Flash #349 – “…and the Truth Shall Set Him Free” – Cary Bates/Carmine Infantino/Frank McLaughlin
Last issue, a revived Professor Zoom (or someone who looks like him) took over the body of juror Nathan Newbury and (after hypnotizing the rest of the jury) delivered the verdict in Flash’s murder trial … guilty. Flash is stunned and allows himself to be handcuffed and taken to prison. His lawyer (Cecile Horton) can hardly process it and refuses to talk to the press. Newbury also brushes off a reporter and speeds away from the courthouse, revealing himself to be Zoom once he’s out of sight. We get reactions from various people to the verdict: Dexter Myles, Barry’s parents, Ralph and Sue Dibny, Wally West (who’s still feeling guilty about his testimony). Cecile and Captain Frye go to see Flash in jail, but he tells
them he actually stopped caring about the verdict weeks ago and just wanted everything to be over. Now that it is, he’s almost relieved, even with the guilty verdict. Cecile can’t believe Flash has given up, but Frye points out that everyone has their breaking point. After they leave, Nathan Newbury appears in Flash’s cell and Flash isn’t sure if he’s dreaming or not. Newbury says he knows Flash is innocent and wants to explain some things to him. For some reason, Flash instinctively trusts Newbury and the two of them disappear from the cell, reappearing in the now-empty courtroom. Inside a mountain north of Central City, six of Flash’s Rogues (Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, 
Mirror Master, Trickster, Weather Wizard, and Rainbow Raider) are trapped in a glass enclosure discussing their predicament. The guy who captured them all (Zoom) shows up to gloat and tells them he’s got even bigger plans. The Rogues still can’t quite believe Zoom is alive, although being from the future they know it’s possible he could’ve used some future-tech to cheat death. Meanwhile, Newbury is telling Flash that he’s not really Nathan Newbury but a brainwave pattern of someone from the future, sent back to repair the damage to the time-stream that was caused when Zoom died five centuries before he was born. That paradox caused a temporal anomaly that screwed up the time-stream, so even though future history showed Flash was found innocent in Zoom’s death, that became only one possible
outcome. The person who took over Newbury’s body came back to set things right, starting with making sure Flash was found innocent. (We don’t see exactly who came back in time, but in the future shots it looks like a woman with short brown hair; if you’re familiar with Flash’s history, you can probably guess who that might be.) Newbury tells Flash how he took the jurors back in time to convince them to acquit Flash ad how he was jumped on the way back to the present by Zoom, who used “some sort of wand-weapon” to send Newbury through the time-stream and brainwash the jurors into convicting Flash. Newbury escaped the time-stream thanks to a temporal gyroscope and came to find Flash. The Scarlet Speedster can’t believe Zoom is still alive, 
which means all the agony he’s endured for months with the trial and feeling guilty was for nothing. Inside the mountain, the Rogues are still talking about Zoom and Captain Boomerang insists Zoom can’t have come back from the dead. Mirror Master points out that if this isn’t Zoom, it has to be someone with even greater future-tech, someone who’s more devious than Zoom, and someone who hates the Rogues as much as he hates Flash. Who else could it be? Well, we get the answer as “Zoom” walks away from the mountain and changes back to his true form … Abra Kadabra. Called it! Yup, he’s been pretending to be Zoom all along and now he’s ready to go after Flash. We’ll see how that turns out next issue, which is also the final issue of Flash, so don’t miss it.
