u/Imok2814

Doiby wuz framed I tells ya! Framed!

Writer: John Broome

Art: Paul Reinman

Cover: Irwin Hasen

"The Man With Two Faces" - Freddy Farr was a handsome man until he had a run in with Doiby Dickles, who punched Freddy in the face so hard, it disfigured his nose. He vowed revenge on Doiby and finally, he has his chance. Using a modified briefcase with gun grips for a handle, he pretends to he a passenger in Doiby's cab to get his fingerprints on the guns. Afterwards, Freddy and his crew hold up a lumber yard but Doiby was still close enough to hear the commotion. He signals for GL and together the chase off the gang, but on the way out, Freddy threw some of the stolen money in the back of Doiby's cab. When the police arrive they find Doiby's fingerprints and money and have no choice but to arrest him. Doubt was smart enough to rig the jail cell lock so he can escape any time and after pondering who could have done it, he figures it was Freddy Farr. He escapes and goes looking for Freddy or GL but only after getting a tip to check out the Caliban Beauty Salon does he get his wish. Meanwhile, GL has been tracking the origins of some beauty mud he found at the crime scene, which he was told came from Caliban. The pair end up there around the same time with GL just in time to stop Freddy from seriously harming Doiby. After a brief fight taking down the Freddy's thugs, Doiby gives him another hard punch to the face but this time it diced his nose. Freddy is once again the most handsome guy around, but now he will be the most handsome guy in prison.

Conclusion: Fun and to the point. No major plot holes that I can find and it had a nice conclusion. This could have been the perfect story for a Green Lantern animation back then. One thing I didn't mention, Doiby was seen at the beginning of the story in a boxing ring. As far as I can remember, this is new. No wonder Doiby can fight so well. Hopefully we get a proper story of Doiby being a boxer before the Golden Age ends.

9/10

GL fights a man devolved

Writer: John Broome

Art: Paul Reinman

Cover: Sheldon Mayer

"The Power Of The Primitive" - Bill Barry is a football star at Hale University. After a big game someone in the celebratory crowd shouts at him that he looks like a throwback, a term used to describe someone regressing to a more caveman state. This eats at Bill until he visits his history teacher, Professor Perkins. Perkins explains a throwback in great detail and how one could potentially become one, which Bill starts to realize is exactly what he's going through. As he feels the change get faster he decides to go full throwback and begins to wander about acting as a caveman would. Perkins meanwhile, has sent for Alan Scott, an old student of his that knows his way around weird things. Alan arrives in the town and investigates as GL. After questioning Perkins, he's heads out to the town to find Bill and finds him trying to steal meat. GL goes in to stop him but Bill's girlfriend, Doris rushes in to stop GL from hurting Bill. She's convinced this isn't Bill and wants to help him. GL agrees to go along with her and after trailing Bill, they find he's taken Perkins hostage. They track him down to a local swamp where Perkins reveals it was all a ruse to make Bill run away so he could marry Doris.

Conclusion: Eugh, creepy ending. This Perkins is a much older man and a university professor that was still so smitten with a, what, 19/20 year old woman that he forced a student to think he had turned into a monster? As far as plots go, it's not the craziest (see: Hal, Arisia). If you missed Doiby, he was busy seeing the doctor. Because he couldn't eat but it turns out, he's been eating in his sleep. Silly Doiby. So it does mark a rare occasion that Alan had an adventure without his trusty pal but it went off okay. I just hope Perkins stays in jail for a very long time. But, let's face it, it's the 1940s, he was there for like three days. Apart from the creepy stuff it was a really good story. There was a side thing about Perkins hiring Gangsters to light fires around the city to attract Bill, but it was so short it was barely worth mentioning. Maybe they had a rule that every story needed to include a gang somehow.

8.5/10

Alan and Doiby make a bet

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art: Paul Reinman

Cover: Everett E. Hibbard

"Grin And Bear It" - Alan comes home one night, exhausted from a long day of fighting crime. All he wants to do is relax, until Doiny shows up complaining about his own day. Alan bites back about how being a cabbie can't be that hard, so Doiby bets him he can't go a whole day driving a cab without losing his temper. The next morning, they meet up and Alan heads off driving Goitrude. His first passenger is rather rude to him and complaining about how much he talks, then the next fare complains he doesn't talk at all and on it goes until Doiby hops in as a passenger. Along the way Goitrude is hit by another car that's filled woth racketeers that have been canvassing all the cabbies in the city for money and if any refuse, they get 'taught a lesson'. Alan is able to secretly change into GL and helps Doiby fight them off. Afterwards, Doiby leave to let Alan continue his day but is then captured by the same racketeers. Woth Doiby held hostage, they trail Goitrude to find out who the driver is and get the drop in him. Passenger after passenger, Alan keeps busy until the he notices the car following him and ducks into an alley. He emerges as GL, surprising the racketeers and together with Doiby they take them down for good. Unfortunately for Alan, he lost his temper during the fight so he concedes victory to Doiby who in turn says it wasn't a fair situation and says Alan won. The debate continues on with neither man letting down that the other one won.

Conclusion: A fun little jaunt through a day in the life of Doiby Dickles. Very to the point and simple. I enjoyed it, nothing bad to say really just that it was a short story and nothing more. Can't say much else.

8.5/10

A retired cop, a sentient car and the return of three silly crooks

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art: Martin Nodell

Cover: Irwin Hasen

"Once A Cop" - Retired police captain, Mike Mattson has been reminiscing about his career until the day his personal nemesis, Flasher Gunn gets out of prison. Mattson arrested Gunn and his crew 25 years prior at the celebratory event of a new Gotham City police station that Mattson would be stationed at. Gunn had stolen a fortune in gems and hid them somewhere but Mattson never found them. Over the years that station was retired for a new station building and it was auctioned off, where Mattson purchased it to live in as he and that building had a lot of history together. After Gunn is out of prison, he hooks back up with his crew and heads straight of that old station, seemingly to get revenge on Mattson. Doiby notices all this commotion and signals GL so they come to Mattson's aid. Gunn and his crew escape after knocking GL out and Mattson chases them, leaving a trail for GL and Doiby to follow. The trail ends up at a hardware store where Gunn stole pickaxes and a delivery truck. GL and Doiby find Mattson there and take him with them to follow the truck, but GL has already figured out where its headed. After catching up at the old police station, GL uses the ring to make the truck spin out and captured the crooks, then revealing that the gems Gunn stole were hidden in the honourary cornerstone of the building. Gunn never wanted Mattson in the first place. In the end, the gems were recovered, Gunn is back in jail, and Mattson feels better about himself as not only has he finally closed his last cold case but also proven his worth as a cop.

