Firestorm #55 – “The Stench of Brimstone” – John Ostrander/Joe Brozowski/Steve Mitchell
This issue is a crossover with the Legends mini-series. Legends was about Darkseid manipulating humanity to turn them against superheroes, paving the way for Darkseid to take over Earth. Darkseid created a monster named Brimstone from sentient nuclear plasma and sent it on a rampage. Firestorm, Cosmic Boy, and the JLA all got their asses kicked and Firestorm had to leave the others to go after Brimstone. He tries using magnets to disrupt the magnetic field holding Brimstone’s plasma together, but Brimstone gets a power boost from Darkseid and busts
loose, knocking Firestorm out. When Firestorm comes to, he sees Brimstone has destroyed several city blocks and killed hundreds of people. Surviving civilians blame Firestorm for not saving everyone (thus playing right into Darkseid’s hands) and he takes off to recuperate. We see that Amanda Waller had a team on site gathering data about Brimstone so the new Suicide Squad can go after him later. Firestorm heads to Ronnie Raymond’s place to split into Ronnie and Professor Stein. Ronnie says Stein can crash at his place and they have an argument about whether Firestorm should stay out of sight since the President has decreed that superheroes are banned. Ronnie doesn’t care about the ban as long as people need help, but Stein says they need to respect the law … and points out that superheroes do sometimes cause 
damage unwittingly. That night, a disaffected student named Jack Sawyer sees G. Gordon Godfrey (who’s really Darkseid’s minion Glorious Godfrey) on TV and gets into his anti-hero crap. The next day, Sawyer starts a rally on campus, saying that books are full of lies that cause people to waste time dreaming instead of taking pride in themselves. Sawyer and a mob bust into the library to burn the place, but Stein still refuses to become Firestorm. Ronnie forces the merger over Stein’s objections, but Stein’s resistance screws up Firestorm’s concentration, giving Sawyer and his mob a chance to bring Firestorm down with rocks … right onto a pile of burning books.
Vigilante #37 – “Pawns” – Paul Kupperberg/Tod Smith/Rick Magyar
This one starts with Valentina Vostok getting an update on the search for Peacemaker, who disappeared after killing several terrorists last issue. Vostok’s agent believes Peacemaker will try to finish the job by killing the terrorist leader. He also tells Vostok about Dave Winston being killed and Adrian Chase’s disappearance. A background check has allowed Vostok’s people to figure out that Chase was the original Vigilante and has now reclaimed that identity, hoping to avenge Winston’s death by killing Peacemaker. Vostok is worried that Peacemaker’s connection to the government might come out (plus the
fact that he’s unstable), so she wants Vigilante stopped before he finds Peacemaker. Vigilante is currently at Winston’s place retrieving his Vigilante gear and weapons, but he’s forced to knock out a police guard to get in. Vigilante gets the stuff but the cops corner him and he decides to fight back. Apparently, Adrian Chase blames himself for Winston’s death (and Alan Welles’s death before that), reasoning that if he hadn’t walked away from his Vigilante identity, they’d both still be alive. But that guilt seems to have unhinged him a bit and he ends up killing 
one of the cops accidentally. He takes off but runs into Vostok, who offers to tell him where the last terrorist is, knowing Peacemaker will show up there. At police headquarters, Lieutenant Stein is under review by Internal Affairs for illegally gathering evidence against Chase and his captain tells him he’s going to be charged. Stein turns over his badge and gun and quits the force. Vostok’s men are tracking Peacemaker, but he shoots down their helicopter. It doesn’t matter, since Vostok knows the terrorist is hiding on a ship in the harbour. She takes Vigilante there, but he doesn’t trust her to back him up,
so he suggests they recruit Stein. Vostok’s men grab Stein and bring him to the docks, where he agrees to accompany Vigilante (who he knows is Chase) against the terrorists on the ship. They go to scout around, but Vigilante sneaks aboard and starts wasting people, so Stein has to follow. They get close to the terrorist leader, but have to pull back and Vostok comes aboard, pissed off that they started a firefight. She’s worried that it’ll scare Peacemaker away, but she’s proven wrong when Peacemaker shows up, ready to kill them all.
Warlord #113 – “Though Fiends Destroy Me” – Michael Fleisher/Ron Randall
This one starts with Shakira wondering why Travis Morgan has suddenly decided to start romancing Mariah, when he’d always been faithful to his wife Tara before. Her ruminations are interrupted by some one-eyed dudes who attack from out of the forest. Back in Shamballah, Jennifer Morgan’s aging curse has stopped, leaving her frail and near death. Tara wonders if Morgan can find V’zarr Hagar-Zinn, the one wizard who may be able to reverse Jennifer’s condition. Morgan’s quest becomes even more important when Tara is informed that the aging
curse is spreading across the countryside towards the city. Far to the north, Morgan, Mariah, and Shakira fight their cyclopean adversaries, who seem to be of the same race as Cykroth, the wizard who cursed Jennifer in the first place. During the fight, Mariah reflects on how happy she is to finally have Morgan love her, even though she knows it’s just the magic amulet she got from the old crone a couple issues ago that’s caused his sudden ardour. Not far off, Hagar-Zinn watches the fight in his scrying pool and 
realizes Cykroth’s disciples are the precursor to an extra-dimensional threat that could wipe out all of Skartaris. In Kiro, Machiste finds out Mariah is gone and tracks her to the dwelling of the sorcerer who sent her to Morgan last issue. He forces the sorcerer to tell him where he sent Mariah … and that she wanted to go see her “beloved”. In the real world, Redmond (the CIA agent who was involved with Morgan’s Mayan adventure) is investigating exactly what happened and ends up grabbing Doug Wendell to get some answers. In Skartaris, Morgan and company reach the Greenfire Sea, but are attacked by gargoyles shooting death rays from their eyes. Hagar-Zinn
drops the protective spells around himself to deflect the death rays, giving Morgan the chance to waste the gargoyles. But that leaves Hagar-Zinn vulnerable, and two gargoyles bust into his chamber to kill him. When Morgan and the two women get into Hagar-Zinn’s chamber, he’s gone and there’s blood on the floor. They realize they were less than an hour too late and Shakira gives Morgan shit for wasting time romancing Mariah instead of getting there faster. Before Morgan can retort, they hear mocking laughter drifting through the room.