Flash #348 – “The Final Verdict” – Cary Bates/Carmine Infantino/Frank McLaughlin
Last issue, Professor Zoom showed up in Central City, abducting several members of Flash’s Rogues Gallery and throwing Captain Frye (who was dressed as the ridiculous “hero” Captain Invincible) off a roof. Flash saved Frye, but is reluctant to believe Zoom is still alive, since Flash is currently on trial for killing him. But Frye had a camera in his costume and shows Flash the film of Zoom. Flash realizes Zoom is still alive and takes off to look for him. Meanwhile, the jurors in Flash’s trial are deliberating his guilt or innocence, but every juror seems to have a different opinion. Flash goes home after failing to find Zoom, but doesn’t tell his parents about Zoom’s return, figuring they’d never believe it. Cecile Horton runs into Captain Frye, who
mentions Zoom, but Cecile still doesn’t believe Zoom is alive. Frye says he’s not just alive, but he’s eliminating all of Flash’s other Rogues one by one. Cecile is skeptical, but checking the computer at police headquarters proves Frye is right. We see evidence of that as Zoom grabs Captain Boomerang and Rainbow Raider, spiriting them away somewhere. In the jury room, the votes come back deadlocked … six guilty and six innocent. The jurors realize the deadlock probably won’t be broken any time soon and aren’t looking forward to being sequestered while they go over the same arguments a dozen times. Nathan Newbury (the juror who’s been acting weird for the last few issues) decides 
the time has come for him to act (and judging by the way he talks, he’s some kind of time-traveler). He pulls out a strange device and takes the jurors back in time to the scene of the crime, when Flash killed Zoom to save Fiona Webb’s life. The jurors are in the time-stream, so they’re immaterial, but they can see everything as it happened. Newbury gives them a little something more to think about, by using his device to reveal that Flash is actually Barry Allen. That makes the jurors realize that Flash was trying to prevent Zoom from killing Fiona just as he’d killed Iris years earlier. That convinces the jurors that Flash is innocent of murder, although you’d think knowing he’s Barry Allen would actually weigh more heavily against him, since it gives him more of a reason to kill Zoom. But I guess the jurors figure Barry’s past justifies his killing Zoom. Anyway, Newbury tells them they won’t
remember their trip to the past, but the notion of Flash’s innocence will be implanted in their minds. Before taking them into the past, Newbury said he didn’t want to interfere with history, but it seems like that’s exactly what he’s doing. On the way back to the present, Zoom shows up in the time-stream and zaps Newbury. Zoom says he knows who Newbury really is and Newbury claims to know who Zoom really is (so maybe he’s not actually Zoom? I still think it could be Abra Kadabra), but Newbury vanishes in the time-stream and Zoom (or whoever he is) ends up back in the jury room with the jurors. Zoom hypnotizes them to forget they saw him and implants a different verdict in their heads. The next day, Flash goes to court to hear the verdict, which turns out to be … guilty!
Green Lantern #191 – “Macho” – Steve Englehart/Joe Staton/Bruce Patterson
This one continues immediately from last issue, with Hal Jordan in the old movie theater where Predator had been hiding. Hal smells Carol’s perfume there (which she said she’d just bought that day), so he wonders if she was there earlier with Predator (since Predator obviously has a thing for her). Hal justifies it, thinking that lots of women could have the same perfume, or the obsessed Predator could’ve seen Carol buying it and got some for himself. Hal checks out the tape Predator was watching and sees the interview Tawny Young did with him, Carol, Green Arrow, and Black Canary about John Stewart … which freaks him out since he doesn’t remember that interview ever happening.
(As we saw last issue, none of the others do either, because their memories have been altered.) Hal tries to call Tawny, Green Arrow, and John Stewart but can’t reach any of them. He figures his best bet is to let John know that he was John’s predecessor as Green Lantern and have John use his GL ring to probe Hal’s memory. Hal is forced to sneak into John’s apartment, but John is nowhere to be found because he and Katma Tui are out in space. (Katma believes the key to their memory loss might lie on a planet in Space sector 2813.) . Hal goes back home to Carol and shows her the tape. She doesn’t remember it either, but looks it up in her old appointment book and is startled to find 
that she and Hal were with Green Arrow and Black Canary that day. Carol is freaked out to realize someone’s been screwing with her memories, but before she can assimilate that, Green Arrow calls. Predator busts through the window before Hal can tell Arrow what’s happening, grabbing Carol and taking off with her. Hal tells Arrow what happened and says he’s going after Predator himself; Hal says even if he isn’t Green Lantern anymore, he’s still got his mind and his will power and is still fearless. Out in space, John meets Dalor of the neighbouring space sector (who we saw in issue 154) and lets him know they need to check out a certain planet in Sector 2813. At Predator’s theater hideout, he’s got Carol strapped to a big bullseye and when Hal comes in to rescue her, Predator jumps him. They pound each other and Hal breaks
Predator’s arm, but Predator gets free and heads for a huge organ near the stage. Carol warns Hal not to let Predator play the organ, but Hal can’t stop him. As the notes ring out, Predator declares his love for Carol and as she breaks free of her restraints, she says she loves him too. The two of them are pulled together in a burst of energy and merge to become Star Sapphire … bet you didn’t see that one coming! we’ll have to wait until next issue to find out what the hell is going on.
