Green Arrow #21 – “Uchiokoshi” – Mike Grell/Dan Jurgens/Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin
This one starts with a shadowy group of men discussing what seems to be a plot to assassinate the President (and it’s strongly hinted that one of the men might’ve been involved in the Kennedy assassination). In Japan, we see Shado nursing a baby and practicing with her bow. A bunch of masked intruders bust in and Shado kills some of them, but hesitates when they threaten her baby. They knock her out and take her to a
dungeon where we see one of the shadowy guys from the beginning. He wants Shado to do something for him (most likely to kill the President) and uses her baby as leverage to force her to cooperate. In Seattle, Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen is celebrating—or at least acknowledging—his 45th birthday. He seems ambivalent about it, but does get to bang Dinah, so he can’t really complain too much. Elsewhere, we see the shadowy cabal discussing their assassination, still without naming any names. But it sounds like they’re using Shado as the main assassin, with one of them carrying a poison-gas 
pen to kill the target if she misses. They also set up a third player, who’s supposed to kill Shado after she succeeds, but without realizing the full extent of what’s going on. Considering what happens next, I assume the patsy is meant to be Green Arrow. He gets a message from Shado asking him to come to Japan and help her. Dinah’s not happy about it, but Oliver goes anyway. Shado tells him about the ultimatum she’s been given: kill someone and then kill herself afterwards. If she refuses, her child dies; if she succeeds, her child will be raised by yakuza and she’ll never see him again. She doesn’t want to become an
assassin, but has only four days to find her kid before she has no choice. Naturally, Oliver offers to help even though she won’t tell him who the target is. I don’t know how much time has gone by since their last meeting, but I’m assuming Oliver is the father of Shado’s kid. But that thought doesn’t seem to occur to Oliver at all, even when Shado says the baby’s father is “otherwise encumbered”. Anyway, Oliver insists on helping her find her baby, but is surprised when he finds out she didn’t send the message asking for his help.
Green Arrow #22 – “Hikiwake” – Mike Grell/Dan Jurgens/Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin
This one continues from the above issue, with the cabal finalizing their plans. It sounds like the one guy was pressured into this scheme, but he claims to have kept evidence from the Kennedy assassination, so he’s not worried about anyone implicating him in this one. In Japan, Oliver is still clueless about Shado’s baby being his. (Of course, I could be wrong about that, but I’m assuming that’ll turn out to be the case, although I’m sure this isn’t Connor Hawke … he’s from a different affair.) Shado tells Green Arrow she’ll let him help find her baby, but if they can’t find him in four days, she’s going through with the assassination and will kill Green Arrow if he tries to stop her. Shado meditates to remember where she was taken and figures out it as a castle in the mountains near a monastery. 
They head up there and Arrow reminds her they need to take at least one guy alive to get info on the baby. But Shado goes wild and starts wasting
people left and right. Green Arrow manages to stop her from killing the last guy, but he kills himself to avoid interrogation. Green Arrow wonders what their next move is, but Shado vows to do whatever she has to in order to find her son … and warns Arrow not to try to stop her. These issues are very decompressed, with a lot of silent action panels and splash pages, which makes for a quick read and a short synopsis.
Young All-Stars #28 – “Worlds Lost and Found” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Lou Manna/Bob Downs
This one starts with a woman (Georgia Challenger) walking through the jungle, admiring the local scenery while she recites Coleridge’s “Kublai Khan”. The scenery gets even more interesting when she strips down to her underwear to take a leisurely swim. But her reverie is interrupted when she’s menaced by dinosaurs. She takes off, pursued by what looks like a velociraptor (years before velociraptors were cool), and just before it catches her she’s rescued by … Iron Munro. The dino can’t dent Munro’s
invulnerable skin and he ends up breaking its neck, but all the excitement overwhelms Georgia, who promptly faints. That gives Munro a chance to reflect on the circumstances that brought them to this moment, which are told in a lengthy flashback. After quitting the All-Stars, Munro went to see Professor Mazursky in the hidden lab complex under Liberty Island. After fighting is way through the guards, Munro showed Mazursky the photo he’d gotten that (supposedly) showed his father, Hugo Danner, standing over the body of a dead dinosaur. Munro knew Mazursky had access to dinosaurs from an island in the Pacific, but when he mentioned the photo was taken in Rioguay, a small (and quite fictional) country in South America, Mazursky introduced him to Georgia Challenger as a way of getting rid of him. Turns out Georgia is the granddaughter of Professor Challenger from Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Lost World”. (Yes, we’re in for more public domain fun.) 
