Comics Reviews: Flash 336, Wonder Woman 318, Green Lantern 179, Warlord 84, Jonah Hex 86

Flash 336 coverFlash #336 – “Murder on the Rocks” – Cary Bates/Carmine Infantino/Frank McLaughlin

Last issue, two crooks were hired anonymously (through a tape recording) to blow up the mountain house of Cecile Horton, Flash’s lawyer. A tabloid reporter and his assistant were planting bugs in the house at the time of the explosion, but the reporter survives. Flash is still talking to the mayor (whose life he saved last issue) and learns that the mayor’s recent bad-mouthing of Flash wasn’t his idea. Flash finds the micro-transmitter in the mayor’s ear and figures out who is probably behind it. A visit to Patty Spivot at the forensic lab confirms his suspicions … Pied Piper used the transmitter to control the mayor through hypnosis and ultra-sonics. Captain Frye tells Flash about Cecile’s house blowing up andFlash finds Cecile he zooms out to the scene, where he finds a dead woman being taken from the rubble by EMTs. It’s not Cecile, it’s actually the reporter’s assistant. The reporter tells Flash he was planting bugs in Cecile’s house and his assistant was killed when it blew up. Flash realizes Cecile could still be trapped in the rubble and starts digging. He finds Cecile in her sensory deprivation tank, where she hid when the house started collapsing. Cecile is momentarily grateful, but quickly goes back to hating Flash, although she still doesn’t tell him why. She freaks out about a missing watch, which Flash finds for her, and she leaves with the cops. Flash goes to the hospital to talk to the tabloid reporter, who mentions a couple of guys he saw climbing the rocks above Flash shales answers from the bombersthe house. Being naturally nosy, he took photos of them and Flash goes to develop the film so he can see what the bombers look like. Flash does a high-speed search of every shithole bar in Central City until he finds the two culprits. After a high-speed shaking, they admit they destroyed Cecile’s house and that they received their orders through a tape recorder in an abandoned tenement. Flash finds the recorder, melted to shit like on Mission Impossible. Flash goes to see Captain Frye with the recorder and learns that N.D. Redik (the attorney to the stars) stopped by looking for him the other day. Flash has an idea who tried to kill Cecile (and her law partner Peter) and tells Frye he needs a favour. The next day, Flash goes to see Redik, pretending he wants to take him on as a lawyer. But Flash soon changes hisRedik dies of a heart attack tune, accusing Redik of being the guy behind Peter and Cecile’s murder attempts. Flash traced the serial number on the recorder to Redik and after a little digging found that Redik needs money bad. A high profile case like Flash’s would put him back on top, so he had to get rid of the competition. Redik knows a scandal will ruin him forever even if he isn’t convicted, so he tries to shoot himself. Flash stops him and Redik jumps out the window. Flash catches him, but Redik has already died of a heart attack. Apparently he had a heart condition and knew the fright of jumping out the window would be enough to kill him. At the cemetery, Cecile stands by a grave (looking at her precious watch) and tells the dead person she has to do her best to defend Flash since he saved her life, but after that she’ll make him pay for killing … whatever dead person she’s talking to.

Wonder Woman 318 coverWonder Woman #318 – “Paradise Burning” – Kurt Busiek/Irv Novick/Rick Magyar

This is a digression from the ongoing storyline and it’s not a very good one. Diana has a nightmare about Paradise Island being destroyed and she’s so freaked out when she wakes up that she decides to go to Paradise Island to check it out. She finds the place devastated, having been invaded by a bunch of pig-faced aliens. The fact that males have set foot on Paradise Island has contributed to its destruction, but Wonder Woman realizes she’s in the future, not her own time period. She can feel the island’s damage sapping her own powers, so she captures an alien and forces him to take her to Queen Hippolyta’s prison cell. Hippolyta is stunned and delighted to see Diana and explains that thisWonder Woman pounds aliens is the 63rd Century, a time of peace and great technological advances. The amazons thought the outside world was sufficiently advanced to reveal themselves, but as soon as they dropped the shields around the island, the pig-men invaded and captured all the Amazons. Wonder Woman and Hippolyta free some of their fellow Amazons, who attack the aliens, giving Wonder Woman the chance to slip inside the aliens’ fortress. Wonder Woman captures the alien leader and forces him to withdraw all his forces or face retribution from Earth’s government. The leader tells her Mars was the one who pushed the aliens to invade Paradise Island, telling them when the time was right. Hippolyta is pissed Aphrodite appears to the Amazonsoff that the Amazons were beaten and rails against the outside world, saying that she’ll never allow any contact between Man’s world and the Amazons again. When the Amazons pray to Aphrodite, they get no response and Wonder Woman gives them shit, saying their mistrust of the outside world allowed the aliens to invade and has now upset Aphrodite. Hippolyta realizes how blind she’s been and decides to open Paradise Island to all outside contact. That brings Aphrodite to the island to tell Hippolyta all is forgiven and to transport Wonder Woman home. Yeah, it was Aphrodite who brought Wonder Woman to the future to give Hippolyta and the Amazons a good talking to.

