Wonder Woman #5 – “The Ares Assault” – Len Wein/George Perez/Bruce Patterson
This one starts with the Amazons trying to figure out what’s going on in the outside world. They know Ares is causing trouble and his influence is even being felt in Themiscyra, but they can’t get any word from the gods about how Diana’s mission is going. The gods are all embarking on a huge ship that’s supposed to take them to oblivion, but the goddesses are delaying as much as possible to give Diana a chance to stop Ares. The War God’s influence is being felt in the outside world too, with wars, terrorism, and general mayhem running rampant. At Julia Kapatelis’s cabin, Diana patches up Etta’s injuries. Turns out Michaelis didn’t hurt her,
he showed up hoping to help Steve and Etta was so startled she slipped and knocked herself out. Julia thinks the talisman Diana got from Harmonia is the key to figuring out what’s going on, but Etta brings out a file she stole from General Tolliver’s office on something called the Ares Project. Elsewhere, Deimos has the other talisman and revels in the fact that he’s manipulated American and Russian into preparing for World War III. His brother Phobos isn’t quite so happy, since he doesn’t want Deimos getting all Ares’ praise. At the cabin, Julia deciphers the markings on the talisman, which make a strange pattern. Diana notices the pattern matches the one on Steve’s map 
showing various military bases. Michaelis calls General Hillary, but learns it’s too late … one of the bases was taken over by Tolliver, who’s ready to launch nukes. Steve realizes the same thing’s happening in Russia, which means WW III is about to start. Diana figures she can travel to wherever the other talisman is by touching hers to a mirror (since the talismans are mirror images of each other). Julia, Steve, Michaelis (who just happens to have an arsenal in his trunk), and Etta insist on coming along. They travel through the mirror to a hellscape where Deimos attacks them, sending snakes to grab Diana.
Phobos conjures the greatest fears of the other four, but they trade off opponents to help each other. Diana finally ends it by slicing Deimos’s head off with her tiara, allowing her to get the other talisman. Phobos takes off and Diana joins the two talismans, bringing her and the others to the military base that Tolliver took over. Tolliver is ready to kill them all, but first wants them to see him launch a nuke at Russia. Before the missile can take off, it changes into Ares.
Noticeable Things:
- Diana starts to speak English halfway through this issue, saying she learned by listening to the others talk.
Firestorm #60 – “Secret Identities” – John Ostrander/Joe Brozowski/Dennis Janke
This one starts with Professor Stein pondering his impending death from a brain tumour. His colleague Wendy tries to find out what’s bugging him, but Stein’s not big on sharing his feelings. He thinks about that for a while and decides he shouldn’t waste what time he has left by closing himself off from everyone, especially Ronnie. Speaking of Ronnie, he’s having some problems too: his coach is mad because he’s always late for practice, his grades are getting worse, and his girlfriend Doreen is pissed off at him because he’s always disappearing and
won’t tell her where he goes. Their argument is interrupted when they hear that someone is about to jump off a campus building. (It’s actually Cliff Carmichael, but Ronnie can’t tell from the ground.) A lightning strike knocks Carmichael off the roof and Ronnie has no choice but to become Firestorm, right in front of Doreen. Stein isn’t thrilled about being forced into the change without notice, but calms down when he finds out it was a matter of life and death. When Ronnie finds out who he just saved, he’s not all that happy, but decides to deal with Doreen first. He heads to her dorm and splits with Stein, who 
goes to find out why Carmichael wanted to kill himself. Ronnie finds Doreen in her friend Bree’s room (Bree looks a lot like Mary Jane Watson to me). Doreen gives Ronnie shit for not trusting her enough to tell her the truth for all these years and when she finds out he hasn’t even told his father, says he should because not telling people you’re close to an important secret like that feels like a betrayal of trust. They’re interrupted by Stein, who tells them Carmichael is at the police station and they should both come hear what he has to say. Carmichael is spilling his guts to the cops and admits he cut the strap on Ronnie’s football helmet, which ended up paralyzing Carmichael’s cousin Hugo when he ended up with Ronnie’s helmet by mistake. Carmichael suggests Ronnie might’ve known and purposely switched helmets with
Hugo and also manages to get a dig in at Doreen. The public defender points out that Carmichael obviously has psychiatric problems and that she can probably get the confession tossed. The cops agree to send him for a psych evaluation and consider a mental facility instead of prison. Ronnie’s shocked at how much Carmichael hates him and wonders if Doreen feels the same way. She says she doesn’t hate him, but does need some time to sort out her feelings … alone. Ronnie tells Stein he’s tired of wrecking all the relationships in his life and says they should work on theirs before it’s too late, and Stein agrees. It kinda feels like Ostrander is wrapping up all the old plot threads to make way for whatever new direction he has for the comic.
