WONDER WOMAN #12 & #13

“ECHOES OF THE PAST” | “DEMONPLAGUE”
Plot & Layouts: George Pérez | Script: Len Wein | Finishes: Bruce D. Patterson
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Carl Gafford | Editor: Karen Berger

The Plot: (Issue 12) As Hippolyte descends into the caverns beneath Paradise Island, her daughter comes face-to-face with the woman for whom she was named, a redheaded American called Diana. Diana begins to explain the strange, intertwined history she shares with the princess, while elsewhere, Pan plots against Hippolyte, setting multiple obstacles against her. But, led by the vulture which brought her into the caves, Hippolyte proceeds on her way.

Soon, after Diana finishes her story to her namesake and departs, Pan appears and sends Wonder Woman off to the home of the Green Lanterns to aid them against the extraterrestrial Manhunters. Still on Earth, Hippolyte continues her trek and finds herself in the company of a massive Heracles, apparently changed to stone by some unknown force.

(Issue 13) Hippolyte continues her trek and comes across the form of Heracles, trapped as a living statue. Soon after, she finds the horned skull of Pan. Zeus and the other gods, observing Hippolyte’s quest, realize the Pan who has recently counseled Zeus is an imposter. Hermes fetches Diana from the Green Lantern citadel in California, returning her beneath Paradise Island to team up with her mother. The two battle several monsters and free Heracles, but countless demons escape as well.

Diana follows and traps the creatures within the amulet of Harmonia, which is then pulled—along with Diana—to Ares, who takes the amulet and disappears. Immediately after, Hermes appears and tasks Diana with one final challenge: to return to Man’s World and avenge his son, Pan, by finding and killing the Manhunter who took the horned god’s life and impersonated him.

ACTION COMICS #594 & BOOSTER GOLD #23

“ALL THAT GLISTERS”
Story & Pencils: John Byrne | Inks: John Byrne & Keith Williams
Coloring: Tom Ziuko | Lettering: John Costanza | Editing: Michael Carlin

“BLIND OBSESSION”
Story & Pencils: Dan Jurgens | Inks: Roy Richardson
Letters: Steve Haynie | Colors: Gene D’Angelo | Editor: Barbara Randall

The Plot: (ACTION 594) On “Superman Day” in Metropolis, local hero Booster Gold goes on an anti-Superman crusade, demolishing a statue in the Man of Steel’s honor, speaking out against him at a press conference, and even kidnapping the mayor’s daughter to draw Superman out. When Superman finds Booster, they have a brief skirmish which sees the latter triumph over an unusually weak Superman. Then a second Booster Gold arrives, declaring the first to be an imposter.

(BOOSTER 23) Booster fights the imposter, eventually realizing it’s an android, and destroys it to find a small chunk of Kryptonite inside. Superman realizes Lex Luthor must be behind the charade, and a moment later Luthor dispatches an operative called Attack Dog One against Superman and Booster. Attack Dog One retrieves the Kryptonite with a small flying pod which leaves the scene of the fight. But with the Kryptonite gone, Superman finds himself back to full power. He easily defeats Attack Dog One and makes uneasy peace with Booster.

WONDER WOMAN #10 & #11

“PARADISE LOST!” | “FIRE AND TORMENT”
Plot & Pencils: George Pérez | Script: Len Wein | Inks: Bruce D. Patterson
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Carl Gafford | Editor: Karen Berger

The Plot: (Issue 10) Following Princess Diana’s defeat of Ares, Zeus has decided to reward the Amazons by making love to them, beginning with Diana. He summons her but she rebuffs him, and Hera pulls Zeus back to Olympus. Soon, Diana is summoned to appear before the gods, where she’s told by Zeus that she must complete a series of tasks beneath Paradise Island. Upon finishing the tasks, she will find Zeus’s “greatest treasure” and return it to him, earning the Amazons’ freedom—but if she fails, Zeus declares the Amazons will be lost.

Soon, Diana enters the vault beneath Paradise Island, which the Amazons have guarded for centuries. Immediately, she battles a demon called Cottus and kills it. But no sooner is Cottus defeated, than Diana finds herself confronted by a hydra.

(Issue 11) As Zeus and the gods watch, Diana battles and defeats the hydra, losing all her weapons, save her lasso, in the process. While Diana lays passed out from the ordeal, on Paradise Island a vulture appears to Hippolyte, sending her racing toward the vault. Meanwhile, Diana wakes up and continues her mission, coming face-to-face with a creature called Echidna, which uses her fear against her.

