All-Star Comics #53

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE GUN THAT DROPPED THROUGH TIME! The Justice Society are attending a convention for inventors when a Dr. Swanley buddy of theirs is killed. Suspicion falls on Ted Weldon, the fiance of Dr. Swanley's ward, but he reports seeing a man toying with a gun inside Dr. Swanley's booth just before the murder. Green Lantern uses his ring to search the building and ever attendee, but nobody has a gun like Weldon described, and he's accused of the murder. He's quickly declared guilty and sentenced to execution, and the Justice Society race to find some way to exonerate Weldon, and with no other leads try to determine the purpose of Dr. Swanley's bizarre invention, which no-one else knew. After finding some old notes of his they divine that the machine is a "time chute", and that the gun used to kill Dr. Swanley was thrown into it after he was killed. The JSA dive into the machine to find it and exonerate Ted Weldon. Black Canary and Flash find themselves in the palace of Timur in ancient Asia. He does indeed have the gun they're looking for, but realizing it must be valuable for these powerful people to want it, he sends his guards after them. The heroes easily defeat their attackers, but the gun suddenly disappears out of Flash's hand. Wonder Woman and Dr. Mid-Nite find the gun in the possession of Attila the Hun. The ancient conqueror is no match for Wonder Woman's Amazon might and they get the gun, but it disappears again. Hawkman and Atom are in ancient Rome, and when they see an ad for Spartacus fighting in the arena with a new weapon, they figure it might be the gun they're looking for. The heroes are right, and with their modern fighting skills easily overcome him and get the gun. When they refuse to slay their downed opponent the entire arena gangs up on the JSA members and soon even the mighty heroes are overwhelmed, but their heroic example inspires Spartacus to call out to his fellow gladiators to be slaves no longer. Once again the gun disappears out of the heroes' hands. Flying solo as usual, Green Lantern finds himself in a high-tech city but can't understand how this civilization is unknown in his own time. He's accosted by a guard, who pulls the gun the JSA's looking for on the hero. Green Lantern easily fends off his attack and seizes the gun, and is confronted by the city's queen, who's planning to launch her air force to conquer the rest of the world. Before the conquest can begin and Green Lantern's forced by superior numbers to join in, an earthquake suddenly strikes and sinks the city. Green Lantern realizes he was in Atlantis all along. Like with the others the gun starts disappearing but Green Lantern conjures up a giant magnet with his ring and pulls it back to his grasp. Back in their own time, the Flash takes the gun and runs at high speed to present the murder weapon and get a stay of execution for Ted Weldon. The JSA are then called to meet Eric Pomar, the murdered scientist's best friend. He actually murdered Swanley to steal the scientist's great inventions and use them to gain great power. Pomar shoots the JSA with a "self destruction beam" that makes them want to commit suicide but Dr. Mid-Nite tricks Pomar into shooting it at a mirror and hitting himself. Before any of the heroes stop him Pomar jumps out a window. THE RACE OF WHEEL AND KEEL