Wonder Woman #23 – “A God Among Men” – George Perez/Will Blyberg
This one starts with Vanessa Kapatelis getting all kinds of attention from her classmates at school because she’s in a magazine article about the Amazons. Vanessa’s friendship with Wonder Woman has made her pretty popular, so much so that she ignores her supposed best friend Eileen (who she never treated all that well, actually) to hang out with the cool kids. Eileen even sticks up for Vanessa with Lucy Spears, but Lucy’s surprised to learn that Barry was Vanessa’s boyfriend, since he didn’t tell her that when they started hanging out. Elsewhere, a weird guy is reading the same magazine and gets into a scuffle
with the newsstand owner. When a cop shows up, the strange dude disappears in a flash of light. Later, Wonder Woman makes a speech at the United Nations, formally opening diplomatic relations between Themiscyra and the rest of the world. The reaction is mixed and she’s distracted at the press conference afterwards when a strange woman in a cloak approaches her. The woman realizes Diana isn’t the one she’s looking for and takes off. (This is actually the Titan Phoebe, who’s looking for Donna Troy, as we saw in New Titans 50.) Diana hears about a weirdo in a winged helmet flying around 
Boston and goes to check it out. She’s shocked to find out it’s Hermes, who says he’s come to Man’s World to help Diana in her diplomatic efforts by letting humans see an actual god up close. Hermes figures the best way to get humans to worship him is by rewarding them, so he tosses money and gems to the crowds, which bothers Diana. When some thieves grab a bunch of diamonds, shooting a kid in the process, Hermes catches the thieves and heals the kid, which really gets the crowd excited. But later, Julia tells Hermes she’s not on board with his methods, saying faith has to be earned not given in exchange for something. Hermes gets pissed off and prepares to leave. He wants Diana to
come with him and she does, despite her friendship with Julia. Hermes takes Diana on a “Miracle Tour”, healing people all over the place to gain their favour. But the healing is only temporary, to insure they don’t suddenly lose their faith once they’ve been cured. Diana is still bothered by Hermes’ methods, pointing out that she’s no god to be worshipped and considers herself to be one of the masses. Hermes finds that strange, but plays along, hoping to convince her otherwise. While Hermes is impressing people with his favours, he’s approached by a woman named Eury, who speaks Ancient Greek. She 
tells him her father is dying and begs Hermes to heal him, so he follows her to a slum to see the old man (taking a camera crew to document things, naturally). But it’s a set-up: Eury turns out to be the Gorgon called Euryale (turning the reporter to stone) and the “sick old man” is really Phobos, Ares’ evil son. They cast Hermes down to Tartarus, where he encounters Ixion the Assassin, an old foe.
Firestorm #78 – “Battleground—Eden” – John Ostrander/Joe Brozowski/Sam De La Rosa
Last issue, Firestorm was looking for a purpose in life and decided to help out some starving villagers in Ethiopia by changing the desert soil so it would become capable of supporting vegetation. When everyone sees the former desert has become a jungle overnight, they’re happy, but the nun who’s been helping the villagers explains that Firestorm’s good intentions will backfire. She says everyone from neighbouring countries will flock there to claim this fertile land and even Firestorm can’t create enough to support them all. Plus, there’s a civil war going on and both sides will want to claim the new fertile region …or
prevent their rivals from claiming it. Mikhail has to get back to receive a visit from his brother, so Firestorm splits, using a flash of light to keep anyone from seeing Ronnie suddenly appear in Firestorm’s place. But Janna (the villager who lost most of his family to the famine) saw Firestorm creating the jungle last night and knows Ronnie is involved. He promises to keep Ronnie’s secret. In Moscow, Mikhail greets his bother Alexander, who tells him he got Mikhail his job back as a physics professor at the university. Their younger brother Dmitri drops by with presents for 
everyone, which bothers Alexander since Dmitri is a black marketeer. In Ethiopia, Jama and the other villagers claim plots on the newly fertile land, but they’re attacked by rebels led by a Colonel Assagai and Jama’s last child is killed. Ronnie is knocked out after being grazed by a bullet, but Ed manages to convince Assagai that he’s American. Ed and the other villagers are rounded up and forced to carry supplies for the rebels. Assagai tells Ed that his rebels are the good guys, fighting the Communist government. Speaking of which, the government sends in fighter jets to drop napalm on the village, so Assagai and his rebels get out quickly. Jama realizes Ronnie is still in the
village and tries to go back for him, but he gets shot. Jama crawls to help Ronnie and Mikhail feels the danger in Moscow, initiating the merger to create Firestorm. Jama is pulled into the Firestorm matrix, becoming part of him and giving him the face of a lion (which has something to do with Jama’s ancestors having the spirit of the lion or something). Firestorm smashes the attacking jets, but can’t bring Jama’s child back to life. Firestorm does vow to free everyone who was taken by Assagai and his rebels … and exact revenge in the process.
Noticeable Things:
- This is said to take place in Ogaden, which is a real region in East Africa that has been fought over by Ethiopia and Somalia. Colonel Assagai’s rebels are called RENAMO and the president’s name is said to be Frelimo, both of which are the (real-life) names of political groups in Mozambique, far south of Ogaden.