My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were at newsstands on the week of July 5, 1984.
Vigilante #11: Another great Andru cover. Vigilante's investigation leads him to the Controller and reveals his plot to take control of the various crime families. Vigilante infiltrates the Controllers mansion and faces an army of goons, robots, and deathtraps to finally reach the boss. He's nearly done in by lasers, but a well-placed throwing star wins the day, shorting the Controller's cybernetic support and leaving the villain immobile, in pain, and begging for death. In the end, Chase can't bring himself to kill J.J.'s killer, which (as several letters in the letter column point out) is a change from the Vigilante we were initially presented with. In fact, the letter column is interesting for both Wolfman's defense of the character and the arguments for and against "killer vigilante" methods. Oh, and Chase agrees in coda of this issue to take the judgeship.
Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #3: The title and numbering of this issue is a bit weird in that being been designated the third annual would mean that it belongs to LoSH volume 2, but volume 2 has already ended (being renamed Tales of...) and there's a new volume 3 concurrent--which will later get its own annuals.
Anyway, Saturn Girl is about to deliver her and Lightning Lad's child. Starfinger tries to mess things up by mind controlling Lightning Lad, but he's shut down instantly. The conflict this issue comes from goings on elsewhere, as a group of Legionnaires are looking for signs of Mordru on the other (than Orando) magic planet, Avalon as they think he might be behind the Legion of Super-Villains. But he isn't as Darkseid turned him to stone and stole his power, but now a crazy cabal of evil wizards are trying to resurrect him, and they kidnap Shadow Lass and Shadow Kid to do it. The spell causes darkness to spread across the galaxy, even to where Saturn Girl is giving birth.
The Legionnaires put an end to all this, and Saturn Girl's baby is born healthy, but in the epilogue, we get the point of all this. Saturn Girl and Lightning Lass actually had twins, but the other child was stolen in the darkness to be taken back in time to become Validus, thus fulfilling Darkseid's curse via a retcon.
Atari Force #10: Conway and Garcia-Lopez/Baretto reveal the return of Blackjack back, and we learn how he was rescued from his apparent death by the Dark Destroyer and held captive on the Destroyer's ship. Speaking of the Destroyer he's busy completely some sort of super-weapon and gloating about how he's preparing for his final vengeance after feigning defeat.
Meanwhile, Christopher is still on New Earth, trying to stay one step ahead from the security forces while learning the backstory of the enmity between the Destroyer and the original Atari Force. He's rejected by his ex-girlfriend then betrayed by Dr. Orion who too late realizes Martin Champion is right about the Destroyer being back.
DC Comics Presents #74: Rozakis/Mishkin and Saviuk/Tanghal team-up Superman with the Hawks (Though only Hawkman gets cover billing. Hawkwoman's mentioned on the title page, though.) and deliver a follow-up to two other DCP stories: the team-up with Hawkwoman in issue 37 and with Atom in issue 51. An encounter with those pesky tech thieves the Orgons, leads to the recovery of Superman's time-lost grandfather Var-El. Unfortunately, also puts an Orgon on an attack Thanagar with the aim of stealing absorbacon tech. Superman and the Hawks try to stop him, but it's Var-El that secures victory with the ultimate sacrifice. The heroes will always remember his bravery, of course--until Crisis wipes him from existence.
Fury of Firestorm #28: Cavalieri is scripter here with the plot still from Conway. The 2000 Committee is still trying to capture Lorraine Reilly, so they call that shadowy guy in a satellite, the Monitor, who subcontracts them Slipknot, a rope-wielding villain, to distract Firestorm. This is actually a bit of a less asymmetric fight than you might think, and Slipknot's ropes are organic so Firestorm can't affect them. Still, once Firestorm is able to go on the offensive its over for Slipknot, and the Monitor is irritated at the expense.
Justice League of America #231: As promised in the previous issue, here are Busiek and Kupperberg/Buckler to tell us where the League's heavy hitters were during the Martian invasion. It turns out they were teaming up with the JSA dealing with (as the cover teases) an out-of-control Dad. Research scientist Joshua Champion has been missing but recently an image of him appeared to his two kids and his sister boasting of tremendous power and acting weird. The Champions go to the League for help in finding their real dad. They split up and go to likely meeting points but keep having to fight mythological or fictional creatures made real. In a city on an alien world, they find a building where the force inhabiting Joshua Champion is centered and where Champion himself is being held. They're blinded by a beam which sends them into fantasy where their fondest desires come true. Except for the blind Dr. Mid-Nite! He blacks out the beam and appears to free them. They find the unconscious Champion, and with Dr. Fate and Starman taking care of the city's inhabitants, the Champions transport everyone back to Earth--but everyone except Dr. Mid-Nite is now under the control of the brain that controls Dr. Champion.
New Teen Titans #2: Picking up where the last issue left off, the skies are black and full of storms, as the Titans ask for help from Lilith. She says they also need to get Wally West back given his (former) close relationship with Raven. Once everyone is assembled, she leads the group in a seance. They contact Raven, but she rejects their help, and then the Titans are transported to Azarath which is being destroyed. There's nothing they can do. Raven appears in New York in a demonically transformed state and heralds her father's coming. Titans Tower is transformed into stone, and a gigantic Trigon appears atop it.
Wonder Woman #320: Wonder Woman tows a nuclear sub off-course to give the captain time to reconsider the false order he was sent with nuclear launch codes. It's a distraction by Dr. Cyber, but for what? Meanwhile, Cyber's got Sofia Constantinos prisoner and she muses about implanting her brain in Sofia's unmarred body. Griggs and Diana break into Cyber's stronghold to prove Diana's innocence of the theft last issue, and they run into Steve Trevor and his gremlin buddy Glitch who have already infiltrated the place. Steve and Wonder Woman battle Cyber, who defeats them, teasing that she killed Trevor once before. Wonder Woman ends up entangled in wire that heat up as she struggles. Cyber gloats that soon Wonder Woman's body will be as scarred as Cyber's face.
In the Huntress backup by Cavalieri and Woch, Huntress is troubled by dreams about her mother's criminal side and she's having blackouts, so she asks that medical resident that has a crush on her if he knows any psychiatrist. He introduces her to one, and she immediately goes into therapy. As she's on the couch, starting to talk about her childhood, the therapist pulls a gun!