Wonder Woman #10 – “Paradise Lost” – Len Wein/George Perez/Bruce Patterson
This one starts on Mount Olympus, with the gods hanging out and discussing the Amazons and Diana’s recent triumph over Ares. Thanks to some subtle suggestions by Pan, Zeus gets it into his head that he should bang Diana (and figures she’ll be grateful for the attention), then move on and bang all the other Amazons as well. The goddesses in attendance don’t like that idea and Artemis goes to find Athena and Hera, swearing that Themiscyra will not turn into a brothel for Zeus’s personal pleasure. On Paradise Island, Diana tells of her recent adventures in Man’s World, while a council of Amazons examines the things she brought back and
debates whether they should be shown to the rest of the Amazons. Philippus (the consummate warrior) says no because doesn’t trust anything from the outside. Others think knowledge should be shared freely and wonder if there’s some significance to the fact that Diana’s outfit is a close match to the American flag. Hippolyte says it doesn’t matter, since Diana won’t be going back there. Zeus shows up and calls Diana to his side. At first, she’s flattered, but when she finds out he just wants to bang her, she politely refuses. That pisses him off and he starts torturing her. Hippolyte mouths off to him and is about to be “chastised” when Hera pulls Zeus back to Olympus by force. 
After communing with their oracle, the Amazons realize the gods want Diana, so her spirit heads up to Olympus. Zeus (who’s still pissed off about being rejected) says Diana must be tested to prove her worth and if she passes the test, the gods will reveal her destiny to her. But if she fails, it’s a one-way trip to Tarterus. The test is to go inside the vault in the ground under Themiscyra, which holds some evil (or evils) that the Amazons have been tasked with guarding. If Diana can overcome a series of challenges, she’ll prove herself almost equal to the gods. She’s worried about it, but the thought of learning the truth about her destiny (and protecting the Amazons from Zeus’s libido) is enough to convince her, although Hippolyte is pissed off
about Diana taking such a risk. Philippus helps Diana arm for the fight and she heads inside the door, which slams behind her. She starts out on a strange white staircase and is startled to find a cartridge shell partway down. Before she can ponder that, the “stairs” start moving and she realizes they’re actually the spine of the monster Cottus. He tries to consume her, but she breaks free and throws her spear into his heart, finishing him by shattering his spine. She moves on, but soon finds herself facing the Hydra.
Firestorm Annual #5 – “Ground Zero” – John Ostrander/Joe Brozowski/Alfredo Alcala
Last time, Firestorm was under attack from the Suicide Squad and the Justice League because he wants to end the threat of nuclear war. That’s a laudable goal, but his method was a little extreme: he threatened to detonate a nuke if all the world powers didn’t voluntarily give up their nuclear weapons. It was a bluff (and a rather short-sighted one), but the governments took it seriously, so now Firestorm’s in Times Square about to be pounded by two super-groups. Luckily for him, nobody is aware that the Suicide Squad works for the
government, so the Justice League only sees them as a bunch of supervillains and goes after them. Guy Gardner takes on Multiplex, while Blue Beetle and Deadshot square off. Batman decks Captain Boomerang and J’onn takes Killer Frost out, but gets jumped by Firehawk (who’s on Firestorm’s side). Mr. Miracle easily escapes Slipknot’s ropes and while everyone is distracted, Firestorm considers taking off. But Professor Stein has another seizure (related to his brain tumour) and Firestorm can’t fly. Rick Flag realizes that Agent Tolliver has let Parasite 
loose and now he’s absorbing the life force of everyone around him. He absorbs all Multiplex’s duplicates and attacks Black Canary. Parasite uses their powers against the rest of the JLA, wading through them like nothing and absorbing more of their powers. Batman saves Flag from Slipknot and wonders why Flag is there, since Batman doesn’t know about the Suicide Squad (and certainly wouldn’t approve if he did). Flag has to play innocent, even decking Deadshot to keep him from blowing their cover. Parasite absorbs Killer Frost and Firehawk’s powers and prepares to kill some of the Justice League. Firestorm knows he has to stop Parasite, even though the JLA are
after his ass. Firestorm attacks Parasite and gets him to follow, luring him away from innocent people. Batman, Flag, and Blue Beetle follow in the Bug and watch as Firestorm defeats Parasite pretty much the same way he did before, by encasing him in amber. Firestorm takes off and Blue Beetle refuses to follow him, since he’s impressed by how Firestorm save the people who were after him. Batman wonders how Parasite got out of Belle Reve, which worries Flag because he doesn’t want Batman to start asking questions … and he definitely doesn’t want to take him on. Meanwhile, Doreen has told Chief 
Ferguson that Ronnie Raymond is Firestorm. Ferguson downplays it to his men, but calls someone to let them know. Firestorm ends up out in the Nevada desert, throwing up a thick dome of ice before splitting into Ronnie and Stein to get some rest. The Army moves in, but the Russians have sent Pozhar (and Zastrow) in the spirit of détente to kick Firestorm’s ass, so they get first shot. If things don’t work out, the Army is ready to call in a nuclear strike. Ronnie and Stein discuss their career as Firestorm, knowing they probably aren’t going to walk away from this fight. Pozhar shows up and attacks reluctantly, since he
actually agrees with Firestorm’s anti-nuke stance. But the Soviets have his family, so he has no choice but to fight. As Firestorm and Pozhar mix it up, we find out that Reagan and Gorbachev have agreed to nuke both superhumans, afraid of anyone having so much power and minds of their own. Firestorm destroys Pozhar’s containment suit and realizes Pozhar’s power is killing him. Firestorm conjures some heavy water to cool Pozhar down a bit and Pozhar says he won’t fight anymore. Stein has another seizure and 
Firestorm splits involuntarily, but he can’t reform because Stein is dead (or very close). The cruise missile zooms by and Pozhar tells Ronnie he’ll try to form the Firestorm matrix with him so they can stop the nuke from killing them all. Ronnie touches Pozhar (while still holding Stein) and the nuke hits. As the world watches, all the energy and radiation from the blast is absorbed and a lone figure emerges from the blast site. It’s Firestorm … but who is he made up of? We’ll find out in a couple of weeks.
