All-American Comics #72 is an issue of the series All-American Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1946.
Synopsis for Green Lantern: "Rumors of the Round Table"
Merlin the magician summons heroes to deliver the kingdom of Camelot from a horrible plight, and to his surprise as much as anyone else's, Green Lantern and Doiby Dickles step out of a puff of magic flame. King Arthur bemoans the various problems facing the kingdom, including "the Chinese embassy" going missing, and how a dragon's made its nest on the territory of Sir Tarquin, the black knight. Somewhat confusingly, Tarquin and some of his thugs run into the throne room and attack the two summoned champions, only leaving when Green Lantern melts their armor and forces them to run away in their long johns. It's puzzling why he'd attack heroes summoned to resolve the problem, almost as if Tarquin wanted the dragon besieging his lands.
Merlin approaches the duo and asks them what their con is, revealing he has no magic powers and summoned them by accident. Moreover, another crook's up to no good in the area already and a pair running another scam had better watch themselves. Green Lantern decides to fly to the dragon's nest since that's his best lead, but stops on the way to rescue a damsel tied to a pole only to find out it's an ambush. The fight spreads into an armorer's workshop, and in trying to use a lance as a vaulting pole Doiby snaps the weapon and fells Green Lantern with a non-metal, his own partner's rump.
In Sir Tarquin's dungeon, the "damosel" tells the heroes the black knight doesn't care about the dragon; he's more focused on having been the one who kindaped the Chinese embassy. Tarquin challenges Doiby to a duel, which the portly cabbie wins through his unconventional fighting style to medieval warriors. Green Lantern flies away with him and the damosel to the cave where the "dragon" is supposed to live, but turns out to be Roger Bacon, who's studying the properties of gunpowder. Tarquin attacks the cave, trying to get revenge on the heroes, but they manage to defeat the knight and his warriors. At first it seems they're stuck in the past, because Green Lantern's ring has run out of energy. The rescued envoys of the Chinese embassy turn out to have brought his power lamp from the current time period with them, knowing it would be needed. Energized again, Green Lantern returns with Doiby to the present, where they're the only ones who know how a museum display of a modern derby impaled by an arrow ended up in Arthurian times.
Appearing in Green Lantern: "Rumors of the Round Table"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Sir Tarquin
- his men
Other Characters:
- Merlin
- King Arthur
- Knights of the Round Table (Unnamed)
- Guinevere (Unnamed)
- A blond damsel
- Roger Bacon (First appearance)
- Chinese Embassy members
Locations:
- Earth-Two
- Gotham City, 1946
- Metropolitan Art Museum
- England, 1258 AD
- Camelot
- King Arthur Castle
- William ye Armourer Shoppe
- Tornament field
- Camelot
- Gotham City, 1946
Items:
- Green Lantern Ring
- Green Flame of Life Power Battery
- Camelot Chronicle (newspaper)
- gunpowder
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Doctor Mid-Nite: "Drama in the Dark"
Mr. Steel, a patient of Dr. McNider's, has fallen into complete apathy. Not long after his visit, a Mrs. Flynn who has nowhere else to go asks for help with her son, who's becoming a delinquent. Charles agrees to hand the matter up to "a friend of mine". As Dr. Mid-Nite, he figures to help both people at the same time.
The hero shows up at the Steels' and collects him to take him to the meeting Mrs. Flynn's son is having with his friends that night, where a pair of gangsters offer to help the kid and his gang make a lot of money. Mid-Nite attacks the two, trying to convince the kids crime doesn't pay. His efforts do indeed convince them not to steal, and seeing the youths stand up for what's right breaks Mr. Steel out of his apathy.
Appearing in Doctor Mid-Nite: "Drama in the Dark"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Myra Mason (Unnamed)
Antagonists:
- Cannon Cane
- Torpedo Tolin
Other Characters:
- Mr. and Mrs. Steel
- Mrs. Flynn
- Freddy Flynn
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for The Atom: "Vacation from Crime"
Al Pratt's looking forward to a day of no-one around and no obligations, just a trip into the woods to go fishing. When he gets to the lake, he's surprised to find three hulking brutes in tuxedos fishing with tree branches and string. Despite finding this strange, Al's determined to enjoy himself and bring Mary back a whopper. When he catches one, the trio offer to buy it for a quickly escalating amount of money, then pull a gun when he still refuses.
When Al leaves, the three remind each other what was going on: they were wearing tuxes to infiltrate a gala ball and steal a diamond, which went flying out the window of their car when they skidded and was swallowed by Al's fish. He's glad to have left his Atom outfit on underneath in case he needed it, allowing him to ambush the thieves. They start a fire to try and stall him while they escape, but he manages to catch up and hand the pummeled crooks over to the park service. Later, Mary is very displeased to be given Al's prize catch, burnt to a crisp in the fire.
Appearing in The Atom: "Vacation from Crime"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- common criminals
Other Characters:
- Forest rangers
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Black Pirate: "The Witch's Dipping Chair"
Appearing in Black Pirate: "The Witch's Dipping Chair"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Lord Treexter
Other Characters:
- A woman accused of witchcraft
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Hop Harrigan: "Saga of a Pearl-Handled Forty-Five"
Appearing in Hop Harrigan: "Saga of a Pearl-Handled Forty-Five"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Imperial Japan (Flashback only)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- United States of America
- New York City (Flashback only)
- Philippines (Flashback only)
- Guadalcanal (Flashback only)
- Mariana Islands (Flashback only)
Items:
Vehicles:
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
Trivia
- Green Lantern's story:
- Anachronisms: Roger Bacon was a real person who lived in the 13th century, while King Arthur was a legendary figure who lived in the 6th century; The presence of a newspaper in 1258 AD also is an anachronism: The oldest direct ancestors of the modern newspaper were the handwritten news sheets that circulated widely in Venice in 1566.
- Beginning with Green Lantern Vol 1 10, wood is depicted as the only weakness of Green Lantern. Before that, any nonmetallic objects could hurt the hero, not only wood. In this issue, however, there seems to be a relapse of the writer and Green Lantern again is depicted as having a vulnerability to non-metals (in this case, the flesh of Doiby Dickes).
- Merlin is a fake magician.
- The toast, in homage to Green Lantern, is a ritual in which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill.
- Contrary to what is said here, Roger Bacon did not actually invent the gunpowder. Gunpowder was first invented and described in China, Bacon was the first in Europe to record its formula. Chinese ambassadors are shown in the same story; maybe Roger learned their formula and lied to brag.
- Green Lantern finds the Starheart in the possession of the Chinese ambassadors - and uses it to return to his own time.
See Also
Links and References