We get a recap of Lost World and Georgia lets Munro know that she has her grandfather’s map that shows the way to Maple White Land. They outfit an expedition and head to South America, finding the hidden plateau and getting up to it thanks to Munro’s super-strength. We get back to the present, with Georgia recovering from her faint and feeling very grateful towards Munro. Before she can thank him with some sex, they’re attacked by a whole herd of dinosaurs.
This time they’re rescued by a bunch of natives wielding primitive weapons, who take own the dinos pretty quickly. (I’m not sure if these are supposed to be the Accala Indians, who befriended the original expedition, or their caveman enemies, but they’re very handy with weapons and don’t say a word.) Munro gets another shock as the natives’ leader steps up and it turns out to be his father, Hugo Danner.
Suicide Squad #32 – “Steel Trap” – John Ostrander, Kim Yale/Grant Miehm/K.S. Wilson, Kevin Phillips
This one starts with Sarge Steel in a meeting with an Army Colonel and a government suit, talking about a guy named Raza Ghavam. Ghavam used to be a member of SAVAK (the Shah of Iran’s secret police) until the Islamic Revolution, when he fled to the United States. Ghavam was recently tricked into going back to Iran (thinking his mother was dying) and is now scheduled to be publicly executed. Since Ghavam is now a U.S. citizen, the government wants him back but without causing an international
incident. Steel suggests they send Suicide Squad in for a covert rescue operation. At Belle Rêve, a psychologist named McCoy is trying to blackmail his way into being the team therapist by threatening to reveal that their new public leader (Kale) is really an actor named Kovacs (who McCoy knows from way back). Amanda Waller isn’t happy about being pressured, but Father Craemer points out she hasn’t got much choice, and reminds her of their conversation last issue about needing someone to keep her from giving in to her darker emotions. Meanwhile, Flo has been chatting with Oracle about her 
crush on Bronze Tiger, wishing she could go on a mission like Vixen does, so he might notice her more. Duchess overhears and promises to get Flo on a mission if she keeps quiet about what Duchess is up to (which we don’t really get to see). Waller tells Duchess about the Iran mission, but she opts out, and McCoy says Count Vertigo is too depressive at the moment, so the rescue team consists of Bronze Tiger, Vixen, Shade, Captain Boomerang, Major Victory, and Ravan, plus Briscoe on transport duty. Waller tells them the mission (and seriously considers Ravan’s offer to kill whoever’s currently running the country), telling them they’ll have to rescue Ghavam during the live televised execution since they don’t know where he’s being
held. They head out and Vixen is disturbed by having to rescue an ex-SAVAK member, who probably tortured and executed people. Bronze Tiger reminds her that Ghavam is an American citizen now and was supposed to have diplomatic immunity, so if they let him be executed it would break down the entire idea of international diplomacy. In Iran, Ghavam is brought out to be executed, while Gavan takes over the broadcasting station to make sure they don’t cut away. The team attacks, with Shade grabbing Ghavam, some members taking over the cameras, and the rest pounding the soldiers. They get Ghavam out (and 
Ravan kills the producer he was holding) and they get out cleanly. Back in the States, Kale gives a press conference to brag about how well things went, although he’s a little bothered when he realizes he’ll now be on the Ayatollah’s hit list. In New Hampshire, Big Barda is dealing with waxy yellow buildup in her kitchen (yes, seriously) when Duchess—or I should say Lashina—ambushes her and knocks her out, saying she needs a little help getting back to Apokolips.