"Happy Boirthday" - It is Goitrude's birthday and GL and Doiby are excited to celebrate with her. One problem though, is some man, Mr. Wren, jumped into the back seat claiming he is being chased by gunmen. After getting clear of danger he realizes what model Goitrude is and asks to purchase her for a client of his. Wren is a purchaser of rare or high value items his client wants and his client has been looking for the exact model of Goitrude. Throughout the day, Wren keeps upping his bid to Doiby but he still refuses all while the gunmen have tracked down Wren to Doiby's garage because he has the priceless necklace of Nefertete. The gunmen end up stealing Goitrude and there is a mad dash to get her back. After a brief battle, the gunmen are subdued and Goitrude is safe after finding out that the necklace was hidden in the exhaust pipe and finally, Doiby figures Goitrude would be better off with a rich man where she can get the treatment she deserves, after all she's been acting up all day like she wants to leave. After arriving at the rich man's home, he says he only needs a couple of parts to complete his own model so she takes off back to Doiby.

"Indestructible Jones" - Hermin, Shermin and Vermin return to freedom after being released from jail and comes across a homeless man, Jones, that jumps off a bridge to drown. They find he survived and they hatch a plan to take an insurance policy out on him and then help him die. First they get Jones hit by a car, which turns out to be Goitrude and Doiby, but that failed. Next, they feed him a poison sandwich and he ends up eating four of them with no effects. At this point, Doiby has told GL about it and they both head out to find Jones. Doiby finds the trio's hideout first and GL is not far behind. Together they head in to save Jones but unfortunately, he doesn't realize what's going on so he helps the crooked trio stop GL and they all escape to some train tracks. The trio tie Jones up on the tracks, disguising it as a game. GL saves him but he still thinks it's a game. GL captures the trio but Jones decides he is going to take one last shot at suicide but accidentally falls into a grain elevator. GL figures he was crushed but he comes out the bottom completely unharmed, now choosing to just go on living.

Conclusion: Once A Cop was cool, it was nice to see a retiree find purpose again and even gain some closure. A feel good story if anything. The loot being in the police station is a nice touch too, almost similar to the movie Blue Streak with Martin Lawrence.

Goitrude's birthday is just weird. I get it's classic comics but Goitrude having hints of sentience but no definitive proof is annoying. It could be fun but it's also very distracting.

Finally, Indestructible Jones is apparently based on a true story about a man called Michael Malloy who had an unlimited tab at a speakeasy with his "friends" giving him different drinks laced with different poisons to see if any would kill him. None of them did until they finally did the deed with a coal gas jet. Really, a gruesome story with a fascinating history. I'll admit, Indestructible Jones was a bit of a fun one at times. Also cool to see a story that has an inspiration, where I've been talking about these stories being inspiration for later ones.

All in all, it was a somewhat fun issue but at times left me wondering when it will end.

6.5/10

Good and Evil become more than just concepts

Writer: John Broome

Art & Cover: Paul Reinman

"Two Twisted Twerps" - Philanthrophist and inventor, Gaspard Le Bon runs afoul of big time crook Skunky Savage

Luckily Doiby was nearby and is able to signal GL to help. After arriving they quickly chase off Skunky's crew and capture him. As it turns out, Skunky attacked Gaspard because of rumours that's he's built a machine to make crooks go straight. The rumours are true but he hasn't been able to test it as no crook wants to be the subject. GL offers Skunky the choice of being a test subject or go to jail, and he chooses the former, but not before sabotaging the machine by switching some random wires. How the machine works is positive energy from a good person's brain is electronically sent to the bad persons brain to counter the negative energy. Gaspard sits in the good seat but after its turned on the sabotage causes an opposite effect in a way. Skunky does receive positive energy but Gaspar received negative energy in return. As such, Gaspard knocks GL out woth a wooden chair and runs off while Skunky helps a little girl that had her candy stolen. GL and Doiby keep Skunky close while they hunt for Gaspard but Gaspard in the meantime has linked up with Skunky's crew to pull the heist originally planned for that night at a botanical nursery. GL and Doiby head them off and Gaspard runs away leaving the crew to be captured. He runs into Skunky and they end up back at the lab so Gaspard can turn Skunky bad again so they can be an evil team. GL shows up in the nick of time, using the ring to fix the polarity of the machine. Gaspard ends up good again and Skunky remains good.

Conclusion: A classic tale of good vs. evil while they change personalities and switch up their styles. I wonder of this happened on a Friday? If this was the first of this kind of story, then thee is so many stories that took inspiration from this one. Some really cool history here. Also the first I remember seeing of Good and Evil being deeper concepts then just the choices you make. GL definitely overcame "evils might" here.

8.5/10

GL and Doiby learn what D stands for (and it's not deez nuts!)

