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"The Fool Comes to Town": A meeting of "the Analysts, exclusive club of amateur sleuths and crime detection enthusiasts in Gotham", is convened for an inauspicious purpose: to drum Green Lantern out of their ranks, given his humiliating defeats at the hands of a new villain whose name is the Foo

Quote1 I play for keeps! The loser loses everything! And Green Lantern lost! Quote2
Sportsmaster

Green Lantern #28 is an issue of the series Green Lantern (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1947.

Synopsis for "The Fool Comes to Town"

A meeting of "the Analysts, exclusive club of amateur sleuths and crime detection enthusiasts in Gotham", is convened for an inauspicious purpose: to drum Green Lantern out of their ranks, given his humiliating defeats at the hands of a new villain whose name is the Fool and whose schtick is stupidity. Green Lantern tells his side of the story:

The Fool was an incarcerated crook who had a reputation for being childish and stupid, but escaped by floating over the prison wall with the aid of a giant gas bubble, produced by an ordinary-seeming bubble pipe. The Fool's first encounter with Green Lantern was on a broadcast of the show "Money for Nothing", where the studio would pay a prize for worthless trash. The Fool showed up to steal a violin a woman found in the garbage, fending off Green Lantern with an innocent-looking pop gun and bubble pipe that turned out to have stupendous stopping power. After the villain escaped with his prize, famed violinist Anton Eismer rushed into the studio and explained the "worthless" violin was really an antique of his worth 100k.
Green Lantern next caught up with the Fool at an amusement park, on a plane-swing ride that turned out to be able to fly under its own power, and released a cloud of gluey bubbles that covers Green Lantern so he could't interfere. While the hero was diverted, the Fool stole a merry-go-round horse and flew away (fending off police with a peashooter that shoots bullets instead). This was apparently a valuable sculpture in disguise, as Green Lantern found it in the window of an art dealer's shop for 50k. Green Lantern got the seller's address, only to realize that it was the art dealer's shop he just left! Storming back in, GL was bonked on the head by the waiting Fool, and put in a trap with poisoned darts tied to his feet. GL managed to escape by seizing a dartboard with his ring, but the Fool escaped by climbing a wall with a ladder made from toy arrows.

Leading back to the meeting of the Analysts. Green Lantern's confident he has the Fool figured out, however, and declares that only he would do something so foolish as try to infiltrate a group meeting of detectives. A hunch which proves to be right when the club president has his mask yanked off to reveal the Fool.

Appearing in "The Fool Comes to Town"

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Supporting Characters:

  • Police Commissioner

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Other Characters:

  • The Analysts, exclusive club of amateur sleuths (First appearance)
    • Club President
  • Anton Eismer, famous violinist

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  • Twirlajet


Synopsis for "The Tricks of the Sportsmaster"

A new villain named the Sportsmaster steals a valuable pearl necklace with a boomerang, and blows up Alan Scott with a bomb when he thinks he recognizes the criminal's moves. Scott's hospitalized, but is actually fine, and gets Doiby to lay in bed for him so he can sneak out and investigate this deadly new villain as Green Lantern. The hero subs in for Alan to handle an award ceremony at the "Stadium of Sports", where the beautiful Leslie West is to hand off a solid gold sports trophy to a sports star. The Sportsmaster strikes again, swooping down on skis while being pulled by a plane. Green Lantern thwarts the theft, but finally realizes who the Sportsmaster must be: his old enemy "Crusher" Crock, the deranged athlete. Crock's grave is disinterred, but in his coffin is Doiby, still alive, but proving Crock's still alive too.

GL locks up the trophy to guard it, but Sportsmaster kidnaps Leslie West to force the hero into a duel for the trophy. Green Lantern shows up at the godlike "Sports Statue" by the bay as demanded, but the Sportsmaster shows that "dying" hasn't done anything to cure his cheating instincts, as he shows up with gun-toting minions on surfboards. As the duel between hero and villain comes to its climax, a mis-thrown Olympic hammer bounces off the statue and hits Sportsmaster in the face, knocking him into the ocean. After cheating death once, though, Green Lantern's already expecting to face Sportsmaster again someday.

Appearing in "The Tricks of the Sportsmaster"

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  • Leslie West

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Synopsis for Cotton-Top Katie: "This Is Important!"


Appearing in Cotton-Top Katie: "This Is Important!"

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Synopsis for "The Last Criminal on Earth"

News flashes of the police requesting Green Lantern's help keep coming over the radio. Alan Scott complains about how they keep interrupting his work for the studio instead of responding. Then Green Lantern comes crashing through Scott's window, dead.

In the world of 2547, utopia has been achieved, thanks to devices called Magitrons that can create anything their user desires. As a result, the world is a place without challenge or struggle, and a man named Knodar is dissatisfied and has rebelled against society as a criminal. He steals the Magitron of a man named Dalmyr who tries to dissuade him from his larcenous ways, and uses it to create a time machine that sends him back to the 1940's where he forms a gang.

Though impressed with the incredible scientific weapons he gives them, they're still afraid of Green Lantern. To reassure them, Knodar uses his Magitron to make Green Lantern appear, who his gang easily kills and throws through the window of GL's "friend," Alan Scott. A dazed Scott finds a copy of GL's uniform and the hero's power lamp in his closet, and driven to avenge the hero, goes after Knodar himself, only to be captured.

Meanwhile, Dalmyr has traveled back to the 40's himself and ends up in Doiby's cab as he looks for Knodar. He gives the cab wings, and from the air spots a futuristic building that must be Knodar's hideout. Dalmyr jumps out and goes over to the building, only to get thrown into the same deathtrap as Alan Scott. Fortunately Scott manages to figure out how his magic ring works and saves them. The pair of heroes then go to capture Knodar at his next robbery, and Dalmyr returns with Knodar to the future. Back to normal after rediscovering his powers, Scott's deduced that when Knodar tried to summon Green Lantern with his device--since he did it without knowing the hero's true identity--it separated the part of him that's Green Lantern and the part that's Alan Scott. Both Alan and Doiby decide not to tell each other about their experiences of the day, since they'd never believe such a crazy story.

Appearing in "The Last Criminal on Earth"

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Notes

  • Published by National Comics Publications, Inc.
  • In the 1st story, Green Lantern is head-konked unconscious once, with a wooden ornament.
  • Knodar came from 2547 AD, but this is mistakenly described as the 25th century (actually, the 26th would be correct). Retcons would establish Knodar in 2447 AD, which is really the 25th century.
  • Every chapter of this issue is the debut of a new supervillain, with Crusher Crock making his first costumed appearance as the Sportsmaster.



See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

  1. As this is Earth-Two Gotham City during the 1940s, then the Commissioner is James Gordon.
Superboy Vol 4 69
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