Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1986 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on October 10, 1985.

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.

[Greyhawk] Four Oeridian Deities

This post presents the deities as if they existed in a (pseudo-)historical context where people's understanding of them might have changed and evolved with time. Obviously, Greyhawk presents a world where gods are demonstrably real. I don't think that precludes the approach I take here, but it may not fit every readers' conception of how the gods interact with the world.

Pholtus

Pholtus seems to have originally been a solar god or dawn god. Likely coincident with the development of Aerdian Nomism, Pholtus came to be seen as primeval deity who "brought forth the light" of Law, separating Order from Chaos and giving birth to the universe. 

Despite this important mythological role, Pholtus is seldom directly worshipped in the current era, with Pale as an exception.

Hieroneous and Hextor

Two of the best-attested tribal Oeridian deities, the two are an example of the Divine Twin motif. Many folk tales are legends are told about them. They are as popular among the common people as the hero gods.  Hextor represents the brutal side of war: destruction, bloodlust, and brutality. These traits might suggest he is more Chaotic than Lawful, but in the Oeridian mind, his actions are traits are a contingent and circumscribed chaos, only unleashed in service of Law. In fact, some Oeridian theologians argue that his actions are Lawful at their core, representing expression of the primal Law of Battle. In the modern era, Hextor has come to represent Law at its most obdurate and brutal, and so tyranny has been added to his portfolio.

Hieroneous represents the more positive aspects of conflict: justice such justice, valor, and skill at arms. He has also been associated with the knightly class and the cult of chivalry.

Zilchus

Zilchus seems to have been a minor, chthonic deity of the tribal Oeridians. He was associated with wealth and primarily riches drawn from the earth. While he developed as role as judge and ruler the dead (perhaps by extension from his existing role of ruling things in the ground) he has never been a god of death directly. Instead, he came to be viewed as the ultimate worldly power and his purview over wealth came to extend to markets and business.

In modern times, Zilchus is a commonly worshipped deity as he is believed to bring material prosperity to this faithful.

The D&Dness of Nifft the Lean

Michael Whelan

Michael Shea's Nifft the Lean (1982) and its sequels are too recent to be in Appendix N, of course, but rereading the novel (really a collection of short stories) after 30 years, I'm struck by how much homology to a D&D game the stories have.

First, an introduction for those who may never have heard of it. The titular Nifft the Lean is a master thief whose fantastical exploits are related to us after his presumed demise by a friendly scholar. The stories recall Jack Vance and Clark Ashton Smith, but also, they remind me a bit of Wagner's Kane stories in what I see as Shea's attempt to weld Sword & Sorcery and the Gothic. Of several of them, one might could say they are Vance by way of Hieronymus Bosch.

Now, as to the D&D-like action of the stories, here's a warning: this will contain spoilers. Here's the list:

Competent Professionals

Like higher level D&D characters, Nifft and is companions (typically Barnar) are highly skilled. This is noted in world and demonstrated in comparison to others. While they likely possess inborn aptitude or talent, the learned skill aspect is more emphasized. They also complete their "exploits" (as they call them) not so much by badassery or trusting to luck (though there is some of that) but by planning and experienced execution--where they are the masters of their own destinies--and skill and improvisation when they are not.

In "Pearls of the Vampire Queen," for instance, they well plan first their illicit pearl diving and then their robbery of the queen's palace.

Improvisation

The point bears further emphasis. When faced with a challenge like say, descending from a mountain into a Subworld (Hell, essentially) in "The Fishing of the Demon-Sea," Nifft and Barnar make use of what they have around them to jury-rig a means of getting down (sort of) safely. In Pearls of the Vampire Queen," when diving for the swamp pearls proves too laborious and dangerous, they switch to another plan inspired by recent intelligence they got regarding the Vampire Queen.