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art: Paul Reinman

Cover: Everett E. Hibbard

"The Meaning Of 'D' " - Known gangster, Twister Turner is pulling a new type of job where he pretends to be a fortune teller to pull in the wife of Abner Kale, when he tells her to bring her husband. After Abner shows up, Twister begins to hypnotize him into stealing something. Something that starts with D. Twister didn't get to finish the word before the cops barge in and arrest him. Abner is now left with Twisters crew and the urge to steal anytbing that starts with the letter D. They go around stealing all sorts of things from doors to Alan's dictaphone at the radio station, even an actual deer. Once GL and Doiby get on their trail, even Doiby Dickles himself was stolen as he has two D's. Eventually they catch up with them at a museum trying to steal a dinosaur fossil but after making a giant skeleton fall apart, they escape. Next they steal a dirigible, which GL was able to safely land using the ring. GL finally corners them at the gang hideout where Doiby was taken but a stolen donkey went crazy and trashed the place, freeing Doiby on the process. GL shows up and calms everytbing down with the ring and then uses it to get the full truth out of Abner. Once they found out the issue with the hypnosis, they figure he's cured. They walk him to his store that he owns, only to discover that is a diamond store, which must be what Twister wanted stolen.

Conclusion: Very fun little jaunt. So many things that start with D stopen, it felt like a classic cartoon. I wanted to see more but page count limitations and all. I do find it strange that Twister never mentioned to his crew what he wanted to steal but I suppose they story would have been much shorter if it weren't for that. Fun art and a fun plot.

8.5/10

Doiby's name in lights, an old man gets with the times and a king is crowned!

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art: Martin Nodell

Cover: Irwin Hasen

"Doiby Dickles, Da Stunt Man" - Alan and Doiby are on a drive through the California mountains (for some reason) when they come across a movie set. They stop and watch for a while when a stunt goes wrong. The stunt man was nearly killed if not for Alan stepping in as GL. The stunt man is ready to quit but is told he can't break contract unless he finds a replacement. After taking a walk, he comes across Doiby who is waiting with Goitrude for Alan to return and change. He offers Doiby the job who obviously takes it. Doiby begins work the next day doing stunts but things start to go wrong and now Doiby nearly dies a few times doing stunts. Luckily, GL is always close by to save him. The director is confused but also excited as he doesn't know why these stunts are being botched but they make for a great action scene. Eventually, on Doiby's last scene, some questionable people with guns are noticed on set, so GL rounds them up. Turns out there are a gang that recently stole gold buillion and hid it under water where a stunt was taking place. They kept trying to sabotage the stunt so the stunt man wouldn't see it and rat them out and the production would move back to holloywood, out of their way. In the end, they were captured, the gold returned and Doiby told he had to retake his stunts as he wasn't in costume. He quit on the spot.

"The Man Who Went Back" - Simon Foster is station WXYZ's biggest stockholder, but now he wants to sell as he's grown tired of the progress society has made and wants to live as he did fifty years prior when "life was simpler" Alan is tasked with talking him out of it but Simon insists as he's found a town called Nirvana that life in the late 1800's, all Simon has to do is offer 10% of his worth in a bond, which equates to two million dollars for. Him. Alan asks if he could at least send his friend Green Lantern along with him to be sure and Simon agrees. However, their conversation was played on the loudspeaker at the station so two crooks who were trying to get jobs at the station overheard and now plan to rob Simon. The next day they all meet in Nirvana and things start going south for Simon. When they check into a hotel, he asks for a second room floor with a private bath and is told they only have a vacant room on the sixth floor, therws no privates baths and hot water is only on Saturdays. They all make the long trek up the stairs as there is no elevator to help Simon's old knees and when they reach the room, Simon realizes he didn't buy new pyjamas. Doing heads out to buy a set of silk ones at Simon's request but when he returns, he reveals there only have cotton, no silk. After taking a freezing cold bath, as Simon likes to bathe every day, he heads to bed. In the middle of the night, the crooks show up to steal the bond but startle Simon who breaks his only pair of glasses. Since he can't see he starts stumbling around, waking GL and Doiby who barge in and chase off the crooks. In the morning, Simon makes another racket as he's now broken his false teeth while trying to find them. The trio head out to the oculist and dentist but both say they don't have the materials to make the prescription Simon needs and offers him alternatives they do have. So he goes around with bad vision and a moth that won't close until the crooks catch up to them and sneaks Simon away. Once head realizes he's no longer woth GL he takes off running to City Hall to find the sheriff but is told by the clerk that the sheriff and deputies went fishing with the mayor. Simon demands they be called by phone or signaled by radio but the clerk says they have no phone and doesn't know what a radio is. GL and Doiby have caught up and dealt with the crooks when Simon turns to them and demands to be brought back to modern civilization.

"Long Live Da King" - In the overseas kingdom of Regalia, the King has died. The Crown Prince Rob is too young to take the throne so Duke Dangloss takes the throne until Rob comes of age. For now, Rob is sent to America for school. Two years later, Rob receives a telegram warning him of an assassin sent by Dangloss, an assassin who has just arrived. Rob runs off and after seeing Doiby's name and picture in the newspaper, decides to change his name to Doiby Dickles for hiding. Ten years later, Count Hobart, loyal to Prince Rob, shows up to Doiby and asks him to come to Royalia as he knows Rob changes his name but still can't find him. Doiby reluctantly goes along and Alan tails behind as GL. They meet with a pilot and take off across the ocean. Once they get close to Royalia, the plane is attacked but GL is able to save it. With the plane out of commission for now, Doiby invites the pilot to stay at the palace. Once inside, there is a commotion involving Dangloss after meeting Doiby, going by Rob, as Dangloss obviously doesn't want to give up the throne. Doiby accidentally steps on someone's foot who turns out to be a Baron of the land, and a close friend of Dangloss. The Baron challenges Doiby to a duel of rapiers at dawn. Doiby has no choice to accept and, despite lessons not going well, the duel commences the next morning. The duel goes badly for Doiby until GL uses the ring to control the sword himself in secret. Just then, an explosion rocks the palace as the Crown jewels are being stolen. GL takes off after the thief but is hit in the head by the Golden sceptre and surprisingly, it knocks him out. After he comes to, he find the duel has been paused after the explosion and the thief missing. GL takes off after him and unmasks the thief to discover it is actually Dangloss himself. GL reveals that Dangloss sold the jewels and replaced them with fakes and he only knew that because the sceptre injured him due it being made of wood and Gilded after. Dangloss doesn't care as a regent can't be arrested as per the laws of Royalia until the pilot steps up and reveals he is actually Prince Rob. He bribed the original pilot to let him fly instead as he knew something would happen. In the end, Royalia is safe, Prince Rob is now king, and Doiby was. Given a crown in payment.

