Justice League of America #260 – “Flesh” – J.M. DeMatteis/Luke McDonnell/Steve Montano
Last issue, the robot Professor Ivo sent to kill Gypsy rebelled against its programming and spared her, taking her home to her family. J’onn J’onzz showed up outside the house and ran into the robot. Naturally, they start pounding each other and J’onn urges the robot to transcend its programming again. The android refuses, saying Gypsy never harmed Ivo but J’onn (and the rest of the original JLA) did. J’onn tries to read the robot’s mind to figure out where Ivo is, but the robot’s “thoughts” are too chaotic. The robot starts strangling him, but
J’onn rips it to pieces, even as it blames him for letting Vibe’s get killed. Gypsy comes out just as the fight ends, thus learning that Vibe is dead. Meanwhile, Steel and Vixen are getting anxious at not being able to look for Ivo because of the presidential order against superheroes appearing publicly. Steel finally gets sick of hiding and heads out into the streets. Ivo is still doing the analysis thing, using his robots as therapists. But the more they point out how insane he is for blaming all his problems on the JLA, the more pissed off he gets … even though some part of him knows they’re right. Steel attracts 
attention from the crowds (who have basically been brainwashed to hate superheroes by Darkseid’s minion Glorious Godfrey) and the cops. He gives them a nice speech about how much superheroes have done for them and it seems to calm them down a bit. But Steel notices one of the cops is actually another of Ivo’s robots. In suburbia, Gypsy is devastated to hear about Vibe and wants to help find Ivo, but J’onn tells her to stay home and keep working to reconcile with her family. She reluctantly agrees and says a tearful goodbye to J’onn. Steel jumps the robot, but all the crowd sees is him pounding on a cop, so they turn against him again. Steel drags the robot into an alley where they start fighting and the robot uses its lasers to destroy most of
Steel’s body. The fight spills into the street and the bystanders realize the “cop” is a robot. It keeps blasting Steel, who pins it down and forces it to overload, containing the blast with his body. Pretty much all that’s left of Steel is his metal skeleton and a few internal organs. J’onn shows up and Steel begs him to take him to his grandfather (Hank Heywood, the original Commander Steel) in Detroit. J’onn complies and Steel is put on life support. Heywood blames himself for making his grandson into a cyborg years ago and says there’s only one thing he can do for Steel now … so he turns off the life support machines, allowing Steel to die.
All-Star Squadron #67 – “The First Case of the JSA” – Roy ThomasArvell Jones/Tony DeZuniga
As the title says, this is a retelling of the JSA’s first adventure from way back in 1941. Since the story has been told (and retold) many times, I won’t get too deep into it. I think some of it ended up being changed later anyway, as post-Crisis continuity moved certain events around in history. The story starts with FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover calling together eight superheroes (Hawkman, Hourman, Green Lantern, Atom, Sandman, Spectre, Dr. Fate, and Flash) to help fight Axis spies and saboteurs on home soil while the war rages in Europe and the
Pacific. As usual in those 1940s stories, the heroes split up to fight separate menaces before getting together later to take down the mastermind. Green lantern stops some Nazi saboteurs trying to knock out radio stations across the country. Flash takes down some rabble-rousers in Detroit and saves a ship from being blown up by a bomb. Spectre deals with some saboteurs at a Pittsburgh munitions factory. Hourman rounds up some Nazis trying to blow up oil wells in Oklahoma. Dr. Fate sinks some seabound killers attempting to blow up naval ships on the East Coast. In Texas, Sandman shuts down some fifth 
columnists who are trying to suppress a newspaper saying negative stuff about Hitler. Hawkman bags some spies trying to steal a new bomber in California. And Atom pounds some Nazi punks who are spreading their propaganda at a university. All the above adventures give each hero a clue to who’s behind all this Nazi crap … Fritz Klaver in Toledo, Ohio. But Atom is only an hour away, so he gets to Klaver’s place first. Unfortunately, he’s caught by heavily armed Nazis and Klaver orders them to kill him. But Johnny Thunder accidentally summons his Thunderbolt (as usual) and ends up appearing at Klaver’s place, delaying Atom’s execution. Johnny is captured, but before
Klaver’s men can waste him and Atom, the rest of the JSA show up and start kicking Nazi ass. They capture Klaver and stop him from destroying all the records of Nazi spies in America, delivering that info to Hoover. This is the last issue of All-Star Squadron, but in a few months I’ll be reviewing the follow-up title, Young All-Stars. That comic will basically continue where this one left off, but with some new characters to replace the ones knocked out of continuity by the Crisis (mainly Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman).
