All-Star Comics #21

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE MAN WHO RELIVED HIS LIFE The Justice Society of America reply to a summons to help Joe Fitch, an assistant to the distinguished Professor Everson. Joe is dying because he drank a fatal serum, an act that allowed the Professor to develop the cure for a life-threatening disease. On his deathbed, Joe tells the Justice Society members all the evil deeds he's regretted doing throughout his life. To fix Joe's regrets, Professor Everson dispatches the JSA members back through time to change history, by setting straight all the evil deeds in his past.  In order to repay gambling debts, Joe abused his position as a bank teller to help a gang rob his bank, but Hawkman helps Joe beat up the gang and turn them over to the police.   The Sandman stops Joe from shooting his enemy in a crowded theater, although, due to the San Francisco earthquake, Joe was unaware at the time that he didn't actually kill anyone.    After the shooting, Joe fled to Mexico, where he planned to dynamite a saloon to prove himself to some bandits. Starman tries to talk Joe out of blowing up the building, but sabotages his dynamite, just to be safe. When the saloon blows up anyway, Starman finds the bandits who did it, but Joe had already fled.   Joe then joins the military to fight in World War I, where he let his commanding officer die because he was too scared to act. Doctor Mid-Nite is able to talk Joe through his fear and Joe takes action to save his C.O.   Joe then takes a job working for rum-runners. The boss learns about Joe's past and tries to blackmail Joe into performing a murder for him. Joe intends to shoot the boss, before Doctor Fate intervenes and helps Joe break up the entire gang.  Finally, to land a job, Joe helps a crooked politician rig an election. Johnny Thunder get involved, however, and convinces Joe to do the right thing. Nevertheless, it's the Thunderbolt that actually ensures the election is clean on election day.   Their individual missions complete, the Justice Society members returns to the present. One by one, they tell Joe what really happened in his past and Joe Fitch passes away, content to know he was never as evil as he imagined himself to be. EXPRESS TO BERLIN Hop Harrigan and Tank Tinker are ferrying poison gas from London to Tunis, when they spot six Nazi fighters, however, only one engages them. Quickly, the other five pilots shoot down their comrade. Hop and Tank are puzzled, until an armed German spy with stolen British intelligence hijacks the plane and demand Hop flies him to Berlin. Hop and Tank, working together trick the spy, and shatter a vial of the gas to kill the spy.