Disco Inferno – Wonder Woman #292

 Seven Against Oblivion 

Wonder Woman #292

Cover Date: July 1982
Released: 8th April 1982

Previously on Wonder Woman a cut-price alien Celestial has come to Earth to render judgment on humanity. Finding us lacking across the multiverse he’s using a Disco Ball to summon the Four Horsemen to somehow destroy the Earth(s). Wonder Woman and Zatana stopped famine, but we still have three more to go…

All this is summed up nicely on the splash page before Diana and Lois Lane, because obviously, it’d be Lois, have a moment together. And this Lois is pretty amazing sharp and on the ball, but also pretty supportive. Looking into his magic disco ball our alien looks at the options, in some lovely trippy panels, and decides to send Plague to Earth-2. And I got to wonder at this point why this is going on across the multiverse, apart from the fact that Huntress is a backup strip. If we’re going to look at Earth’s worth destroying for not being up to speck Earth-3 and Earth-X (which comes up later I know) are much higher on the list than Earth-1 or 2. Now I know this is taken into account later on in one of those “no planet could fit those narrow criteria” kind of ways, it just strikes me that really this should just be an Earth-1 story. But more Power Girl and Huntress, so I’ll give this one a pass this time around!

Black Canary has been sent over to get help, Kara and Helena obviously, and we get a quick comment about their Earth being called Earth-2 by Kara before they go into action. She’s in the middle of “a this sound like a you problem rather than an us problem” when Earth-2 CDC announces a breakout in Atlanta. They’re called the Disease Control Center here but I’ll be honest I’m not sure if it’s an 80s thing or an Earth-2 thing. And yes it is weird talking about such things after the last few years of general craziness, lets enjoy more innocent times for a while!

Here I think I should mention the art, especially the faces of our various heroes. It’s in no way bad or awful art, it’s just the way Gene Colan has drawn the faces that makes them look somewhat older. Personally, I don’t know enough about the man art, I’m a terrible fan I know, an inkers problem, or just an attempt to show the heroes are more experienced than their Earth-2 counterparts.

Plague is just riding around giving random people… well the Plague when our heroes catch up with them at the Peach Tree Plaza (a real place). Power Girl goes crashing in to face our plague rider, only to be bought low by a case of the sneezes. Luckily Helena distracts them just in time with a batarang and our rider just bails on the place to pastures new. Or would do if Huntress didn’t try and tackle Plague and Power Girl hit the skeleton and horse with a random bit of shopping centre. When then get a scene, that I’ll admit probably hit a little harder now than it would a few years ago, where medical personal at the DCC are working to try and cure the plague despite dropping themselves. our disco balled Adjudicator is being to feel the feels, at the humans here showing compassion for others, though not enough, yet, to call the whole thing off. Power Girl is down, but not our, just from being near Plague so Huntress tackles them down but just touching there robes whilst Black Canary give them a burst of her sonic scream. Which seems to somehow have an effect as Plague is summoned away.

So that’s it for one Kara, but as it happens we get two for the price of one as Linda Danvers, Supergirl obviously, goes to a street in New York on the behest of Wonder Woman. Here she enters the shop of Madame Xanadu who cuts through the crap shows she knows who Linda is and tells how our disco alien has sent War to Earth-X. This seems a little redundant but he’s not exactly the most cunning of villain we’ve seen so far!

Arriving in Earth-X Paris, we know because of the Eiffel Tower still standing despite the area being devastated. They quickly find War, Supergirl punches a Nazi tank and rescue a little girl from harm. As Supergirl is going through one of her many costumes phase, though no headband this time around, we get a scooped neck version that not that dissimilar to Power Girl. Though obviously in the traditional blue and red with the big red S on her chest. Anyway, this first fight isn’t with War, but with a load of tanks whilst War does a runner to the rest of the plot.

He’s found Phantom Woman who’s about to be caught when she just straight up blind the bad guys and go straight for War, a pretty badass moment. She is knocked down but is helped up by Madame Xanadu who, because we’re right near the end, banishes War with the power of Tarot cards (the Fool to be precise). Then job done they go back to Earth-1 Linda being pretty bummed that things aren’t quite sorted out and their earth is still in danger…

Despite the Earth-X stuff being cut a little short, poor Phantom Lady get a page before it’s all over, how could I hate an issue that has two Kara for the price of one? Having looked ahead I know that this is the most we really get of either of them, but it is still a solid fighty, fight issue despite being the middle bit of our three parter.

 ⋅ Writers: Paul Levitz / Roy Thomas ⋅ Pencilers: Gene Colan ⋅  Inkers: Frank McLaughlin / 

Romeo Tanghal ⋅  Colourists: Carl Gafford ⋅ Letterers: Ben Oda ⋅ Editors: Len Wein ⋅