Wonder Woman #327 – “A World in Chaos” – Mindy Newell/Don Heck
Last issue, Tezcatlipoca (the Aztec god of chaos) appeared in Tropidor and spirited Keith Griggs, Lauren Haley, and a reporter named Lewis away to the past. Tezcatlipoca seizes Lauren, planning to use her in some kind of ceremony, so Lewis pulls a gun. Keith figures it’ll be useless against a god and starts fighting with Lewis over control of the pistol. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is flying to Tropidor in her invisible jet to find rebel leader Colonel Montez, but runs into some weird turbulence. The sky turns red and her plane almost crashes, but she makes it through … only to find a tear in the fabric of reality into which people and objects are being pulled. Keith and Lewis’s fight results in
the gun going off and Lauren is shot. Tezcatiloca disappears, telling Keith and Lewis the chaos has just begun. Back in Washington, Etta is wondering if she should go behind General Darnell’s back and tell someone about him sending Keith and Lauren to Tropidor (which is supposed to be off-limits to American officials). Etta’s boyfriend Howard shows up and tries to cheer her up with an impromptu picnic, but we soon see he’s just trying to keep her busy so his boss (Senator Covington) can go in to see Darnell. Covington is dropped off by a mysterious woman, who looks like the same one who was spying on Wonder Woman last issue; we can’t see her face, but her ring 
has the initials “FF” on it. Over Tropidor, Wonder Woman flies clear of the maelstrom, but is startled to see the Aztec pyramid below looking brand new instead of in ruins as it should be. She lands and quickly figures out she’s in the past. When Tezcatlipoca appears on the pyramid with Keith, Lauren, and Lewis (in period costumes), she realizes Tezcatlipoca plans to sacrifice them. In Washington, Covington tells Darnell he knows about Wonder Woman being in Tropidor (and shows him a photo as proof) and promises to open a formal investigation. Meanwhile, Lisa Abernathy’s boss at the TV station is pressuring her to reveal what Covington told her about Darnell and Tropidor during their affair (and he uses the same photo of Wonder Woman pounding soldiers in Tropidor as leverage). In the past, Tezcatlipoca urges
Montez (who’s now an Aztec priest) to kill Keith on the altar. Before Wonder Woman can intervene, Keith is killed, but then everything resets and it happens all over again … and again. On Paradise Island, the Amazons are discussing Hippolyta’s recent slide into lassitude because of her rift with Diana. Antiope proposes Paula take over, but others prefer Antiope as the new Amazon leader. In the shadows a goddess (possibly Demeter) listens in and hastens to Olympus to report that the ancient prophecy about the fall of the Amazons is coming true. In the past, Wonder Woman realizes that to end the time loop she has to stop resisting it. She prays to Artemis for strength 
and exerts her will to halt the time loop, setting time back in motion. As the pyramid crumbles around them and everyone’s clothing reverts to normal, Wonder Woman herds Keith, Lauren, and Lewis into her plane. They take off, flying through the chaos Tezcatlipoca churns up and he tells them their world is actually more chaotic than anything he could dream up. They fly back through the rift and the red skies, landing in Tropidor where they started. Wonder Woman drops them off and flies away, wondering what great menace Tezcatlipoca was hinting at. (It’s the Crisis, but she doesn’t know that yet.)
Green Lantern #192 – “First Star I See Tonight” – Steve Englehart/Joe Staton/Bruce Patterson
Last issue, Hal Jordan got a shock (and so did we) when he found out Predator was actually Carol Ferris … or part of Carol anyway, which has now merged with her to become Hal’s old foe Star Sapphire. Out in space, John Stewart (the current Green Lantern of Earth), Katma Tui, and Dalor are checking out the Zamarons (who consider Star Sapphire their queen) because Katma figures they might have something to do with the missing memories shared by John, Hal, and several of their friends. On Earth, Star Sapphire takes Hal high in the sky and drops him, but it’s just a bluff. She catches him and brings him to a lonely spot in the desert where she
proceeds to tell him her story. We get flashbacks to a bunch of old Green Lantern stories: Hal and Carol meeting; Carol being shanghaied by the Zamarons to be their queen and having her memory of it wiped when she proved “unworthy”; Carol turning back into Star Sapphire several times and fighting GL, losing her sense of self a little more each time; Carol almost marrying some other dude; Carol finally deciding to commit to GL, but feeling more disconnected by his double life after he revealed his identity; Hal telling Carol she and Star Sapphire are one and the same; Carol falling for another guy who turned out to be Replikon. Through all of it, Carol felt like she was losing 
