All-Star Comics #38

(December 1947-January 1948)

Editorial Advisory Board (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 0.33 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 2) (Expand) /

Flash Comics; The Flash / promo (ad from the publisher) / 0.67 page (report information)

History's Crime Wave! [Part 1] (Table of Contents: 3)

The Justice Society of America / comic story / 12 pages (report information)

Script

Robert Kanigher

Pencils

Alex Toth

Inks

Alex Toth

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

superhero

Characters

Justice Society of America [Hawkman [Carter Hall] (death); Green Lantern [Alan Scott] (death); Wonder Woman [Diana Prince] (cameo on splash page); Johnny Thunder (death); Dr. Mid-Nite [Dr. Charles McNider] (death); The Atom [Al Pratt] (death); The Flash [Jay Garrick] (death)]; Black Canary [Dinah Drake]; Sonia Gaye (concert pianist); John Gaye (violinist, Sonia's brother, death); unnamed prosecutor; unnamed judge; Big Boy Nelson (wrestler); Little David (wrestler, death, mention only); the Van West sisters (one dies); Mr. Benson (owner of Gem Rarities); unnamed partner of Mr. Benson (death); Mary; Stephen (Mary's wife, death); unnamed wax museum guard [as Genghis Khan; Attila the Hun; Nero; Goliath; Cesare Borgia; Captain Kidd] (villain, unseen in this chapter); Lucrezia Borgia (villain, splash only)

Synopsis

The Police are stunned and mystified with five separate crimes, each resulting in a death, and each being blamed on (by the suspects) by infamous villain in history. All the suspects are quickly tried, convicted and sentenced to death. To make matters worse, when six members of the JSA investigate, they are actually killed by the villains blamed for the other crimes! A dying Johnny Thunder sends his companion, the Black Canary, to JSA HQ to report all that has gone on to Wonder Woman.

Reprints

• in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #8 ([October] 2002)

Keywords

Gem Rarities; Golden Lasso; Gotham City; Rex Theatre; Riverside

Indexer Notes

The splash page replicates the cover.

Bert La Brucherie (Table of Contents: 4) (Expand) /

Wheaties / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Captain Tootsie and the Radar Rescue (Table of Contents: 5) (Expand) /

Captain Tootsie; Tootsie Roll / comics-form advertising / 1 page (report information)

[History's Crime Wave! Part 2] (Table of Contents: 6)

The Justice Society of America / comic story / 11 pages (report information)

Script

Robert Kanigher

Pencils

Carmine Infantino

Inks

Frank Giacoia

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

superhero

Characters

Justice Society of America [Wonder Woman [Diana Prince]; Green Lantern [Alan Scott]; Dr. Mid-Nite [Dr. Charles McNider]; The Flash [Jay Garrick]; Johnny Thunder; The Atom [Al Pratt]; Hawkman [Carter Hall]]; Black Canary [Dinah Drake]; Paula; unnamed wax museum guard (villain); Nero (villain, wax figure); Genghis Khan (villain, wax figure); Goliath (villain, wax figure); Cesare Borgia (villain, wax figure); Lucrezia Borgia (villain, wax figure); Captain Kidd (villain, wax figure); Attila the Hun (villain, wax figure)

Synopsis

As Wonder Woman sits alone in JSA HQ wondering what has happened to the All-Stars, Black Canary enters and tells the Amazon Maiden what has happened to Johnny. Wonder Woman leaves and collects the corpses of the JSA members, and takes them back to HQ. Then, she and the Canary fly them to Paula's secret lab and bring them back to life again with the Purple Ray, after which the members dash to the wax museum, looking for the villains. Realizing they are only wax, they are perplexed. However, Black Canary, after listening to GL's incident, figures out a way to capture the true villain.

Reprints

• in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #8 ([October] 2002)

Keywords

Golden Lasso; Gotham City; Green Lamp; Invisible Plane; Paradise Island; Paula; Power Ring; Purple Ray

Indexer Notes

Art credits from Craig Delich.

This is the only JSA story in which Paula appears, and the first JSA tale to feature the Invisible Plane.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 7)

Ton o' Fun / cartoon / 1 page (report information)

Script

Harry Lampert

Pencils

Harry Lampert

Inks

Harry Lampert

Colors

?

