Firestorm #53 – “Shades in Silver” – Gerry Conway/Joe Brozowski/Steve Mitchell
This one starts with Martin Stein being told by a doctor that he has an inoperable brain tumour and that he has eight months to live at the most. Stein has been having dizzy spells and headaches lately, which he assumed had something to do with his drinking problem, like some kind of withdrawal symptoms. Across town, a guy named Xavier Pervis taps into the city power grid to feed his natural ability to manipulate metal. The power boost lets him change large masses of metal, but he knows tapping into the city grid isn’t practical, so he’s built a suit that can gather energy from the sun. Meanwhile, Firestorm rescues a guy who almost falls off a TV antenna while trying to get on a local news feature called Famous For Fifteen Minutes. Firestorm gives the reporter shit, saying his willingness to exploit people’s
desire for fame will get someone killed. Firestorm heads to Vandemeer University, where he splits into Professor Stein and Ronnie Raymond. Ronnie is meeting Hugo and tells Stein he feels guilty that Hugo as hurt by some sabotage that was meant for Ronnie. Hugo wants to come back to university, but his parents aren’t keen on the idea now that he’s in a wheelchair. Wendy Olsen (Stein’s research assistant, who’s also in a wheelchair) convinces them to let Hugo learn to deal with his disability the way he wants to. Ronnie confronts Cliff Carmichael (who is Hugo’s cousin) to ask him if he’s 
responsible for Hugo’s accident. Carmichael decks Ronnie in response, but technically doesn’t deny it. Ronnie talks to Doreen about the weird hatred Carmichael has for him and she explains how Carmichael used to be respected at school until Ronnie came along and stole the spotlight. They notice Professor Stein stumbling around half out of it and Ronnie assumes he’s drinking again, so he gives him shit. Stein tries to explain, but they’re interrupted by an explosion in the Physics Building. They take advantage of Doreen’s distraction to change to Firestorm and check things out. It turns
out to be Pervis (now calling himself Silver Shade), who set off the nuclear pile in the lab. After getting Wendy out, Firestorm realizes there’s no radiation at all in the lab and Silver Shade tells him his suit absorbed it all. They fight, pitting Firestorm’s matter manipulation against Silver Shade’s metal manipulation. Firestorm finally realizes all, Shade’s power is in his suit and wrecks it, turning him back to normal. Ronnie apologizes to Stein for being such a dick and stein assures him he’s not drinking again, but doesn’t tell him about the tumour, saying he needs time to figure things out.
Vigilante #35 – “The Wrath of …” – Paul Kupperberg/Chuck Patton/Rick Magyar
Last issue, Vigilante ran into the crazy guy who’s been bombing health clubs and tracked him into the subway, where he set off a bomb that killed a cop. Vigilante manages to track the guy back to his hideout, an abandoned church in Queens (which fits, since the guy thinks he’s on a mission from God to get rid of all the fornicating sinners). Naturally, the whole place is booby-trapped with explosive surprises, since the guy likes blowing shit up so much. The bomber thinks Vigilante was sent by Satan to stop his holy mission, so he gets out his grenade launcher and starts blasting. In Manhattan, Adrian Chase is hiding out in
his townhouse to avoid the mob of reporters gathered outside, who want to ask him about being implicated in the murder of Judge Welles. At police headquarters, Lieutenant Stein’s partner asks him why he threw away his career pursuing the Welles thing, since it won’t be hard for their superiors to figure out he’s the one who tipped off the papers about Chase’s involvement. Stein says he had to see justice done. At the church, Vigilante and the bomber play cat-and-mouse and try to beat each other to death. All the booby-traps in the place make things harder for Vigilante and when some cops come in to check out the 
noise, they trigger a trip wire and get blown to hell. The bomber manages to get the drop on Vigilante and knocks him out. Meanwhile, the gang killings continue, this time with a mob boss named Manzetti getting wasted by Cannon and Sabre. Whoever hired them offers them another job … taking out Vigilante. They’re eager for a rematch, since he kicked their asses back in issue 3, but they don’t know it’s a different guy under the mask now. In the church, Vigilante recovers in time to save his life and manages to burn the bomber’s arm with one of his own grenades. He chases the bomber to the top of the church and watches helplessly as the bomber blows away more cops outside,
ranting about how he’s doing God’s work. Vigilante realizes the guy is too far gone for rehabilitation and decides to end it; he arms a grenade on the bomber’s vest and kicks him out the window, where he blows up. Vigilante knew it was necessary, but still feels guilty over killing the guy. In Manhattan, the cops (including Stein) show up to arrest Adrian Chase. After Chase is indicted, Marcia king resigns from her job with the prosecutor’s office and volunteers to be Adrian’s defense lawyer, letting him know she still loves him in spite of everything.
Warlord #111 – “Terror of the Inland Sea” – Michael Fleisher/Ron Randall
Last issue, Travis Morgan and Shakira picked up some flying belts from the airborne city of Skyra III, hoping to speed up their search for the wizard who can lift the aging curse on Morgan’s daughter. Unfortunately, the belts malfunction and Morgan and Shakira fall into the waters of the Inland Sea, where they’re grabbed by some kind of amphibian-men. Morgan fights like hell, but runs out of air and blacks out. Meanwhile, Machiste and Mariah are fighting for their lives after being ambushed in the sewer tunnels beneath Kiro, where they were trying to sneak in to get Machiste’s throne back from a usurper. They fight valiantly, but the numbers are against them. Morgan wakes up in an underwater city called Arscana, inhabited by descendants of rebellious Atlanteans.
They tell Morgan the force-field around their city probably caused the flight-belts to conk out and when Morgan asks about Shakira, they say the Balskraks (the amphibian-men) must have taken her to their sunken city as
a sacrifice to Kraarg, their dark god. Morgan’s ready to go look for her, but the Arscanans don’t trust him (since he wears an Atlantean helmet) and want him to stay in their city. He busts loose and steals a rocket sled, heading for Balskrak. Shakira is in Balskrak (fitted with a breathing device) and is being taken to feed Kraarg when she gets loose and ends up in the throne room. The king takes a fancy to her; he seems to “collect” women of different species for his harem. When Morgan arrives, he pilots the undersea sled straight into a net trap. In Kiro, Machiste and Mariah are brought into the throne room by guards to see N’dosma, the usurper. But it’s a trick … Machiste substituted 
an unconscious guard for himself and wore the guard’s clothes. He informs N’dosma that the city militia and the people are still loyal to him and have already taken care of N’dosma’s private guard. N’dosma challenges Machiste and gets thrown out the window. In Balskrak, Morgan is brought to the arena to fight Kraarg, which turns out to be a giant crustacean. He beats the pseudo-god, but the king’s guards attack him. Shakira slips her bonds by turning into a cat and helps Morgan. They share the breathing device and fight their way out of the city, taking off on the rocket sled.