All-Star Comics #19

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE CRIMES SET TO MUSIC The Justice Society members are surprised when Hawkman's hawks give them a piece of paper with musical notation on it and then lures them to a deserted country house with a piano. Convinced that Hawkman is in trouble, the other members try to find him, but Wonder Woman thinks that Hawkman must have had a reason for sending the musical notes. She plays the piano. When each note is played, the piano reveals a name, address, and a riddle: assignments from Hawkman to prevent crimes before they happen. Starman helps protect a violinist's Stradivarius.   Johnny Thunder and the Thunderbolt help stop the kidnapping of a trumpet player.   Doctor Fate helps to protect an opera singer's voice.   The Atom clears a musician's daughter of murder.   The Sandman stops gangsters from cutting off a pianist's fingers.   Doctor Mid-Nite rescues a composer from brain surgery designed to make him tone-deaf.   The Spectre helps to remove an ancient Chinese curse from a set of carillon bells.   After the members complete their missions, a flashback tells the stories of the seven musicians rescued by the Justice Society as well as their friend Hector Bauer, an aspiring composer. After graduation, the seven musicians move to New York to continue their musical education and become successful, while Hector struggles at home. Hector finally moves to New York and convinces his friends to play his compositions, but even their talents are not enough to make up for Hector's lack of musical aptitude. After Hector suffers a head injury, he blames his friends for his failures and begins to plot revenge.   When the flashback ends, the members of the Justice Society capture Hector Bauer, and find Hawkman, who was his prisoner. Hawkman tells the other members that after preventing a murder, Hawkman pursued Bauer to his house but got captured. Bauer then told Hawkman of all his plans, including the piano with the hidden riddles detailing the crimes. Once Hawkman was alone, he called for his hawks to bring the notation to the Justice Society. HOP HARRIGAN OVER TORRES STRAIT Hop Harrigan, Tank Tinker, and the rest of their crew are sent to find a missing hospital ship. En route, they are attacked by Japanese Zeros and engage in a dogfight. Hop and the crew shoot down the planes, but the fight takes them off-course and leaves them with damaged navigation equipment. Attempting to find their bearings with the radio, Hop locates the hospital ship, and opens fire on it. Thinking Hop must be delirious from the dogfight, Tank tries to wrestle control of the plane from Hop, until the hospital ship starts firing at them with anti-aircraft guns. Then Hop and Tank work together to sink the ship. Hop explains that he heard Japanese voices on the radio until he spotted the hospital ship, and assumed that the ship had been hijacked by Japanese armed forces.