The Amazon warrior Philippus fights Hippolyte to keep her from interfering in Diana’s mission, but Hippolyte defeats her and proceeds into the vault. Below, Diana beats Echidna as well, and plummets into an illusory ocean which quickly drains. As she finds herself looking at a vintage American fighter jet, Diana is greeted by the a woman dressed in her armor who claims to be her namesake.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #434 & 435

“SHAMBLES”
Writer: Marv Wolfman | Artist: Jerry Ordway | Inker: José F. Marzan
Letterer: Albert de Guzman | Colorist: Anthony Tollin | Editor: Mike Carlin

The Plot: Superman intervenes in a mugging, but fails to stop a LexCorp security guard’s keys and ID card being stolen. Later, a mysterious individual receives the stolen goods and prepares a costume for himself. Meanwhile, Perry and Alice White pick up their son, Jerry, from jail on bail. At LexCorp, Luthor discovers his Project Synapse lab was trashed, and has the guard whose keys were stolen beaten for his incompetence.

Later, Metropolis’ new vigilante, Gangbuster, accosts some criminals in their hideout and learns that Max Carter, second-in-command to mobster Jay Falk, has been arming the city’s youth. Superman, having somehow deduced that Jose Delgado broke into LexCorp, visits his apartment but finds him gone. He follows clues to a warehouse where the latest group of the city’s troubled teens are being armed, to find Gangbuster already there fighting the punks. Superman joins the fray, as does Jerry White, and the angry youths are routed.

The next day, Jay Falk is arrested for his role in the gang war, and Superman sends Luthor an instant message informing him that he knows the corrupt billionaire was pulling Falk’s strings.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #433 & SUPERMAN #11

“GANGWAR PART TWO: A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS”
Dramatized and Choreographed by: Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway
Inked by: Bob Smith | Lettered by: Albert de Guzman | Colored by: Anthony Tollin
Edited by: Mike Carlin

The Plot: A series of vignettes follows Jimmy Olson, Lois Lane, Perry White, Jose Delgado, and Lex Luthor though their interactions with Jerry White. First, Jimmy is inside a convenience store when it’s robbed by a gang including Jerry. Superman catches most of the group, but Jerry gets away. Later, Lois visits Jose to find him arguing with Jerry. Jerry leaves to go warn “the boss”, a portly older man, that Lois was spying, but Superman interrupts their meeting before the boss can have Jerry beaten.

Later still, Lois presents a story to Perry White which includes reference to Jerry as a member of the gangs that have recently plagued Metropolis. Perry goes to visit his son in prison, but Jerry gives him the could shoulder. After being escorted to a darkened room, Jerry is harassed by a gang of inmates, but Superman appears and saves him—however, at some point after the Man of Steel departs, Jerry is beaten anyway.

As Lex Luthor receives a humanitarian award, Jose Delgado accosts him. Luthor’s private security catches up with Jose and prepares to kill him, but Superman intervenes. Later, Luthor meets with one of his scientists about Project Synapse, a plan to create a “super soldier” to challenge Superman, but declares the project a failure when only one of the test subjects survives.

WONDER WOMAN #9

“BLOOD OF THE CHEETAH”
Plot & Layouts: George Pérez | Script: Len Wein | Finishes: Bruce D. Patterson
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Tatjana Wood | Editor: Karen Barger
Thanks to: Bob Smith

The Plot: Chuma performs a ceremony on Barbara Minerva. The next day, Diana and Myndi Mayer visit Doctor Minerva at her hotel, where the doctor unwittingly touches Diana’s lasso and reveals that she lied about possessing a second Girdle of Gaia. Diana leaves, horrified that a fellow woman would deceive her.

Later, Minerva transforms into the Cheetah. As Diana sleeps beneath a tree on Julia Kapatelis’s property, the Cheetah attacks. Cheetah seem to have the upper hand until Julia arrives with a hunting rifle and shoots her, knocking into the lake. Diana searches for her beneath the water, but there is no body to be found.

Diana decides the time has come to leave Man’s World and return to Paradise Island. She bids Julia and Vanessa farewell, and departs.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: We’re reminded again about the “Wonder Woman Tour” which has seen Diana traveling the world as a goodwill ambassador… which of course begs the question, if she’s making such highly publicized travels, why has Clark Kent had such a difficult time tracking her down? If Superman wants a date with Wonder Woman, all he has to do is turn on the TV to find out where she is, then fly there!

The Cheetah apparently gets her power from the tree she brought to the United States, which narration seems to imply is actually some ancient god in Earthly form. Also, Chuma refers to Cheetah as the last of her kind, but what that kind is goes unrevealed.