Green Lantern #200 – “Five Billion Years” – Steve Englehart/Joe Staton/Bruce Patterson
This one starts on Oa with the Guardians of the Universe preparing to give up their responsibilities as galactic protectors and move on. Sinestro tries to talk to one of the Guardians, but he warns the villain to consider repentance instead off interfering with matters beyond him. The other Guardians give us a helpful review of what happened last issue with the three Green Lanterns of Earth: John Stewart (and Katma Tui) are returning to Oa with the former Guardian Appa Ali Apsa (or Old timer, as he used to be called); Hal Jordan and some other Lanterns are coming back after defeating Goldface and his alien pal; and Guy Gardner has gone to offer his services to Star Sapphire on Zamaron. Star Sapphire isn’t too keen until Guy points out that all her Zamaron subjects have left the planet, so she’s now Queen of Nothing. She and Guy
clash, but she realizes he hates Hal as much as she does and figures an alliance might work. Hector Hammond projects a mental image from Earth, wanting to get in on any revenge scheme against Hal. On a spaceship headed for Oa, John tells Appa about the Crisis and Appa relates some of the Guardians’ history, hinting it might be time for them to move on. John wonders what that’ll mean to the Green Lantern Corps. Out in space, Hal is thrilled to have regained his ring and takes off from the other Lanterns to celebrate. On a deserted moon, he sees Flash (who supposedly disappeared during the Crisis) and 
stops to talk to him. Flash’s conversation is pretty depressing and things don’t get any better when an image of Tomar-Re pops up, making Hal feel more alone. Carol Ferris shows up next, but she turns out to be Star Sapphire and starts pounding Hal. Guy Gardner jumps in to attack and Hector Hammond uses his mental abilities to immobilize Hal from afar. Guy takes Hal’s ring, but the ring flies back to Hal’s hand and they realize he hasn’t been immobilized after all. Hal summons all his will power, blasting Hammond’s power right back at him and knocking him out back on Earth. Hal then overcomes Guy and Star Sapphire, capturing them with green energy. Guy accuses Hal of forgetting his former liberalism, but Hal says he’s learned to follow the
rules as long as they work and not break them just because someone else thought them up. On Oa, Sinestro is planning an escape which involves the Weaponers of Qward attacking Oa. The Weaponers run into John and Katma’s ship and a space fight breaks out. After defeating the Weaponers, John and company head for Oa. Hundreds of other Lanterns are congregating there, including Hal, who’s ready to put Guy and Star Sapphire in cells when the Guardians tell him to bring them to the big meeting. Even Guy is awed by the number of Lanterns in attendance, but Star Sapphire is blown away when 
the Zamarons show up. Apparently the Zamarons and Guardians are both of the same race, but parted billions of years ago and developed differently. Now they’re considering a reconciliation, but the Zamarons (being warriors now instead of philosophers) want to decide their fate through combat. Each side chooses a champion and the Guardian wins, proving that they are the Zamarons’ equal and opposite halves. The Guardians announce that they will be leaving this universe with the Zamarons, but that the Central Power Battery will continue to channel their energy into the rings. The Guardians have asked Appa to help make the transition smoother, but he’ll be based on Maltus not Oa (and the remaining 2800 Lanterns will no longer have assigned space sectors to look after). Appa takes a couple of Lanterns as an honour guard and Guy is told he can keep his ring as long as he helps Appa rebuild Maltus. John and Hal are told they can both stay on Earth if they want, since Earth seems to be a crucial place for heroes (and villains). 
The Lanterns have more questions, but the Guardians and Zamarons pair off and head through a space warp. (There’s a slight glitch because Sinestro has taken the form of a Guardian, but he’s quickly exposed and thrown back in prison.)
Firestorm #47 – “Dead Devils Don’t Wear Blue” – Gerry Conway/Joe Brozowski/Mike Machlan
This story continues from Blue Devil 23—which I haven’t reviewed or even read—but it’s pretty straightforward: since last issue, Firestorm and Blue Devil have fought the alliance of Multiplex, Hyena, Mindboggler, Slipknot, and Bolt. Apparently Blue Devil and Firestorm fought because of Bolt’s trickery, Blue Devil found out Bolt was really his old friend Larry Bolatinsky, and now Blue Devil is being pounded by Firestorm’s enemies. Slipknot ends up tying Blue Devil in one of his sticky unbreakable ropes and preparing to steal the $25,000,000 super-computer
from the Civic Center like they’d originally planned. Unfortunately for them, the villains were so distracted fighting Blue Devil they didn’t notice dozens of cops surrounding them. They head inside, taking Blue Devil as a hostage. Miles away, Firestorm is heading back to Pittsburgh with Wayne (Blue Devil’s friend) and Bolt (who Firestorm captured). Ronnie is worried about how he’ll explain decking Felicity (his father’s fiancée) when he gets back to the Civic Center, but he soon has something else to worry about. Firestorm learns about Multiplex and the others taking Blue Devil hostage in the Center and finds out his father (Ed) and Felicity are still inside. Inside, Felicity overhears Slipknot telling Hyena about the chemical that dissolves the adhesive on his 
ropes and thinks they might be able to use it to free Blue Devil. Firestorm comes in to “negotiate” with Multiplex and gets jumped by all his enemies. He pretends to be affected by Mindboggler’s illusions, but ends up decking her. Blue Devil has been freed by Felicity and joins the fight, after capturing Slipknot. Firestorm and Devil go after Multiplex, trying to find the original instead of one of his duploids. Hyena jumps Firestorm and is about to slice him up when Ed and Felicity use a piece of Slipknot’s rope to bind her. Firestorm is surprised Felicity saved him since she’s suing him for ruining her businesses, but she says she’s still a human being and couldn’t stand by and watch Hyena kill him. Firestorm and Blue Devil go after Multiplex, but it turns out to be another duploid, the real Multiplex having slipped away. Blue Devil is on his way to Metropolis and he and Firestorm part as friends.