Vigilante #47 – “Batman” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Rick Burchett
This one starts with Adrian Chase being brought into Gotham secretly by the guys who helped him get out of prison last issue. Harry Stein requested Adrian’s help and used his government connections to make it happen. Stein explains how Katia, a Russian spy, has been working with the mob, supposedly just to smuggle stolen art, but more likely to send high-level secret info overseas. Adrian meets Harvey Bullock, who makes quite the first impression, and agrees to help stop Katia’s scheme. Adrian leads a raid on a mob hideout and intimidates
the mobsters into talking about Don Carlos and his latest scheme. They still have to find Katia, but Adrian assures he can handle that as Vigilante. Valentina Vostok drops by to tell Stein she’s taking off and that he’s now in charge of her “agency”. (I think this is setting up the Checkmate series that started in 1988.) By pounding some thugs, Vigilante finds out Katia’s location and stakes out her hotel. But Batman shows up to take him in, since Vigilante is wanted for several crimes in Washington, not to mention all the stuff he did before (and the stuff done by other Vigilantes that he’s being blamed for). They start 
fighting and Batman gets the upper hand, but Bullock shows up to tell him Vigilante is working with the cops (and the government) to catch Katia. Batman agrees her espionage is higher priority and decides to help catch her. When Katia meets Don Carlos, Batman and Vigilante ambush their men. Batman pounds the thugs while Vigilante finds the tape Katia hid in the stolen art and takes off with it. When Katia sees him taking off with her stolen secrets, she orders her men to pursue. Don Carlos is surprised, since he had no idea she was stealing government secrets. He may be a crook, but he’s still patriotic and gets pissed off that she’s trying to sell out the United States. Katia shoots him and joins her men, who have caught up to Vigilante. The feds
show up and start a gunfight with the mobsters, while Katia gets the drop on Vigilante. They fight and she’s about to shoot him when Don Carlos’s men blow her away. They turn their guns on Vigilante and Batman knocks him into the water to save his life. Bullock sees Vigilante fall in the water, but he doesn’t come up. The mobsters are arrested and Katia’s dead, so everything worked out. Bullock tells Stein that Vigilante either drowned or got away … either way, his problems are over as long as everyone thinks he’s dead.
Warlord #122 – “The Scepter of Doom” – Michael Fleisher/Art Thibert/Pablo Marcos
If you’re wondering why I’m doing the October issue of Warlord with the November reviews, it’s because the Annual last month interrupted the flow, so the last three issues will be a month out of synch. This one starts with Travis Morgan organizing a conference of city-states in Shamballah and wondering where his daughter Jennifer is. Jennifer’s outside New Atlantis with Power Girl and they’re still trying to stop the demon Azmyrkon from reassembling his scepter of power. Azmyrkon has two of the three pieces he needs, with makes him powerful enough to challenge Jennifer’s magic and Power Girl’s super-powers.
Jennifer is getting tired and Power Girl has some broken ribs, but they manage to save some innocent villagers from a tidal wave conjured by Azmyrkon. In Shamballah, Shakira is having trouble getting everything set for the big conference, but Morgan reminds her that it’s necessary to convince everyone that DeSaad was behind all the recent attacks. In Kiro, Tara reminds Machiste that Morgan screwing around with Mariah was caused by the enchanted necklace Mariah wore, but Machiste’s not quite so ready to forgive. They go to the dungeons to check on DeSaad, but find he’s escaped. 
Meanwhile, Redmond (the renegade CIA agent) climbs out of the Valley of Snowmen with the cure he stole. It restores him to human form and he sets out to track Morgan down. Power Girl and Jennifer catch up to Azmyrkon in a desert where he’s trying to unearth the last piece of the scepter. Power Girl grabs it while Jennifer distracts the demon, but they can’t use the fragment themselves, since only Azmyrkon can power it up. They try to bury him in the sand, but he busts out easily. Redmond gets in trouble in a tavern when he can’t pay for his meal and he ends up turning back into a Snowman. He grabs a girl as hostage, but releases her later and escapes. In
the desert, Jennifer and Power Girl trick Azmyrkon, giving him the last piece of the scepter so he can power it up, them wresting it away from him and blasting him with it. In Shamballah, the delegates start arriving for the conference, including Tara and Machiste. Morgan and Tara are thrilled to see each other, but Machiste says it’ll take some time before he can trust Morgan again.