All-Star Comics #19 (1943)

Hawkman has disappeared, and as the members make ready for a meeting that will not take place, hawks begin arriving with fragments of sheet music, each one with a single note on it. The members gather at a deserted country house to try and figure out what the notes mean. Wonder Woman sits at a piano in the house and plays one of the notes. Immediately, a small panel opens in the piano and out falls a hammer with a note attached, giving a name and address, along with a cryptic notation. Each member takes one of the notes to follow them up to see if they lead to the whereabouts of Hawkman.

Starman heads to the home of Mark Nelson, puzzling over the cryptic remark about a fiddle. Entering, he sees someone trying to smash a fiddle, saves the fiddle and kayos several thugs as well, who tell him a guy over on West Boulevard hired them to smash it before they flee. The Astral Avenger waits for Nelson to return....a young musician who can only compose on that Stradivarius violin, which once belonged to his teacher before he died. Just then, the thugs return to finish the job, but Starman finishes them for the Police. He then heads over to West Boulevard to see if Hawkman is there.

Johnny is heading over to the home of Charles Norris by bus, and he converses with the very thugs that are going to kidnap Norris, bragging about how he is going to protect the man! The crooks offer to help brother John and they arrive at the house, entering by window. They trick Johnny into trying a stunt while they go into another part of the house and snatch Norris. Fortunately, Johnny blurts out the magic words and the Thunderbolt shows up to save the day and save Norris, then both head out to find Hawkman.

Dr. Fate is on his way to see Arturo Carasa, before the threat to take his voice away succeeds. As they talk, gas suddenly is pumped into the room and Fate grabs the man and heads out the window to the roof where both find that they have lost their voices! Talking in writing, Fate tells Carasa that he must go on as planned, hoping to smoke out the rats involved. Carasa "sings" as Doctor Fate plays a record, and it does smoke out the men involved, whom Dr. Fate puts a wrap on. Telling Carasa that his voice will come back soon, he drops the thugs off in jail and continues to track down Hawkman.

A young lady awaits death. Knowing her fingerprints were found at the crime scene, Atom decides to visit it for an overlooked clue, finds it and now knows that she is innocent. He next visits the sculptor who made her hand molds, and learns that they were stolen earlier. Finally, he plants a news story asking for the thief of the hands to see him privately at a certain address. When he shows, the Atom follows the thief, kayos him and finds the hand molds that prove the young lady's innocence. Turning them over to the authorities, Atom then heads over to West Boulevard to find Hawkman.

Pianist Theodor Koronski dreams a mysterious robed individual will cut his fingers off. However, as he relaxes and begins to play his favorite tune, a sharp blade above the piano falls toward his fingers. Fortunately, Sandman and Sandy arrive in time to save him and question him as to if he has any enemies. While they are talking, several thugs outside the musician's apartment attempt to kill the crime fighters and finish the job to cripple Koronski. But the duo has set a trap that the criminals fall into and wrap them up in short order, then head out to seek Hawkman.

Dr. Mid-Nite's job to to save master composer, Loring Merkeroff, but is knocked out during the ensuing fight and awakens to find the composer gone. Searching the room, he sees that Merkeroff wrote a clue to his kidnappers on sheet music at the piano, so the Man of Night follows the lead. Meanwhile, the composer has been taken to an operating room where a surgeon is to deafen the composer so he can't finish the opus he is working on. But Dr. Mid-Nite takes his place, cleans up the opposition, frees Merkeroff and heads out toward West Boulevard to find Hawkman.

In ancient Peking, China, a bell has been cast by a lowly bell-caster, who is loved by royalty. Because of this, he is literally cast into a giant bell, leaving a curse before he dies. Years later, the bell broke and was re-cast into a set of Carillon Bells, now owned by Armand Baulaire. Armand learns of the curse and is hesitant to keep them. He heads home and is confronted by a pair of Chinese "ghosts" he thinks are associated with the curse. Spectre reads also of the curse and arrives at the home in time to deal with the intruders, then informs Armand that the curse is phony.

Hop is given orders to discover what happened to a hospital ship that left Cape York, Australia, a few days back on its way to Port Moresby to pick up wounded soldiers.

It was December 7, 1941, and the mine workers were getting their pay when they heard that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. was at war. George Corl enlisted and became an aerial gunner on a B-26 headed for North Africa. Flak came up as they got close to Trapani and a bullet from an ME-109 hit Corl and he slumped into a coma, passing away July 11, 1943.

Of eight budding musicians of 40 years ago, only one, Hector Bauer, had not made a success of himself, and was bitter about it. He visits his old friends who did made it. All agree to give him a chance to perform his symphony, but on his way to the concert hall, Hector is hit on the head, losing his memory. Only a newspaper article about the concert brings back his memory. Unfortunately, the symphony was a failure, and, as years pass, Hector broods and plans revenge on those who did succeed. The JSA breaks into Bauer's home on West Boulevard and releases Hawkman, who decides to tell his story.

Hawk relates how he and Shiera attended the opening of the Music Academy when they note a queer man intently staring with hatred at the soloist, Charles Norris. Shiera sees a gun so Hawk stops the attempted murder, then follows the man to his home where he is sprayed with a special liquid that tightens Hawk's skin to marble-like rigidity. Hawk muses how he can warn the JSA so he calls the hawks to bring large leaves to him and he uses a forefinger dipped in ink to write notes to the JSA members. Once done, Bauer returns and sprays the Hawkman with a solution that will free him in five hours.