Vigilante #29 – “Nightmares Continued” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Rick Magyar
This one starts with the new Vigilante lurking out Adrian Chase’s house, considering going in and unmasking for Chase. But Chase is pretty screwed up, feeling guilty about starting the whole Vigilante thing, and drinking his face off. The new Vigilante saw Chase kill Alan Welles (who was another, more murderous Vigilante) and put his costume on Electrocutioner, but this newcomer doesn’t seem to realize that Chase was the original Vigilante. At police headquarters, Lieutenant Stein is told by his superior (Inspector O’Connor) to lay off the Vigilante case, since exposing either Welles or Chase could give the justice system a black eye it’d
never recover from. Stein is pretty pissed off and after he leaves, O’Connor calls someone to tell them Stein might be a problem. The new Vigilante stops some guys robbing a warehouse, but doesn’t kill anyone; in fact, he saves one thief from getting blown up. Out on Long Island, some mobster instructs a henchman to put his plan into motion, which has something to do with executions. At the courthouse, Adrian runs into his ex (Marcia) and tries to talk to her, but he freaks when she mentions she’s been talking to a psychiatrist. Marcia says she never used Adrian’s name, but he wonders if the new Vigilante might be Marcia’s 
therapist. Stein breaks into Adrian’s place to snoop around and finds a blood-stained sheet in the basement. He hears someone upstairs and takes off, not realizing it was the new Vigilante leaving Adrian a message. At the courthouse, Adrian talks to his bailiff (Dave Winston), who tells him how much he admires Adrian and what he stands for. Out in the hall, an assassin guns down a mob boss who was just acquitted and all over town we see other mobsters being eliminated. Winston sees the getaway car leaving the courthouse and later we see Vigilante tracking down the car’s owner, a mobster named Leo Hage.
Vigilante confronts Hage, but he refuses to admit anything, knowing Vigilante has no real proof. Unlike his predecessor, this Vigilante doesn’t kill in cold blood, so he’s forced to leave, but vows he’ll find a way to put Hage away. Later, Vigilante shows up at Chase’s place and Chase is ready to turn him in, even if it means going to prison himself. But Vigilante takes off his mask, revealing himself to be Dave Winston (which is hardly a shock), and says they need to talk.
Warlord #105 – “Stalkers of Shinnar” – Michael Fleisher/Ron Randall
This one starts with Travis Morgan and Shakira continuing their quest to lift the curse on Morgan’s daughter Jennifer. Morgan wonders about Shakira’s collar and if she’s related to the tiger-woman from a couple issues ago who went all homicidal. Shakira tells Morgan she found six lizard-men attacking a lone human, so Morgan rides to the rescue. They kill four of the lizard-men and the other two take off. Morgan’s ready to let them go, but the warrior they rescued (J’huranda) says they have to kill the remaining lizard-men before they attack someone else. They follow the lizard-men’s trail and J’huranda puts the moves on
Shakira (which she doesn’t seem to mind). They encounter a guy who almost got run down by the fleeing lizard-men and he gives them directions. After they leave, the guy hears a noise and finds J’huranda (or someone who looks exactly like him) in the bushes. Far to the west on the ocean, Machiste and Mariah (still disguised as priests) are heading for Kiro when their ship is pulled onto some reefs and breaks up. Machiste and Mariah survive, but find a bunch of skeletons rowing the carcass of some sea monster. On the road, Morgan warns Shakira not to trust J’huranda because he asks a lot of questions but doesn’t volunteer any information himself. Shakira is inclined to trust J’huranda 
and asks Morgan if he’s jealous. In Kiro, N’dosma has himself proclaimed King using a false document. The people don’t like it (and don’t really believe it), but there’s not much they can do. N’dosma ends up killing the guy who forged the document, just to tie up the loose ends (and avoid paying him). On the road, Morgan and the others catch up to the two lizard-men, but something’s wrong with J’huranda … he’s having some heavy abdominal pains. When they catch the lizard-men, J’huranda kills both of them, even though they tried to surrender and one of them wanted to talk to Morgan. J’huranda’s pains return and he goes to see Shakira, who has healing herbs. Morgan realizes one of the lizard-men is still alive and speaks to him. When
Shakira returns and is acting weird, Morgan reveals what the lizard-man (who was really an alien police officer!) told him: J’huranda and now Shakira were replaced by an alien called Melichor, who can drain life force from people and take on their form. Once Melichor’s ruse is exposed, he vacates Shakira’s body (which he hadn’t fully assimilated) and tries to take over Morgan’s. Morgan shoots him and explains things to Shakira. She’s relieved that it’s over, but as they walk away we see a blob of alien protoplasm taking the form of a nearby caterpillar.