Warlord #96 – “Nightmare Prelude” – Cary Burkett/Rick Stasi/Bill Collins
This one starts with Jennifer Morgan summoning Machiste and Mariah from the ancient past through her magic. Jennifer’s father (Travis Morgan) wants Machiste and Mariah to help him and Tara take back Shamballah from the Atlanteans. After Morgan and his friends leave, Jennifer uses her powers to look for Tinder, who she recently found out was Morgan and Tara’s supposedly-dead son. (Jennifer found that out in Warlord Annual 4, which I’ll review after I’ve finished all the regular issues for 1985.) Unfortunately, Mongo Ironhand is trying to bring Machiste and Mariah back to the past and his spell interferes with Jennifer’s location spell, pulling Tinder back to the Age of the Wizard
Kings, where Jennifer’s magic can’t detect him. Back in the main camp, Tara is nervous as battle preparations are underway and Graemore (the bard, who admits he’s still in love with her) tries to get her mind off the upcoming fight. Graemore offers to play some new songs for her and Tara agrees to meet him in a nearby clearing. While Graemore is waiting, Morgan shows up with Machiste and Mariah to fill them in on his battle plan. Morgan tells them how he lured Lord Sabertooth into chasing phantoms up north (which we saw last issue|). Now Morgan wants Machiste to lead the main assault because Morgan will be taking a small squad through the 
underground tunnels into Shamballah to capture the high-tech Atlantean cannons on the walls so they can be turned against the Atlanteans. Mariah hears something and grabs Graemore as he’s trying to slip away. Not wanting to admit he was waiting for Tara, Graemore just says he was waiting to meet someone and tried to leave when the others showed up. Morgan introduces Graemore to the others, but we see a familiar-looking raven fly off northward; yup, it’s Saaba the witch, listening in on Morgan’s plans again. Even farther north, in the New Atlantean capital, the chief of the Vashek Assassins reports to the Wizrd-King of Atlantis (whose face we never see) that his men failed to kill Travis Morgan. The Wizard-King already knows
that and says Morgan’s will is too strong for him to die. He tells the Vashek chief to send his men after Morgan again, but this time the Wizard-King will prepare the way by sending nightmares to sap Morgan’s will and fighting spirit. In the Bloodrock Mountains, Saaba finds Sabertooth and informs him how Morgan tricked him and about Morgan’s imminent attack on Shamballah. Saaba says she can’t take Sabertooth’s entire army to Shamballah, but she does offer to transport him there via her magic. At Morgan’s camp, Krystovar arrives with Lord Kaldustan and his army, who have pledged to help Morgan regain Shamballah. That night, Morgan has a nightmare about fighting off hordes of assassins and ending up killing everyone he cares 
about, even Tara. The personification of Death appears in the dream, reminding him that they are forever linked and that Death walks with him wherever he goes. On waking, Morgan contemplates the looming battle and wonders how many people will die … and if their deaths will be his fault. The next morning, some of Morgan’s friends notice a new reticence in him, but he covers it quickly and leads his team into the tunnels under Shamballah. But thanks to Saaba Sabertooth is waiting with some men inside the tunnels to ambush them and Captain Trogero (one of Morgan’s most loyal soldiers) takes an arrow through the heart.
Jonah Hex #92 – “A Blaze of Glory” – Michael Fleisher/Gray Morrow
This one starts with Jonah Hex getting caught in a rainstorm and heading for an old barn. Unfortunately, the barn is rather full; some bandits who just robbed a bank are splitting the money and we see the bank manager was in on the robbery. But the bandits don’t feel like sharing, so they shoot the banker. There’s a girl (Cindy) hiding in the stable who sees everything and she takes off running, heading out into a field where she runs right into Hex (who heard the shots). The bandits come looking for Cindy since she can identify them and Hex knifes one bandit before he and Cindy take off on his horse. Meanwhile, Emmylou
is still stuck in the hole she fell in last issue, which is rapidly filling with rainwater. She’s found by a nice old trapper, who pulls her out and takes her home to dry out. Emmylou’s kidnapper Brett was just homing in on her to finish her off, so he’s not happy to see her getting help from the trapper. Hex takes Cindy to a friend’s ranch and heads back to find the bandits, but Cindy’s a gutsy kid who doesn’t want to sit around while Hex is out having adventures. She sneaks out and “borrows” a horse, heading after Hex. She’s not very stealthy though and the bandits spot her and follow. At the trapper’s cabin, Brett busts in and knocks out the trapper, so Emmylou takes off again on 
the trapper’s horse. Cindy finds Hex and they’re ambushed by the bandits, so Hex has Cindy lay down some cover fire with his rifle while he sneaks around behind them. One of the bandits is waiting for him, but Cindy shoots him and Hex blows the rest to hell with some dynamite. Back in town, Hex collects the reward for the bandits and Cindy asks if she can stay with him, since she’s an orphan. Hex is pretty impressed with her spunk and is pretty much ready to adopt her (informally at least) when they run into Cindy’s parents. Yeah, she was lying about the orphan stuff; she just ran away from her overbearing parents. Jonah is disappointed but covers it up, even refusing a reward for bringing Cindy back. He goes to the saloon to get hammered and Emmylou finds him there. Brett is right behind her and threatens to shoot her right there, so Hex is
ready to blow him away. But Hex suddenly disappears into thin air, leaving everyone in the saloon (and the readers) stunned. Huh? turns out Hex has been transported forward in time to a post-apocalyptic future … yeah, you heard me. I guess the comic wasn’t selling well and Fleisher figured a change of scene might inject some life into it. The new comic (just called Hex) only lasted about 18 issues, so I guess it didn’t really work. I have zero interest in seeing Hex as a high-tech warrior in 2030, so I won’t be reviewing that comic. I know Hex eventually returned to the Old West (because he died in a Special Edition comic where he was depicted as being older), but I’m not sure if the cliffhanger with Emmylou and Brett was ever resolved.