Wonder Woman #33 – “Secrets in the Sand” – George Perez/Chris Marrinan/Will Blyberg
This one starts with the Egyptian Amazons returning to their hidden city of Bana-Mighdal through an enchanted sandstorm, accompanied by Wonder Woman. Their new leader (Nehebka) has brought Diana to their sanctuary because she helped defeat Cheetah and recover their sacred treasure last issue. Diana was sickened by these Amazons’ bloodthirsty ways, but is curious about their artifact, which looks like the same girdle of Gaea that her tribe forged into her magic lasso. In a small desert town, police find the body of a shopkeeper who was killed
last issue by the Amazons who called Julia on the phone before tearing up a photo of her and Diana. The shopkeeper’s wife recognizes Wonder Woman as the one who defeated Cheetah. In Bana-Mighdal, Cheetah is losing it, screaming about Uzkartaga wanting his blood sacrifice. Diana tries to tell her Chuma is dead, but she’s too far gone to understand. An Amazon (Faruka, the one who killed the shopkeeper and called Julia) gets pissed off about Cheetah’s ranting, and isn’t too happy with Diana either, since she’s responsible for the death of Faruka’s mentor, the high priestess, Kadesha Banu. 
Meanwhile, a professor named Osman gets involved in the investigation of the massacre when he recognizes Julia in the tor photo. He calls her to let her know what’s going on and she’s so worried about Diana that she decides to head to Egypt immediately. In Bana-Mighdal, Diana’s lasso and the Amazons’ sacred girdle glow when they’re in proximity, which freaks the Amazons out. After hiding the girdle, Nehebka shows Diana some magazines about her that Kadesha Banu had been hoarding. Since possession of such things is forbidden, Nehebka figures Diana did them a favour by killing the priestess, so she offers to tell Diana the history of the desert Amazons. She
tells how Theseus’s Amazon wife Antiope was killed mysteriously, with both Theseus and Antiope’s maid Phthia accusing each other of the deed. Not wanting to offend the Amazons, Theseus looked for a patsy and decided on Ariadne. Diana interrupts the story to confirm that Ariadne (her mother’s sister) really did kill Antiope. Faruka freaks out, saying Diana can’t be a real Amazon because Hippolyte supposedly died centuries ago. When Nehebka tries to calm her down, Faruka points out that she’s not really the queen unless she wins a competition to replace the dead queen. Nehebka finishes the story, relating 
how Theseus executed Ariadne and tried to kill Phthia too because she refused to go along with the deception. The Amazons rescued Phthia and have mistrusted men ever since (and consider Ariadne a traitor, since she could’ve asserted her own innocence, or at least told everyone that Phthia was innocent). Phthia led the Amazons to fight men everywhere and they eventually became mercenaries, building the hidden city of Bana-Mighdal to house the girdle they took from Antiope’s tomb. Diana wonders why these Amazons are still so warlike and Nehebka says that after so many generations, it’s become part of them. Before they can discuss things further, the mystic sandstorm outside reverses its course and starts pounding the city. Diana realizes what’s happening when she sees a crazy-looking Hermes appear out of the storm and threaten to destroy the city.
Firestorm #88 – “Meltdown” – John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake
This one starts with Firestorm flying into space to contemplate the Earth, wondering why he can’t bring himself to simply wipe out humanity to save the planet from their excesses. He concludes that having Ronnie and Mikhail as part of him is holding him back, so he tries to fly off into space, but he experiences tremendous pain and falls back to Earth. In San Diego, a guy named Windsor has just inherited Sunderland Corporation from his recently deceased cousin. He’s told that Sunderland has been experimenting with giving people super-powers, but
since that hasn’t been going too well, they ended up getting involved with someone who already had powers. The former Air Wave (Larry Jordan, cousin of Hal Jordan) is now known as Maser and has a new costume. Turns out Maser’s powers don’t come from his helmet, they’re innate and Sunderland has been helping develop them, although they’re much more interested in the financial benefits than the altruistic side. Windsor wants to loan Maser out to the Captains of Industry to see what he can do … and to insulate himself a bit if things don’t work out. At Vandermeer University in Pittsburgh, Firehawk 
undergoes testing at the Meta-Human Institute. After refusing to reveal her identity to some of the scientists (Lagrieve already knows it), she brushes off Dr. Morrison when he makes a pass at her and leaves. Elsewhere, Firestorm is found in a crater (where he’s apparently been lying for about a week) by Rasputin, who explained his nature as a Fire Elemental. Rasputin reminds him he’s tied to the Earth now, so trying to leave the planet could’ve killed him. Rasputin also points out that destroying a steel plant in Pittsburgh seems like a petty use of his abilities, since he’s basically a force of nature now. But Firestorm thinks that destroying Vandermeer Steel will set an example and claims he’s ready to kill as many people as he has to in order to
save the planet. He goes to Pittsburgh to attack the plant and Maser shows up to stop him. They realize they can’t hurt each other, but Maser uses his abilities to read Firestorm’s energy patterns, saying he can disrupt them. Maser is reluctant to do so because it might kill them both, but Firestorm gives him no choice. Maser tries to disrupt firestorm’s energy and they both explode. Maser is found in the rubble of the factory later, injured but alive. There’s no sign of Firestorm and the plant’s owner hopes he’s dead, but worries about what to do if he isn’t.