All-Star Comics #57 is an issue of the series All-Star Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1951.
Synopsis for Justice Society of America: "The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives!"
Four international detectives are invited to a demonstration set up by the Justice Society where a model crime is carried out in an auditorium and they then have to solve it despite being blindfolded as the theatrics are played out. They succeed, but suddenly the lights double in brightness and by the time Flash's fixed the wiring the detectives have vanished. The only clue's a silver skeleton key found at the scene. A messenger brings in a cablegram for each of the missing detectives, and in light of the situation the JSA reads through them, learning each detective was being called home to investigate a baffling crime. The JSA realize the crimes must be connected, all carried out by one syndicate, if all of the detectives were kidnapped at once to get them out of the way. The heroes split up to investigate the crimes themselves.
Dr. Mid-Nite arrives in London and follows the trail of clues from a robbery of a high security bank to a series of underground air raid tunnels the British police overlooked as they're too used to seeing those. After a merry chase Mid-Nite captures the thieves and learns a key isn't only the mastermind's calling card, also his nom de guerre.
Flash investigates the disappearance of some of Notre Dame's gargoyles. He catches thieves carrying off another one and uses a piece of paper to drill through a stone wall to chase after them. Not only that, the paper he grabbed are the thieves' orders, telling them where to go after the crime. He catches them and recovers their stolen gargoyles, but is left wondering who the Key could really be.
Wonder Woman investigates the crime involving the Emir of Kasdan, who receives his literal weight in gold on his birthday from the people. But the emir who received the gold was a phony, the real one showing up late because his car broke down. Wonder Woman chases them down in her invisible plane then hoists the thieves' entire escape sub out of the water with her bare hands and shakes it until they fall out. The thieves promise the Key will exact revenge on the Justice Society.
Green Lantern investigates the theft of a millionaire's "short-snorter bill", which in his case is a 100k-bill autographed by numerous celebrities, making it practically priceless. Lantern tricks the ship's magician into revealing himself as thief by making him think the bill is radioactive then attacking when he tries to decontaminate it. With the four crimes foiled, Green Lantern notes the Justice Society's next job is to hunt down the Key himself.
When the four heroes return from abroad, Hawkman, Black Canary and Atom relay the results of their findings into the disappearance of the detectives: namely that only four sets of footprints departed the scene, meaning the Key must be one of the four detectives! Fully assembled, the Justice Society heads to a manor house and finds the four detectives as if in a trance, and find that the Key had been masquerading as the detective from England. He orders the four detectives to kill the JSA but the Flash steals their guns at ultra-speed and Green Lantern uses his ring to break their hypnosis. The Key tries to escape in a cable car but when Atom starts reeling it in he jumps rather than be captured. The four detectives give the Justice Society a solid silver key in gratitude for their help.
Appearing in Justice Society of America: "The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Chief Harry Van (Single appearance)
- Mustapha Hakim (Single appearance)
- Jacques Durand (Single appearance)
- Inspector Drew Dawes (Single appearance)
Antagonists:
- Key (First appearance; dies)
- Pierre (Single appearance)
- The Emir of Kasdan (impostor) (Single appearance)
- The Great Gordini (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Chief Inspector MacReady (Single appearance)
- Jenkins (Single appearance)
- Harris (Single appearance)
- Malcolm (Single appearance)
- Bill (Single appearance)
- M. Commissaire (Single appearance)
- The Emir of Kasdan (Single appearance)
- Colonel Masir (Single appearance)
- F. Fred Wallis (Single appearance)
Locations:
- United States of America
- Civic City
- Civic City Palace
- Tiffanier (Mentioned only)
- Hawaii
- Civic City
- England
- London
- Trafalgar Square
- The Charing Cross Bank (Single appearance)
- Paddington Station
- Scotland Yard
- London
- Turkey
- France
- Paris
- Notre-Dame Cathedral
- Eiffel Tower
- Club Atilla (Single appearance)
- Sûreté Central Office
- Paris
Items:
- Doctor Mid-Nite's Blackout Bomb
- Doctor Mid-Nite's Infra-red goggles
- Green Flame of Life
- Green Lantern Ring
- Hawkman's Nth Metal Wings
- Wonder Woman's Bracelets of Submission
- Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth
- Wonder Woman's Tiara
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Johnny Peril: "The Lady of Mars"
Appearing in Johnny Peril: "The Lady of Mars"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Reprinted in All-Star Comics Archives Vol. 11.
- "The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives" is reprinted in Wonder Woman in the Fifties.
Trivia
Final Golden Age appearance of the Justice Society of America and nearly all of its members. Wonder Woman was the only Justice Society member who remained in continuous publication throughout the 1950s.
See Also
