Who's Who #1: Following in the footsteps of 1983's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and serving as the record of the multiverse that would soon be ended by Crisis, Who's Who was the creation of editor Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and Robert Greenberger. What I was unaware of when I picked this issue up in 1984, but seems only natural in retrospect, is how much the Who's Who covers the recent DC Universe. There are references to the deeper history of course, but there is a strong recency bias in the choice of entries and their scope. For instance, this issue gives us a number of characters that debuted in the era I've been revisiting: Aegeus from Wonder Woman, Alley-Kat-Abra from Captain Carrot, the All-Star Squadron and Amazing Man, Ambush Bug, Amethyst, Arak, Arion, a two-page spread for Atari Force, the "Sword of..." version of the Atom, the retconned version of the Atomic Knight from DC Comics Presents, and Auron of the Omega Men. Only one of the featured characters (Anthro) hasn't appeared between 1980-1984.
Batman and the Outsiders #19: Barr/Aparo present a Christmas issue, though only because it is clearly shown to take place during the Christmas season. Most of the issue is taken up with a fight between Geo-Force and Superman, which is not as one-sided as one might expect. No sooner have Geo-Force and Halo decided to just be friends, than Brion gets a call from Denise who we saw attempt suicide previously. He rushes to get her medical attention, and she reveals to him the sexual harassment by her professor that led to this. Geo-Force flies off to kill the professor, and Halo goes to Batman for help. Batman calls Superman to intercept Geo-Force while he takes care of something else.
Using his power to increase gravity, Geo-Force is able to weaken Superman enough to hurt him. (Barr asserts the by this point outdated explanation that it is Krypton's higher gravity that, at least in part, gives Supes his strength.) In the end, though, Superman is just handling Geo-Force with kid gloves. He tires of that and smacks him down.
In the end, Batman shows up with testimony from other women, added to Denise's voice, it's enough to (they hope) end the professor's career. The heroes go home for Christmas.
Blue Devil #10: Mishkin/Cohn and Chen/Martin have Blue Devil having to defend Wayne Tarrant from harpies after he angers the goddess Athena by resuming his schtick from his teen heart-throb pop singer days of performing as Theseus. I fill like this must be an oblique reference to something in pop culture, but I don't know what. Otherwise, it's pretty random. Since Greek goddesses are in the mix, Wonder Woman guest stars. Only 10 issues under his belt, and Dan Cassidy is already teaming up with the big leagues with Superman a few issues ago and Wonder Woman here. There were house ads for this issue, for some reason, but the art there was by Colon. Wonder why he didn't draw the actual story?
Conqueror of the Barren Earth #2: Cohn and Randall chronicle Jinal's essential captivity among Zhengla Koraz and his army of conquest. He wants to make her his consort, but she's not into that and keeps trying to kill him and escape, so he makes her his slave. Eventually, she appears to warm to him and willing becomes his lover. At the end of the issue, the amassed armies of the Harshashan array against the Conqueror, and Jinal knows her friend must be leading them.
Green Lantern #186: Wein and Gibbons begin where last issue left off. Eclipso has the solar-powered jet, and is attacking Ferris Aircraft with his "murder moon." He kidnaps Bruce Gordon, demanding he reveal the secrets of the jets power systems to him. Stewart comes to the rescue as Green Lantern while Jordan can only watch with ring envy. The Predator gets in the game, too, though he is less effective against the villain. Ultimately, Eclipso is killed by the deadly ray from his own satellite, and Rich brings the solar jet in safely, but at the cost of his own life, as he dies from a heart attack.
In the aftermath, Carol finds a love letter and a rose from the Predator in her office.
Infinity, Inc. #12: The Thomases and Newton/Burgard have the team go public in the wake of their victory. They hold a press conference where they wind up revealing their secret identities on TV. The Harlequin crashes the event to tease the group, but they are unable to catch her.
Legion of Super-Heroes #8: Levitz and Lightle/Mahlstedt keep all the plates spinning as the Lost Legionnaires fight to prevent a Controller from manufacturing another Sun-Eater, while other Legionnaires and the Science Police mop up the remaining members of the Legion of Super-Villains.
Back on Earth, Cosmic Boy reveals to Night Girl that he's thinking about stepping down from active Legion membership. The trainees are enjoying some time on the beach, when someone shoots Laurel Kent and manages to actually make her bleed.
New Talent Showcase #15: The editorial this issue reveals that they are done with the publications from their talent search, so now the participants can no longer be considered "new", and the title will be rebranded as just Talent Showcase.
We've got fewer superhero features this issue than in the more recent ones. The cover belongs to the one supers feature, though, a team from Davila, Texas, called the Desperados by Dennis Yee, assisted by Barbara Kesel and Malcolm Jones. It's very much in keeping with the indie spirit of the time and reminds of things like other, regional supers teams like Southern Knights. The Chinese American cowboy leader is a bit of a unique innovation, though, and the heroes taking on anti-immigrant bigots is topical still today.
Bjørn Ousland opens the issue with a sci-fi story with art that I would characterize as "talented amateur." Ousland will go one to to work in comics through 1990, but mostly in Europe, a few more shorts for DC aside. This story concerns a couple of agents trying to defend alien species from poachers. Timmons and Scarborough/Blevins tell a whimsical tale of impoverished Leprechauns plotting to steal gold from Fort Knox.
Sgt. Rock #398: Despite being marred by a hokey frame sequence, Kanigher and Redondo deliver an unusual story of the sort of things kid's ought to be reading in the dwindling war books. Zack, a bazooka man for Easy, loses his arm in a German attack. Shipped stateside, his recovery his hampered by his anger at his fate and self-pity. He discovers neighborhood kids helping black marketeer steal gasoline. Once he realizes his war is continuing just on a different front, he faces off with the black marketeer and wins the day.
Saga of Swamp Thing #34: Moore and Bissette/Totleben deliver something other than cheap entertainment for 10-year-olds. Faced with the knowledge that Matt will likely never wake up from the coma Arcane left him in, Abbie and Swamp Thing are free to confess their love for each other. Unable to share traditional physical intimacy with them being different biological kingdoms, Swamp Thing grows a psychedelic tuber, which Abbie consumes to share his consciousness.
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