All-American Comics #19 is an issue of the series All-American Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1940.
Synopsis for Green Lantern: "The Insurance Racket"
Alan Scott saves pedestrian Joe Prentiss from being run down by a passing automobile. The following morning, Alan reads the newspaper and learns that Prentiss was struck down anyway by another vehicle later that evening. Changing into Green Lantern, he decides to investigate the deceased's apartment. While quietly inspecting the apartment, Alan hears two thugs breaking in and rummaging through the place. He overhears them admitting to the Prentiss murder as well as the pending murder of a man named Hodges. Green Lantern bursts out and accosts the two thugs. He forces one of them to tell him where Hodges lives.
Green Lantern flies to Hodges' house to warn him. The man isn't home, but his wife tells Green Lantern that he just left with some men in a car. Lantern tracks them down just as the goons pitch Hodges off the side of a cliff. Green Lantern swoops down and catches him as the villains speed off. Alan asks him why the men were trying to kill him. Hodges tells him that they work for a man named Slade who owns a gambling hall. When patrons cannot cover their bets, Slade lets them fill out an insurance policy naming him as the benefactor should the insured ever die by accident.
Green Lantern disguises himself as a gambler named Titus, and goes to Slade's gambling hall. He gambles until he loses a large sum of money, at which point Slade and his lawyer, Mister Wolfe, offer him one of their insurance policies. "Titus" agrees, and, that evening, becomes the victim of a seemingly random mugging. The muggers, however, are actually Slade's goons.
Reverting to his Green Lantern guise, Alan follows the thugs back to Slade's home. He phases through the wall, but Slade is ready for him. Although his bullets pass harmlessly through the Green Lantern, he is briefly felled when Slade strikes him with a wooden club. He prepares to pitch Green Lantern's body through a trap door filled with lye. Alan quickly revives and turns the tables on Slade. Slade falls backwards into his own trap and dies a gruesome death.
Appearing in Green Lantern: "The Insurance Racket"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Slade (Single appearance; dies)
- Wolfe
Other Characters:
- Hodges
- Joe Prentiss (Dies)
- Mrs. Hodges
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Atom: "Introducing the Mighty Atom"
Appearing in Atom: "Introducing the Mighty Atom"
Featured Characters:
- The Atom/Al Pratt (First appearance) (Origin)
Supporting Characters:
- Joe Morgan (First appearance)
- Mary James (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Kidnappers
Other Characters:
Locations:
Synopsis for Hop Harrigan: "The Payroll Robbers"
Appearing in Hop Harrigan: "The Payroll Robbers"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Geraldine (Gerry)
Antagonists:
- Slick
- Blackie
Other Characters:
- Nye
Synopsis for Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man: "On the Side of the Enemy"
Appearing in Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man: "On the Side of the Enemy"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Alec (Final appearance)
Antagonists:
- Gracia Darling (Final appearance)
- Emperor (Final appearance)
Other Characters:
- Slater (Final appearance)
Era:
- United States of North America, 2240 (Final appearance)
Synopsis for Scribbly: "Sisty and Dinky are Kidnapped"
Appearing in Scribbly: "Sisty and Dinky are Kidnapped"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Dinky Jibbet
- Ma Hunkel
- Sisty Hunkel
- Ma Scribbly
Antagonists:
- Boss
- Dumpty
- Slicker
- Sharpy (First appearance)
Synopsis for Red, White, and Blue: "The Booby-Trapped Bridge"
Appearing in Red, White, and Blue: "The Booby-Trapped Bridge"
Featured Characters:
- Red, White, and Blue
- Red Dugan, USMC
- Whitey Smith, USA
- Blooey Blue, USN
Supporting Characters:
- Doris West, G2
Notes
- Not appearing in this issue was Adventures In The Unknown, but this feature returns next issue.
- Atom: Introducing The Mighty Atom is reprinted in:
- Last All-American issue for Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man. Gary has reappeared twice since this issue, in Legionnaires Annual #3, 1996, and Strange Adventures (Volume 4) #1, July 2011.
- The Green Lantern is reprinted in The Golden Age Green Lantern Archives Vol. 1.
- Also appearing in this issue of All-American Comics were:
- Mutt & Jeff/Cicero's Cat (newspaper strip reprints), by Bud Fisher
- Daisybelle (newspaper strip reprints), by Gene Byrnes
- Ben Webster: "Briar Disappears" (newspaper strip reprints), by Edwin Alger
- Popsicle Pete, by Art Helfant
- "Murder in the Classroom (Part III)" (text story, featuring Jimmy Stone), by Evelyn Gaines
See Also