Legion of Super-Heroes #40 – “What Starfinger Touches” – Paul Levitz/Greg LaRocque, Dan Jurgens/Mike DeCarlo, Arne Starr
This one starts with a quartet of Legionnaires (Dream Girl, Element Lad, Timber Wolf, and Star Boy) hanging around in orbit outside Earth’s polymer screen (wearing protective space-suits, of course). Apparently, Dream Girl had a vision that someone would attack Earth in this spot, and that Star Boy would be integral to stopping them. Timber Wolf is skeptical, but a star-shaped ship does show up and starts ramming its way through the screen. The ship gets through the screen and
lands in Africa, where the Legionnaires renew their attack, dodging the energy beams coming from the ship. Meanwhile, Polar Boy has led a team (Mon-El, Dawnstar, and White Witch) to his old homeworld Tharr, an infernally hot planet where mining is done by people genetically changed to generate cold, with a little help underground from giant refrigeration units. Tharr has been attacked and one of the units has been damaged, so Mon-El takes care of that while the others head underground. Turns out Starfinger has been shaking the miners down, asking for a cut of their rare minerals or he’ll 
sabotage their production. As the Legionnaires tour the mines, equipment starts blowing up, obviously part of Starfinger’s sabotage. The Legionnaires keep the miners from being hurt, but White Witch passes out from the heat that even her protective spells can’t stave off completely. Back on Earth, the invading ship has four big bruisers on board, but the Legionnaires take them down pretty easily. Turns out they’re working for Starfinger too. Element Lad and Timber Wolf take the thugs away, leaving Dream Girl and Star Boy (who used to date) to talk. On Tharr, another explosion rocks the mining facility and the Legionnaires handle it, but Starfinger is observing them remotely
and isn’t happy at their interference. (And apparently they’ve foiled quite a few of his operations in the last year or so, although they didn’t know he was behind them.) On Earth, Dream Girl asks Star Boy if he’ll stay to rejoin the Legion—and her—but he brushes her off and says he has to return to Xanthu to be their champion again. Sun Boy is kinda snotty about Dreamy’s failed romance, so she gets all catty about him dating Laurel Kent. On Earth, Starfinger strikes directly at the Legion, blasting their headquarters with a beam from space. Sensor Girl takes Wildfire, Sun Boy, and lightning Lass out to find the 
source, while Brainiac 5 tries to shore up the shield around HQ and when that doesn’t work, uses the mobility units to move the entire building out of the beam’s path. In space, they find the source of the beam—a solar amplifier—but Sensor Girl warns the others that Starfinger has put a trap aboard meant just for them. Sun Boy decides to add his own solar energy to the amplifier from the outside, overloading it and blowing it up. Starfinger isn’t happy about his scheme being foiled again and vows revenge.
New Teen Titans #37 – “Two on the Town” – Marv Wolfman/Eduardo Barreto/Pablo Marcos
Last issue, the Titans were arrested after Starfire killed Wildebeest … or someone wearing Wildebeest’s costume. The whole thing was a set-up by the real Wildebeest to get rid of a business rival and frame the Titans for murder. This issue starts with most of the Titans (except Starfire) being released on bail. Nightwing’s detective instincts kick in and he realizes the cat-and-mouse stuff with the robots last issue was setting them up to kill someone. Raven takes Nightwing around to various places as he tries to prove Starfire’s innocence
(even though Raven is jealous as hell because she’s now in love with him, as we saw last issue). Nightwing checks the radiation levels of the dead guy (Jonathan Surrey), which don’t match Starfire’s radiation, and visits Surrey’s landlady to learn more about him. Nightwing is now sure Surrey wasn’t the real Wildebeest, so he and Raven search Surrey’s apartment for clues. Raven’s love for Nightwing (which seems more like an obsessive infatuation) causes her to project her emotion-manipulating powers onto him and he kisses her. She thinks that means he loves her back, so I guess she’s not using her powers on purpose, 
since she seems to think his actions are his own. I guess maybe having her emotions unlocked after suppressing them for so long is too much for Raven and she doesn’t know how to handle it. Nightwing sends her to the patent office to check something and wonders what suddenly possessed him to kiss her, since he’s still in love with Starfire. But even without her there, he feels her influence and can’t stop thinking about her, so when she returns he’s practically ready to jump her. The files from the patent office show that Surrey created the Sunburst suit for a businessman (Walter Smith), so Nightwing and Raven let the others know Starfire is innocent and go to Smith’s office. He sees
them coming and puts on his Wildebeest suit to fight them. While Raven uses her powers to get inside the guards’ heads, Nightwing fights Wildebeest and gets his ass kicked. Raven just barely saves him from splattering on the ground and Wildebeest escapes, but they have enough evidence to free Starfire. She’s happy to be reunited with Nightwing, not knowing she now has a rival for his romantic affections. Later, we see Walter Smith shedding his businessman disguise and vowing to destroy the Titans.
Suicide Squad #7 – “Thrown to the Wolves” – John Ostrander/Luke McDonnell/Bob Lewis
Last issue, the Squad tried to get out of Russia with a dissident writer named Zoya Trigorin, but found out she doesn’t actually want to leave, believing she can do more good by staying in the USSR and being repressed. The American government cut all ties to the Squad, disavowing them and leaving them to find their own way out of Russia, or be arrested (and probably executed) as spies. Flag isn’t sure how they can get out, since every route will be watched, but Trigorin suggests they walk across the Black Sea ice to Turkey, since the unusually harsh
winter has left it frozen. It’s a 250-mile walk through freezing temperatures, but they don’t have much choice. Flag tells Bronze Tiger to keep his embassy cover so he can get out and head up a rescue team (and take command if Flag doesn’t make it). Penguin comes up with a way to get civilian clothes and papers, by stealing them from foreign tourists in nearby hotels. Penguin and Deadshot are ready to kill the tourists to keep them from talking, but Nemesis decks Deadshot and volunteers to stay behind to watch the tourists so the others will have time to get away. Flag doesn’t want to leave any team members 
behind, so Nemesis quits, saying he’s sick of working with criminals anyway. Back in New Orleans, Captain Boomerang brings home a hooker who turns out to be Black Orchid. Boomerang’s been ignoring his calls from Waller, so Orchid drags him back to Belle Reve. In Russia, the government have called in the People’s Heroes, who bust into the hotel and knock Nemesis out. Pravda reads his mind and finds out where the others are. The Squad are trudging across the ice (and Nightshade is burning up with the fever she caught last issue), when the People’s Heroes show up. Luckily, their back-up arrives at the same time, with Bronze Tiger, Black Orchid, and Captain Boomerang attacking the Russian super-soldiers. Penguin takes Trigorin and Nightshade to the evac
plane, while the others engage in a free-for-all with the People’s Heroes. The extra help tips the scales and the Russians all get pounded (with Pravda accidentally releasing Enchantress, who has to be knocked out by Boomerang before she turns on her own teammates). Nemesis wakes up and helps Nightshade and Trigorin, but a squad of HIND helicopters shows up and starts blasting, breaking up the ice and paving the way for Soviet troops to advance. The Squad’s chopper (Sheba) shows up to blast the other gunships 
and ground troops, but one of the HINDs shoots down Trigorin. Nemesis goes back to help her, but it’s too late and he gets captured. The others get out on the plane, but Flag’s not happy about Nemesis being left behind. Three days later, the Russians haven’t figured out anything about Nemesis and the Americans are denying everything. Gorbachev muses that the only real winner in all this was Trigorin, since her death has rallied more people to her cause … which is exactly what the Soviet government was trying to prevent.