Justice League of America #256 – “Back to Godhead” – J. M. DeMatteis/Luke McDonnell/Bob Smith
Last issue, J’onn J’onzz was knocked into a fireplace and since Martians are vulnerable to fire, he wasn’t too happy about it. This issue opens with the whole apartment on fire and J’onn trapped in the middle of it. He starts seeing H’ronmeer, the Martian god of death (and fire), who beckons him into the flames. Meanwhile, Gypsy is still with Pam, the hooker who she thought helped set J’onn up for a murder a few issues back. Gypsy found out Pam had nothing to do with it and even feels sympathy for her, since they both ran away from home. Gypsy stops to give a homeless woman money, but the woman grabs her and starts ranting. When Gypsy
tries to use her illusion power, it doesn’t work and the woman turns into a demon and chases her and Pam (who has no idea what Gypsy is running from). The two of them end up being transported somewhere else, where they find J’onn (who was also shanghaied there) and an unconscious Zatanna. Apparently, Zatanna drew them there magically through the weird nightmares she’s been having since Adam drugged her. J’onn brings her back and she explains how Adam used her blood to give himself magical powers that blended with his own psychic ones. Now he can basically control reality and they get a first-
hand demonstration as they shift between realities. They realize what’s happening when Adam stumbles in, begging for help. The sudden influx of almost godlike power was too much for him and shattered his mind. Zatanna doesn’t trust him (understandably, considering all he put her through), but J’onn and Gypsy try to help. J’onn makes telepathic contact and finds out Adam’s mind has expanded so much that it made contact with whatever force created the universe (the godhead, as J’onn calls it). He manages to pull back and asks Zatanna if there’s a way of reversing the effect and bringing
Adam back. Zatanna’s reluctant to help her kidnapper, but decides to do the heroic thing. Using J’onn as a psychic anchor, Zatanna and Gypsy travel into Adam’s mind, which is illustrated in faux-Ditko style. They enter Adam’s subconscious and run into the demons that lurk there (yeah, we all have them), who pull them below. J’onn realizes something’s wrong when he loses contact, but we’ll have to wait until next issue to see how Zatanna and Gypsy escape Adam’s twisted mindscape.
All-Star Squadron #63 – “The Origin of the Golden Age Robotman” – Roy Thomas/Mike Bair/Mike Machlan
Yeah, this is another secret origin issue, this time for Robotman. As usual, I won’t go into heavy detail with this story (since it’s been told so many times), I’ll just hit the high points. Scientist Robert Crane and his assistant Chuck Grayson are working on building a robot that they hoped to animate with electricity. (Yeah, there are a lot of Frankenstein parallels in this story.) Their project consumes them so much that Crane neglects his fiancée Joan Carter, who isn’t happy about it. Before they can test their
theories, a gangster named Mason busts in with his thugs, having heard about a valuable invention Crane was working on. When Crane protests, Mason shoots him and knocks Grayson out. Mason is disappointed to find only a robotic shell instead of something valuable and he takes off. Grayson wakes up and decides to transplant the dying Crane’s brain into the robot body to save his life (sort of). With the help of some electricity, it works and Grayson goes to get some rest. Meanwhile, Mason is worried he might get in trouble for killing Crane, so he calls the cops and says Grayson short Crane. The cops 
show up to arrest Grayson, not believing him when he says Crane is still alive (especially since Crane’s dead body is lying right there). After they take Grayson away, Crane wakes up and realizes he’s now a robot. He tests his abilities and is kinda enjoying himself, but when he sees the news about Grayson being arrested for his murder, he tries to go to the police station to explain things. But everyone is scared of the talking robot and the cops come after him, so he heads back to the lab to fashion a disguise. He considers numerous disguises (including Peter Parker and Veronica Lake, apparently), but settles on an
average identity he names Paul Dennis. As Dennis, he goes to see Grayson and reveals his secret, assuring Grayson he’ll get him out of jail by bringing in the real killers. After attending his own funeral (as Paul Dennis) and making a connection with Joan (who seems to be getting over Crane pretty damn fast), Robotman tracks down Mason and beats the shit out of him and his thugs. He forces Mason to confess to the Governor, who pardons Grayson immediately. Robotman decided to become a crimefighter and ended up joining the All-Star Squadron.