Conclusion: Why were Alan and Doiby just taking a leisure drive through the California mountains? Sometimes I think DC is on the right track with their retcons...

Apart from that, Doiby being a stuntman is brilliant. That was a fun one but I question how nobody noticed Doiby wasn't in costume. Unless that was all rehearsal and nobody said anything? That was weird but the rest was good. Somebody get Buster Keaton on the phone. (if you've never seen his stunts, look him up, he was brilliant.)

Simon Foster is a character I didn't like from the start but appreciated by the end. He saw the error of his ways and adapted. I personally believe in evolving with the times, to an extent (fuck AI), so it was nice to see somebody find value in a "modern" technology.

Finally, Prince Rob I liked (not just because we have the same name). There was a sense of real purpose here and, while it is a classic royal tale, it felt fresh with the addition of GL and Doiby. The one thing I don't get is why Dangloss sold the crown jewels. Was that an attempt to keep the throne as you can't crown someone without a crown? Just have them stolen and be done. Weird outcomes there.

The stand out story here is Prince Rob with the first two being caused by a series of unfortunate events. Similar stylings with those. All in all, a pretty good issue with three fun stories. Worth a read.

9/10

Doiby dreams **deeper**

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art & Cover: Paul Reinman

"Long-Eared Larceny" - One day a man went out to buy some stamps, about $5 worth and told his associate where he was going. That associate joked about it with someone else, who the told another person, who then told more, and so on until broken telephone was played to the point that, once word had reached a gang, the cost of the stamps was around $10k. This same man hopped in Doiby's cab to head home that day and after hearing Doiby tell stories about Green Lantern, he asked him to come babysit his son with his grand stories so he and his wife can go out. The son takes to Doiby nicely after Doiby reads Peter Rabbit but jazzes it up with gangsters and such. Doiby ends up falling asleep first so the boy heads to bed. Meanwhile, the gang has found the home and saw Doiby reading Peter Rabbit, so they go get some rabbit costumes to head in in case anybody wakes up. Sure enough, Doiby stirs and believes he is dreaming when he sees human sized rabbits. He calls Alan "in his dream" to tell him about it so Alan changes into GL and flies over to investigate. When Alan arrives he finds Doiby on the roof with some rabbits and tries to make him snap out of it after he jumps off the roof to wake himself up, but the rabbits escape with the stamps anyway. After getting ahold of Doiby they take off through the city to find the rabbits and end up cornering them at an amusement park. After going through a boat ride with a tunnel, the pair get split up with Doiby off with one rabbit and GL with the rest. Doiby annoys and hounds the rabbit with him so much, he runs off to his gang just to get away, while GL plays possum and learns the true act for these rabbits. He rips the mask off of one and uses the ring to make him tell the truth. After learning he isn't dreaming, Doiby passes out.

Conclusion: Funny little tale. Very interesting premise. Dreams have such a powerful impact on us and many have believed they were dreaming when awake. I know I have and it's a messy feeling. I don't blame Doiby in the slightest for his reaction at the end, but I do blame him for try to wake himself with a fall. It get it, it makes sense but that would have been the last thing I'd try. Start with a pinch maybe. Also how good were rabbit costumes in 1946? I know this is a comic but how believeable is it to think two grown men would be fooled by a rabbit costume?

8/10

A magic parchment grants five answers, much like a genie

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art: Paul Reinman

Cover: Sheldon Mayer

"The Last Answer" - Professor Sanderson works at a museum that recently got some Egyptian artifacts shipped over, including a strange piece of parchment with oddly written hieroglyphics. All of a sudden the writing changes to English, speaking to Sanderson directly. It magically knows all and will answer exactly five questions for its owner. He takes it and runs off but is chased by security so he jumps into the nearest cab, Goitrude. Doiby takes off but gets stuck on a cliff. Sanderson asks how to get out of there and it tells him to push s button on the console. That shot off a signal rocket for GL with enough force to push the car to safety. GL arrives to find Doiby alone, claiming that Sanderson took off with Goitrude. They track him down but he asks the parchment how to get them away and it answers cryptically but saying to pretend he has amnesia. GL takes him at his word and leaves after getting him home. Two more questions are asked, how to get money fast and how to attain power. The scroll says to invest in an oil company, which stuck a massive spout that same night and then to visit a paper mill, which he does in time to save the owner from a deadly accident who then chooses to name Sanderson the heir to the company. After some time, with Sanderson working at the mill to get the idea of it, he is approached by the owner of a rival paper mill who wants to sabotage this one and he will take good care of Sanderson financially. Sanderson reluctantly agrees and returns in the middle of the night to set explosives. GL and Doiby interrupt him just as he finishes so he asks his last question, how can he escape? But the parchment gives no answer. GL stops the bombs with the ring and takes Sanderson to jail. The next day Alan Scott visits him to get his side of the story for radio and realizes the reason the parchment did not answer the last question: that one was really the sixth question, with the first one asking why he couldn't read the hieroglyphics.

Conclusion: This is the first issue since All-American Comics #15 that Green Lantern was not the lead story. Maybe they saw something happening. This story itself, was quite good. No major heist plans, not much in the way of organized crime, just a misguided man drunk with power. Sanderson proved a somewhat decent villain for GL, actually tricking him. The biggest lesson of all is on display in these pages: Absolute power corrupts absolutely and nobody felt that more than Sanderson.