Letters

Harry Lampert

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Does everybody understand that when the director says, 'Cut!'...

Genre

humor

Indexer Notes

This filler was NOT reprinted in the Archive. Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 8) (Expand) /

Spalding / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

[History's Crime Wave! Part 3] (Table of Contents: 9)

The Justice Society of America / comic story / 11 pages (report information)

Script

Robert Kanigher

Pencils

Bob Oksner

Inks

Bob Oksner

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

superhero

Characters

Justice Society of America [Dr. Mid-Nite [Dr. Charles McNider; also as Nero]; The Atom [Al Pratt; also as Goliath]; The Flash [Jay Garrick; also as Captain Kidd]; Green Lantern [Alan Scott; also as Cesare Borgia]; Hawkman [Carter Hall; also as Genghis Khan]; Johnny Thunder [also as Attila the Hun]]; Big Boy Nelson (wrestler, mention only); Nero (villain, wax figure); Goliath (villain, wax figure); Captain Kidd (villain, wax figure); Cesare Borgia (villain, wax figure); Genghis Khan (villain, wax figure); Attila the Hun (villain, wax figure)

Synopsis

Soon after, a newspaper, the Globe Telegraph, announces that the JSA has caught the true killers who masqueraded as the ancient villains, and shows a picture as proof! Naturally, the "real villains" are perplexed...and, as each of the JSA members goes after the real villain involved at the scene of each crime, and overcome them, each villain breaks apart, proving only to be wax dummies! Simultaneously, as the figures break apart, they explode, knocking the JSA members unconscious.

Reprints

• in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #8 ([October] 2002)

Keywords

Globe Telegraph; Gotham City; Power Ring

Indexer Notes

The Chicago Globe Telegraph newspaper in panel 1, page 24 states that the paper was founded in 1801 and this issue is dated Saturday, October 25, 1947.

The Chief Returns a Gift (Table of Contents: 10)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Ted Udall (credited as Charles King)

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Genre

western-frontier

Indexer Notes

This text story was NOT reprinted in the Archive.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 11) (Expand) /

Chemcraft / advertisement / 0.5 page (report information)

Junior Jim (Table of Contents: 12) (Expand) /

Smith Brothers Cough Drops / advertisement / 0.5 page (report information)

[History's Crime Wave! Part 4] (Table of Contents: 13)

The Justice Society of America / comic story / 4 pages (report information)

Script

Robert Kanigher

Pencils

Alex Toth

Inks

Alex Toth

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

superhero

Characters

Justice Society of America [Dr. Mid-Nite [Dr. Charles McNider]; The Atom [Al Pratt]; The Flash [Jay Garrick]; Green Lantern [Alan Scott]; Hawkman [Carter Hall]; Johnny Thunder; Wonder Woman [Diana Prince]]; Black Canary [Dinah Drake; also as Lucrezia Borgia]; unnamed wax museum guard [also as Attila the Hun] (villain, death); Nero (villain, wax figure); Goliath (villain, wax figure); Cesare Borgia (villain, wax figure); Captain Kidd (villain, wax figure); Genghis Khan (villain, wax figure)

Synopsis

The JSA awake to find themselves bound inside a huge wax vat in the basement of the museum, with hot wax raining down on them. As they look up, the evil villains are standing and gloating over their demise, when suddenly only one of them unmasks (Attila), revealing the security guard of the museum, who tells them that he had impersonated ALL of the villains. Why? Because the JSA dared to insult them, and thereby insulted him! Suddenly Lucrezia Borgia appears, catching the guard off guard, but her wax mask melts, revealing the Black Canary. She frees the JSA, the guard dies in the wax vat.

Reprints

• in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #8 ([October] 2002)

Keywords

Golden Lasso

Indexer Notes

Black Canary, after the adventure, is declared to be an "Honored Guest" of the JSA, with hopes that, one day, she will become a permanent member.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 14) (Expand) /

The Junior Justice Society of America / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 15) (Expand) /

Lifebuoy / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 16) (Expand) /

Parker Johns / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 17) (Expand) /

Daisy Air Rifles / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 18) (Expand) /

Baby Ruth / advertisement / 1 page (report information)