Infinity Inc. #32 – “You Can Call Me Psycho!” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Todd McFarlane/Mike Gustovich
Last issue, Psycho Pirate showed up at Jade’s place just in time to interrupt her sexy times with Brainwave Jr. Psycho Pirate tells Brainwave he doesn’t care about him, he’s there to kill Jade … because somebody hired him to do it. Jade attacks, but Psycho Pirate uses his emotion manipulating powers to make Jade and Brainwave mad at each other, which causes them to go nuts and try to waste each other. Skyman is at Jonni Thunder’s office looking for her, but her friend Sunshine tells Skyman that Jonni has
decided to leave town indefinitely, to get away from the crazy Thunderbolt that wants to merge with her. Skyman reads in the paper about the trade conference that some Infinitors will be attending for security, but he’s surprised to learn the Global Guardians are also sending a security contingent. We see some of the Guardians (Tasmanian Devil, Green Flame, Icemaiden, and Rising Sun) already in Calgary and they’re not to happy about having to share security duty with the Infinitors either. One of the conference organizers (Johnson) tells them they’ve been getting anonymous threats in the mail about disrupting the 
conference, so they wanted as much protection as possible. It’s obvious there’s going to be friction between the teams, and some of these characters are written really weird. Green Flame sounds nothing like how she’ll soon be in the new Justice League comic, and Tasmanian Devil is constantly spewing Australian slang (much of which is pretty outdated). After the Guardians leave, Johnson finds a new letter and wonders if one of them left it. Back in Los Angeles, we get a scene in a darkened room that’s loaded with innuendo, but it turns out to be Beth Chapel giving Nuklon a physical. Beth goes to check on Mr. Bones, who’s still recovering from losing his leg to one of Carcharo’s sharks. Bones is getting restless and wants to get the hell out of the hospital, but Beth won’t let him.
Rick Tyler comes in to apologize to Beth for being a dick about her grounding him, and she assures him she’s working on a way to make Miraclo non-addictive so Rick can become Hourman again. That gets her a big smooch from Rick. Beth makes a call to tell someone they’re pregnant and it looks like it’s Fury … although she isn’t exactly thrilled by the news. Meanwhile, back at Jade’s place, she and her boyfriend Brainwave are still trying to kill each other because of Psycho Pirate’s influence. In the mechanical wing of Infinity Inc. Headquarters, Obsidian, Northwind, and Marcie (Northwind’s girlfriend) 
are hanging out when they run into Wildcat getting in shape for her first official assignment as an Infinitor. Northwind has to head back to Feithera (although he’s being very mysterious about why), so the others decide to have some food and take it easy. The fight between Jade and Brainwave comes to a head and she almost kills him, but he sends a hefty brain-blast at her that hits Psycho Pirate instead, disrupting his powers. He takes off and Brainwave apologizes for fighting Jade, but she hasn’t shaken off the anger yet, so she goes after Brainwave again. He clonks her with a piece of wood (which was actually a pillow, but he used his mental powers to make her believe it was wood) and that snaps her out of it. We find out it was the female Thunderbolt who hired Psycho Pirate (after breaking him out of the asylum he was in after Crisis) to kill Jade because
she hates Jade for interfering in her fight with Jonni Thunder a couple issues ago. Psycho Pirate tells her Brainwave’s mind-blast shorted out his powers and he can’t regain them without the Medusa Mask (which gave him his powers originally), but he doesn’t know where it is. The T-Bolt is pissed off that Jade’s still alive and throws Psycho Pirate down a hill. The Infinitors heading to Calgary (Wildcat, Nuklon, Fury, and Jade) get ready and take off and we see Psycho Pirate watching them; apparently he knew exactly where the Medusa Mask was, he just didn’t want to tell that to the T-bolt. So now he’s got his full powers back and seems very interested in the Infinitors’ trip to Calgary.