Wonder Woman #41 – “The Ties That Bind” – George Perez, Mindy Newell/Chris Marrinan/Romeo Tanghal
This is kind of a downtime issue, much of which is in epistolary form, the characters speaking through correspondence. Julia Kapatelis is on an archaeological dig in Turkey, looking for the site of the original Themiscyra. She gets a letter from her daughter Vanessa, who’s a counsellor at a summer camp (along with her friend Lucy). Vanessa’s letter has a “Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh” vibe to it at first, but quickly veers into Judy Blume territory, with Vanessa worrying about her
breast size and when she’ll get her period. Julia’s colleague (Curtis Blanchard) comes in with a copy of the Daily Planet magazine detailing the story (by Lois Lane) of what went on with the guests on Paradise Island. We already know what happened, but Curtis reads the part of Lois’s story covering the aftermath, when everyone was contrite and apologetic. Apparently, Menalippe feels guilty for her part in things, no matter how much everyone tries to convince her she had no choice once she’d eaten the Apples of Discord. The story ends with Diana taking the delegates back to Man’s World, promising they’ll 
welcome Hippolyte if she comes to visit there. Vanessa’s letter gets a bit more serious as she talks about how much she envies Lucy, whose life seems perfect to her. (Lucy, on the other hand, tells Vanessa she envies her, so I guess self-esteem issues are basically universal.) Vanessa’s final letter ends with the revelation that she finally got her period and that she feels like a grown-up woman now. On that note, a messenger pigeon (or dove) brings a letter from Diana, who talks about the pressures of being Wonder Woman and finds herself wishing for a “normal” life, like Julia and Vanessa have. Diana also
mentions trying to contact Hermes without success, and asks if she can join Julia in Turkey to stave off her loneliness. Naturally, Julia agrees and sends the pigeon with her reply, but the bird is acting weird—like it’s scared of something at the dig site—and as it flies away, we see it encounter something … something unfriendly.
Green Arrow #31 – “The Canary is a Bird of Prey” – Mike Grell/Grant Miehm/Frank McLaughlin
This one starts with a fake drive-by at a block party for a neighbourhood watch group. The punks drive past and mime shooting with their fingers to freak everyone out, but they turn around and make another pass, using real guns this time. But the watch (some of whom are Army Reservists) shoot back, scaring the punks off. Thy later tell a reporter that their neighbourhood has become a hang-out for drug dealers, but the cops won’t
do anything about it. They’re ready to fight to protect their homes and the gangs are ready to fight for their turf, something that becomes clear the next day when some kids are gunned down outside an art school for wearing the wrong colours. The cops basically admit they can’t stop the drug trade, which pisses Green Arrow off enough that he decides to get involved. What Arrow and the public don’t know is that a major drug shipment is supposed to be coming in soon and the cops want to seize it, so they’re trying not to make waves among the smaller dealers. Green Arrow tracks the drug operation to its source, which turns 
out to be Reggie Mandell (who Arrow met back in issue 6). Green Arrow gets so absorbed in listening to Reggie’s plans (learning that he set up the drive-bys to keep the cops busy) that he gets conked out by a guard. At home, Black Canary wakes up and realizes Arrow is gone.
Firestorm #96 – “Land of Peril” – John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake
Last issue, Firestorm accidentally summoned an Orisha (an African god) named Shango to Earth and when he challenged Shango, he was banished to Ife, home of the Orishas. Firestorm is attacked by a spreading darkness that threatens to overwhelm all of Ife. He breaks free and confronts what seems to be a dark version of himself, a being he can’t fight without adding to its power. He’s helped by another god (Eshu), who tells him to find Orunmilla to gain sacred knowledge. Firestorm goes to look for Orunmilla as Eshu throws himself
into the darkness. Outside Pittsburgh, Emily Rice is given a tour of the Sunderland Corporation’s new facility for meta-human studies. Because the city has shut down meta-human research at Vandermeer University, Rice is being forced to ally with Sunderland to keep their meta-human institute operational. We see that General Eiling is hanging around too, being promised that anything Rice and her scientists discover will be shared with him. In Ife, Firestorm meets Orunmilla, who gives him a crash course in African mythology. He tells how the Orishas came to be, how they created mortals, 
and how one of them (Obatala) watched over humanity, even taking mortal form to walk among them. But humans grew overproud and forgot the gods, killing Obatala when he objected. That brought the wrath of the other Orishas on humanity and they were wiped out. The Orishas decreed that humanity would rise again, but some of their number still resented mortals, so Ife was cut off from the mortal world. Shadows began to grow in Ife, creating dark doubles of the Orisha (called the Orisha-nla), which stole some of their power. The Orisha realized that they need to find Obatala (who has been reborn in
mortal form) before the shadows overwhelm Ife and move on to the mortal world. Yeah, by summoning Shango, Firestorm apparently opened a portal between Ife and Earth, so the Orisha-nla can wipe out humanity once they’ve finished with Ife. Firestorm vows to protect Earth no matter what the threat. Meanwhile, Shango arrives on Earth in all his glory.