Wonder Woman #44 – “Caged” – George Perez, Mindy Newell/Chris Marrinan/Romeo Tanghal
Last issue, Wonder Woman was forced to surrender after Etta Candy and Maxine Sterenbuch were captured by Armbruster’s men. Maxine had come to Wonder Woman for help in getting her friend Silver Swan away from Armbruster, but Silver Swan is so smitten by Armbruster that she can’t see he’s just using her (and she shrugs off his abusive behaviour, no matter how bad it gets). Wonder Woman is being held in a high-tech cell that’s connected to the one Etta and Maxine are in, so if Wonder Woman tries to break free she’ll
electrocute her friends. They’re forced to watch as Armbruster lays on the charm, convincing Silver Swan to get back into the enhancement unit. Etta mentions the weird bio-readings she saw in Silver Swan’s file and asks Choi (Armbruster’s right hand man) if they mean that Swan was starting to revert back to her old self, Valerie Beaudry. Choi doesn’t deny it and Etta decides to make a bold move, grabbing the electrified bars of her cell to remove the impediment to Wonder Woman’s escape. Wonder Woman reacts immediately, busting loose but causing a power surge that knocks her out (and takes down half 
the system too). Armbruster orders his crew to go ahead with the treatment on Silver Swan, not caring if it causes brain damage or even kills her. Wonder Woman uses her lasso to compel Choi to tell her where Etta and Maxine are. (Etta’s fine, by the way; she was wearing a rubber waist-trimmer to help her lose weight, so she took it off and stood on it when she grabbed the electrified bars.) It turns out Silver Swan overheard Armbruster giving orders to zap her no matter the consequences and she finally realizes what an asshole he really is. She busts out of the machine, bringing half the facility down on everyone,
and goes after Armbruster. Maxine stops her and Wonder Woman uses her lasso to force Armbruster to tell the truth. He admits that Professor Buchman actually wanted to help Valerie, giving her the power to change her own appearance. But Armbruster saw only the financial possibilities, so he pretended to love Valerie while she was still ugly so she’d trust him. He also admits he’s the one who killed Buchman, not Valerie; having her believe he was hiding her from the cops helped cement the trust she was already feeling. When the meta-
gene bomb went off during the Invasion, Silver Swan reverted back to her old self, so Armbruster had the original procedure duplicated. But it didn’t work exactly the same way (which explains the anomalous readings), so he wanted to test her powers by pitting her against Wonder Woman again. Wonder Woman stops Silver Swan from killing Armbruster in revenge and Maxine asks her to come back and live with her. Later, Wonder Woman takes Solomon Buchman and Etta to Themiscyra to be healed.
Green Arrow #34 – (No Title) – Mike Grell/Dan Jurgens/Frank McLaughlin
This one starts with Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen and Dinah (Black Canary) Lance discussing baby names after Dinah told Oliver last issue that she’s ready to have a baby with him. They bang (after getting into costume) and afterwards Oliver changes to Green Arrow to go out on the prowl. Oliver still wants revenge on Reggie Mandell for the torture he underwent a couple issues back, so he goes around town threatening various criminals to find Reggie’s whereabouts. He’s about to shoot an apple off some punk’s head when Lieutenant
Cameron shows up. Cameron gives Green Arrow shit for ruining the cops’ big drug bust and getting their undercover officer killed. After Cameron leaves, Eddie Fyres shows up to tell Green Arrow he can help him get Reggie. (Fyres is an assassin that Green Arrow has run into before; now he’s apparently working with the DEA.) Fyres tells Green Arrow about some drug smugglers who are compressing their shipments to look like steel plates and bolting them to the hull of a ship. The ship goes through the Panama Canal and stops for “repairs” in international waters, where divers retrieve the drugs and fly 
them to Seattle, where Reggie sells them on the streets. Since they don’t know which ship the drugs will be attached to, they need Green Arrow to parachute into the jungle and plant a homing device in one of the plates so they can track the shipment and intercept it. Green Arrow agrees and heads down to Panama to take care of things. While he’s gone, Dinah goes to a fertility clinic and gets some bad news: because of the trauma she suffered back in the Longbow Hunters mini-series, she can’t have kids. Green Arrow heads back to Seattle after Fyres assures him they’ll let him know when Reggie gets the shipment. But after Arrow leaves, we see Fyres blow up the ship with a detonator; obviously, the explosive was in the “tracker” Green Arrow planted. When he gets home, Dinah tells him the bad news and as he’s trying to digest that, the FBI busts in to arrest him for terrorism and the sabotage of an American Navy vessel.
Firestorm #99 – “Mourning Frost” – John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake/Carlos Garzon
This one starts with Dr. Lagrieve preparing to send Maser into the sun to see what’s causing the anomalous readings that seem to indicate the imminent destruction of Earth. A Sunderland employee named Radcliffe is reluctant to send Maser into the sun, not knowing if his powers can handle that (and apparently she has the hots for Maser too), but Maser wants to go, so Lagrieve sends him. Meanwhile, Parasite is wandering around town killing people as he heads for the Institute to waste Killer Frost. Speaking of Frost, the virus that gave
her her powers is now killing her, but the doctors at the Institute can’t get close enough to administer an antiviral serum, and they don’t dare let her out of her cell. Lagrieve goes to his office, where Martin Stein is waiting to talk to him about Cliff Carmichael. Stein tells Lagrieve that Carmichael has integrated the circuitry from Thinker’s helmet into his own brain, giving him the ability to control people’s minds or emotions. (Stein mentions cyberpunk, so I guess Carmichael’s new tech is kinda like Case in Neuromancer.) Lagrieve figures Pharmacopeia (one of Sunderland’s Captains of Industry) can help 
them deal with Carmichael. Meanwhile, Firestorm tries to apologize to Firehawk for being a dick last time they met, but when she suggests he let Ronnie and Mikhail come out a bit more, he gets defensive and takes off. Pharmacopeia warns Carmichael that Lagrieve is onto him and suggests Carmichael should work for Krieg Pharmaceuticals (Sunderland’s rivals and Pharmacopeia’s true masters). Parasite busts in to get Killer Frost and Pharmacopeia tries to take him down, but Parasite uses the powers he’s absorbed from Killer Frost to freeze Pharmacopeia. Firehawk tackles him next, but he uses Pharmacopeia’s powers to paralyze her and bring her down. Firestorm shows up and opens the way to Killer Frost’s cell before going after Parasite.
Firestorm takes him down easily and Parasite argues that he has the same right to live as anyone. Firestorm points out that he doesn’t have the right to feed off other people, but decides not to kill him. The doctors administer the serum to Killer Frost, turning her back into Louise Lincoln. Later, Maser returns from his mission with dire news … Brimstone is alive in the heart of the sun and it’s him who’s threatening Earth.