Huntress – “Knee of the Idol” – Joey Cavalieri/Mark Beachum/Stan Woch

Last issue, a friend of Helena (Huntress) Wayne was killed on her way to Los Angeles to buy a piece of Japanese sculpture, a samurai head. Helena took her place and met with the (somewhat shady) art dealer, but didn’t close theHuntress faces Nightingale deal. While leaving his house, she was attacked by a costumed woman calling herself Nightingale. They fight, but Helena has to hold back to avoid arousing suspicion, so sh gets her ass kicked and Nightingale takes off. Later, Seraphin (the art dealer) calls to say he’s found a new piece of the sculpture (the legs) and is willing to let her see them in person. She says she’d rather wait until tomorrow night. Before going to meet Seraphin, Helena takes in a Kabuki show starring Seiji Kato, who she met on the train last issue. She runs into aspiring actress Tracy Heather (also from the train) and they go backstage to see Kato. Helena takes off to meet Seraphin and something happens in the theatre after she’s gone. When she arrives at Seraphin’s place, she scouts around as Huntress and runs into Nightingale, who’s holding Tracy at swordpoint … except Tracy’s real name is Caroline and she’s an undercover detective.

Green Lantern 179 coverGreen Lantern #179 – “Let Us Prey” – Len Wein/Dave Gibbons

Last issue, Ferris Aircraft was attacked by the Demolition Team, a bunch of mercenaries who use high-tech equipment to smash stuff and intimidate people. They were hired by Jason Bloch (who still wants Ferris destroyed because he blames Carl Ferris for his father’s death), but when Bloch realized Green Lantern was back in action he tried to call off the attack. It was too late, but the Demolition Team did catch a break … GL is off in space doing a job for the Guardians of the Universe, so Ferris Aircraft is vulnerable. The Demolition Team were busting the place up pretty good when they were confronted by a new super-hero called Predator. Demolition Team goes after Predator, leaving Carol, Tom, and everyone else at Ferris to wonder who Predator is (and where the hell GreenPredator pounds Demolition Team member Lantern went). GL is on Omicron Ceti IV, a planet whose radioactive core threatens to explode and wipe out the entire world, just like what happened to Krypton years ago. Unfortunately, Tomar-Re wasn’t able to save Krypton, so GL isn’t sure what to do here. At Ferris, Predator shows off his fighting skills, superior strength, and razor sharp claws by taking out a couple of the Demolition Team. Back on Omicron Ceti IV, Green lantern has come up with a plan and scours nearby space for asteroids containing stellarium, which he hauls back to the planet, where he melts the stellarium in a giant crucible created with his ring. On Earth, Jason Bloch wonders what’ll happen to him if the Demolition Team are captured and squeal to the cops that he hired GL stabilizes the planetthem. At Ferris, Clay Kendall figures the attack is the perfect time to test his new psi-chair, so he straps himself in and turns it on. Before it has any effect, Predator and Hardhat smash through the wall, blowing the power source to hell and causing feedback that throws Kendall right out of the chair. Predator finishes off Hardhat and takes on Steamroller, luring him into the building containing the centrifuge. On Omicron Ceti IV, Green Lantern finishes fashioning the stellarium into gigantic rods which he sinks into the planet’s core. The rods regulate the nuclear reaction, like carbon rods do in nuclear plants on earth. Apparently, Tomar-Re was going to try the same thing with Krypton butPredator gives Carol a farewell kiss ran out of time. It works here and GL heads home, telling the Guardians he’ll make them pay if anyone at Ferris was killed during his absence. At Ferris, Predator confronts Rosie, the last of the Demolition Team, and wrecks her high-tech rivet gun. Carol punches Rosie out, which impresses Predator enough to give Carol a big smooch before leaving. Carol seemed to enjoy it, which is really weird considering who Predator turns out to be. When GL finally gets back to Ferris, he’s shocked to find the whole place smashed to shit.

