Green Lantern #198 – “1” – Steve Englehart/Joe Staton/Bruce Patterson
Last issue, Hal Jordan got a new ring from a Guardian and was told to help Guy Gardner and his band of villains in their mission to destroy the moon of Qward. Right after Guy and company left, Sinestro showed up to tell John Stewart and Katma Tui that they had to stop Guy’s mission. Sinestro explains that Qward is the twin of Oa in the anti-matter universe and its moon is the birthplace of the Anti-Monitor, just as Oa’s moon spawned the Monitor. Sinestro says if the moon is destroyed it’ll break the symmetry between the positive and negative matter universes, throwing everything into chaos. Katma doesn’t trust Sinestro (since they’re both from Korugar and she’s familiar with his crimes), but John says they should talk to the Guardians to find out the truth. Katma reminds him of the force field around Oa that bars
communication, but John points out that his physical body could pass through the field … if they can get him there. John figures combining his green energy with Sinestro’s yellow energy could create enough power to catapult him across the galaxy to Oa. Katma is worried but realizes John’s idea is the only chance they have to contact the Guardians. John and Sinestro put the plan into motion, tossing John through space. On Charon, Hal contemplates the Crisis and wonders if they can save the multiverse—or just their own universe—and get things back to normal. After fighting off one of his “allies” (a pissed-off alien with a grudge), Hal tells Guy he’s glad Guy 
finally got the ring he deserves. Guy is less than gracious, as usual. John reaches Oa in one piece and gets through the barrier to find a group of Guardians and Green Lanterns gathered near the Central Power Battery. Among the GLs are Tomare-Re, Arisia, Xax, Ch’p, C’ryssma, and Apros and they’re glad to see him. John explains to the Guardians about Sinestro’s theory and they declare Sinestro to be lying. The Guardians say destroying Qward’s moon may destroy the anti-matter universe, but won’t affect any others, and they’re willing to let Guy and his team try it, since they’ve accepted the end of the multiverse anyway. John realizes why Sinestro sent him on a fool’s errand … he wanted to hitch a ride to Oa. Before Sinestro can do any
damage, the Guardians trap him and give him shit. They’re interrupted when the consciousness of the Central Power Battery starts speaking through Tomar-Re, telling them that they have to stop Guy’s mission. The Battery (which was co-mingled with Anti-Monitor’s essence when he drained its power) learned of his connection to the moon of Qward and says if the moon is destroyed the Anti-Monitor will become even more powerful, freed from any terrestrial anchor. After a short but intense debate, the Guardians agree to send the Lanterns (including Katma, who they bring from Earth 
with their powers) to stop Guy and his team from destroying the moon of Qward. So technically Sinestro was exhorting John to do the right thing, but for the wrong reason. Across the galaxy, Guy and his squad go through the warp to the anti-matter universe and head for the moon. Guy orders everyone to run interference for him so he can destroy the moon, but they soon find themselves fighting off hordes of Weaponers. When Guy insists Hal kill their opponents, Hal quits the team and says he’s heading home. Guy knocks him out and takes his ring, leaving him to die in airless space. (For all those who sat Guy is just a lovable anti-hero, I beg to differ; trying to kill Hal makes him a complete asshole and probably a sociopath.) Tomar-Re’s ship arrives through the warp and they find Hal floating with the dead
Weaponers. Hal managed to get a helmet from a corpse to protect himself temporarily, but John encases him in an energy bubble and brings him along. John sets Hal on the moon and his team attacks Guy’s. The two teams fight and some Lanterns are killed (including Xax), while Guy fights to get to the moon. John is knocked out by Sonar and Tomar-Re is strangled by Goldface. Guy gets through to the moon, but before he can destroy it, Hal jumps him. Without a ring, Hal’s no match for Guy, who prepares to obliterate him along with the moon. John shows up to stop him and engages in a duel of wills with Guy. John wins, knocking Guy out, and an explosion in space heralds the end of the Anti-Monitor (and the Crisis, finally). Before he dies, Tomar-Re bequeaths his ring to John, while John’s ring returns to Hal. It’s a bittersweet moment for Hal, since Tomar-Re was his oldest friend in the Green Lantern Corps.
