JLA #243 – “Storm Clouds” – Gerry Conway/George Tuska/Mike Machlan
This one starts with the newly-reconciled Aquaman and Mera arriving at JLA headquarters and finding the place empty. Aquaman consults the computer and figures out where his teammates went and who they might be up against. In the Yukon, Vixen’s claustrophobia is getting to her, but she uses her powers to break free of the ropes binding her. Unfortunately, she and the other JLAers are still trapped in a hole under a huge rock. Farther north, J’onn J’onzz and Dale Gunn arrive at Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, which blows Dale away since he’s never seen anything like it. Back in the Yukon, Vixen channels the incredible powers of the mole (!) and digs
out from under the rock, pulling her teammates out using Ralph (Elongated Man) Dibny’s unconscious body. Aquaman and Mera show up just in time to do nothing and Vixen tells them about the fight with Amazo. Speaking of Amazo, he’s still being controlled by the personality of Slick Jake MacGregor, a bitter asshole who thinks everyone’s out to get him. Amazo is heading south, continuing his trail of destruction. At the Fortress, J’onn and Dale find out a meteorite crashed through the ceiling and accidentally freed Amazo. (J’onn remarks that “even Superman has found it impossible to construct a perfect space defense system”, which sounds like a swipe at the real-world SDI 
program that was so much in the news at the time.) J’onn realizes that a human personality must be controlling Amazo (which he would’ve known if he’d encountered the android like his teammates did), so if they can get rid of that human influence, Amazo will revert to his original programming and shut down. The rest of the League tracks Amazo to Vancouver, which he’s currently busting up. Aquaman and Vixen tackle the crazed android, but since he has the powers of the entire original JLA, he’s a hard guy to beat. In the Yukon, J’onn goes to what’s left of St. Jude (which Amazo totaled last issue) and figures out Jake MacGregor is the one controlling Amazo. In Vancouver, Steel wakes up and goes to confront Amazo despite being injured. Amazo has already taken
Aquaman and Vixen out and is ready to kill Steel and Mera when Jake MacGregor shows up and accuses Amazo of being a thief and claim-jumper for stealing his identity. Amazo’s programming is confused, giving Aquaman enough time to take him out. Of course, “MacGregor” was really J’onn using his Martian shapechanging powers. Aquaman apologizes for not being there when the League needed him, but says Mera is more important than anything else to him and that he’ll be resigning to be with her.
Legion of Super-Heroes #15 – “Hostage on a Hostile Star” – Paul Levitz/Greg LaRocque/Larry Mahlstedt
This one starts with Wildfire returning to Legion Headquarters to get a new containment suit for his energy form. Apparently, the Legion Cruiser he was on (with the five new recruits we saw last issue) was ambushed and destroyed, but we’ll have to wait to learn more. In space near Imsk, a contingent of Legionnaires (Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy, Mon-El, Shadow Lass, and Colossal Boy) is holding back the space dragons that live near Imsk until the beacon that keeps them away from the planet can be repaired. Element Lad contacts them to let them know about the ambush and they wonder if the new recruits should’ve been sent to the Academy for
training before going on a real mission. On Shangalla (the cemetery asteroid), Timber Wolf and Sensei tell Karate Kid’s gravestone that they accomplished his final request, planting a flower on Lythyl. Timber Wolf wonders what he should do with the billion credits he’s now inherited, and also wonders what to do with Myg, the guy they brought back from Lythyl. Sensei can’t help with the first problem, but offers to take Myg with him for the time being. In an uninhabited star system in deep space, Mon-El’s team finds a star giving off a lot of solar energy. When Mon-El goes to investigate, he’s grabbed by what looks like a living solar flare. The ship is grabbed too and Mon-El recovers in time to stop it from crashing. He notices that the “flares” came from an asteroid, 
not the star itself. Back on Earth, Element Lad sends Wildfire and Dawnstar to help and Dream Girl questions why he didn’t go himself. Element Lad doesn’t like her attitude, but admits to Star Boy that she might have a point. On the asteroid, the Legionnaires end up falling into a trap and find out their foe is Dr. Regulus, who has captured the five rookies. Regulus escaped prison during the Daxamite invasion and has been planning revenge on Sun Boy, as usual. Regulus tells them there are fire creatures living under the asteroid who will kill the new Legionnaires if he’s attacked. Sun Boy knows Regulus wants him and
challenges the maniac to a fight … alone. On Earth, Cosmic Boy and Night Girl dedicate the Substitute Legion’s headquarters as a superhero museum, but Night Girl gets freaked out by the crowds and they take off. Both of them are wondering what to do now that they’re basically retired. Back at the asteroid, Regulus has released all the other Legionnaires since Sun Boy swore to fight him one-on-one. They compare notes, with Polar Boy feeling stupid for getting captured so easily. Mon-El points out that the fire creatures give Regulus an advantage, even using their heat to create illusions. On the asteroid, Sun Boy finds he can’t use his powers without causing the fire creatures to 
attack him, which allows Regulus to beat the hell out of him. Shrinking Violet is ready to break the promise and go help Sun Boy (are they banging at this point? I’m not sure), but the others won’t let her. Sun Boy finally uses his flight ring to send Regulus slamming into the wall, knocking him out. There’s an epilogue where we see Brainiac 5 at the Time Institute, which has been tracking the effects of the Crisis. Brainy is reviewing historical data that suggests Earth may have been destroyed in the Crisis. He’s also aware of Supergirl’s death and hopes it isn’t true (but of course, we know it is).