herself by being Hal’s girlfriend (especially since she could’ve been a queen on Zamaron) and the distraction was affecting her ability to run Ferris Aircraft. So she contacted the Zamarons and was transformed back into Star Sapphire, not to become queen, but to use their power organ to wipe the memories of everyone on Earth—including herself—about Carol Ferris being involved with superheroes, which is why none of them could remember Tawny’s news report. She also wiped the knowledge of her being Star Sapphire from her own mind. It seemed to work and she got back to running Ferris Aircraft successfully … except she wasn’t happy. Carol was in a bad mood all the time and couldn’t figure out what was bothering her, and her mood didn’t get any better when her father returned and took control of the company
from her, dismissing her years of good management as nothing. When General Fabrikant turned her (briefly) back into Star Sapphire it released all her pent-up frustrations and she got back together with Hal. But when he left for a year, expecting her to wait for him, she was so pissed off that she spontaneously became Star Sapphire again, but with a twist; realizing she hadn’t been ruthless enough to succeed, she split into two halves … the “masculine” side of her (the side that ran the company and despised her own emotions but loved herself in spite of them) became Predator, while the other half became Carol Ferris and forgot everything, just as she’d always wanted. Predator formed Con-Trol and employed the mysterious Mr. Smith 
to gather power so he could eventually take over Ferris Aircraft … something Carol wanted ever since her father took it away from her. So Carol loved Hal while Predator did the dirty work, but when Hal got back from space the same problems came up again. She gained the strength from Predator (by kissing him, which is really Freudian) to give Hal an ultimatum and it worked … he quit being Green lantern for her. Now that Predator’s gone, she figures she can run Ferris through Smith and marry Hal, finally having everything she wanted. But Hal doesn’t want to marry Star Sapphire, pointing out that as much as she claims to be her own woman now, she sure seems to be doing exactly what the Zamarons want. On Zamaron, John, Katma, and Dalor break through the defenses into the throne room just in time to interrupt Star Sapphire’s coronation as queen. What happened to Hal? We see him wandering alone through the desert, trying not to think about Carol.
Warlord #97 – “Disaster” – Cary Burkett/Rich Buckler/Pablo Marcos
Last issue, Travis Morgan led a small band through the tunnels under Shamballah to capture the Atlanteans’ high-tech cannons while Machiste led an army in a frontal assault. But thanks to the witch Saaba’s treachery, Lord Sabertooth is waiting for Morgan under Shamballah and the Atlantean forces are ready for the attack, blasting the army with their cannons. Morgan’s men are cut to pieces, so he and Scarheart retreat back into the tunnels. Mariah rescues Machiste and he’s forced to call a retreat for the remaining soldiers. Under the city, Scarheart pulls a Samson, collapsing the gateway to the tunnels on top of
himself (and the Atlanteans) to give Morgan a chance to escape. Morgan makes it back to camp, wracked with guilt over Scarheart’s sacrifice, and accuses Graemore of spying for the Atlanteans (since he was caught nosing around during Morgan’s meeting with Machiste and Mariah last issue). Morgan’s ready to kill Graemore but Tara won’t let him, saying he’ll have to kill her too. They’re interrupted when Sabertooth’s forces launch an attack on the valley. Morgan’s army goes out to meet them and it turns into a bloodbath, but Morgan’s soldiers actually gain a slight advantage. Saaba 
(who was watching the battle in raven form) lands to throw some fireball spells at Morgan’s men. Jennifer Morgan confronts her and they begin a sorcerous duel. As Sabertooth’s cavalry charges and Morgan’s weary men try to hold them off, an earthquake opens up the ground under their feet and a nearby volcano begins to erupt. Both sides wonder if it’s some kind of mystical omen, but apparently it’s just the side effects of the Crisis being felt even in Skartaris. Sabertooth and his army retreat, hoping the volcano will wipe out Morgan and his men. Jennifer forgets about Saaba and uses all her power to stop the volcano. Saaba tries to slip away in raven form, but Shakira (in cat form) kills her. Morgan’s army has been decimated and his camp is destroyed by the earthquake. He blames it
all on Graemore until Jennifer and Shakira show him Saaba’s raven body and explain that she was the spy. Morgan goes to apologize to Graemore, but Graemore is near death from his wounds; apparently he jumped into the thick of the fighting (even though he’s just a minstrel) either to prove he wasn’t a traitor, or to die. Tara blames Morgan and says she’ll never forgive him if Graemore dies. Morgan feels like crap and we see the mysterious head of the Vasheks gloating about Morgan’s spirit being broken. We still don’t see his face, but my guess is it’s Deimos come back to life (or undeath) once again.