8.5/10

Doiby enters high society

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art: Paul Reinman

Cover: Everett E. Hibbard

"Da Social Lion" - Due to an editing error, Doiby's name ends up in The Blue Book, a list of high society people. Since his name is new, all the rich folks are curious about who he is so he gets an invite to a fancy party hosted by a local heiress. Other types of people have also noticed Doiby's unexpected entry into the book as Sluggsy Gallagher and his crew were trying to find their next mark. After seeing Doiby, they hatch a plan involving him. They trick him into thinking he's been offered a mansion to borrow from an earl and then ask him to play a "prank" at the Perry by opening the window so they can take all the furs from the party goers. GL catches on that it's a scam and follows Doiby to the party, but when he enters the open window to stop the robbery, some of thr rich folk enter and accuse him of being the thief. Doiby unfortunately doesn't back his friend up and says he's never seen before so GL gets escorted out of there, hurt at his friend's betrayal. The next day, Doiby is convinced to sell Goitrude and get a limo in preparation for a party he is throwing. He feels bad about what happened with Alan so he sends an invitation. That night the party starts and Doiby is a hit, even unintentionally convincing the rich folk to speak like him. Alan gets his invite late and shows up the following morning as a fox hunt is starting. He comes across Sluggsy and his crew and they start to fight, but Sluggsy is still in disguise so everybody thinks GL is the crook again. Meanwhile, Doiby is running back to the house, holding a fox as he finally learns what happens during a fox hunt and wants to protect the little guy. He sees GL captured, but this time he stands up for his friend and gets him free. The pair then take down Sluggsy and Doiby then renounces the high life. After a big apology, Alan forgives him but he doesn't think Goitrude will.

Conclusion: At this point, it's just wrong that Doiby would easily betray GL like that. It was weird before but this is like the third time and they've become even closer. Despite that, the story itself was pretty good. It had some fun moments, some colourful characters and a good message at the end, even for a classic trope. Don't give up what you have for something you might not need. All in all, the most egregious part for me is Doiby selling Goitrude. That car is everything to him, man. Just weird.

7/10

GL and Doiby fight a man out of time, a verbal abuser and plant people from a micro world. This issue is all over the place.

Writer: Alfred Bester (1st story), Henry Kuttner (2nd & 3rd stories)

Art: Martin Nodell

Cover: Paul Reinman

"The Old Fashioned Way" - Dan Crocker is a big time crook from 35 years prior to the modern time of the story. After being freed from jail he chooses to go right back to a life of crime. However, he feels that the modern crook isn't doing things right and need to be taught the old ways: using horse and hitting stagecoaches. They hit up a bus full of factory workers that just got paid but GL and Doiby have been tracking them since Dan got out and are able to get control of the bus before the gang takes off with the money. After trapping them in the bus, they take the gang right back to jail and since Dan prefers old methods, they find him a cell still active from the previous century.

"The Man Who Insults Everybody" - Joe Smithers was bullied a lot as a child so his Uncle Charley teaches him to talk back. Joe kept that going all through his left until it became a habit and now he can't stop insulting people. He ends up losing his job die to this and is left to wander around. Uncle Charley, however, wrote up a will that leaves his entire fortune to Joe, but since he hadn't been seen in a long time, he has one year to collect or the fortune will go to a dog charity. However the dog charity is a scam and the "owner" is a known con man. Almost a full year after Uncle Charley dies, Joe still hasn't gone to collect from fear of his insults driving more people away. He comes across Doiby who isn't offended by any of Joe's insults and after hearing his story, brings him to Alan to help him. Alan returns later as GL and they start locating people that can identify Joe but he ends up insulting them all and they gets chased off. The con man finds them and tries of off Joe so he can retain the inheritance but after Joe hurls insults at him, he gets distracted long enough for GL to take down him and his crew. After that, Joe finds he has no urge to insult anyone anymore so Alan invites him on the radio to tell his story, but just as he finishes up his airtime he can't help but insult the entire city at once.

"The Invisible World" - Doiby is trying to figure out where his pet goldfish keep disappearing to and asks Alan to help figure it out. After using the ring, he notices a strange yellow light in the fishbowl that shrinks the fish. Alan changed into GL and then used the ring to shrink the two of them down to a microscopic world. They are almost instantly attacked by weird beings shaped like trees that keep shouting XAGLCPLP. They tree beings, called Mossboles, steal a sandwich Doiby had in his pocket and run off. After chasing them, our heroes come across a town with other strange beings called Mikrons. Inside a Mikron lab they find one of Doiby's goldfish, bigger than you'd think, and a bunch of Mikrons that are debating a big issue. As it turns out, they are the ones that take the goldfish but only because they need food and have no other options as the Mossboles keep taking theirs. Their families are starving and thought the bigger world above them was only inhabited by goldfish. One of the scientists, named Qudiget, has a plan to send the Mossboles to the big world but GL and Doiby try to stop him but Qudiget traps them and runs off. Some Mossboles attack shortly after and start eating things so Alan uses the ring to translate what XAGLCPLP means. Turns out the Mossboles want soil for food and unfortunately there in no soil in that world. GL figures Quidgets plan could work as there is plenty of soil in their world. After the transport, the Mossboles take to the soil naturally and become normal trees, except when Doiby makes something delicious.

Conclusion: This was kinda fun as each story got a little crazier as the issue went on. There's also a lesson to be learned in each one.

Dan Crocker taught us you should always try new things as old things won't necessarily work anymore. Time moves on, so should you.

Joe Smithers taught us to never be mean and respect those around you, except when it gets you out of a dangerous situation.

The Mikrons taught us if tree people show up, you should hear them out instead of getting rid of them. Maybe the solution is simpler than it looks.

Otherwise, the stories were pretty good. The first one a little dull at times as it was basically another heist story but the addition of Dan being from a different time was enough to keep it going. Insult Joe had much more interest to it but, and maybe I'm just on the internet too much, the insults were a little tame at times. "Phooey on you"? I wouldn't be mad, I'd be confused. Finally, the Mikrons was a nice surprise. I love when they pop in a random SciFi adventure out of nowhere. I never would have imagined a microscopic world in a golden age comic. Very cool. The beings in that world were cool too but I was left wondering how the Mossboles go to thay world if they can't survive there.