Tales of the Teen Titans #58 – “Victor, Victorious” – Marv Wolfman/Chuck Patton/Romeo Tanghal
This one starts with the Fearsome Five reviving Neutron and asking him to join their group (as the sixth member) and wreak havoc on New York. Neutron figures it sounds like fun and should be easier than attacking Metropolis. Psimon has already sent an ultimatum to the city, so the cops are waiting when the Five show up to claim New York. Neutron demonstrates his explosive powers and the cops son realize they’re no match for these villains. The Titans show up to challenge the Five, with Starfire blasting Psimon into the water and hitting Neutron with a heavy starbolt. But Neutron absorbs Starfire’s power and blasts her away easily … not a great
start. Wonder Girl has to move fast to keep ahead of Jinx’s sorcerous blasts and ends up running right into Mammoth. Nightwing manages to take Gizmo down by goading him into a trap and Changeling keeps Starfire from getting hurt before turning into an elephant to slap Mammoth around. Shimmer tries to waste Changeling and Wonder Girl, but they get away while Nightwing takes her down. Jinx observes the battle and is ready to strike when someone sneaks up behind her. We don’t see who, but eye contact is involved so it’s probably Jericho. Farther north, Victor (Cyborg) Stone is being rushed to STAR Labs by Dr. Klyburn because his body is rejecting the polymers she implanted to make 
him look more human. The reaction is so intense, Klyburn isn’t sure if they’ll make it to STAR before Victor dies. Back at the battle, Neutron hits the Titans with a full-force blast, scattering them. Psimon is underwater, still recovering from Starfire’s hit, trying to keep a bubble around himself. His concentration slips, but before he drowns he’s shanghaied away by Harbinger and Monitor to participate in the Crisis. At STAR Labs, Klyburn prepares Victor for surgery and he knows she’s going to make him look like a cyborg again, which bothers him because his friends never got to see him in his new “human” form. Downtown, the Fearsome Five decide to continue their destruction
without Psimon and smash their way through the National Guard. Jericho is still inside Jinx, trying to get a handle on her powers, but when she starts to regain control he’s forced to act. He attacks Neutron, who blasts Jinx, so Jericho starts jumping from body to body, taking down the Fearsome Five and confusing the hell out of them. That gives the other Titans time to recover and they soon put the Five down for good, with Gizmo immediately surrendering when he wakes up surrounded by pissed off Titans. Later, the Titans visit Victor in hospital and he tells them he’s finally accepted the way he looks as part of him and the fact that they never looked at him as anything less than human really helped. Back at Titans’ headquarters, Jericho is formally inducted onto the team. And that’s the last issue of Tales of the Teen Titans with original content; next issue is an origin reprint and then they start reprinting the Baxter series. Obviously I won’t be reviewing those, since I’m already doing so. Speaking of which …
New Teen Titans #13 – “Crisis” – Marv Wolfman/Eduardo Barreto/Romeo Tanghal
As the title indicates, this issue deals with all the weirdness caused by the Crisis on Infinite Earths, which makes sense since Marv Wolfman was writing that maxi-series at the time. We see the ship full of Tamaranians who are heading to Earth to retrieve Starfire, but they have to change course because of the anti-matter wave destroying the galaxy. In New York, the Titans are stumped as to what’s causing the red skies over Earth and the increased anti-matter in space. Dr. Klyburn tells them STAR Labs have no clue what’s going on either and Nightwing mentions he’s been in touch with Superman. Downtown, Victor (Cyborg) Stone finally finds Sarah Simms, but overhears her talking to her
new boyfriend Gary and realizes he’s lost his chance with her. The handicapped kids Sarah works with are thrilled to see Victor, so he can’t really express his feelings in front of them … especially since they seem to like Gary. Across town, Dick (Nightwing) Grayson talks to Donna (Wonder Girl) Long and her husband Terry about Starfire. Dick loves Starfire but worries about her regressing to the brutal warrior she was brought up to be on Tamaran and wonders if she might go too far and kill someone. Donna points out that Starfire was raised to fight (and to enjoy fighting), so trying to change her isn’t really fair; Dick may just have to accept her as she is. They’re interrupted by an alarm and head off to 
check it out. Victor and Sarah talk and he admits he’s not really mad at her for moving on, since he hasn’t really been around for months. Vic admits he as mad at first, but hanging out with the kids all day mellowed him and he says he doesn’t feel sorry for himself like he would have a few years ago. He and Sarah agree to be friends and he warns Gary not to hurt her. Outside, he stops some looters and runs into Harbinger, who wants to recruit him to help the Monitor end the Crisis. Unfortunately, Cyborg gets the wrong idea and tries to run from her. After a detour through the offices of DC Comics, Cyborg finally realizes Harbinger is trying to stop whatever madness is happening to Earth and agrees to go with her. Over several weeks, the anti-matter wave starts causing earthquakes and other destruction all over the planet and we see the Titans (and Outsiders) trying to help innocent people caught in the effects. 
We also get cameos of other heroes dealing with the destruction—or trying to—without ever really knowing what’s causing it. Starfire is especially bothered since she doesn’t know if the anti-matter wave has wiped out Tamaran or not. She gets a surprise when Captain Karras shows up and tells her Tamaran is fine (and so is her family), and that he’s come to Earth to bring her home.