Travel to Other Planes

Like high level D&D characters, Nifft and friends at least twice have to accomplish a mission on another plane of existence. In "Come Then, Mortal – We Will Seek Her Soul" Nifft and his companion Haldar go to the land of the dead to carry a wayward former suitor to a priestess for her vengeance. In "The Fishing of the Demon-Sea" they are forced to retrieve a young noble from what in D&D terms you might call the Abyss. Like in D&D, these are so much mystical places but dangerous adventure sites.

Lasting Injuries

Nifft and friends are mortal, not superhumans. They get injured a lot and retain scars. Nifft and Barnar both lose their left ears in different stories, for instance.

There are of course ways where the stories aren't much like D&D. There aren't really parties of characters nor are there explicit dungeons, though there isn't any reason there couldn't be. Also, they tend to center around specific heists or missions not general looting or treasure hunting. Still, if one was looking for fiction that mimicked the sort of things one gets up to in old school still games, I think these novels are closer than even a lot of explicitly D&D tie-in fiction.

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1986 (week 1)

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 October 3, 1985. 

Crisis on Infinite Earths #10: It turns out Brainiac is not so dead as Psimon thought. As the Titan foe prepares to kill a startled Luthor, Brainiac blasts away Psimon's brain-in-a-glass from behind. On various Earths, the tide begins to turn against their villain army, though, as the heroes start fighting back, sometimes brutally. The Spectre appears, though, and puts an end to this conflict. He tells both sides that the Anti-Monitor still lives and is at the dawn of time preparing to wipe out the matter universes entirely. The Spectre and the toughest heroes of all the Earths (including Superboy of the now-destroyed Earth-Prime) journey back in time thanks to the running powers of Kid Flash and Jay Garrick to battle him directly, while the villains are tasked with traveling in time to the past of Oa and stopping Krona from opening up a conduit. The villains fail, and the heroes can't seem to hurt the Anti-Monitor, but the Spectre, channeling the power several of Earth's mystic masters, closes the conduit and engages the Anti-Monitor in combat. An explosion is unleashed and it looks as if everything might have been destroyed!

Running in every page of this issue, we have Harbinger's narration of the Monitor's records, which is sort of a proto-History of the DC Universe. Here we get some updates on places beyond Earth and other eras. We find out Starman (Prince Gavyn) and Immortal Man were both Crisis casualties. 

DC Comics Presents #89: ARozakis/Klein and Saviuk/Villagrain have Tigorr, Harpis, and the Changralynian bard, Oho-Besh, of the Omega Men vacationing on the planet Kuraq, only to discover a city of stone in duplicating Metropolis on Earth is being built there by a being who appears to be a brain-addled Superman. It turns out it isn't Superman but a deep-cut creature from a 1954 story, who sacrifices himself to save the Omega Men, acting like Superman, at least. Superman only shows up at the end to give some exposition.

Fury of Firestorm #43: Conway and Kayanan/Machlan have Typhoon awaken from the coma he's been in since last time he fought Firestorm, then confront his ex-wife and abduct his children, apparently with the intention of heading to Pittsburgh for a confrontation with Firestorm. Meanwhile, Ronnie tries out form college football since he thinks he's too short to play college basketball and makes the team. Also, Smoak's lawsuit against Firestorm moves forward.

Hex #5: Texeira/Garzon is back on art as we pick up where last issue left off. Hex and Stiletta manage get the better of the Conglomerate goons and steal their flier. Meanwhile, Borsten is still making trips to the past to try to harvest technological secrets to give him the upper hand over his rivals, but the process is taking its toll on his health. While he's recovering from his latest trip, a bit of industrial espionage by a Conglomerate agents inform them that Hex is loose in 21st Century. Given Hex's anti-Conglomerate actions, the group wrongly assumes he's working for Borsten. They send an armored hitman with a chainsaw weapon named Chain Gowan after him.

Gowan catches up with Hex soon enough, and his armor and weapons make him impossible to shake, until their fight takes them to an old junkyard where Stiletta shows Hex how to use the giant magnet and compactor to take care of the assassin. Unfortunately, the two find themselves surrounded by a gang. 

