Wonder Woman #9 – “Blood of the Cheetah” – Len Wein/George Perez/Bruce Patterson
This one starts with archaeologist Barbara Minerva having blood drawn by her manservant to feed some kind of “plant god” in an unholy ritual. Minerva has decided she wants Wonder Woman’s golden lasso, so she’s contacted Wonder Woman’s publicist (Myndi Mayer) to arrange a meeting, claiming she’s found an Amazon girdle that may have belonged to Antiope. Julia Kapatelis is a little worried, since her research indicates that Minerva is a bit shady, but Diana is looking forward to meeting her and possibly
discovering a lost Amazon relic. Of course, Minerva is lying about the girdle and as soon as she touches Diana’s Lasso of Truth, she admits she was bullshitting. Diana gets mad at her (and at Myndi for arranging the meeting) saying that women are all sisters and shouldn’t betray each other. Julia tells Diana she can accomplish a lot in Man’s World, but Diana knows her time there is coming to an end, since she promised her mother she’d return to Themiscyra. That night, Barbara Minerva eats berries from the “god plant” she fed with her blood and is transformed into Cheetah, heading out to find Wonder Woman. Diana is in the woods outside Julia’s place and Cheetah attacks, surprising Diana when she actually draws blood. Cheetah’s attack is so savage, Diana is 
shaken to the core, but she calls on her heritage as a disciple of Artemis to help her find Cheetah in the woods. She snags Cheetah with her lasso (which has no magical effect on the wild woman) and they start a tug-of-war. Cheetah knocks Wonder Woman down and is ready to kill her when Julia shows up and shoots Cheetah, knocking her into the lake. Wonder Woman goes to look for her, but finds no trace, living or dead. A few days later, Diana breaks her contract with Myndi and says a tearful goodbye to Julia and Vanessa before heading home. The implication is that she’s going home to stay, but I think she’ll see her friends again sooner than any of them expect.
Firestorm #64 – “Through the Gauntlet” – John Ostrander/Joe Brozowski/Sam De La Rosa
A couple issues ago, Martin Stein (who’s dying of a brain tumour) decided he wanted his legacy to be ending the threat of nuclear war, so he convinced Ronnie Raymond that Firestorm should threaten to detonate some nukes if the world powers didn’t voluntarily give up their nuclear arsenals. Firestorm was bluffing of course, but it freaked everyone out and he ended up fighting Captain Atom last issue. This issue starts with Ronnie bringing Stein (who’s having another seizure) to his dad’s apartment. Ed Raymond wants to know why Ronnie’s acting so
weird and Ronnie’s stepmom Felicity (who knows Ronnie’s secret) urges him to tell his father the truth. Ronnie and Stein merge into Firestorm and Ed is stunned. He gives them shit for pulling such a stupid stunt, pointing out that even if all the major powers gave up their nukes, the technology exists for pretty much anyone to build more and hold the world hostage. The arrival of Firehawk puts an end to the argument. In Russia, a government official named Zastrow calls in Mikhail Arkadin (aka Pozhar) and tells him he’s going to be sent after Firestorm. Pozhar doesn’t like that idea and shows his displeasure by 
using his powers to incinerate the desk, but Zastrow reminds him his family is being held by the KGB, so Pozhar has no choice but to obey. Back in New York, Firehawk tells Ronnie she heard through her dad’s government contacts that more trouble is headed Firestorm’s way. Stein is ready to give up, but Ronnie says they’re doing the right thing (especially since everyone—including the governments—claims not to want a nuclear war) and that some things are worth dying for. Firehawk says she’ll stick by him and Firestorm asks Ed to let the press know that he’ll be in Times Square to make a statement. The Suicide Squad (Rick Flag, Captain Boomerang,
Deadshot, Killer Frost, Multiplex, and Slipknot) hears about Firestorm’s impending appearance and gets ready to confront him. Firestorm tells the assembled press that he doesn’t want anyone hurt but stands by his earlier statement, offering to turn himself in if the great powers give up their nukes. The Suicide Squad attacks, apparently not too worried about the crowd of innocent people around. Firestorm fights back and Firehawk jumps in to help, attracting Killer Frost’s attention, since she feeds on heat. (It looks like Killer Frost is about to do her signature move of kissing the person she’s 
draining heat from, which might’ve been interesting with Firehawk … but I guess they couldn’t do more than imply it back then.) Agent Tolliver decides to unleash the Squad’s back-up (Parasite), even though he’s basically an unstoppable killing machine. Firestorm and Firehawk are holding their own, but then the Justice League shows up, apparently to kick everybody’s ass. And at a nearby police station, Doreen Day has decided to be helpful and tell the cops Firestorm’s secret identity. How’s all this going to end? We’ll see in the Firestorm Annual, which I’ll be reviewing here in a couple of weeks.
