My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of November 7, 1985.
Hex #6: Fleisher and Texeira/Garzon pickup up with Hex and Stiletta in the hands of the Conglomerate. The Conglomerate agents provide some backstory on Soames, the currency of the future. These tablets are the only thing able to purify the water supply in this post-apocalyptic age. They were developed by a Tanzanian scientist who intended to give them away for free, but the Conglomerate took over the manufacture and distribution, and that's what gives them their power. They are very concerned that Borsten is close to figuring out how to make a substitute and break their monopoly, so they want Hex to kill him, then they'll let him go back to his own time.
Hex agrees but runs into trouble. First, he wants to leave Stiletta behind and she, surprisingly given Borsten is her father, wants to be a part of the action. He has to run off, leaving her very angry at him. The plan to have him appear to be captured by Borsten's men goes awry when one of the squad of soldiers turns out to have a personal grudge against Hex and just wants to kill him.
DC Comics Presents #90: Though when individual character chronologies are established, there are some issues prior to this one that must be post-Crisis, this is the first issue that is obviously so because Kupperberg and Cowan/Hunt have Captain Atom (the one that appeared in Crisis, not the post-Crisis version that won't appear until the end of '86) on the same Earth as Superman and Firestorm with no hint of dimensional travel. To save an astronaut from the shuttle Atlantis, the three must battle and solve the mystery of a radioactive man called Rayburn. In a Marvel Bronze Age manner, Rayburn is in the end a pitiable character, but doomed. Kupperberg adds and interesting wrinkle to the team-up in that Atom and Firestorm have to keep their distance as their powers weaken the other.
Fury of Firestorm #44: The editorial announces this will be Kayanan's last issue as he moves on to other projects. Firestorm destroys a massive tornado threatening Pittsburgh (unbeknownst to him, created by Typhoon), but the effort causes Ronnie and Stein to spontaneously separate and leaves them unable to reform Firestorm. Luckly for them, after talking with his kids, Typhoon decides not to destroy Firestorm now but instead heads back to New York to deal with the situation with his wife. Meanwhile, Felicity Smoak's lawsuit against the hero proceeds and she and her boyfriend (Ronnie's dad, Ed) decide to go to Pittsburgh for a visit.
Justice League of America #247: Conway and McDonnell/Wray have the JLA head to their old cave Secret Sanctuary to re-open it to serve as their base. The issue doesn't make mention of its location in Happy Harbor, RI. Instead, it only refers to it as "near Metropolis." Anyway, Elongated Man, Vixen, and Gypsy are left to clean up, and they encounter an amorphous alien creature that knocks out everyone but Gypsy. When pushed too far, the young hero easily defeats the alien and has the realization it may only be a baby.
While all this is going on, we see a criminal, their identity obscured, escape from Takron-Galtos.
Outsiders #4: Barr and Aparo continue the story from last issue as the Outsiders and the Force of July separately follow the stolen bank plates to the USSR. The two teams are ultimately forced to team up, but in the end, Gorbachev just hands over the plates, surprising the Bad Samaritan that went to such trouble to steal them. After the two American teams depart, Gorbachev explains that what he was really after was close-up examination of the supers, with the implication with he plans to make his own team.
There's a Metamorpho backup story by Barr and Staton, with art in the cartoony style Staton used for Plastic Man stories back in Adventure Comics. It's also written in a throwback style to the Haney-Fradon 60s. The Thugg brothers try to steal a matter transmutation ray that Dr. Berner is creating for Simon Stagg, but Metamorpho with the help of Sapphire foils their plans.
Vigilante #26: Adrian Chase is still really stressed out by his work and his inability to catch the killer Vigilante who he can't help but feel responsible for. His bailiff, Dave, takes a real interest in Chase's mental health, but Adrian keeps rebuffing him as Dave tries to get him to open up about what's bothering him. Adrain decides to take some time in the country to relax so he heads to the upstate, but that just happens to be where the drug dealer Santiago is, and where Vigilante and the Electrocutioner are hunting him.
Adrian, in fact runs across the Vigilante and two start fighting, only to get interrupted by the Electrocutioner's arrival.
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