All-Star Comics #18

Issue Details

Synopsis

INSECTS TURN TO CRIME At the regular meeting of the Justice Society of America, Hawkman tells his teammates about a crime wave perpetuated by men who have gained insect-like powers through the use of insect hormones. Johnny Thunder arrives late to the meeting, walking on the ceiling, having been treated with fly hormones. Spurred to action, Hawkman gives the members their assignments, and they set out to stop the insect crime wave.  Hawkman meets with a man whose son was abducted by the termite gang who have the proportionate strength of termites, enabling them to break open bank vaults. Hawkman tracks them to a barn but is captured when he's sprayed by the termite men's liquid gum. The gang’s leader sets the barn on fire, leaving Hawkman to his fate. The liquid gum melts, however, and puts out the fire. After freeing himself, Hawkman rounds up the gang.  Sandman follows up with a scientist who witnessed a lab break-in committed by snail-like men who bored up from under the floor. Sandman pursues the men, but overhears that the gang intends to kill the borers since they've completed their job. The Sandman rescues the borers, then deals with the gang.  The Spectre captures and confronts Chick Dempsey, a former swimming champion who couldn't find work. Chick was approached by the King Bee to lead his water bugs on yacht raids. The Spectre offers to help Chick, then subdues the water bugs.  Doctor Fate gets tangled up with a swarm of hornet men who have been hijacking airliners, stealing the cargo and stranding the passengers. Doctor Fate scares off the hornet men and tails them back to their hideout, where he defeats the gang in charge.  Doctor Mid-Nite visits with a man with a life-long fear of spiders who was witness to a bank robbery by spider-men. The man leads Dr. Mid-Nite to the house with the spider-men, where Dr. Mid-Nite defeats them. The man overcomes his fear and helps Dr. Mid-Nite defeat and round up the gang.  Starman follows up on a bank robbery committed by ant-men who can rip through steel with their bare hands. The ant-men are too powerful for Starman to deal with directly, so he finds the gang in charge, controlling the ant-men with a radio. Starman defeats the gang and takes control of the ant-men.  An emerald necklace called the green glacier tells its story of how it was stolen by grasshopper-men, and how the Atom overcame the gang responsible, and stole the necklace back. Then the Atom tricked the grasshopper-men by leading them into a field of grain, distracting the grasshoppers, and went back to round up the gang.  Johnny Thunder goes back to the café where he ate the bologna that gave him flying powers. Asking to talk to the manager, the gang forces Johnny to eat more laced soup. Johnny then goes along with the fly-gang to commit a bank robbery, until the Thunderbolt reminds him that he's part of the Justice Society. The Thunderbolt fills the bank with flypaper, capturing the fly-men... and Johnny. The Thunderbolt releases Johnny and they round up the rest of the gang.  A flashback sequence introduces Elmer Pane, an exterminator and bug collector who is ridiculed and mocked for his hobby. To get his revenge, he studies how to give men the power of insects. He succeeds in giving men the power of insects, but they lose their intelligence. Renaming himself King Bee, he approaches the criminal underworld and offers them the insect men in exchange for half of the profits. However, the Justice Society - having wrapped up their individual cases and reunited - storms his laboratory, subdues the King Bee, and finds the antidotes for his insect hormones.