DC Challenge #5 (February, 1986)

• Outside Salem, MA, Dr. Fate saw chaos reigning on Earth, and sought to defend her.
• On Earth-S, their New York was also being invaded by aliens, as reported by Billy Batson for WHIZ Evening News. This looked like a job for Captain Marvel, but the magic word wouldn't work for Billy. Making his way to an abandoned subway station, Billy lit a mystic brazier to summon the wizard Shazam. However, the spirit was "dying," as magic was being sapped throughout the universe, and Shazam had no super powers to offer Billy.
• Back on Earth-1's New York City (or is it Metropolis? I'm confused,) the invaders prepared to publicly execute our alien heroes. Supergirl and Superman were helpless so long as a weird machine projected red sun radiation about them, so Jemm silently blasted it with his tikka jewel. "Good going, J'emm! Kara, what say we return the favor?" The Girl of Steel released the Son of Saturn, Manhunter from Mars and Starfire. Superman announced, "together, we'll show that these no-goods don't speak for all aliens!" The Maid of Might added, "When we're through with 'em, they'll be lucky to mumble!"
• In Los Angelas, Adam Blake meditated in his apartment, until Dr. Fate called for the return of Captain Comet.
• Adam Strange returned to Earth and an emergency equipment cache. However, Dr. Fate compelled Adam to miss his next zeta-beam to Rann, assuring him Alanna would be alright, and that his native world needed him more.
• "Meanwhile, the city of Metropolis plays unwilling host to the jackboots of an invading army... and finds itself liking the experience not at all!"
• "In a stately house overlooking that troubled town," Tabu argued for Peter Cannon to intercede. Peter initially protested, wishing to allow civilization to lie in its own bed, but his conscience got the better of him. Thunderbolt's "lithe figure in scarlet and blue" let out in a hurry.

• Dr. Fate could not take a direct hand against the "alien infestation," so the "Nile Necromancer" opened a temporal ankh that brought the Blackhawks to modern Metropolis. Even in World War II era planes, the Blackhawks were skilled enough to down several spaceships in a nighttime battle. Chop Chop grinned, "Good shootin', guys! We won't be able to tell their pilots from hamburger!" Once the Blackhawks were themselves shot down, they parachuted, guns in hand, back into combat.
• The aliens burned and trampled an American flag, invoking the wrath of Uncle Sam.
• In the city, aliens shot Thunderbolt with a "Pain Ray," but through force of will Peter Cannon fought through his agony. In the same area were Uncle Sam and the Blackhawks, all fighting the good fight. Then, a whole other batch of creatures drove by in a Daily Planet truck, delivering bundles of newspapers with the headline "Clark Kent Really Superman." Thunderbolt took this as just another bit of strangeness going around.
• Dr Fate flew to the Rock of Eternity. "Blessed Ohrmazd! Still the wizard lives!" The spectral Shazam knew Fate's master Nabu "eons agone," and hoped the Doctor could succeed him in death. "No, great one! A war is being waged, between out-worlders who wish to destroy all magic, and savage monsters who desire to master science! The former are the cause of your weakness! But I am come that you might have strength... strength enough to send your chosen one to battle at my side! Now rise!" The renewed Shazam felt "merely nine hundred!"
• Billy Batson was surrounded by aliens on Earth-S, so he used smoke bombs he'd found at the station, but still got himself shot with a ray gun. Before Billy could be finished off, Shazam's voice could be heard from the heavens, commanding the boy to speak his name. "A crash of magic lightning comes... changing Billy to mighty Captain Marvel," who made short work of the ground forces. The World's Mightiest Mortal then converted a highway tunnel into a giant butterfly net to capture their spaceships. Captain Marvel next flew to the Rock of Eternity, where he joined Dr. Fate for a trip to Rann.
• Adam Strange and Captain Comet teamed up to fight the aliens on Earth-1, until they were struck by a crimson beam. "The fabric in the curtain of reality abruptly frays, then reweaves, with the Man of Destiny and the Champion of Rann on the wrong side!" Landing in the Plane of Holes, the pair was greeted by Darwin Jones, Deadman and Bobo the Detective Chimp. Jimmy Olsen and Dr. Terrence Thirteen, Ghostbreaker were still unconscious when the Anti-Matter Man approached, threatening their destruction with the slightest touch. Warp-Holes that had surrounded the heroes vanished, as did the brief physical form of Deadman. Captain Comet couldn't control or even communicate with the threat through telepathy, and Adam's ray-gun was useless...
  
• Dr. Fate and Captain Marvel flew to the city of Ranagar, where Sardath and Alanna were among the citizens "caught in the middle of a conflict between the invading aliens and mystical demons!" The Big Red Cheese rightly figured he and Fate were perfect to fight the "magic-based no-goods," while the forces of Ranagar fended off the extraterrestrials. However, the demons chanted an incantation that opened a warp-hole to the Nether Plane. The tentacles of minor demon S'thulum seized the mystical heroes, who could not fight as it drug them through the hole, because S'thulum would devour their magical power...
• "If There's A Hole In Reality, Is Life A Cosmic Donut?/Thunderbolts And Lightning" was by Mike W. Barr, Dave Gibbons and Mark Farmer