Infinity Inc. #36 – “Chaos in Calgary” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Todd McFarlane/Tony DeZuniga
Last issue, the new Injustice Unlimited captured Hourman and tied him to a giant clock, where he’ll be electrocuted at a certain time. That forced the Infinitors and Global Guardians to help Injustice Unlimited carry out various missions, but Hourman managed to eat a Miraclo pill and bust loose. He goes after the Wizard, but gets fooled by an illusion and ends up smashed under the giant clock. In the Arctic, Solomon Grundy smashes out of the iceberg he was in and attacks Icicle, Icemaiden (who’s still under
Icicle’s thrall), and Jade. Grundy pounds Icicle and his brainwashed bimbo and Jade has trouble using her power pulses because she was wounded last issue. Grundy recognizes Jade as his old enemy Green Lantern’s daughter (and the person who trapped him in the iceberg back in issue 23), so he goes after her, and Jade can’t help wondering if Wizard sent them there to be killed. In Calgary, Wizard is collecting the gold he’s extorted from the businessmen at the trade conference when Hazard shows up (with Wildcat and Tasmanian Devil) and asks if he was planning to take all the loot for himself. Wildcat and Tasmanian Devil 
are pissed off about Hourman, but before they can get too belligerent, Sportsmaster and Huntress take them by surprise. The two villains were sprung from prison by their daughter Artemis and Rising Sun and Nuklon, who are wearing cuffs that dampen their super-powers. In Los Angeles, Beth (Dr. Midnight) Chapel hears about Brainwave Jr. being wounded by gunfire and wants to head to Infinity Inc headquarters to help him, so she talks Mr. Bones into driving her there in an ambulance (since she can’t see in daylight). The studio is surrounded by a pissed off mob, ranting about how terrible superheroes are (probably because of anti-superhero stuff currently going
on in the Legends mini-series). Bones forces the ambulance through and closes the gates so the mob can’t get in. If you’re thinking the mob is a little over the top, you’re right; we see Psycho-Pirate nearby, feeding off their emotions (and maybe manipulating them as well). Inside, Beth takes care of Brainwave and Bones warns Skyman about Psycho-Pirate. In Calgary, the last members of Injustice Unlimited (Fiddler and Shade) show up with Obsidian, Green Flame, and Fury who aren’t happy about Hourman. Wizard admits he expected Solomon Grundy to kill Icicle and the others, which pisses Hazard off since she only 
joined if Wizard promised no killing. Obsidian takes advantage of the argument to attack, but Shade’s powers cancel his out and they both keel over. Fury and Green Flame attack, but Fiddler starts playing a tune that causes everyone to dance uncontrollably. As the Injustice members prepare to leave, Hourman finds another Miraclo pill and crawls out of the rubble. His ears are ringing so badly that he can’t hear Fiddler’s hypnotic tune and smashes his violin. While the heroes free each other from the power-draining manacles, the rest of the villains escape in the Infinitors’ ship. But they run into a bit of a roadblock … Solomon Grundy, who forces the ship down in McMahon Stadium (home of the Calgary Stampeders, in case you’re not a CFL fan). Jade takes on the
villains but finds herself a Artemis’s mercy. Luckily for her, Grundy thinks she rescued him from the iceberg and has developed an attachment to her, so he pounds Artemis and Hazard, saving Jade’s life. Wizard tries to run out on his teammates again, but Hourman shows up and is pretty pissed off. He busts right through Wizard’s illusions and throws the hour hand from the giant clock (which he brought from the convention centre) at Wizard, impaling the villain against the uprights. When Hourman realizes what he’s done, he feels shitty but knows there’s nothing he can do to change it.