Firestorm #45 – “A Gathering of Hate” – Gerry Conway/George Tuska/Mike Gustovich
This one starts with a drunken Slipknot being tossed out a bar. A couple of Multiplex’s dupes come along and pound the bartender, offering Slipknot a chance to get revenge on Firestorm. At Vandemeer University, Ronnie Raymond is at football practice, although he’s not quite as agile as a wide receiver should be. It’s extra humiliating because his father Ed, Ed’s fiancée Felicity Smoak, and Ronnie’s girlfriend Doreen are all there watching. Doreen and Felicity talk and Doreen confides that she’s not sure where her relationship with Ronnie is going because he always seems to be holding something back. Felicity says men are a pain in
the ass (though usually worth it), but cautions Doreen not to lose herself in the relationship. Meanwhile, the Dean (Emily Rice) asks Professor Stein to be her date (Or “escort”) to a play. Stein is pretty happy until his TA (Wendy) tells him Emily is kind of a man-eater and really doesn’t handle rejection well. That night, Multiplex and Slipknot bust Hyena out of the mental hospital where she’s confined. At a café in Pittsburgh, Felicity is going on about her lawsuit against Firestorm (not knowing Ronnie is one-half of Firestorm). She talks about how he ruined her business twice (in issues 23 and 29) and when Ronnie points 
out that Firestorm was helping people, Felicity says Firestorm is an unsanctioned vigilante and has no right to declare himself the law instead of letting cops and other trained people handle things. Doreen gets a message about Hyena (her sister) being taken from the facility and heads back to campus to phone her parents. Ronnie goes with her and Ed and Felicity follow, but when they arrive all they find is the distraught Doreen … Ronnie has disappeared. Cliff Carmichael is hanging around and starts going on about what a dick Ronnie is to leave Doreen when she needs him. Cliff then hints to Ed that Ronnie might be on drugs. I’m thinking maybe Cliff wasn’t stealing anything when Ronnie found him in his room last issue, maybe he was planting something. Of
course, Ronnie went to change to Firestorm so he can go look for Hyena. At the theatre, Professor Stein just manages to get out of Emily’s sight before vanishing, but he’s actually grateful to Ronnie for pulling him away from the date, since Emily just invited him for a weekend romp and he as trying to figure out how to say no. In Washington, Mindboggler uses her mental powers to fight off an aggressive asshole at a bar and Multiplex shows up to recruit her to the team he’s assembling, promising to make her rich. Someone else is listening to their conversation, and the talk of getting rich appeals to him … it’s Blue Devil’s enemy, Bolt.
Vigilante #27 – “Insanity’s End” – Paul Kupperberg/Dnys Cowan/Dick Giordano, Arne Starr
Last issue, Adrian Chase (the former Vigilante) tracked the new (more murderous) Vigilante to a place upstate owned by the drug lord Trinidad Santiago. Vigilante wanted to kill Santiago and Adrian, feeling guilty for inspiring his deadly doppelganger, wanted to stop him. But Electrocutioner, another crusader for justice (his own brand of it anyway), showed up looking for Santiago too. Electrocutioner killed Santiago, but while escaping ran into Adrian and Vigilante fighting in the woods. Vigilante (who seems to know Adrian) protects him from Electrocutioner’s first blast. Electrocutioner wants to kill Vigilante for his indiscriminate brand of
justice, but Adrian won’t let him. Adrian doesn’t see much difference between Electrocutioner and Vigilante (or, after Electrocutioner points it out, between them and himself). But Electrocutioner doesn’t know Adrian was the first Vigilante, so he just knocks him out with an electrical charge and goes after Vigilante. At Santiago’s mansion, a dude named Wexler shows up and finds out Santiago is dead. He tells the goons he’ll keep the business running but they have to report the murder to the cops to make it look good. The local sheriff (O’Donnell) shows up and doesn’t seem too bothered by all the armed 
