Flash #350 – “Flash Flees” – Cary Bates/Carmine Infantino/Frank McLaughlin
This one opens with Captain Frye telling his fellow police officers that Flash escaped from his jail cell last night and needs to be apprehended, since he was found guilty of killing Professor Zoom. The cops aren’t happy about treating Flash like any old criminal, but they know their duty is to bring him in. Cecile Horton (Flash’s lawyer) goes to see Barry Allen’s parents and tells them she knows Barry is really Flash, but the Allens don’t know where their son disappeared to either. North of Central City, the fake Professor Zoom is holding the other Rogues inside a mountain, trapping them in a crystal prism. He gets tired of keeping them and uses his wand (yes, that’s a clue) to shrink the prism,
leaving them all to be crushed to death. Mirror Master has a laser hidden in the eyes of his mask that he’d forgotten about and it’s strong enough to shatter the prism, freeing him and his fellow Rogues, who all want revenge on Zoom. At Central City courthouse, Nathan Newbury (or the future persona inhabiting his body) finishes telling Flash ow he came from the future to protect the timeline and insure Flash was found innocent of killing Zoom. Newbury has no idea how Flash was found guilty, saying it defies all logic of time travel. The fake Zoom attacks them, blowing up the courthouse, but Flash vibrates himself and Newbury through the ground to escape the explosion. 
Unfortunately, that’s just what “Zoom” wants, because when people see Flash emerge from the wrecked courthouse and run off with Newbury (the foreperson of the jury that convicted him) it just makes him look even more guilty. Flash takes Newbury to his parents house where he tells his mom and dad he and Newbury are going into the future to figure out what the hell’s going on. Meanwhile, the Rogues have made a act to cooperate until Zoom is dead and they head for the Flash Museum and force Dexter Myles to tell them about the cosmic treadmill, which they use to head to the future and look for Zoom. In Zoom’s home era (the 25th Century) Flash and Newbury find out that Zoom died in 1983 and was never seen again afterwards. Newbury reminds Flash that the time-stream is fucked up, so
the historical records in the future could be wrong. They check out Zoom’s last known hideout, but it’s booby-trapped and all Zoom’s records are pulled into a time-tornado. Flash and Newbury are caught in it too and Flash is so disoriented he can’t get out without risking falling into the tornado. Newbury stuns Flash, which causes him to instinctively recoil and pull them out of danger. The 25th Century police tell Flash they’ve found a guy who saw someone lurking around Zoom’s old hideout and a brainwave scan reveals who it was. Flash finally realizes that Zoom never came back from the dead, it was Abra Kadabra all along, using his own 64th Century 
technology to impersonate Zoom. Flash and Newbury head forward in time to find Abra Kadabra, while the Rogues arrive in the 25th Century looking for Zoom. After sifting through the remains of his hideout, they find a surveillance device that shows them it was Abra Kadabra who rigged the hideout to blow up. They realize Abra is the one who tried to kill them and head into the future to get their revenge. Flash and Newbury arrive in the future and are immediately captured by Abra Kadabra.. Turns out Abra has been taking advantage of the ripples in the timestream caused by Zoom dying before he was even born. Apparently Abra Kadabra made a bet with the Time Commissioner that he couldn’t alter history (since history is supposed to be immutable); Abra is taking advantage of the wonky timestream to change
Flash’s verdict from innocent to guilty while time is still in flux. Once the perturbations in time die down, Flash’s verdict will be set and Abra will have done the impossible … changed history. He lured Flash to the future to keep him from changing things back. Flash and Newbury wake up in a stasis field and Newbury wants to tell Flash whose personality is really inhabiting Newbury’s body. Flash has already guessed (as most of you probably have too), but they’re interrupted when the Rogues show up. Flash tries to warn them away, but they end up getting caught in a whirlwind. Captain Boomerang and Mirror Master combine forces to free Flash from the stasis beam and he returns the favour, 
setting the Rogues free. They go after Abra, but he’s already outside trying to escape on a jet-bike. Flash smashes it to shit and pounds Abra, turning him over to the cops. The Rogues are returned to the 20th Century, as is the real Nathan Newbury, who tells the authorities how his body was borrowed by someone from the future. Newbury’s testimony about how the jury was brainwashed into convicting Flash causes the guilty verdict to be overturned and Flash to be found innocent. But Flash isn’t there to enjoy it; he and the person who was inhabiting Newbury’s body went to the 30th Century, where Flash’s suspicions are confirmed … it was his dead wife Iris who was inside Newbury trying to help him. Iris’s parents apparently rescued her psychic self (her soul basically) at the moment of her death, bringing it into the
future and placing it in the body of a woman who had just died. So now Barry and Iris are reunited in the 30th Century, Iris in her new (and younger) body, and Barry with the new face he got in Gorilla City. So neither of them look the same as they used to, but all the old feelings are still there. Of course, Barry ends up dying in the Crisis (which Iris’s parents are aware of), but he and Iris do get some time together in the future … long enough to have a couple kids (Don and Dawn, the so-called Tornado Twins). And that’s the last issue of Flash; as I said, Barry will end up coming back to the present during the Crisis and getting killed, but for now he and Iris are happy.
