Green Arrow #23 – “Kia” – Mike Grell/Dan Jurgens/Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin
This one starts with Green Arrow and Shado reviewing their performance against the opposition in the mountain monastery last issue. They came there looking for info on Shado’s son, who’s been kidnapped to force Shado to assassinate someone (possibly the American president). But Shado went a little wild at the monastery and killed all the yakuza who were there. Green Arrow tried to spare one, but he killed himself rather than be questioned. Shado realizes they never would’ve hidden her baby there, so she figures he must be at yakuza headquarters in Tokyo, a place nobody would dare to
assault. At yakuza headquarters, the man who put the assassination plot in motion (an American) reminds the yakuza (who are freaking out about losing everyone at the monastery) that Shado’s talent for killing will serve them well when she’s forced to kill their target. Outside, Shado and Green Arrow prepare to slip inside the building, but Shado reminds Arrow that if they can’t find her son, she will carry out the assassination to save him … and if Green Arrow tries to stop her, she’ll kill him too. Shado knocks out a geisha and takes her outfit. Shado sneaks through the outer defenses and helps Green Arrow get inside, then they go full out, wasting yakuza left and right. 
That blows the element of surprise and by the time they get to the roof, some yakuza are taking off in a helicopter with Shado’s son. Shado tells Green Arrow she can’t afford to hesitate any longer and that she’ll take out the target to save her son. Green Arrow wonders who the target is, but 
Shado takes off before telling him. Elsewhere, some of the yakuza want Green Arrow dead, but the architect of the scheme reminds them that Green Arrow is supposed to be a patsy, since he’s meant to kill Shado when she tries to eliminate the target. So, Shado will kill the target, or she’ll distract everyone so the American can kill him with a poison gas pen. Either way, Shado is blamed and Green Arrow takes her out, keeping the yakuza connection unknown. We see them looking at a newspaper that shows the American President (Bush), Soviet leader (Gorbachev), plus a Chinese politician and the Emperor of Japan. Obviously one of them is the target, but we’ll have to wait to find out which one.
Green Arrow #24 – “Hanare” – Mike Grell/Dan Jurgens/Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin
This one starts with Green Arrow still pondering the target that Shado’s supposed to take out. In the American Embassy, some others (including the brains behind everything) are talking about the hit too. It seems like most of them are business leaders who don’t like the fact that the world is getting more peaceful, so they figure they can shake things up with a nice political killing. The leader—who was apparently involved in the Kennedy assassination—figures Shado will try to kill their target, giving him the chance to spray cyanide in the target’s face with a poison gas pen, and Green Arrow will try to stop Shado … most likely
by killing her. Shado will be blamed for the assassination either way (since everyone will assume the arrow was poisoned if an autopsy finds cyanide), and even if she misses, his death can be blamed on a heart attack caused by the near miss. Green Arrow shows up at the Embassy to warn them about Shado possibly targeting the President, but the conspiracy leader sends the deputy security director (Dawson) to assuage Green Arrow’s fears …while subtly letting him know where the President will be later so he can play his unwitting part. Bur Arrow gets suspicious and sneaks back in later, tying 
Dawson up and threatening to burn him alive if he doesn’t tell him where Shado’s baby is. The four world leaders are at a racetrack where athletes are giving a demonstration of yabusame … archery from horseback. Shado takes the place of one of the archers, but before she can take out her target, Green Arrow gets her attention and shows her that he’s rescued her son. The leader of the conspiracy tries to take out the target (Gorbachev, apparently), but Shado puts an arrow into his chest before he can use the poison gas pen. Security tries to shoot Shado and she races the horse out of the grounds and off a cliff overlooking the ocean. Later, we see that a yakuza oyabun was really manipulating everything, not really caring if anyone was actually assassinated, as long as recriminations
and accusations started flying so his defense contracts would be more lucrative. (The putative leader of the conspiracy that Shado killed was the President’s senior security advisor, but the Americans are trying to blame the Soviets for the whole mess, and some of the other conspirators have already died in “accidents”.) Down the coast, Green Arrow returns Shado’s baby and once again proves how obtuse he is when he never suspects the baby might be his. (We even see that the baby has green eyes …)
Young All-Stars #29 – “Gladiators and Sons” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Lou Manna/Bob Downs
