight. Hassin escapes to a tent and takes a submachine gun, menacing everyone, even his own people (He knows that his attitudes shamed his tribe, and now they would come after him). Hassin takes a camel and flees to the desert with Peril's knapsack (containing the necklace). Peril was held in high steem by the Riffs, and two days after repair his airplane he and Susan departs. 50 miles out, a vulture sighting does Peril land. He search the cause: In the desert, Hassin's lifeless body, poisoned by the water which Peril had saved in his canteen. "And that's the end of my story. Hassin's fate finally caught up with him! The Arabs have a word for it. They call it - Kismet!"

Appearing in Johnny Peril's Surprise Story: "Kismet"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Locations:

Notes

  • Published bi-monthly by National Comics Publications, Inc.
  • "The Man Who Hated Science!" is presented in four parts, with all pages produced by the same creative team. It is reprinted in All-Star Comics Archives Vol. 9.
  • Story notes:
    • Prof. Zodiak was actually pulled, plane and all, to the year 1941 by Per Degaton, who, to cover it up, made the plane seem to crash into the sea and explode.[1]
    • The flying saucers created by Galio are implied to be an explanation of some UFO sightings. There are unidentified people who saw the flying saucers in an unnamed place, which could very well refer to being the Maury Island incident or Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, both in 1947, one year prior this story.
    • At the end of the story, Green Lantern mentions that "alchemy is black magic after all... and nothing can takes the place of science!" He might or might not really believe that, given that his powers and those of Wonder Woman are very much magical.
  • Johnny Peril's feature is continued from Comic Cavalcade #29.
    • The word Kismet is of foreign origin and is used in Turkish, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic. In Hindi it would be pronounced more like kismat, and it means "fate" or "destiny". The meaning is exactly the same in English. So instead of saying, "it is fate", you could say "it is kismet".
    • The villain Hassin demands 50000 francs as ransom for Major Benet's daughter. The French franc was the French currency until 1999, when it was substituted by the Euro.
    • Dakeen oasis might be a reference to King Dakeen Adel and Nayel (1563-1578)
    • Hassin is refered as the Hassan; it is a reference to the Hassane, warrior tribes of the Sahrawi-Moorish areas of present-day Mauritania, southern Morocco and Western Sahara. How he became leader among Riff warriors is unknown.
    • Hassin's warriors are refered as Riff warriors by Johnny Peril, a cultural region in the northern part of the Kingdom of Morocco. The Dakeen oasis might be in Western Sahara, part of the Morocco.

Trivia

  • Also appearing in this issue of All-Star Comics were:
    • "Descent into Wonderland" (text story) by Ted Udall
    • "To All Junior Justice Society Members!" (secret coded message)
    • "Editorial Advisory Board" (promotional text)
    • "Queen of the Westerns!" (full page ad for the current issue of Dale Evans Comics #1)


See Also


Links and References

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