Green Lantern #193 – “Dead Ringer” – Steve Englehart/Joe Staton/Bruce Patterson
This one starts where last issue left off, with Green Lanterns John Stewart, Katma Tui, and Dalor confronting Star Sapphire and the Zamarons. Nothing comes of it, as Star Sapphire plays her magic organ and wipes the Lanterns’ memories. Katma and Dalor anticipated that and programmed their rings to record and restore their memories if they ran into the Zamarons. John is ready to go after Star Sapphire again, but Katma points out that she technically hasn’t committed any crime that calls for the intervention of the Green Lanterns. (Plus, Katma doesn’t want John to find out the identity of his predecessor,
Hal Jordan, and she’s afraid Star Sapphire might say something to clue John in.) Katma tells John her origin (without revealing Hal’s identity) and admits she’s pissed off that the previous GL talked her into giving up love for the Corps, then ended up leaving the Corps for love. Katma seems kinda happy that things didn’t work out for Hal. We see Hal back on Earth, wondering what to do now that Carol is Star Sapphire again. He considers rejoining the Corps, but doesn’t want to take John’s spot, since he’s earned it. John and Katma are returning to Earth and John mentions how he’d like to use the rings to wipe out prejudice all over the galaxy, literally forcing people to be more tolerant. Katma says using the rings for mind-control is wrong, but John figures it 
should be okay if it’s for a good cause. Katma tables the debate and leads John through the Asteroid Belt, where John is attacked by Replikon. Naturally, John doesn’t recognize Replikon (although we know him from issue 109), so he isn’t ready for Replikon’s replication powers and the alien manages to capture them and steal their rings. Replikon tells John how he tried to destroy Earth’s ozone layer to make it habitable for his children and tells John he’ll kill Katma unless John gets rid of the ozone layer for him. John pretends to agree until Katma tells him that Green Lanterns don’t lie and points out that he can still control his ring even when it’s off his finger. John uses his willpower and gets his ring back, but Replikon blasts Katma with her own ring. John fights Replikon, countering everything the alien
tries and finally knocking him out. John gives Katma her ring back and tells her he has an idea. After getting permission from the Guardians, John and Katma cobble together a planetoid with the right conditions and Replikon’s children hatch. Replikon is grateful and John tells Katma how gratifying it is to help someone like that. Katma points out that Replikon’s desire to destroy Earth was for a good cause—allowing his kids to be born—but could’ve had dire consequences for humanity. John realizes that she’s teaching him a lesson and that she probably led him past Replikon’s refuge on purpose. On Oa, the Guardians detect the first effects of the Crisis, while on Earth Guy Gardner leaves the hospital he was confined to, eagerly looking forward to reclaiming his Green Lantern ring.
Warlord #98 – “From the Ashes…” – Cary Burkett/Andy Kubert/Pablo Marcos
This one starts with Travis Morgan fighting off some giant carrion birds so he can retrieve the bodies of his soldiers who died last issue. Machiste tells him it was a stupid risk, but Morgan feels guilty and wants the dead men to get a proper funeral. Morgan’s ally Lord Kaldustan is among the dead and Kaldustan’s Captain (Khord) wants to attack Shamballah immediately in revenge. Morgan forbids him and when Khord labels him a coward, Morgan decks him. Morgan goes to check on Graemore, who was injured trying to prove himself in battle after Morgan (wrongly) called him a traitor. Tara is with Graemore and Morgan knows she’ll never forgive him if Graemore dies. Morgan’s tired of feeling
guilty and responsible for everyone so he rides off, ignoring Mariah when she tries to tell him how much his leadership is needed. The nightmare Morgan had a couple issues ago is really weighing on him, making him wonder if he really will cause the deaths of everyone close to him. He’s so distracted, he falls off his horse and gets knocked out. In the ancient past, Mongo Ironhand is trying to send Tinder back to his own time, but can’t quite get the spell right (briefly turning Tinder into a donkey). Morgan wakes up in the cave of the hermit he met in issue 90, who tells him dire events are taking place and the decisions made by certain people could have long-lasting effects. (Another 
reference to the Crisis … even Skartaris wasn’t immune to its effects.) Morgan’s sick of being responsible for other people’s fates, but the hermit detects something strange about him and summons the Eye of Truth. Morgan has journeyed into the Eye before (in issue 26) and since he’s never been one to run from the truth, he goes in again. He finds the embodiment of Death and she shows him the men he’s lost recently—Scarheart, Trogero, Kaldustan—blaming him for their deaths. A voice reminds Morgan that he’s in the Eye of Truth and he strips away the falsehoods to reveal demons surrounding him. Morgan realizes he’s under some kind of curse and fights his way through the demons to find the one who cursed him. It isn’t Deimos (as I predicted), but Cykroth, the one-eyed giant King of New Atlantis. Morgan attacks
Cykroth, who hurls him away with his magic. But the Light of Truth has weakened Cykroth and he’s forced to drain a Skartarian captive of her life force to restore himself, while thinking about how best to handle Morgan. Morgan wakes up with Mariah standing over him and he feels a new sense of hope inside. He realizes he needs to stop feeling sorry for himself and start helping his army again. When they get back to camp, Krystovar tells Morgan that Graemore has recovered … and that Krystovar saw an old man standing near Graemore’s bed just before he awoke …