Warlord 84 coverWarlord #84 – “Hail to the Chief” – Cary Burkett/Dan Jurgens/Dan Adkins

Last issue in the year 2303, Travis Morgan led the revolt that freed the slaves, exposed the evil machinations of the presidential adviser, and led to the President’s suicide. Naturally, Morgan is the only one the people trust to lead them, so he’s appointed President. He’s reluctant to take on the responsibility, but decides no one else can do the job, so he agrees. The bureaucracy drives him nuts and he freaks out on everyone who’s demanding his time. Back in present-day Skartaris, Ashir is hitting on Jennifer Morgan (of course) but gets interrupted when their camp is attacked by a cave bear. They retreat into a cave and Jennifer is wounded, but Tinder notices red eyes glowing in the darkness and a horridMorgan bored with being President stench issues forth, driving the bear away. When they leave the cave, Jennifer realizes Tinder is missing. In 2303, Morgan has been working hard to make the world better, but the damage from the nuclear war is too extensive. He asks Dr. Reno if it would be possible to go back in time and prevent the war from happening, thus changing the present to a normal one. Reno says they may be able to do something to shunt this timeline off to the side, so its chance of occurring is remote, but warns they might end up causing an even worse disaster. Reno tells Morgan there are already operational time-ships in a hidden cavern deep under the mountain where Reno’s Morgan finds the cavern full of weaponsheadquarters is located. Reno says the time stasis that protected his headquarters probably kept the cavern safe too, so the people there might not even know about the war. Morgan, Shakira, Krystovar, and Reno go to check things out and explain to the people inside the cavern about the war and the time stasis. The cavern turns out to be the same one Morgan and Krystovar found in Annual 2, with the exact same weapons and time ships in it. The soldiers guarding the cavern are surprised to get a visit from the new President, but they get even more of a shock when Morgan tells them he has a plan to use the time ships to back and prevent the war from ever happening in the first place.

first look at D'rozBarren Earth – “The Floating Palace” – Gary Cohn/Ron Randall

This one starts with Jinal, Barasha, Renna, Skinner, Lur, and Yisrah waiting around the city of Skeen for the Old Ones to show up in the floating city of D’roz. The city finally arrives and they’re all (except Yisrah) taken up by a tractor beam. They’re amazed by the technology in D’roz and Jinal soon finds herself cut off from her friends and talking to Milo, speaker for the Old Ones. Milo tells her the Old Ones are responsible for mutating the Harahashan (aka the lizards) into a form capable of surviving the harsh environment now prevalent on Earth. He admits they gave the Mulge a jump start too, but aren’t responsible for their affinity with fungi. Jinal asks Milo for help in uniting all Earth’s forces against the Qlov, who she describes as a vicious race whoMilo shows Jinal the Qlov only care about conquering as many worlds as possible. Milo shows her video of some Qlov who are already on Earth, which really freaks her out. Milo doesn’t seem bothered by the Qlov, saying they’re just another race like humans or Harahashan. Jinal says the Qlov are a threat to all humanity and nobody knows what they want because there’s never been any communication with them. Milo says that’s unlikely, or how would humans know their enemies are called Qlov? Milo says he’ll have to talk to the Qlov himself and tells Jinal to capture one and bring it to D’roz. When she and her friends are returned to solid ground, Jinal tells them they have to find a Qlov and bring it back alive.

Jonah Hex 86 coverJonah Hex #86 – “The Slaughterhouse” – Michael Fleisher/Tony DeZuniga

This one starts with Jonah Hex and his girlfriend Adrian Sterling (or maybe she’s still his fiancée, I’m not sure) having dinner in a fancy restaurant in New Orleans. Hex overhears some assholes talking shit about him, so he kicks the shit out of them, wrecking the place in the process. A few hundred miles distant, Gray Ghost (the assassin who hunts down ex-Confederate soldiers who he thinks have betrayed the South) returns home after being shot last issue. His son Jeremy takes care of him and Gray Ghost makes Jeremy swear if anything happens to him, he’ll carry on the tradition. In New Orleans, Adrian’s father isn’t thrilled with Hex’s behaviour and points out that she was shot by Graybank robbery Ghost (last issue) because he came gunning for Hex. Adrian says she’d rather have Hex and all the danger associated with him than some spineless asshole like her ex Clifford. Hex is out riding and gets ambushed by Gray Ghost again on a bridge. He falls into the water but escapes, leaving Gray Ghost to plan another strike. Meanwhile out West, Brett (the bandit who kidnaps women and conditions them to be his accomplices) is getting ready to hold up a bank with Emmylou Hartley and two other girls. This is Emmylou’s first job since her “conditioning” finished (which was mostly her being locked in a closet for days at a time), so Brett gives her an unloaded rifle. She still nervous, but slaughterhouse fightBrett says she’ll do fine if she sticks to the plan. Things go fine at first, but some guy grabs Emmylou’s rifle and she yells for Brett to help her. He shoots the guy and they take off with the money, but someone in the bank realizes Brett’s accomplice was a woman. In New Orleans, Hex returns home to find Adrian missing and a message scrawled on the wall that she’s at the slaughterhouse. He sneaks in and gets jumped by Gray Ghost, who wings him. Hex fights back and they tumble to the killing floor, where Hex shoots Gray Ghost several times. He rescues Adrian, but when they go to find Gray Ghost’s body, he’s gone.