Wonder Woman #s 292

Wonder Woman # 292 (June 1982)
title: "Seven Against Oblivion!" (Judgment in Infinity Part 2)

plot: Paul Levitz

script: Roy Thomas

penciller: Gene Colan
inker: Frank McLaughlin
letterer: Ben Oda
colorist: Carl Gafford
editor: Len Wein
cover: Ross Andru & Dick Giordano

Order of Appearance: Phantom Lady is the only Freedom Fighter to appear in this story.

Guest Stars:  Wonder Woman (it's her book, so naturally), Black Canary, the Huntress, Power Girl, Supergirl, Madame Xanadu

Supporting Characters:
Lois Lane, Zatanna 

Opponents:
The omnipotent being known as The Adjudicator and his minions "Plague" and "War"

Overall Summary: 
An omnipotent being known as the Adjudicator has judged Earths and sent his minions, representative of the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse, to destroy Earth Two and Earth X. Several super-heroines, including Phantom Lady, try to stop him.  

Plot Summary:

Fresh from their battle with the omnipotent alien being known as The Adjudicator and his representation of "Famine," Wonder Woman and Zatanna are interviewed by Lois Lane. Wonder Woman is not talking on the record, but after the majority of the press corps gives up, Lois tries to get an exclusive. Wonder Woman can't admit just how powerless she felt when the Adjudicator blasted her, but Lois knows something very dangerous is happening. She tells Wonder Woman that she trusts her. 

In the Adjudicator's home dimension between our worlds, he thinks about Wonder Woman and goes searching for other, similar spinning blue spheres. He decides to send "Plague" to the world we call Earth Two. 

There, Black Canary is visiting the JSA brownstone warning them of the Adjudicator's plot and the possibility that he will attack Earth Two. Suddenly (and conveniently) the Adjudicator appears at the US Center for Disease Control with "Plague." Black Canary, the Huntress, and Power Girl fight him, until he suddenly disappears in a bright flash of light. 

Meanwhile, back on Earth One, Wonder Woman has sent Supergirl to Madame Xanadu, who sees right through Supergirl's identity of Linda Danvers. Watching them is the Adjudicator, who blinks them to Earth X, changes Linda to Supergirl, and sends "War" after them. 

Wonder Woman wanted them to check on Earth X to make sure it was okay. They find Paris very much still in ruins from World War Two, which only ended on this world in 1973. "War" attacks the women with empty Nazi tanks, which Supergirl is able to destroy easily while also spouting obscure WW2 trivia. 

Elsewhere in Paris, "War" leads mind-controlled Parisiens against the US Embassy. Phantom Lady tries to protect the Embassy and turn the mob back. Madame Xanadu arrives to help, showing "War" the Tarot card for The Fool, which seems to make him disappear. 

Supergirl and Madame Xanadu return back to Earth One. Phantom Lady turns her attention back to the angry mob, but with "War" gone they have returned to normal and all is well again. 

Review: 

Five years after she and her team-mates shuffled off of the main DCU Earth One stage, Phantom Lady is now back. She has somehow returned to her native Earth X, but there is no mention of the other Freedom Fighters. Also, although she does demonstrate her black-out beam, she does NOT "phase out" as she could during the Bronze Age Freedom Fighters series. And her uniform has been augmented with a pair of green goggles. 

The goggles, atleast, seem a straight-forward addition by Roy Thomas. She had been shown wearing them during her recent appearances in his All Star Squadron series; she will wear them in all of her future appearances written by him, as well. No explanation here as to why she has them, of course. 

In fact, there is no reason given for using her here at all, especially when you stop and think about all the other more-mainstream super-heroines who don't appear in this story such as Batgirl, Mera, and Hawkwoman. The inclusion of Phantom Lady and Earth X especially seems to imply that Roy had a certain affection for this particular character. She had just appeared in three issues of his All Star Squadron; she would end up being the most used Freedom Fighter in that series. Although it would have been nice for Roy or Paul to give us some explanation as to how and why she was actually back on her home world, that was obviously not the story Roy (or Paul) wanted to tell. 

As for the story itself, I don't think I have read a worst EPIC story in my life. The antagonist's rationale is never clear: he goes from world to world to judge them, and destroys those he finds unworthy. Okaaaay, so does he judge Earth One worthy, or not? Then, why or how does he step off of our dimensional plane and decide to judge Earths Two and X, as well as Earth One? We get a glimpse of Earth Three, but does he not judge THAT Earth, too? You would think he would definitely find that planet unworthy. On Earth Two, Black Canary talks about "the Adjudicator's plan" but how does SHE know it, when the reader doesn't!? It's all very confusing and, dare I say it, stupid. Perhaps it was explained in the first chapter, last issue? If that's the case, the writers and editor owe it to new readers to explain it again, and they didn't. 

As for the art, I was never a fan of Gene Colan's style, and this is not his best work. I will leave it at that. 

Best Phantom Lady Moment 

Phantom Lady shows her mettle when she faces an angry mob in Paris

Worst Phantom Lady Moment 

This is the last we see of Phantom Lady in this story. 

She has absolutely nothing to do with the conclusion. 

She's willing, but Roy and Paul give her nothing to do. 

Moment They Could Have Been Cleared:

No mention is made in this story of the Freedom Fighters being wanted by the police, so we can assume that those charges have somehow been dropped. 

Freedom of Information

• Although this is a Wonder Woman comic featuring super-heroines, no female talent was involved in its creation. 
• No other Freedom Fighter members appear in this story.  
• Madame Xanadu describes Earth X as a planet that has been fighting World War 2 "unabated" for 40 years; however, everyone here knows that the war ended in JLA #s 107-108.  
• Phantom Lady somehow appears at the US Embassy in Paris, although no mode of travel is mentioned. Perhaps she lives in Paris now? 

The Freedom Fighters

assembled by Len Wein