Wonder Woman #22 – “Through Destiny’s Door” – George Perez/Bob McLeod
This one starts on Themiscyra, with Diana reading the official tally of votes about whether to open up Themiscyra to outsiders or not. The majority of Amazons voted yes, so that means outsiders will be coming to Paradise Island for the first time in centuries (including males), and some of the Amazons aren’t thrilled with that idea. We get a brief interlude showing some kind of metallic ball heading through space towards Earth. On Themiscyra, Diana talks to Hellene, the most vocal opponent of allowing
men anywhere near the Amazon homeland. It sounds like Hellene was ill-treated by men long ago (before the Amazons shut themselves off from humanity) and is understandably wary of letting men get too close to her sister Amazons. Another interlude (there are a few of those throughout this issue) with a hiker in New Hampshire running into someone who gives off a bright light. The hiker is frightened at first, but immediately becomes … fascinated, almost mesmerized by the stranger (whose face we can’t see). I’m assuming this has something to do with the glowing ball we saw earlier speeding through 
space. At school, Vanessa Kapatelis confronts her supposed boyfriend (Barry) about why he hasn’t called lately. Vanessa is upset to find out Barry’s been hanging out with a new girl named Lucy Spears, who’s a blonde, buxom, cheerleader type. Vanessa is even more mortified when she finds out her mother (Julia) is interested in Horace Westlake, her geometry teacher. Vanessa’s attitude on the ride home pisses Julia off, but their argument is interrupted by Diana showing up and lifting the car right up into the air. We get another interlude, this time in Boston. A cloaked and hooded woman suddenly appears in a new brownstone built on the site of Wonder Woman’s fight
with Decay. From her thoughts, this woman could be a Greek goddess and is probably looking for Wonder Woman. Diana flies Julia and Vanessa home (and Julia gets mad at herself for wasting gas because she forgets to shut the engine off when they’re airborne) and has a happy reunion with them. We see some guy watching Diana with the car from a monument at Plymouth Rock and when a guard tries to get him to move along, the watcher causes the guard (and other tourists) to flee in terror with just a look. Diana tells 
Julia and Vanessa about the Amazons voting to admit outsiders and says she wants them to be among the first to visit her homeland. She heads to Hanscom Air Force Base to see Etta Candy, but she’s off on some mysterious assignment that General Hilary can’t talk about. Diana mentions she hasn’t been able to contact Steve Trevor either, but Hilary doesn’t know where he is. Another interlude (don’t worry, it’s the last one) with the glowing ball racing away from the hiker with the glowing eyes. The ball passes the guy who was watching Diana (whose eyes are also glowing) and goes after the cloaked woman, chasing her into a cemetery and incinerating her … maybe. An
identical-looking cloaked figure is standing in the cemetery watching the woman’s body burn with glowing eyes; so, did the second cloaked figure replace the first one, or did she somehow fake out the glowing ball? I have no clue what’s going on, but I assume it’ll be explained in future issues. Diana tries to contact Steve again, but still can’t get him, so she tells Julia it’ll just be her and Vanessa that get to go to Themiscyra this time.
Firestorm #77 – “Journey to Eden” – John Ostrander/Joe Brozowski/Sam De La Rosa
This one continues right from last issue, with Firestorm and Firehawk locking lips. Unfortunately, Firehawk doesn’t appreciate Firestorm’s “kiss first, ask later” style and punches him before taking off. Firestorm feels stupid because he has no life experience to draw on, only coming into existence when needed for some crisis or other. Ronnie and Mikhail agree that Firestorm should be allowed to do something positive with his powers, instead of just fighting all the
time. Ronnie’s father mentions a new assignment he has to report on the famine in East Africa and suggests Firestorm might be able to use his powers to actually make a difference there. Meanwhile, Felicity has decided to go back to work and interviews at Starrware, a software company run by Karen Starr (that’s Power Girl’s secret identity, in case you didn’t know). Felicity seems to be pondering a romance between Karen and Ronnie, which is ironic considering how many times Power Girl has shot Firestorm down. (And 
maybe it’s just my dirty mind, but the way Karen is sitting on her desk makes me wonder if she’s not interested in Felicity.) Ronnie apologizes to Lorraine (Firehawk) Reilly about Firestorm’s behaviour and she admits she’s not really all that attracted to Firestorm anymore … but she does have a thing for Ronnie (which she proves by making out with him). In Eat Africa, Ronnie and Ed bring food to some villagers and meet a French nun who’s trying to help them. We get a lot of background on the famine and plenty of panels full of starving children, since African famine was kind of the cause du jour in the 80s. Ronnie meets a
villager named Jama, whose story of losing his family is so sad that Ronnie goes to commune with Mikhail, telling him he’s found the perfect project for Firestorm. After forming, Firestorm uses his transmuting powers to change the soil into a more fertile form, literally turning a wasteland into jungle overnight. In the morning, the villagers are understandably stunned.
Warlord #132 – “The Worm of Heaven and Hell” – Michael Fleisher/Jan Duursema
This one starts with Khnathaiti casting a spell to summon a huge worm called Anu from another dimension. The worm burrows through dimensional barriers, erupting from the ground right in front of Morgan and Aoife before stretching up into the sky. The worm’s passage pulls beings from other dimensions into Skartaris and Morgan finds a guy whose body has partially merged with some rocks. A weird dude on a flying serpent (Ishum) appears and puts the merged guy out of his misery before flying up to close the rift between dimensions. Aoife
has a vision of everyone in the entire world being turned to stone and Ishum wonders if their fight is already lost. In Shamballah, Jennifer uses magic to teleport Shakira so she can help look for Morgan. Shakira’s a bit miffed (apparently she was having a three-way with a couple of shepherd lads), but agrees to help find Morgan. Jennifer reads a grimoire containing spells that might help fight Khnathaiti, but the witch sends a monster through the book to attack Jennifer. In her haste to destroy the monster, Jennifer also incinerates the spellbook. Tara’s spirit tries to warn Morgan about 
Khnataiti’s plans, but the sorceress captures Tara’s essence and sells her to an interdimensional slaver. Meanwhile, Ishum tells Morgan and Aoife he was once the herald of Ea, the god of everything. Ishum tells how the great worm Anu was used by Ea to create the universe (controlled by an artifact called the Godhorn) and the Nine Dimensions eons ago. Ea’s destructive counterpart (Tiamat) killed Ea and stole the Godhorn, giving it to one of her evil disciples named Yk’kphat. Tiamat decreed that the cosmos would be unmade someday, when the Godhorn would be blown again and Anu would return to destroy the universe. Khnathaiti has faked the horn blast to
summon Anu ahead of time and wipe out the Nine Dimensions and everything in them. In between dimensions, the slaver brings Tara to (guess who?) Yk’kphat. Ishum takes Morgan and Aoife to look for the Godhorn, but they run into a many-eyed guardian called Ningal. Morgan distracts Ningal long enough for Ishum to put the monster to sleep with a spell, allowing the trio to continue their quest. We’ll see the end of that quest (and of this series) next issue.
Noticeable Things:
- Ea, Anu, Ningal, and Tiamat are all from Mesopotamian mythology, although they’ve been used in other places since; Ningal appeared in some of Fritz Lieber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories, and Tiamat is a powerful dragon in D&D.