Last issue, Iron Munro went to South America to look for his father, Hugo Danner (the subject of Philip Wylie’s novel Gladiator), who he’d thought dead until seeing a photo of Danner standing over a dead dinosaur. Munro came with Georgia Challenger, whose grandfather was the protagonist of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World novels, in which he found a mysterious plateau in South America where dinosaurs still lived. Yes, Roy is once again delving into the public domain (or the Wold-Newton universe, if you prefer) for his subject matter. Anyway, Munro and Georgia found the
dinosaur plateau and almost got slaughtered by velociraptors, but were rescued by a primitive tribe of natives, led by … you guessed it, Hugo Danner. When Munro mentions Danner being his father, Danner thinks he’s lying and a couple of the natives (twins Xtoh and Xavi) don’t like the way Munro seems to be threatening Danner. Munro and Xtoh get into a brawl, but Danner breaks it up. He’s still not convinced Munro is his son, until Munro mentions his mother’s name, Anna Blake. Danner tells the tribe Munro is his son, which calms them down, and everyone heads to the tribe’s village to talk (with 
Munro carrying Georgia). On the way, Danner tells the story of what happened after he left the United States (some of which we saw in issue 11): he came up with the idea of starting a race of super-powered people, so he faked his death and headed south. He got wind of Challenger’s expedition and made his way to Maple White Land to get some diamonds so he could finance his scheme. But once he met the Accala Indians, he decided they’d make great subjects for his superhuman plans. He recreated his father’s strength formula and injected pregnant Accalas with it, producing a number of superhuman children (all of whom were boys except Xavi). Munro and Georgia want
Danner to come back and fight the Nazis, but Danner is tired of fighting (since he fought in World War One already), and he’s already run into some Nazis who stumbled onto the plateau a while back. Most of them died, but one got away with the photo Munro has. Munro mentions how Ubermensch has similar powers to him and Danner and knows about the process that created Danner. Danner worries that the Nazis might whip up a bunch of supermen, but Munro tells him about all the other heroes that have appeared in the last few years, most of whom belong to the All-Star Squadron. While they’re talking, Xtoh lets his friend Tohil (and his sister Xavi) know that he wants to lead an expedition into the outer world and conquer it, something they’ve been 
thinking about for a while. That night, they grab Georgia (who Xtoh has the hots for) and beat the shit out of Munro, fusing his into some rocks so he’s trapped. Turns out they did the same thing to Danner, who’s always prevented them from striking out against the outside world. Now Xtoh is ready to head out and conquer, although Tohil and Xavi seem a little less eager than him (maybe because Xavi seems hot for Munro). But Xavi and Tohil agree to follow Xtoh, who leads the Sons of Dawn (as they’re called) off the plateau taking Georgia with them. They head for the nearest city, which just happens to be the capital of Rioguay, where Dyna-Mite and his parents (who are ambassadors from the States) are living.
Suicide Squad #33 – “Into the Angry Planet” – John Ostrander/John K. Snyder III/Geoff Isherwood
This one starts with Duchess (aka Lashina of the Female Furies) recruiting more people to help on her mission, as we saw her do with Big Barda at the end of last issue. (Of course, she didn’t give Barda much choice, surprising her and knocking her out.) Duchess breaks into Arkham Asylum to see if Deadshot can help her, but concludes his death wish might make him a liability. She does decide to take Poison Ivy with her, and the two of them surprise Nightshade, incapacitating her before she can fight back. At Belle Rêve, Ravan taunts Kobra (who’s still locked up), Dr. Light talks to the new
therapist about why he’s such a loser, and Shade tries unsuccessfully to get home to Meta. Duchess tells Shade she can get him home from her own dimension, if he helps her recruit more members of her assault team. After examining the futuristic tech in her Mega-Rod, Shade reluctantly agrees. While he knocks out Vixen, Duchess pounds Major Victory. Duchess also convinces Count Vertigo and Flo to join the mission (Vertigo is manic-depressive and doesn’t really care, while Flo is itching to get into the field because she’s in love with Bronze Tiger). Captain Boomerang tries to join them, but Shade 
just knocks him out and leaves him. Duchess (now dressed as Lashina), takes Amanda Waller out and drags her along, while Poison Ivy deals with the security guards. They head to the air base to grab Briscoe and his chopper, then rush back towards Belle Rêve where Bronze Tiger has been alerted to what’s going on. He’s too late to stop them though, as Lashina opens a Boom Tube and takes her team through to Apokolips, leaving Bronze Tiger and the remainder of the team stunned.