Justice League of America #246: Conway and McDonnell/Wray take the JLA out of Detroit, as old man Heywood evicts them. It makes sense in a story context, but I feel like it happened because the Detroit location just wasn't being a source of stories (or at least not stories that provided what JLA readers were looking for) in the way Conway had hoped when he put them there to begin with. The team winds up in New York City, and we follow various members as they look for work or places to live. J'onn tries for a job on the police force but seems to land himself a PI job. Steel becomes a personal trainer but perhaps has a shot at the movies. Zatanna returns to her apartment she was subletting to a friend. The friend's absence seems a bit ominous. We'll see if that pays off later. 

MASK #2: My brother or I had this issue when we were kids. Chen's art remains pleasing, while Fleisher's script is, well, up to the task of a kid's cartoon tie in. Following last issue, Matt Trakker and friends are still looking for Scott and T-Bob who have been kidnapped with only some Egyptian symbols left behind as a clue. When some Egyptologists have disappeared exploring a newly discovered tomb, Trakker goes to investigate. Soon, they are battling mummies and jackal headed Anubis who shave magical powers and are trying to get ahold of antiquities. Of course, it's Mayhem and the VENOM guys in disguise. There's an all-out battle at the pyramids with new vehicles called in and the powers of the masks employed in all their toyetic glory. I would say VENOM's plan makes no sense and is overly elaborate but that's beside the point.

In passing, we see a TV broadcast about how nuclear weapons are obsolete thanks to the new orbital missile defense system.

Outsiders #3: Gorbachev's American comic portrayal, like I think, the view of him in the American consciousness, is mostly positive, but in '85 when he had just come to power, we get stories like this where he is just the "leader of the enemy nation." The shadowy Bad Samaritan offers to help Gorbachev with his country's economic woes, and Gorbachev accepts. In disguise, the Bad Samaritan steals the printing plates for Markovian money, which the U.S. has helpfully been handling for Markovia. The Force of July is on the case for the U.S. government, but Brion feels like the Outsiders should be too, which of course, leads to the two groups fighting each other, allowing the Bad Samaritan to escape. 

In between these events, Black Lightning visits his ex, Lynn, who is involved with the recent F.A.M.I.N.E. record for humanitarian relief when she gets a visit from Edward Bentama, head of the EurAfrican Nations Council. The import of this subplot, I'm sure will become clear.

We also get the finale of the Looker solo outing by Barr and Lightle. Looker easily defeats the Untouchable gang once she figures out other intangible objects can touch them.

Vigilante #25: Kupperberg and Smith/Maygar have the Vigilante going after cops who are revealed to have tortured an innocent man to get him to confess. From the moment the event hits the news, Chase is angry about the cops' behavior, but the Vigilante is essentially supportive of them until he finds out the victim was innocent. Then, he hunts the cops down and kills them, though he appears to be severely wounded himself. Meanwhile, Marcia's psychiatrist has figured out Chase was the Vigilante. Trinidad Santiago is still in hiding, but both the Electrocutioner and the Vigilante are still after him.

Wetland Maps

 I tend to pick up maps when I visit places that seem good candidates with the idea of using them in rpgs. I seldom get around to actually doing it, though I did base a faerie garden on a map of Keukenhof in a game, and I used a historic map I found online of the World's Columbian Exposition (1893) to represent, well, the World's Columbian Exposition. 

Here are a couple of maps I happened to come across online of wetland locations that I've visited.

Some of my middle school classmates and I once got chased to the refugee of the top of a picnic table in Okefenookee, here. True story.

Congaree is one of the least visited national parks in the lower 48, which is a same. It doesn't have the majesty of a Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, sure, but it's worth a visit.

Trapped In a Gray Town

I haven't posted about it in a while, but our campaign in Nimble continues.  

