All-American Comics #40 is an issue of the series All-American Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 1942.
Synopsis for Green Lantern: "The Circle of Kafoon"
In a remote corner of Asia, the high priest of a mysterious cult dies. To replace him, the cult members, as always, know they must find a man who's the spitting image of their menacing idol, Dhoy Bee. The members of the cult search far and wide, eventually finding the idol's lookalike wearing a derby and driving a beat-up old taxi for a living. They entreat him to come with them, but Doiby Dickles has no interest in joining a goony cult on the other side of the world, and starts throwing punches. The monks close in and Doiby flees to the top of his apartment house, where they don't bother to stop him from lighting a rocket set up there, not seeing the harm it can do. Until it summons Green Lantern, who unleashes his ring on the strange foreigners attacking his friend. Because they're foreigners and don't know the ways of America, Green Lantern lets them go. This gives the monks the idea to study American ways, and in one such instance they see something that gives them a big idea: a gangster movie.
The monks get guns and masks and rob a bank, figuring Doiby will come to stop them. Indeed he does, allowing them to knock him over the head and haul him off. However, they robbed a bank on the turf of the Scarpo gang, who come after the monks to steal the loot. The monks bedeck Doiby into looking like their green idol, just before the Scarpo gang crashes in. The fight ends when the head monk hypnotizes Scarpo into thinking he's a monkey, but one of Scarpo's men had already mistaken Doiby for an actual priceless statue and absconded with him. Tracking down their errant idol, the monks end up at the Scarpo gang's hideout, where Green Lantern's been waiting for the gang to show up so he can shake them down for info on what's happened to Doiby. The head monk is compelled to un-hypnotize Scarpo by his mob, but in commanding him to become "a normal man", the monk inadvertently cures Scarpo of his criminal tendencies. Enraged, the gang tries to shoot him down, but Green Lantern saves the monk, since he's finally found Doiby. However, the portly cabbie's acting like he's really a god made flesh like they wanted. Green Lantern threatens the monk with worse trouble than a gang of hoods if he doesn't use his hypnotic powers to restore Doiby to normal. Knowing they're beat, the monks turn Doiby back to normal and go home, saying they'll worship Dhoy Bee from afar from now on. Although once they're gone, Green Lantern realizes the command to "be as you were at first" has also backfired, causing Doiby to act like a baby.
Appearing in Green Lantern: "The Circle of Kafoon"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Dhoy Bee, terrible god of the Circle of Kafoon (discussed and depicted)
- Circle of Kafoon (Cult of Dhoy Bee)
- Sub-Priests: Goro, others
- The Scarpo Gang
Locations:
- Asia's Mountains of Mystery
- Capitol City
- Apex Broadcasting Company
- Oriental Section
- Scarpo Uplift and Benevolent Society, bar
Items:
- Starheart Power Ring
- Green Sky-Rocket
- Dhoy Bee statue
Synopsis for Hop Harrigan: "The Limey"
Appearing in Hop Harrigan: "The Limey"
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Other Characters:
- Miss Snap
- Gerry
- Blimey
- Spud Murphy
- Booker
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Synopsis for Atom: "The Tusk"
Al Pratt buys a bone-handled knife, but upon remarking on what a fine "tusk" it came from, a nearby man goes insane and attacks him. Overhearing from the police who come to quell the situation that this was only the latest such incident after a man named Brandt was the first, Al Pratt sneakily tags along as the police go to ask Mrs. Brandt if she has any other information. As soon as they leave, Brandt himself appears, it having been a charade that he'd disappeared. Al sneaks back in as the Atom to look for answers, and finds papers detailing business dealings between Brandt and the other men who've disappeared. Before he can learn the whole story, Brandt catches him, hits him over the head and escapes into a park where the Atom promptly loses him in the dark. The next day the pint-sized hero comes back to look again in the light, and while retrieving a kid's balloon from a tree falls out of it and finds a secret door in the park's fountain. Inside is a man with tusk-like teeth and a very threatening raygun, but the Atom manages to overcome him and unmask Brandt. The disappeared men had been driven insane with the ray for pulling a crooked business deal on Brandt.
Appearing in Atom: "The Tusk"
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- Carson
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Synopsis for Scribbly: "The Wax Museum Encounter"
Appearing in Scribbly: "The Wax Museum Encounter"
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Synopsis for Red, White, and Blue: "The Yellow Shirt Peril"
Fritz Stenkler, leader of the pro-Nazi Yellow Shirts, is arrested when the FBI secretly infiltrate an initiation meeting. Stenkler isn't bothered by this, and tells his captors his trial will only increase the power of his organization. The trio are assigned to guard the trial, expecting trouble, which soon proves to be the case when Stenkler's lawyer turns out to be one of his own men in disguise, and they hold trial at gunpoint, while an apple vendor outside proves to be carrying a bomb to use on the courthouse. The secret service agents get the opening to pound on Stenkler's minions. With him recaptured, he faces trial again, but the unsuccessful brawl's convinced him of the futility of his crusade. Stenkler pleads guilty to get sent to a nice safe prison.
Appearing in Red, White, and Blue: "The Yellow Shirt Peril"
Featured Characters:
- Red, White, and Blue
- Red Dugan, USMC
- Whitey Smith, USA
- Blooey Blue, USN
Supporting Characters:
- Doris West, G2
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Synopsis for Sargon: "The Clothes Dealer"
Sargon bedevils some swindlers selling cheap, over-priced suits. He brings the suits to life to hold the crooks prisoner until they can be fitted for new suits of their own: prison zebra stripes.
Appearing in Sargon: "The Clothes Dealer"
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Synopsis for Doctor Mid-Nite: "The Propaganda Battle"
Appearing in Doctor Mid-Nite: "The Propaganda Battle"
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Notes
- Green Lantern
- The splash page is signed "by Mart Nodell and Hasen".
- Doiby gets head-konked unconscious, with a pistol butt.
- The Yellowshirts are an obvious parody of the Brownshirts.
- Also appearing in this issue of All American Comics were:
- Mutt & Jeff: (newspaper strip reprints), by Al Smith
See Also
Links and References