goons; he was probably in Santiago’s pocket. When Lieutenant Stein shows up from New York, O’Donnell puts him in his place. In the woods, Dave Winston (Adrian’s bailiff in New York) is wandering around looking for him. Adrian runs into a state trooper sweeping the woods and knocks him out, but gets jumped by Vigilante. Vigilante tries to talk Adrian into getting out, and even shields him from the police chopper, but Adrian’s guilt won’t let him walk away … he’s determined to stop Vigilante or die trying. Meanwhile, Electrocutioner runs into some of Santiago’s men and gets shot before taking them out and hiding in an old barn. Winston runs into Vigilante in the woods and gets his ass kicked. Adrian finds the barn where Electrocutioner is hiding and sneaks
inside, finishing Electrocutioner off with the gun he took from the state trooper. (Adrian doesn’t feel too guilty about that, since Electrocutioner was probably going to die from his wounds anyway.) Vigilante comes in and tries to talk Adrian into leaving again. They talk and Vigilante thanks Adrian for providing inspiration, but Adrian says his ideals may have been good but his actions as Vigilante were wrong. Adrian is ready to take Vigilante in, despite the fact he could tell the cops about Adrian’s own career as a costumed vigilante. Vigilante won’t let his “mission” be stopped and is ready to kill Adrian, but Adrian shoots him first. Vigilante turns out to be Adrian’s friend and fellow judge, Alan Welles. Alan saw Adrian the night he 
gave up his costumed identity and decided it was up to him to carry on Vigilante’s mission. Alan was fed up with having to let guilty people go on technicalities as a judge, so he tried to balance the scales of justice another way. Before dying, Alan tells Adrian how he came to respect the law (mostly through cops and his father beating the shit out of him). Adrian takes the Vigilante costume off of Alan and wraps up his body, taking it with him when he leaves. We see someone else (Winston maybe?) has seen and heard the whole thing.
Warlord #103 – “Moon Beast” – Michael Fleisher/Jerry Bingham/Pablo Marcos
This one starts with Travis Morgan in a town during one of the infrequent Skartarian “nights”. (Since Skartaris is inside the Earth, the sun shines perpetually, unless the moon obscures it temporarily.) Morgan is attacked by a giant black tiger (wearing a spiked collar) and almost gets killed, but the tiger retreats from the returning sun. Elsewhere, Machiste and Mariah are on their way back to Kiro so Machiste can reclaim his throne. But certain factions in Kiro don’t want Machiste back and have put a price on his head. On a ferry crossing, Machiste and Mariah are ambushed and end up getting tossed in the river,
disappearing below the swiftly moving current. But they surface downstream and grab onto a tree trunk. In the town where Morgan was attacked, an attractive young woman (wearing a familiar-looking collar) wakes up with blood on her hands, having had a very strange nightmare. The townspeople tell Morgan the town is cursed by the were-tiger and that he should go well out of his way to avoid the citadel on the hill. But Morgan is on a quest to save his daughter from a curse and can’t afford any detours. In Kiro, two plotting courtiers (N’Dosma and Sumerrin) hear news of Machiste’s death, but decide to wait 
for real proof before seizing power, just in case. In the citadel, Morgan finds the girl (Tamara), who tells him she’s the victim of her sorcerer uncle, who believes cats are women transformed by the gods. He uncle has been experimenting on kidnapped women, turning them into were-cats and fitting them with spiked collars to identify them. When the townspeople attacked the citadel, a bunch of the “subjects” escaped, so lately Tamara has been her uncle’s test subject. He’s been using the moon’s rays to transform her into a were-tiger, which Tamara can’t control. The sorcerer comes in and his men grab Morgan, chaining him so the sorcerer can try his experiment on him. Morgan busts loose and starts pounding the guards. Before the sorcerer can
kill him, Tamara (changed by the moon into a were-tiger again) jumps her uncle and they both go out the window, plummeting to the rocks below. The next day, Shakira finds Morgan, saying she wants to help him on his quest. Morgan is glad to see her, but he pulls the spiked collar off her neck and throws it away. So, are we supposed to believe Shakira was one of the sorcerer’s escaped experiments? This whole story reminds me of an early story from Marvel’s Conan comics, though not one based on an original Howard tale.