If you enlarge the Mossboles... Sending them into our world... It may mean the destruction of mankind. I can't stand for that! 
Green Lantern #22 is an issue of the series Green Lantern (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1946.
Synopsis for "The Old-Fashioned Way"
Dan Crocker, who was the most daring crook of them all thirty-five years ago, finishes serving his time in prison, but immediately falls back into his old ways. He seizes leadership of a gang, and after overhearing an ad for a quiz show with a $10000 prize, decides that'll be their first hit. It's at the station where Alan Scott works, and he quickly changes to Green Lantern and he and Doiby give chase. Dan Crocker gives the pursuing police cars the slip by cutting across country in his horse-drawn carriage, but the heroic duo catch up to him and start a fight. In the course of things, Green Lantern's knocked out when he catches the wooden supports of the carriage on the head. Dan Crocker takes him and Doiby to a saw mill and leaves them to their doom, but Doiby had gotten tired of being hit on the head by Crocker's gang and hidden a metal hubcap under his hat as insurance, which ends up destroying the saw.
Trying to figure out how Dan Crocker would rob a stage coach in the age of motorized transportation, as the two overheard from him, they come upon a factory and realize the departing bus is full of money because it's payday for the workers. Sure enough, Dan Crocker and his gang try to take over the bus, but are trapped inside when Green Lantern uses his ring to fashion bars over the windows. Dan Crocker, who spent the entire adventure voicing his hatred for modern technology, complains that the old prison he's put in doesn't even have running water.
Appearing in "The Old-Fashioned Way"
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- Dapper Dan Crocker
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Synopsis for "The Man Who Insults Everybody"
Joe Smithers was bullied as a child, and was encouraged by his Uncle Charley to strike the first blow by sassing back at the bullies. A lesson he learned too well, as he habitually began insulting everyone he met, even customers at the uncle's business until he was thrown out. Years later, Uncle Charley decided he'd been too hard on young Joe and to make him the heir to all of Uncle Charley's wealth. However, his lawyer persuades Charley to make a dog charity the beneficiary if Joe isn't found by a certain date. Near the deadline, Joe meets Doiby, insults him, and then tells him the story of how he needs to present himself to claim his inheritance. Doiby takes Joe to the most reliable guy he knows, Alan Scott, who Joe insults, but after hearing the story agrees to help anyway, as he knows the charity's run by a notorious gangster and something must be up if a large amount of money's being funneled their way. After battles with gangsters, Joe manages to learn to stop insulting everyone and gets an old friend to identify him in time to claim his inheritance. He appears as a guest on Alan Scott's radio show and tells his story about how insulting everyone only leads to trouble...then signs off by blowing a raspberry into the microphone.
Appearing in "The Man Who Insults Everybody"
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- Blackbody
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Synopsis for "The Invisible World"
Doiby Dickles notices that somehow his pet goldfish keep disappearing. While Alan Scott is initially dismissive, he's present to see a strange ray of light engulf one of the fish, which promptly shrinks out of sight. Perplexed by what they'd just seen, and thinking the theft of Dickles' fish might somehow become a threat to mankind, Scott changes to Green Lantern and uses the power of his ring to shrink himself and Doiby down to find the source of the light. They find themselves in a microscopic world at the bottom of Doiby's fishbowl. There's no vegetation or soil in this world. Instead the ground's a smooth glass-like substance.
Immediately the two of them are attacked by a pack of ambulatory trees who mug them for a hamburger Dickles had left in his pocket and continually yell the word "XAGLCPLP." Since his power ring would be useless against their wooden enemies, Green Lantern and Dickles fly off looking for other clues and find a heavily fortified city, they guess to shelter whoever lives there from the violent trees.
Investigating one of the buildings they find a race of tiny people, the Mikrons, about to feed on Dickles' vanished goldfish. The Mikrons explain they have a machine they've been using to snatch the fish because the Mossboles--the tree people--have been stealing all the artificial food they make and the Mikrons are facing starvation. One Mikron, Quidget, announces they were planning to use their machine in reverse to send the Mossboles to the world they'd been stealing the fish from to be rid of them. Green Lantern refuses to allow dangerous monsters to be sent to Earth, but is locked up by Quidget who runs off to carry out his plan.
The Mossboles attack again and in the course of a fistfight one of them starts eating a grain of sand he finds in Dickles' pocket. Green Lantern uses his ring to translate the Mossboles' speech, and finds out the "XAGLCPLP" they're desperate to find is just ordinary soil, which all trees need, and which the microscopic world doesn't have. Green Lantern then agrees to the plan to send the Mossboles to Earth, where they take root and become ordinary harmless trees. Dickles is grateful that back on Earth trees don't steal humans' food, just as one leans through the window to steal his fried egg.
Appearing in "The Invisible World"
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- The Mikrons
- The Mossboles
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Notes
- Published by Jolaine Publications, Inc.
See Also
Links and References
