Legion of Super-Heroes #41 – “Shall Ne’er Burn So Bright” – Paul Levitz/Greg LaRocque/Mike DeCarlo
This one starts with three muscle-bound thugs causing trouble at a resort on Mars, as part of Starfinger’s extortion schemes. They run into Colossal Boy, Sensor Girl, and Element Lad, who quickly take them down and demand to know where Starfinger is. Out in space, Polar Boy has several teammates (Mon-El, Dawnstar, and White Witch) using their powers to search for Starfinger, even though none of them knows who the new version is, or even what he looks like. Back on Earth, Timber Wolf is pissed off about being assigned to monitor duty, but Sun Boy doesn’t have too much sympathy for him. On an asteroid
somewhere between Mars and Jupiter, a wealthy collector named Varquis buys a priceless sculpture (stolen, naturally) from some of Starfinger’s men. Their deal is interrupted by some Legionnaires (Shrinking Violet, Lightning Lass, Wildfire, and Chameleon Boy), who capture everyone without too much trouble. Wildfire turns up the heat to interrogate Starfinger’s top henchman, but he passes out before talking. Out in space, Sensor Girl has used hyperspace transmissions to track Starfinger to a hidden base in close orbit around a star and White Witch’s magic confirms the location. Wildfire tries to get Dawnstar interested in him again (now that he has an actual physical body), 
but she rejects him again. The Legionnaires converge to attack Starfinger’s base and he sends his two molls (Starlight and Starbright) to fight them. As the Legionnaires rip through his defenses, Starfinger gets pissed off and blasts Colossal Boy (who he seems to hate more than the others) with energy from a star-shaped ring he’s wearing. The Legionnaires attack as a group, but Starfinger manages to hold them off long enough to set a self-destruct for the satellite. Sensor Girl warns them and the Legionnaires get out just before the place blows up. Polar Boy feels stupid for almost getting the whole team killed, but Dawnstar and Sensor Girl say they can’t sense Starfinger anymore, so
maybe he was killed in the explosion. On Medicus One, Yera is told Colossal Boy needs time off to recover from his leg wound, so she gives Chameleon Boy shit and kicks him out of the hospital room. In the remains of Starfinger’s headquarters, we see the ring he was wearing is intact and floating in the debris … and that his consciousness has apparently retreated inside the ring to plan his revenge.
Young All-Stars #7 – “Somewhere in This Favored Land” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Howard Bender/Malcolm Jones III, Bob Downs
This is a downtime issue that focuses on a charity baseball game between the Young All-Stars (including Atom and Star-Spangled Kid to make up the numbers) and their older counterparts. Baseball seems to be one of Roy’s passions (he wrote some similar stories about the two Avengers teams playing) and as you can tell from the title, “Casey at the Bat” is a running theme in this story. It starts with the game well underway (this charity game only lasts three
innings and they’re in the top of the third) and the Young All-Stars are trailing 4-2. Apparently, there’s no rule against using powers and Robotman blasts a triple. (It doesn’t help that Tsunami, Flying Fox, and Fury have never actually played baseball before and don’t know what the hell they’re doing.) Flying Fox does manage to tag Robotman out at home by using his powers, but Robotman must’ve driven in a run because the score is now 5-2. That means the youngsters have one last chance to win the game, if they can get three runs or more. Unfortunately, their heavy hitters (Iron Munro, Atom, 
or Dyna-Mite) aren’t among the first three batters. The game is paused for a bit to recognize a special guest, Babe Ruth. There’s another uninvited guest lurking in the rafters … Tigress (who wears a costume exactly like the Earth-2 Huntress, so I assume she’s meant to be the same character), who seems to have something planned. Sandy is up first and hits the ball, but Amazing Man stretches up to catch it because Green Lantern’s distracted. (There’s a little sub-plot about Amazing Man playing in the game, since African-American players weren’t allowed in the majors at the time.) Tsunami goes down swinging, but Flying Fox manages to get to first base. Green Lantern suddenly takes
off, but Hourman is in the stands and fills in for him. (The “GL acting weird” thing has to do with the big Millennium crossover coming next month.) Atom is walked and Fury hits one deep to load the bases. That brings Casey … I mean Iron Munro to the plate. Munro gets two strikes but blasts the ball, hitting it so hard that it literally lights on fire. As the for Young All-Stars cross the plate to win the game, Hawkman catches the tiny remnant of the ball and shows it to the umpire. Hawkman claims he caught what was left of the ball for the final out of the game, but the youngsters argue that the hit was obviously a homer. The 
ump doesn’t know what to do (and Babe Ruth is smart enough to stay out of it), but Tsunami points out that the game is for charity, so everyone wins if it helps shorten the war. Most of the heroes take off, but the Young All-Stars hang around to watch the real game. They’re called to the office and told about a British ship being attacked by a U-Boat off the coast, so they head out to help. Tigress is still spying on them, but some cops spot her lurking around and challenge her. She pounds them and takes off, but is careful not to injure anyone too much. The Young All-Stars bring the U-Boat back for the scrap drive.
Suicide Squad #8 – “Personal Files” – John Ostrander/Luke McDonnell/Bob Lewis
This is another downtime issue with a doctor (La Grieve) at Belle Reve reviewing the files of the Suicide Squad members and giving us some insights into their personalities. It kinda reminds me of X-Factor #87, where Peter David does much the same thing. La Grieve’s first subject is Amanda Waller and we learn that most of her family was wiped out by criminals. She learned to channel her anger to get things done, but La Grieve is worried that the anger has become part of her now and might lead her to do something detrimental to herself or the team. (We
see she does let her anger take over when she decks Agent Tolliver for abandoning the team in Russia, saying that just because the Squad is considered expendable, they shouldn’t be thrown away like garbage.) Rick Flag has been having problems too; the Russian mission exhausted him, mentally and physically, and he ends up going after Waller for refusing to rescue Nemesis. Karin Grace reminds him that he left members of the original Squad behind years ago and when she won’t listen to his explanations, Flag gets rough with her. A new Squad member (Mark Shaw, the Privateer) kicks Flag’s ass and he’s taken 
away to “recover”, with Bronze Tiger being appointed new leader. Bronze Tiger takes June Moon to New York to see if they can get some help in controlling the Enchantress side of June, who’s been getting more powerful and more crazy every time she appears. They go to see Madame Xanadu, who gives June a necklace and tells her to summon the Enchantress. Naturally, Enchantress is in a feisty mood, but Xanadu shuts her down with the aid of a ring that’s attuned to the necklace, allowing her to turn Enchantress’s power back inside her until she transforms back to June. Madame Xanadu gives Bronze Tiger the ring, but warns him that every time Enchantress is summoned,
she gets more powerful and will soon figure out a way to overcome the ring’s power. La Grieve reviews Deadshot’s file and notes that his assistant (Marnie Herrs) seems to be fascinated by Deadshot, doing all his therapy sessions herself. In one session, Deadshot admits he goes to hookers to take care of his sexual urges, telling Marnie that all women are technically hookers, taking money for favours of some kind. When he compares her to a hooker (because she’s paid to care about her patients), she slaps him … but then they kiss. Deadshot is embarrassed and walks out, telling Marnie to forget it ever 
happened. La Grieve’s next file is on Captain Boomerang, who he considers an unrepentant asshole. He doesn’t know the half of it, as we see Boomerang has disguised himself as Mirror Master to commit crimes in New Orleans and satisfy his need for mayhem. La Grieve speculates on the high suicide rate among psychiatrists, but realizes that his loving family life balances out all the crazy shit he has to deal with.