Wonder Woman #4 – “A Long Day’s Journey Into Fright” – Len Wein/George Perez/Bruce Patterson
Last issue, Diana met Julia Kapatelis, a history professor who took her home to help her assimilate to Man’s World and do some research. Phobos sent a Medusa statuette to the Kapatelis home which was opened by Julia’s daughter, Vanessa. The statuette came to life, manifesting as Decay, the daughter of Medusa, whose power lives up to her name. After aging Vanessa, Decay brings the house crumbling down and Diana just manages to get Julia and Vanessa out in time. Decay has Diana’s tiara and
takes off with it, Diana following right behind her. In Olympus, the gods and goddesses who gave Diana her powers watch her chase Decay, but can’t directly interfere since she has to defeat Ares on her own. At Hanscom Air Force Base, Etta Candy sneaks in to read confidential files on the Ares Project. On the way out, she sees a news report about the sudden rotting plague that’s sweeping Boston, courtesy of Decay’s powers. Decay makes trees die and structures fall apart with her very presence and Diana does everything she can to save people from the effects. Decay goads Diana into attacking her and uses her power to age the Amazon. Diana realizes her lasso is immune to Decay’s power 
(since it represents the always-renewing power of Gaea), so she wraps Decay in it, blunting her power. Decay takes off, dragging Diana behind her, but ends up exploding. Diana retrieves the tiara and is swamped by reporters. Her English still isn’t very good, so he takes off to find Julia, leaving the press to speculate about her (and dub her Wonder Woman). Etta goes to see Steve in the remote cabin where he’s hiding after being accused of killing several soldiers. Steve’s a fugitive and can’t remember exactly what happened on his secret mission, but when he sees Wonder Woman on TV, he realizes she’s the one who saved him and might be able to clear his name. Unfortunately
for Steve, someone is following him and Etta when they leave the cabin. Julia is still freaking about Vanessa’s condition and Diana agrees to try and help her. They go to Julia’s winter house outside the city and Julia looks through a multitude of books to find something about the amulet Diana got from Harmonia. Diana sees someone prowling around and it turns out to be Steve, who recognizes her and asks for help. When thy hear Etta in trouble, they both go to check it out and find the guy who followed them (Michaelis) has knocked Etta out and is holding a gun.
Firestorm #59 – “Glass Houses” – John Ostrander/Joe Brozowski/Dennis Janke
Last issue, Darkseid created a new Parasite, who started draining people all over the place (including Firehawk). He ended up fighting Firestorm in an old steel mill and split him into Ronnie and Professor Stein. Parasite wants them to re-form Firestorm so he can drain Firestorm’s molecular powers, but Stein refuses. Parasite lets Ronnie know that Stein is dying of a brain tumour and ties them to a smokestack. They’re too weak to fuse in Firestorm and escape and Ronnie is pissed off that Stein didn’t mention he was dying. Parasite goes to waste
some cops and absorb their life energy, but the police chief pulls his men back. Stein realizes Parasite is consuming all the energy he stole from them, but they’re still too weak to form Firestorm. Firehawk shows up for a rematch and Stein tells her to make Parasite expend as much energy as possible while staying away from him so he can’t absorb her powers again. She leads Parasite on a merry chase, but he catches up and starts draining her. She manages to shoot some energy to Ronnie and Stein, giving them enough to change to 
Firestorm. Firestorm gets Firehawk away from Parasite and starts battering him from afar, trying to use up all his energy. Ronnie gets tough and threatens to cause a nuclear explosion with Parasite in the middle of it, just to see if he can survive. Parasite takes off, but Firestorm encases him in amber and drops him from high in the air. Parasite survives but is knocked out and taken into custody (sent to Belle Reve Prison, where we already saw him in Suicide Squad #1). The police chief wonders if Firestorm can be trusted with all his power, and
even Firehawk is a little worried, thinking Ronnie was actually trying to kill Parasite when he dropped him. When they split, Ronnie and Stein are both upset with each other; Stein because Ronnie could’ve killed Parasite, and Ronnie because Stein never mentioned he was dying. Ronnie says they’re not really friends, just strangers who share a power, which seems a bit over the top to me. I get the feeling this is all just a way of splitting up Ronnie and Stein, but it could’ve been done a little more smoothly.
