All-American Comics #69 is an issue of the series All-American Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1945.
Synopsis for Green Lantern: "The Backwards Man"
John Able's released from prison, but he insists he never committed any crime. Since he's paid a debt to society he never incurred, he declares that now he's going to go out and commit that crime. From now on, he's the Backwards Man, doing things like wearing a mask that makes it look like he's facing backwards, paying a gang in advance for helping him commit a crime, and putting up a wanted poster for himself for crimes he'll commit in the future.
Alan Scott and Doiby run into the Backwards Man and his gang when they break into a jewelry store, but actually leave cold jewels behind in the vault, then head out the door without stealing anything. They then "rob" a bank by leaving money inside, and "rob" a museum by leaving art objects there. When Alan manages to catch up to them as Green Lantern, Doiby, who's seen everything, has fallen for their ruse and thinks Lantern can't fight them, because they aren't committing crimes. This leads to both heroes getting bopped over the head and left unconscious. When they come to, weird static comes over the police band that Lantern recognizes as normal words spoken backwards, obviously the code of choice of their new nemesis. In the interim, the Backwards Man's gang has been actually robbing all the places they pretended to rob earlier. Lantern and Doiby are able to trail them back to their hideout, where the villain reveals his secret: the jewels he left behind were frozen oxygen, and they exploded after getting hot and blew the vaults open.
Lantern and Doiby get inside and start pummeling the gang, prompting Backwards Man to flee to the roof. He and Lantern grapple on top of a water tower, and to keep from going back to jail, the criminal jumps off the roof to his death, almost hitting a policeman on the way down. Later, Doiby asks Lantern what they were doing in that jewelry store the gang "robbed" earlier, when neither of them is interested in jewelry. Lantern answers that it was them picking out the medal the policeman said they deserved for cracking this case. After all, Lantern points out, wasn't this whole adventure a bit backward?
Appearing in Green Lantern: "The Backwards Man"
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Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- The Backwards Man (Single appearance)
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Synopsis for Doctor Mid-Nite: "The Fisherman's Folly"
Appearing in Doctor Mid-Nite: "The Fisherman's Folly"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
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Synopsis for Red, White, and Blue: "Whitey's Craving for Root Beer"
Appearing in Red, White, and Blue: "Whitey's Craving for Root Beer"
Featured Characters:
- Red, White, and Blue
- Red Dugan, USMC
- Whitey Smith, USA
- Blooey Blue, USN
Supporting Characters:
- Doris West, G2
Synopsis for "Mutt & Jeff"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Mutt & Jeff"
Featured Characters:
- Mutt
- Jeff
Synopsis for Hop Harrigan: "Abducted Airliner"
Appearing in Hop Harrigan: "Abducted Airliner"
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Antagonists:
- Professor Robomb
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Notes
- Published by J.R. Publishing Company
- Also appearing in this issue of All-American Comics was:
- Mutt & Jeff (newspaper strip reprints) by Al Smith
See Also
Links and References