8/10

A crook has some cousins over for a visit

Writer: John Broome

Art & Cover: Paul Reinman

"The Giggling Gangsters" - A gangster, Crusher Crane, is exonerated in court due to lack of evidence but GL decides he will keep a close eye on Crusher while he roams free. Due to that, all of Crushers gang buddies run away. With no options left, he sends for his family to come work a job with him but when his cousins arrive, he finds they are all silly pranksters and can't take anything seriously. Crusher continues to try jobs but his cousins constantly mess things up while GL is constantly chasing him down. Eventually, GL and Doiby get Crusher and his family cornered but GL figures the only way to get them to come willingly is with their Grandma. He flies to the family home to pick her up and sure enough, she not only chases the cousins back home but subdues Crusher into moving back in.

Conclusion: Very short, Very simple. It was very slapstick and fun for a one off. Not much to say about this one.

7.5/10

Doiby gets mailed across the world

Writer: John Broome

Art: Paul Reinman

Cover: Jon L. Blummer

"The Case Of The Curious Critters" - Doiby is helping a potential fare with packing his belongings in crates so he can rush off to the airport, unfortunately Doiby gets inside on of the crates to pack things tighter and the man seals it up, not realizing Doiby was inside. After the flight, the man opens up his crates and finds Doiby, giving him the unfortunate news that he is in Africa. He is able to send a telegram to Alan to come rescue him so he suits up and flies over to Africa to collect his friend. However he comes across animals acting strangely, makes words in the sky and on the ground to tell them to leave but GL presses on until he finds his friend. They eventually reuinte outside a village and are attacked by the natives who the reveal they were forced to by the animals. GL and Doiby investigate and discover the animals are actually robots built and controlled by a man that wanted the natives to mine gold for him so he can find his studies. GL reminds him that his invention of radio controlled robots is worth millions so he shouldn't need to resort to slave labour.

Conclusion: Interesting story but oddly short. Most of the plot was left to the last few pages. There is room for more and it left me wanting it.

6.5/10

GL and Doiby venture to outer space against their will

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art: Paul Reinman

"The Headstrong Heads" - Alan and Doiby are relaxing and reading when they start hearing things in their heads. Alan is told to dress as GL and charge the ring. Right after doing that, both are teleported to a ship that lands on another planet with a species called Schizoids. The beings here have two heads, one good and one evil and only one head can control the body at a time. The good heads are all scientists with a lead scientist named Karr-alpha brought them here to help with the evil heads who are savages and want to take over everything, including earth. The evil side of Karr, Karr-beta, wakes up and takes over their body, demanding that GL and Doiby be destroyed. They have a brief fight but the duo escapes after Karr-beta destroys the mavjije that brought them there. GL and Doiby do some exploring and find the beta heads believe solely in evil with no reasoning. The only option left to them is to somehow incapacitate the beta heads. GL figures out the only way to do that is to put them all in a stasis sleep until they believe in good. As the alpha heads live their lives, the thoughts and feelings of their good brain will seep into the unconscious minds of the evil brain and eventually turn it good. Karr-alpha builds a new machine to send the heroes home.

Conclusion: This was kinda cool. I'm excited that Alan had an adventure on another planet but the Schizoids were kinda lame too. I can't complain too much as this is probably one of very few SciFi adventures that will happen in Golden Age GL it just would've been nice for it to not be about class warfare and instead be a little more wild. I do wonder if the Schizoids left any inspiration for the Qwardians in the future though. The similarities are huge.

8.5/10

Three odd adventures for our heroes

Writer: Alfred Bester (1st story), Henry Kuttner (2nd & 3rd stories)

Art: Martin Nodell

Cover: Paul Reinman

"The Woodman" - Alan is interviewing a man in the radio who boasts about living a life of wood. His house is made of wood, his clothes sewn with wood fibres and the reveals he has buried treasure somewhere on his property and invites any would be adventurers to come and find it. If they do, they can keep it. GL and Doiby head in to search for it as a publicity stunt but the night is interrupted by thugs looking for the treasure. They get the drop on the heroic duo for most of the night until GL is able to get free from being covered in liquid wood after flooding the basement they were trapped in. He heads to the courtyard where the thugs have finally dug up the treasure only to find the chest is full of wooden nickels. GL takes down the thugs and after talking with the man he finds that he wants to open a home for orphaned children and started this whole game to feel like a kid again himself. GL (and Alan) work to help make his dream a reality.

"The Good Humour Man" - Valentine Sweetheart is a rich and joyous man. So joyous that it drives his wife nuts. He remains happy in even the worst of times. On the fateful day the couple gets robbed in their home, his wife leaves him as he did nothing to stop the robbery. Valentine decides to follow the robbers and hire them to make him angry but attempt after attempt of beatings and stealing leads to more joy and no anger. Doiby gets wind of this and signals GL to help. The duo chases the thigs and Valentine's through the city until the next day when Valentine appears and a department store to finalize a purchase of the business. The thugs figure it's the perfect time to make a big heist and steal whatever they can at the store but after GL arrives and captures them all, they Valentine reveals he hadn't signed the deed yet when they robbed the place so they have no alibi as employees of his. They all get carted off and Doiby reuintes Valentine with his wife but after she still berates him, he finally gets mad but only at Doiby.

"What Makes Goitrude Go?" - GL and Doiby are out for a drive when Goitrude makes a weird turn and drives off a cliff. GL uses the ring to save the car but afterwards, Doiby finds Goitrude is supercharged by the ring and drives extremely fast. Doiby figures he could make some extra cash and enters a race. At the track he meets another racer called Three-ace Grover. Grover calls some friends of his who turn out to be thugs and they come to steal Goitrude after hearing how fast it is. Doubt gives chase but the thugs accidentally fire off a signal rocket for GL. He comes flying as Doiby is catching up with them but they blast GL with a belladonna spray right in his eyes, blinding him. They take Doiby hostage so he can drive them around. They commit crimes all over the city until GL comes across a doctor to put a solution ins his to counter the belladonna. GL meets the thugs and Doiby back at the racetrack. Doubt was able to get the thugs out of the car so he can join the race. After a tough race, and the engine literally flying out of the car, GL fills in as a motor for Goitrude and Doiby wins the race, beating Three-ace and winning the prize money.