Vigilante #46 – “Busted” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Rick Burchett
Last issue, Vigilante met Black Thorn, a wild woman who likes to kill criminals. After banging her, they ended up fighting and she knocked him out with a drugged thorn. He was helpless when the cops found him and got arrested, so this issue opens with Adrian Chase in jail. His lawyer (Price) urges him to take a plea deal, but Adrian refuses. He figures Harry Stein or Valentina Vostok can get him out of trouble, like they did last issue. But the number they gave him has been disconnected, so it looks like Valentina’s people are covering their own
asses, and Harry went to Gotham with Harvey Bullock to look for an ex-Russian spy named Katia. A trio of cops see Chase’s story on TV and figure he’ll get away with everything, including killing a cop (they aren’t aware that was a different Vigilante), so they decide to get into the jail and take care of Chase themselves. Meanwhile, Vostok is burning files and erasing all traces of her top-secret department, reshuffling the personnel into other government posts. In Gotham, Stein and Bullock have tracked down Katia, who’s meeting with a mob boss. They listen in and find out Katia is smuggling 
stolen art to Europe, but Stein figures that’s a cover for weapons. He and Bullock agree to keep an eye on Katia, though Bullock’s slovenly ways are driving Stein nuts. Elsewhere, Black Thorn finds out about Chase being arrested and blames herself; apparently, she wanted to partner up with him (in more ways than one) but her head games ended up getting him arrested, so she decides she has to bust him out. In jail, Adrian gets jumped in the showers by a bunch of inmates (while the guards look the other way) and he kicks the shit out of them. The guards toss him back in his cell. The three rogue cops sneak in, leaving one guy at the desk while the other two go in to look for Chase. Black Thorn shows up disguised as a cop (with a prisoner) and bluffs her way in.
She runs across one of the rogue cops and realizes he’s armed (which is forbidden inside the lock-up) and they end up fighting. The other two show up to help, then two more cops arrive … but these guys don’t belong there either. Shots ring out and Adrian wonders what’s going on; he figures it’s a rescue team sent by Valentina, but I think she actually sent a hit team. The real guards investigate the shots and find the two unknown cops dead in front of Adrian’s cell, while the three rogue cops and Black Thorn are nowhere to be seen … and neither is Chase.
Warlord Annual #6 – “When the Gods Make War” – Michael Fleisher/Pablo Marcos
I’m reviewing this annual here because it concludes the ongoing storyline with the New Gods attacking Skartaris. I’ll finish off the final three issues of 1987 in the weeks to come. As I said, Darkseid has taken an interest in Skartaris (because of an element that can power weapons more efficiently) and sent DeSaad to sow dissension by ruining Travis Morgan’s reputation. But Darkseid doesn’t do things halfway, so he’s ready to conquer the entire realm, sending in his hordes along with heavyweights like Kalibak, Mantis, Dr. Bedlam, Kanto, and Virman Vunderbar. Meanwhile, Lightray escapes from DeSaad’s torture
chamber after overhearing talk of the invasion and goes to warn Highfather. Highfather doesn’t want to attack Apokolips, but agrees that Skartaris might need their help. He sends Lonar to find Morgan, since Morgan is still Skartaris’s champion, even with his tainted reputation. Lonar finds Morgan, who’s not sure whether to trust this strange visitor or not. In Kiro, Tara is sneaking around the castle after escaping the dungeons last issue. She finds Y’smalla (who’s been impersonating her to manipulate Machiste) and overhears DeSaad telling her about the invasion, and urging her to take care of 
Machiste. Lonar’s Mother Box can’t contact New Genesis to call for reinforcements (something about Skartaris’s moon interfering with the signal), and Darkseid’s forces attack all over Skartaris. Lonar gives the Mother Box to Morgan and heads off to fight Parademons, leaving Morgan to dodge the enemy and try to get the Box working. In Kiro, Y’smalla tries to kill Machiste, but the real Tara shows up to stop her and Machiste realizes he’s been played all along. After a tough fight, Y’smalla escapes and Tara tells Machiste about the invasion. They go out to fight against the forces of Apokolips and notice DeSaad on a flying platform. They attack him and—being an inveterate coward—DeSaad surrenders and calls off the invasion
force … but only for Kiro. Morgan manages to get a message out right before the Mother Box is blasted and he’s about to get blown away when reinforcements arrive (including Orion, Lightray, Fastbak, Metron, and Forager). A sniper armed with a prototype rifle (powered by the Skartarian element Darkseid covets) tries to kill Morgan, Orion, and Lightray, but Shakira stops him and delivers the rifle to Morgan. Morgan tells the newcomers to liberate the other cities, while he takes on Mantis to free Shamballah (against Lonar’s advice). Darkseid’s forces are driven out of all the other cities (and the New Genesis forces make sure everyone knows Morgan sent them, thus 
rehabilitating his reputation), and once Morgan figures out that Mantis absorbs energy, he leads him on a merry chase until Mantis exhausts all his energy and is forced to flee. The reinforcements head back to New Genesis, but remind Morgan that Skartaris is still rich in the element Darkseid wants, so he shouldn’t assume everything is over. (If you’re wondering about Jennifer and Power Girl, they only appear on one page; they’re still chasing the demon they accidentally freed and trying to keep him from getting the next piece of his sundered sceptre.)