Vigilante #42 – “Matters of Life and Death” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Rick Burchett
This one starts in Washington, D.C., where Harry Stein and Valentina Vostok are leaving the hearings they attended last issue. Stein is still mulling over Vostok’s offer to take over her top secret job if anything happens to her, but they’re interrupted when Peacemaker shows up to kill them. Peacemaker (who’s crazy) has gotten the idea that stein is actually the terrorist leader Achmed in disguise and wants to kill him (and Vostok by association). Vostok turns out to be a pretty
good fighter and holds Peacemaker off long enough for Stein to steal a car so they can escape. In New York, Vigilante is pounding on some punk when he sees a news report about Peacemaker’s attack in Washington and decides he’d better head down there to help Stein and Vostok. As Adrian Chase, he boards a train to Washington, but doesn’t notice a scuzzy guy following him. The guy is a killer named Stringer (because he likes strangling people with rope) who recognized Chase and wants the bounty the mob put on his head. (Stringer obviously doesn’t know the guy who ordered the contract went splat last 
issue.) In Washington, Vostok tells Stein the story of how she became Negative Woman and joined the Doom Patrol. Stein asks why she didn’t use her powers against Peacemaker and she says she’s been ordered not to. Too bad, because Peacemaker shows up to waste her and Stein again and it looks like he might succeed, until reinforcements show up and Peacemaker takes off. On the train, Stringer attacks Chase in the bathroom and they start fighting all through the train. Chase finally kills him by impaling him on a hook as his head is dangling out the window.
Warlord #118 – “Of Captives and Cannibals … Scavengers and Kings” – Michael Fleisher/Ron Randall
This one starts with Power Girl on a ship to New Atlantis. Since the Crisis changed Superman’s history, Power Girl is n longer his cousin and recently found out she’s the granddaughter of Arion, Lord of Atlantis. That’s why she’s come to Skartaris, to get answers about her background. (Power Girl’s origin will be retconned again in the coming years.) Power Girl saves the ship when it’s attacked by a high-tech mechanical scorpion, revealing her super-powers to everyone on board. In Shamballah, Travis Morgan is worried about Tara and heads out to look for
her. Tara is fine after her little adventure in DeSaad’s citadel last issue, but on her way home she gets jumped by Y’smalla, the Vashek assassin. Morgan comes across a girl being attacked by a giant insect. He kills the insect and decides to take the girl (who fainted from fright) back to her home. Elsewhere, the tribe that caught renegade CIA agent Redmond last issue are preparing to sacrifice him to their god, but he uses his spy gadgets and weapons to waste them and take off. In Shamballah, Jennifer is trying to get her powers back up to full strength, but isn’t having an easy time of it. Mariah comes in to tell her 
she’s leaving, needing some alone time after dumping Machiste last issue. Morgan returns the girl home, but gets attacked by townspeople who confuse him with the fake Morgan that DeSaad masqueraded as to tarnish Morgan’s rep. After a brief fight, one of DeSaad’s former captives sets the record straight. In New Atlantis, Power Girl is disappointed to find the city deserted, but decides to look for some records to help her research into her past. Back in Shamballah, Machiste decks Morgan for screwing around with Mariah and then dumping her, and tells him they’re no longer friends.