Since that last post, the party tracked the faerie kidnappers to the place where they had their ramshackle warmachine. The party defeated it (with fire, naturally) but then was confronted by the buff goblin leader who dressed like a masked wrestler, Grimbor the Battle-Brawler. He was willing to trade words instead of blows and told them that he had sold the faerie on.

They head back up the road to pick up the trail. When they travel into an area where the color appears leeched out of everything, they meet a halfling youth beside the road who is supposed to summon passing adventurers (if any) for help.

The go to the town of Baron Hill and spend the night in the less-than-quaint Dead Crow Inn. Still trying to pick up the faerie's trail, they here about a Necromancer (supposedly deceased), and go to have words with his last henchman who is now a hermit on the edge of town.

That guy, Grygor Dilvesh, lives in a cave by the river. A cave, as the party discovers, that he has filled with booby traps. Grygor isn't there, but Frea twice gets acid gas in the face trying to disarm a trap, and she and g'Mbalisto have a close escape form a spike-filled pit. Pan investigates the creepy scarecrow of a child, which turns out to be part of a fire trap.

They do get a bit of treasure out of it, but don't find a faerie or a Necromancer and the town is still gray.

Leaving, they awkwardly run into Grygor, the caves' owner.

This adventure is an adaptation of one written for 4e. I'm a bit unsure of the Nimble approach to traps in regard to mechanics, but I was able to wing it well enough.

Wednesday Comics: DC, December 1985 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on September 26, 1985.

Action Comics #574: In the first story, Boldman and Schaffenberger/Hunt present one of those Silver Age style stories, but this one has more of a bite than is typical for that genre. Rad Zonon, a native of the world of Ostok in the same star system as Krypton comes to Earth to get Superman to compete against him in a reenactment of the Olympic-style games the Kryptonians and Ostokians used to compete in. Ultimately, Zonon is the victor, but Jimmy, having noticed Superman act strangely around the Ostokian, thinks something is fishy, and figures out there's a surge of energy in the last contest that could mean Zonon cheated. Superman reveals that Ostok is a dead world, devastated by radiation from the destruction of Krypton. Only Zonon survived of his people because he was traveling to Krypton to compete at the time. To be in shape to compete with Superman, the much older Ostokian was forced to fortify his body with energy, but in doing so, he killed himself. Superman knew what Zonon was doing, but also knew what victory meant to him. The last panel is Zonon, dead beneath his victory flag on his dead world.

The second story by Greenberger/Kesel and Bender/Hunt brings back Mr. Mxyzptlk. The imp comes to Earth to celebrate the birth of his son. Not only does he force the festivities, but he keeps making the day repeat. Jimmy tries to trick him into saying his name but fails. Clark reminds him that if tomorrow never comes, his son will never get any older. Realizing his mistake, Mxyzptlk agrees to say his name backwards to go home, but he can't make himself say it voluntarily, so Superman has to "trick" him.

Detective Comics #557: Moench and Colan/Smith follow-up up on the events of last issue. The Crisis related storms continue while Batman waits fretfully at the hospital the injured Catwoman now convinced that he loves her after all. When she awakens, she contradicts him, supporting Nocturna's theory. Bullock fills Gordon in that they are after Night Slayer, not Nocturna or Catwoman. Night Slayer moves in to kill Nocturna at the observatory, first confronting Robin who has appointed himself her guard.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and Moore/Patterson, Lars captures Onyx and nearly gets Green Arrow. He takes the key to the container holding the Book of Ages from her, then leaves her in a deathtrap on the monastery's bell. Green Arrow shows up to rescue her. They go after Lars, but he opens the container before they can stop him. In A Raiders of the Ark-esque turn, he's reduced to a skeleton by the energy from within in.