Vigilante #41 – “Night Moves” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Rick Burchett
This one starts with the scarred mob boss who’s been taking out all his competition deciding to put a bounty on Vigilante’s head. He knows the current Vigilante isn’t the same one who almost caught him (in Vigilante Annual 2), but doesn’t want to take chances, so he tells one of his henchmen (Zook) to handle it. Vigilante already has enough problems to deal with since the cops are after him. He manages to fake them out and escape, but it’s getting intense. In Washington, Valentina Vostok appears before a Senate budget committee
and learns the funding for her clandestine superhero program will be cut. Vostok thinks the budget cuts are a smokescreen, a way of shutting down the program to keep the public from finding out the government approved it. Vostok wants Harry Stein, telling him he might have to take her place if she’s forced out and asks him to alert all the operatives if anything happens to her. In New York, Zook goes to an underworld bar and offers $30,000 to anyone who can kill Vigilante by morning. As he’s leaving the bar, Zook literally runs into Adrian Chase and recognizes him. Adrian decks Zook, but the other lowlifes come 
out with guns blazing and Adrian is forced to flee before changing to Vigilante. In a psychiatric clinic on Long Island, Marcia king talks to her therapist (Dr. Knopf) about Adrian. Marcia feels guilty for not turning Adrian in after finding out he’d killed people, but her guilt soon turns to rage. As she’s being sedated, the anger becomes a desperate yearning to get Adrian back and to regain his love. Adrian has other things on his mind right now, as he makes his way through Hell’s Kitchen, dodging the guys trying to kill him and taking them out a few at a time. In Switzerland, Peacemaker is brooding about missing his chance to kill Achmed (the terrorist leader from issue 38) and somehow gets it into his head that Stein actually is Achmed. Peacemaker decides to head back to the States to kill Stein … as well as Vigilante and Vostok. Vigilante
finally captures one of is attackers and finds out about the bounty. He’s told that whoever wants to collect is supposed to go to an office in the World Trade Center, so he borrows a helicopter and heads over there. He crashes through the window and confronts the scar-faced mob leader, who tells him he put the bounty on Vigilante’s head just in case he became a problem in the future. Vigilante wastes his men, so the mob boss jumps him and they fight. Vigilante tosses him out the window and reflects on how Dave Winston should’ve killed this guy when he had the chance but was too soft. Vigilante seems not only to be getting comfortable with killing, he actually seems to be enjoying it now.
Warlord #117 – “Legacy of Nightmare” – Michael Fleisher/Ron Randall
This one starts with Tara having nightmares about being captured and manipulated by DeSaad last issue. She decides to go to the citadel where she was held, but doesn’t let Morgan know where she’s headed. Machiste arrives in Shamballah and he’s pretty pissed off that Mariah is breaking up with him and claims she never really loved him. He gets even madder when he finds out Morgan is the reason she left. Tara is attacked by bandits and heads for the citadel, hoping to find shelter there. On Dinosaur Island, Redmond (the renegade CIA agent
who suspects Morgan of defecting to the Russians) explores a cave, looking for a way into Skartaris. He finds it, but is immediately captured by primitive tribesmen. Tara makes it into the citadel, pursued by the bandits. She’s unaware that Y’smalla (the Vathek assassin DeSaad left in charge of the citadel) is watching her every move and hoping the bandits kill her. In a port city, the blonde woman we saw last issue (who’s actually Power Girl) asks a captain for passage to New Atlantis. He refuses, but changes his mind after she saves his daughter’s life. In the citadel, Tara whittles down the 
opposition, using the citadel’s holograms to confuse them. In Shamballah, Jennifer is trying to figure out what to do with her life now that she’s free of the aging curse. Morgan gives her the magic ring he got from the wizard a couple issues back, saying she can make better use of it than him. In the citadel, Tara gets to the main control room and takes out another opponent, distracting him with the illusions. The last guy knows the holograms aren’t real and comes after her, so she puts on a helmet, hoping to gain better control over the illusions. But the helmet inks her telepathically with the
last bandit and she pulls his greatest fear (being attacked by snakes) from his mind and projects an illusion so real that it scares him to death. The helmet forces her to share his terrifying death, but it also gives her a sense of pleasure that she finds revolting. She finally tears the helmet from her head, but it’s too late … the bandit is dead and Tara feels guilty for killing him in such a horrible and personal way.