Conclusion: Three really fun in their own way stories. None of them particularly special but all enjoyable. The title and opening page of the first story had me thinking it was going in a completely different direction due to GLs weakness to wood, so that had me slightly disappointed but it was a fun mystery with a happy ending. Something that's oddly rare in this era.

The good humour man and Goitrude I can talk about together. Thet we're wacky in a good way. Nothing bad to say about them but they were there. If you've ever heard the descriptor "It's a comic book" that sums these up. It's not bad, it's not good but it's exactly what you'd expect out of an old comic.

7/10

GL and Doiby get tricked by con men

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art & Cover: Paul Reinman

"Springtime For Doiby" - Alan is on the radio when a man barges in, grabs the microphone and asks for his son to come home. Alan rushes the man out of the studio and meets him after to see what the matter is. This man, Enoch Moore, has a son, Ray, that ran away from home ten years prior and all he wants is to see him again before he dies. Alan decides he's gojng to help and makes an official broadcast announcement for Ray Moore to come home. Afterwards, Alan gets a call from Ray but he hangs up before Alan can get a question in. After getting the call traced, Alan heads out as GL with Doiby to Ray's address. Turns out he's a crook and doesn't want his father to know but he can't escape the life or his boss, Killer Dill, will kill him. Just then, his boss arrives looking for him so they can start the next job. GL and Doiby hide and then follow the pair to the heist where GL barges in takes down the crooks but Ray runs off. Doiby however, hid under Ray's bed before and got a bed spring stuck in the butt of his pants so he was left hanging from the chandelier while GL took care of everything. GL gets Doiby down and leaves him to guard the crooks while he goes to find Ray. When GL returns with no luck, he finds Doiby unconscious, Killer Dill tied up and all thr other crooks gone. Killer Dill has no more idea what happened than Doiby does but he gives the location of the hideout, figuring he was betrayed by his gang. GL and Doiby head there after dipping Killer Dill off woth the police and find Ray leading the gang now but also his father there with him. GL flies down to interrupt and Enoch spills everything. It was all a ploy to get Killer Dill out of the picture so Ray could take command of the gang. Before GL can do anything Enoch hits him over the head with a wooden cane and they all rush out of there, but unlucky for them, Doiby was stuck on the roof with the spring still attached but as he gets loose he falls off the building and right onto the gang, in time for GL to come out and round them all up with the ring.

Conclusion: Another creative enough crime story, this time with DRAMA. Not much to write home about though. It starts off as a touching story of a father and his son but then devolves into a gangland betrayal with little emotion involved at all. I was looking forward to a redemption tale for Ray, but instead his father is just as bad. A little disappointing.

6.5/10

Alan and Doiby deal with a snitch that has excellent hearing.

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art & Cover: Paul Reinman

"The Man Who Heard Too Much" - Alan takes Doiby to the dentist but is interrupted by a man named Lobe claiming to be chased by gangsters. Turns out that part is true and after a brief questioning, they find out Lobe heard about their crimes through the walls of his apartment so they wanted to get back at him. Lobe overheard more crimes, surprisingly from parts unknown so the heroes chase the villains across the city until the villains reveal that they want Lobe because he is also a villain and snitches on all of their jobs. GL hatches a plan to make a phony call to every gang he has a number for to plan a heist at the planetarium. Once all the crooks, and Lobe, are there GL and Doiby round them all up together.

Conclusion: Not bad, getting creative with the crime again. I don't know if the science was around at that time for his hearing device to be that detailed and powerful, but if not, really cool stuff. A snitch is new I think as well so at least something somewhat different is happening.

8/10

An early inspiration for The Key?

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art: Paul Reinman

"The Human Key" - A boy named Locksley Smith grew up with the diesre to figure out how locks work. He spent all his free time working on them that by the time he became an adult he was able to open a lock in seconds without looking. This led him to lose his job and got arrested the same day for jaywalking. Spending a night in prison he could help but open his cell and opened the cells of a gang that GL is set to testify against. They all escape and take Locksley with them. They force him to open some safes but despite refusing, it happens anyway. GL and Doiby get on their trail and eventually track them to the pier where the gang have gone underwater to retrieve a sunken safe filled with gold bouillon. Doiby was taken hostage by the gang so GL dives under to save him but ends up rescuing Locksley by accident. Doiby meanwhile, surprises the gang when they thought he was Locksley and heats them up once they returned to the surface, with GL joining in as well. GL helps set Locksley up with a job at the docks but after he unlocks all the safeguard for the ships, he is back to searching.

Conclusion: Very interesting character in Locksley. Maybe not as much potential as there could have been if he was a straight up villain, but for this story he was well used. A good power struggle with him refusing to be a villain despite how easy it would be for him to do it. My only gripe is I want to know what got him onto locks as a kid in the first place. Otherwise, fun and entertaining.

8/10

GL becomes a great Detective in Gotham. Think somebody will be upset?

Writer: Alfred Bester (1st & 2nd stories), Henry Kuttner (3rd story)

Art: Martin Nodell

Cover: Paul Reinman

"Shadow Of The Past" - A man named Marvin Martin is diagnosed with three months left to live. His wife and mother of his 13 year old son died shortly after childbirth so he would be leaving his son all alone with little money. Martin reminices of his past as big time crook Black Martt. With no other options left to him, he chooses to go back to crime so he can secure money for his sons future. At the same time, Doiby is also receiving a terminal diagnosis but after Alan inspects the x-ray sheets, he determines they've been double exposed so the doctor is giving a false diagnosis. The doctor then realizes the same for Martin Marvin so Alan and Doiby go to tell him the good news but he is not home. Alan notices old newspapers clippings of Black Martt and pictures or Martin and determines they are the same so the duo head out to stop Martin before he does something drastic. They catch him in the act of robbing a safe but once they arrived they find he didn't actually steal anything and instead helped save a guards life after the safe explosion went awry. Suspecting that he isn't as bad as he let's on, they follow him through the city as Martin tries to get back into the criminal underworld but ends up leading GL to capturing many villains that have eluded him. Eventually Martin tried to turn himself in so he can ensure the reward money go to his son but GL uses his ring to get the truth out of Martin, proving that he never actually committed the crime he is wanted for, he just couldn't prove he never did. Since he is free to go, Alan sets him up as a performer on the radio so he will always have money for his son.