 

All-Star Squadron #52: Another Crisis crossover. It turns out Captain Marvel rushing at the All-Stars angrily at the end of last issue was a red herring. He was actually aiming for the shadow demons behind them. The group is on Earth-S, but they don't know how they got there. Green Lantern's ring is running out of juice, so he and Captain Marvel go to China to find the twin of the meteor that got carved into the lantern on Earth-Two to recharge it. Meanwhile, Liberty Belle has a dream about Firebrand in the Old West with a black Green Lantern, which is something that is (unbeknownst to her) actually going on. Or did go on. Time travel! 

Captain Marvel introduces the All-Stars to Shazam who is able to send them home via the Rock of Eternity, though presumably for continuity reasons, Cap isn't able to see the Rock yet.

The second story is a solo Hawkman with art by Dellinges, imitating and adapting a Golden Age yarn (All-Star Comics #13) drawn by Kubert. Hawkman gets a Planetary Romance sort of adventure on Saturn 

DC Challenge #2: Wein and Patton take over this issue. First, they briefly recap where Evanier/Colan left things, then move into their own story. Batman stops the bomb from going off at Wayne Manor by cutting lines at the power plant with a batarang, but the mysterious pointed-eared, red man disappears. He does leave a numerical clue, though. Meanwhile, Superman discovers it was Mongul who walloped him on the moon and manages to defeat the villain. Elsewhere, Congo Bill and Bwana Beast have to deal with escaped zoo animals and a manticore released by an earthquake who battles the jinn we saw in the first issue. Jonah Hex takes a blue stone tablet from some robbers and is transported to 1985. He winds up being forced into a car by some crime film lookalike thugs where the red-skinned, pointed ear guy is driving. While Hex scuffles with the thugs, the driver disappears, leaving the car careening toward danger.

Nathaniel Dusk II #3: MacGregor and Colan have Dusk escape getting perforated by a tommy gun by jumping from the top of a moving bus onto the face of a street clock. Dusk finds an employee of Amanda's stepfather has a gun that matches the description of the one first used to shoot at Clement, and recalls the assailant was wearing a Malone uniform. Valentine Cooper supposedly confronts the man, and the man winds up shot in the struggle. Later, Dusk figures out that within the fake apple on his cart, Clement has hidden a clue to where the documents in his possession are. It turns out to be a locker at the train station. Dusk retrieves the folder but has another close escape from the tommy gun wielding gangster. It turns out Clement had photos of Amanda's stepfather meeting with gangster Arthur Rothberg. Nothing criminal, but embarrassing and a potential blow to his reputation. Malone denies hiring the gangsters, but that's when the tommy gun guy shows up and says Rothberg sent them. Dusk manages to escape again.

V #11: Bates and Infantino/DeZuniga get the resistance leaders back to California where they leave L.A. for a base at an old ranch in the desert. Unfortunately, there's a traitor among them, and the Visitors under Diana know their whereabouts and are planning an assault. Around the same time, a young Visitor Prince is inbound to get some military experience. Factional conflict among the Visitors leads to his suspended animation pod crashing in the desert where the Resistance finds it. They treat the young Prince well (knowing it would cause an escalation to harm him) and save his life when Lydia foolishly okays an attack on the Resistance base with the Prince there. Willie is captured in the raid, but the others escape. The Prince is outwardly grateful, but his true intentions are unclear.

World's Finest #322: This issue is a fill-in by Zimmerman and Giffen/Kesel. Superman is seriously injured by some sort of ray gun in the hands of the Mob. As the condition could eventually kill him, Batman comes to Metropolis to track down the source. Meanwhile, a woman named Helena arrives in town to try and find her sister, Astrid, who got involved with the mob and has perhaps been killed. Batman meets Helena and decides to help her find her sister.

Helena stumbles upon where the mobsters are using the ray to attack Superman, while elsewhere, Batman encounters Astrid. She tells him the mob's plan but asks him not to reveal to Helena she is still alive. Helena and Batman, working in toward the same end, if not together, foil the mob's scheme and save Superman. Batman, with some reservation, fulfills his end of the bargain with Astrid and tells Helena that her sister is dead.