Elvira's House of Mystery #1: The horror anthology returns to the DC lineup with this tie-in with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Elvira (played by Cassandra Peterson) debuted as a horror host in 1981 on a Los Angeles TV station but had begun to reach national popularity with an MTV Halloween special in 1984 and some Rhino record releases. In 1986, she'd be in a beer commercial and in 1988, she'd star in a feature film. This comic is, I suppose, another step in that rise.
Outside of the framing sequence by Cavalieri and Wagner/Oksner that has Elvira (running from an angry mob) arriving at the House of Mystery, the stories feel like they were likely left in inventory after the demise of the anthology books rather than newly written for this. Some have narrators (including Cain) that aren't Elvira, suggesting she was a later addition.
In the first, by Clarke, Grindberg, and Hasen, a sort of fantasy LARPing family of witches faces real dangers when a pouting youngster tries to get even for his early elimination. In the next story by Kanigher/Geroche, a kidnapper who tries to make good his escape by burying his victim alive is haunted to death by the children's lullaby she kept singing to self-soothe. Yee's and Fern's fantasy story set (I guess) in ancient China about a young man and his wizardly sage advisor saving his girl from a sorcerer seems like it might have once been destined for Talent Showcase. Finally, Harris/Spiegle present a tale of young amateur filmmakers where the mistreated boy forced to play the monster somehow makes the monster real, getting revenge on his tormentors and winning a prize.
'Mazing Man #1: As darker superheroics are beginning their rise in comics, and certainly very serious works are garnering the most attention, this book by Rozakis and DeStefano (graduate of New Talent Showcase) is an odd one. It's a mildly humorous, charming enough, I suppose, story about a guy in Queens who dresses in a homemade superhero costume and does good deeds and his friends and neighbors. I don't know who they thought the market was for this, and the only thing I can figure is that they didn't know, they just knew mainstream comic sales were declining. This was just as much an experimental shot in the dark as a lot of others in the DC graveyard: Thriller, Night Force, Captain Carrot, etc. It definitely shows DC's willingness to try new stuff, as it seems to me like something one might have seen as a comic from Eclipse or another small publisher. It likely wouldn't have lasted long or garnered much attention there either, but the sort of creative freedom that gets you books like this is much more common in at those publishers than at the Big Two.
Batman #391: Moench and Mandrake bring this arc to a conclusion. A frantic Robin calls Batman to tell him that Night Slayer has got past him and is planning to kill Nocturna. Batman leaves off trying to convince Catwoman he loves her and not Nocturna (because Nocturna is "a thief") to try and recuse her. He arrives just in time to take Night Slayer's second knife stab himself. Robin helps the already wounded Nocturna escape into the red skies in her balloon. The injured Batman seems likely to lose to Night Slayer, but then Catwoman shows up. Another earthquake puts an end to this conflict. Night Slayer falls, but he grabs Catwoman's cap and drags her down, too. Batman and Robin later locate those two, unconscious on the riverbank. They also sight wreckage of Nocturna's balloon still being tossed by the storm. She is presumed dead, and for all practical purposes, she is, as this is her last pre-(technically intra-)Crisis appearance. There have been other versions of the character, though, but the next won't appear until 2002.
G.I. Combat #281: The Mercenaries ought to change their name to "The Philanthropists" because they do a lot of good deeds for free, it seems like. After overhearing an old man lamenting that he can't get his son's body back from a covert operation in Cambodia, the trio agree to go and retrieve it. Posing as filmmakers they get help from a Khmer Rouge general (who of course tries to betray them). They fail to find the body they are looking for, but do find a G.I.'s remains, so they bring it back figuring the parents won't know the difference. The father does know but keeps it from the mother, rationalizing it as some soldier son.
The main Haunted Tank story puts Stuart's Raiders up against kids trained as ruthless Nazi assassins. By poisoning Jeb, they force the crew to get them close enough to kill Eisenhower. The U.S. forces open fire on the tank, spoiling their plans, that's to the substitute of a Nazi flag for the Confederate one they typically sport. In the "Bravos of Vietnam" feature, Bravo 7-8 tries to make a landing to save a Green Beret staked out by the VC, but it's a trap. The pilot and gunners are killed, but the Marines make it to another LZ and get out, making a detour to rescue the Green Beret.
Legion of Super-Heroes #18: Levitz and LaRocque/Mahlstedt address why the Legion's 30th Century hasn't been in more turmoil due to the Crisis, and perhaps why they have little history of the event occurring in earlier historic eras. Turns out, it's "the Infinite Man did it," though I'm not entirely clear on how. Somehow, his presence has been stifling, if not entirely removing, their everyone's memories regarding the Crisis and their participation in it. In dealing with the aftermath of the anti-matter wave's disruption of Takron-Galtos the Legionnaires also have to defeat and depower the Infinite Man. Validus escapes recapture here, which is likely going to pay off in the future.
Omega Men #34: Crossover with the Teen Titans by Klein and Buckler/Marcos. The Omegans are attacked by Auron who reveals he is helping his mother with her plan to destroy Vega. When the freedom fighters get to Tamaran, they are unaware that Auron has gotten their beforehand and convinced the Titans and the royal family that the Omegans have had their minds altered by the Psions and are not to be believed. Unbeknowst to either group, Auron is also working with Blackfire.
Parkhouse concludes his Tales of Vega story, where the android is revealed to be the very torturer he supposedly escaped from, though he had originally been a healing android reprogrammed by the Citadel. His identity revealed, he goes out in a blaze of glory taking out badguys.
Star Trek #22: Isabella and Sutton/Villagran start with Excelsior receiving a message from Starfleet detailing a first contact mission to Enoch IV that discovered an evil-worshipping civilization where Kirk is the mythological antagonist. The Admiral threatens Kirk with charges for violating the Prime Directive if he doesn't sort this out. The "god" of the Enochians is named Redjac (from the TOS episode "Wolf in the Fold" by Robert Bloch). This weird message turns out to have been faked by Redjac, but Excelsior heads to Enoch IV anyway. Some mysterious murders occur on the ship in route the killer stays one step ahead, but the survivor of the first attack, Konom, should be able to help when he recovers consciousness. Arriving at Enoch IV, Kirk discovers (naturally, just as Konom wakes up on the ship) that Bryce is inhabited by Redjac as she raises her knife to strike.
Super Powers #5: The art is kind of rough in places in this issue, on par with a few spots in the Fourth World series of the 70s when I think Kirby was rushed. Anyway, the Super Friends continue to fall for Darkseid's Seeds of Doom trap (which Darkseid soliloquies to the reader about at the start), as Batman and Robin travel to the future dominated by Apokolips. Luckily, the Flash is there too, and when the heroes reunite, they are able to return to their own time. But Darkseid has enough seeds in place to bring about Apokolips on Earth,
Superman #415: Bates and Swan/Williamson bring us another story dealing with the aftermath of Supergirl's death. An alien, Salkor, arrives on Earth and takes a strange object from Supergirl's quarters. Ultimately, Superman discovers that Supergirl had met Salkor when she was dying an amnesiac thanks to exposure to Kryptonite. Salkor nursed her back to health and the two had a whirlwind romance, even marrying. Then, a powerful invader, Naxx, attacked. After he was defeated, Supergirl left without explanation. Naxx, in fact, has traced Salkor to Earth out for a rematch, but with Superman's help it is defeated. In the hokku, the device she took from Salkor's homeworld, Supergirl left a message for Superman and Salkor. She reveals Naxx's blast restored her memory but wiped out her recent memories of life with Salkor. Her encounter with Blackstarr restored those, so she had rigged the hokku to signal Salkor and well as Superman if she died.
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