"On The Air" - A man comes into WXYZ radio asking why Alan Scott has so many jobs in radio? Doubt takes that chance to tell us a story of how Alan learned so many things. One day, the director of the station is forced to fire Alan after his voice is heard advertising for a different station. Doiby picks up a second job delivering stuff to help pay bills but it turns out the stuff he was delivering was free radios to advertise a fake company. The radios all have receivers and transmitters in them to listen in on all info in the shops so the crooks can get the combinations to all the safes. After GL discovers these receivers in the radios, he figure out how that other radio station got his voice. He heads straight to WXYZ and finds the guys behind everything working there. As GL he smashes the equipment they were using to receive the information. Afterwards, the station director is shocked to find all the equipment destroyed, GL says he has just the man to help and returns as Alan Scott who not only uses the ring to repair all the equipment but write and produces an entire new radio show in an hour. After that impressive display, the director give Alan his job back with the promise that he can do whatever job he wants since he can do them all. We then cut back to the man complaining about Alan as it's shown he is talking to Alan himself sitting at the general managers desk.

"The Gambler Comes Back" - At the prison holding notorious criminal The Gambler, a new prisoner has arrived and since the cells are crowded already, he is put in a cell with The Gambler. Gambler was against it at first but after seeing this new cell mate dressed exactly like Doiby, he obliges. After tricking the man and taking his clothes, he fashions a disguise and changes his voice to sound like Doiby and writes a letter to Doiby asking for Green Lantern. The duo head to the prison but Doiby sees himself in a cell and calls for GL to help. Gamblers takes that opportunity to use a skeleton key he fashioned to open his cell and then begins opening up every cell to creates a distraction for his escape. GL and Doiby head out and start looking through all the gbling dens in the city, finally stopping at the last one: a casino boat called Pleasure Queen. They enter the casino floor just as Gambler has secured not only $90k but also a deed to the ship. Gambler escapes again after tricking GL into thinking they had Doiby captured and returns to the ship later, outfitting with all sorts of armour and guns, an impenetrable warship. The duo find an open porthole and sneak in. Gamblers meets them and bets GL on a simple roulette spin. If the ball lands on even number GL takes Gambler back to prison but if it's odd, Gamblers gets to kill GL. GL agrees but uses the ring to rig all the games on the casino floor so all players win, including himself. Gamblers men throw Doiby off the ship to distract GL once again but once outside, GL uses the ring to transport the ship straight the prison.

Conclusion: A surprisingly interesting set of robberies with a surprise return of the Gambler! Feels like some extra thought was put into these stories.

The first one with Martin was very touching so technically not even a heist story since nothing actually got stolen. He's a good father and I like the happy ending.

The radio story was a welcome one to finally give an explanation of why Alan is always seen doing something different at the radio station. Now, if they could explain why it keeps switching between WXYZ and WMGC, it's be great.

Finally The Gambler was a cool surprise to see. I'm happy to see him as a recurring villain. I probably saw re was recurring after his first appearance when I did some research but I've forgotten. Really well done adventure with good stakes and solid getaways. The best one of three and they were all quite good.

9.5/10

The return of Owen Cooley!

Writer: Alfred Bester

Art & Cover: Paul Reinman

"The Slap-Happy Shoes" - Alan brings a new radio story to the station director about his adventure with Owen Cooley, the leprechaun. The director thinks its nonsense but Alan insists so he goes ahead. The story gets a good reception from listeners as they all have Owen Cooley on their minds which transforms their belief into magic for Owen to free himself of being frozen stiff. He sneaks out of Alan's apartment and holes up in the basement where he begins to make shoes for Doiby after he complained about his current ones. Doiby discovers them later thinking they were a gift from Alan and puts them on. Meanwhile, an acrobat act goes wrong when one of the performers gets something in his eye. A doctor tends to him backstage and puts a solution in his eye to help but it also leaves him temporarily blinded. Despite that, he goes for a walk to clear his head and falls into the basement where Owen is hiding. He grabs Owen, making a claim for his gold but this time Owen us able to magically call a pixie to bring it to him, it will just take some time. The acrobat brings Owen to his brothers where they hatch a plan to steal rare gems. They go at night to break into the exhibit but are noticed by GL and Doiby except Doiby's shoes were enchanted to keep him safe so he us pulled out if the fight by his feet. With no backup, GL is knocked out by a wooden object and the crooks escape. GL finds Doiby and mentions the Gen's the crooks stole were fakes and the real ones are worn by a princess on a visit to the city. The Duo head to a gala the princess is at and, sure enough, find the crooks beginning a hold up. They are able to stop the heist long enough for Owen's pixie friend to arrive with a thimble of gold, thus freeing him (he never said how big the pot is). This is when GL and Doiby find out Owen is free so GL quickly calls back to the pixie and asks him to bring Owen home. The next day Alan brings another leprechaun story to the director who once again thinks its nuts but then hears Owen himself, hiding under the desk.

Conclusion: Despite the ending, this is the final appearance of Owen Cooley. A shame, really, because he became a minor thorn in Alan's side similar to Mr. Mxyzptlk fur Superman. There is lots of opportunity here for more adventures, who knows maybe Jeff Lemire can bring him back in JSA. The shoes were a small conundrum as they never had an ending last we saw they were still on Doiby's feet and was never even told that Owen made them. A small nitpick but valid nonetheless. Finally, is it easier to count how many people in Gotham are not crooks? These guys had a real job and still chose to steal things. Plus, I really like the cover here GL looks like a Bruce Timm design.

9/10