Back when Flash's defining characteristic was "gross."

I mentioned buying the first issue of this mini-series of the racks back in 1991, but only got the second at a recent show: War of the Gods #2, "The Holy Wars" Story and layouts by George Perez, additional layouts by Russell Braun, finishes by Cynthia Martin and Romeo Tanghal.

Even though this is the second issue, it's chapter 13, since each crossover issue counted as a chapter. (We checked out a Hawkworld chapter a bit back.) So I'm more than a little vague what's going on here, but that may also be because some of the titles being crossed over with were in weird places as well. For example, Captain Atom #57 was a tie-in--and that book's final issue, which seems to defeat the purpose of a crossover to drive up sales--but was also a tie-in with Armageddon 2001 #2, and seemed to be indicating the Captain was breaking bad. (Hopefully, we'll check out that issue at the end of the year!) There was a panel where Dove worries about the missing Hawk, who would turn up...to kill her, in the aforementioned Armageddon 2001 #2, although that was a late change and isn't foreshadowed here. Similarly, the Martin-Stein Firestorm (who had been lost in space a year or two prior) had returned; a panel checks in with the Justice Society of America, who had been trapped in Limbo fighting Ragnarok for several years; still another hints at the return of the Metal Men.

The rate I'm going, I'll probably read #4 in 2063. Still, if it's the big finish, there's something to look forward to.