Firestorm #66 – “Out of Control” – John Ostrander/Joe Brozowski/Sam De La Rosa
This one starts a million years ago with some aliens destroying an entire planet just to eliminate something called Zuggernaut, which they see as a threat. But Zuggernaut manages to cling to a piece of the blasted planet, which tumbles through space for millennia until it approaches Earth. In Russia, Mikhail Arkadin is being examined by doctors after returning from his clash with Firestorm last issue. There’s no trace of the radiation he exuded when he was Pozhar and he claims he doesn’t know what happened after the nuclear explosion. Zastrow
doesn’t believe him, but lets Mikhail see his kids. (Zastrow is right, Mikhail and Ronnie seem to have formed a new Firestorm that neither of them is in control of, but Mikhail’s keeping quiet about that.) Zastrow tells his men to investigate Ronnie and Professor Stein and to re-activate Stalnoivolk. In New York, Ronnie is freaked out and depressed over not being able to control Firestorm anymore. His father, Felicity, and Lorraine all try to talk to him, but he gets defensive because he’s worried that whatever’s controlling Firestorm now might end up hurting someone (or worse) and he won’t be able to stop it. Nearby, three black guys get lost and end up in a redneck neighbourhood 
where they get pounded and one of them (Jamal) ends up doused with gasoline. Before the rednecks can light him up, he takes off and winds up on the freeway, where Ronnie sees him and instinctively triggers the Firestorm matrix, pulling Mikhail all the way from Russia. Firestorm rescues Jamal and confronts the rednecks, who start shooting at him. He deflects the bullets, blowing up the gas station. Jamal thinks that’s great, that the racist assholes deserve to have their neighbourhood burnt to ashes, but Green Lantern (the Hal Jordan version) shows up and tries to put out the fire. Jamal talks Firestorm into opposing GL, saying that people like the ones that attacked him over his skin colour need to be removed from society so something better can take their place. Firestorm goes along with his suggestion and it’s almost like Firestorm has no mind of his own, or like
he’s not really human anymore and doesn’t get the concept of mercy. Naturally, GL and Firestorm mix it up and GL tells him (and Jamal) that real change can’t be forced on people, it has to come from the heart or it’s meaningless. Firestorm can’t decide who’s right, so he takes off, splitting back into Ronnie and Mikhail , who are both zapped back home. GL puts out the fire, but one of Jamal’s friends is dead from the beating. Jamal feels guilty and GL tells him that anger is like a fire, all-consuming and indiscriminate, and that rage—even when it’s justified—is a response but not an answer.
Warlord #124 – “Scavenger of Souls” – Michael Fleisher/Jan Duursema/Tom Mandrake
Last issue, some sorcerers used a spell to cause an eclipse and release an evil entity from a crystal, but the backlash caused a volcano to spew lava all over, threatening Shamballah. Travis Morgan gets back to the city in time to help Tara rescue people from the disaster, but they need to be rescued by Power Girl. Jennifer summons some elementals to help and they agree as long as she promises them a future favour in return. Inside the volcano, the three sorcerers have achieved their goal, freeing Khnathaiti from her long sleep. She absorbs the life-force of one of her rescuers, then sends the others to find her some evil minion to do her bidding. Meanwhile,
Morgan, Tara, Jennifer, and Power Girl work their asses off helping people and trying to keep Shamballah from being destroyed by the lava. Below the palace, Scavenger (yes, the loser Aquaman villain) is looting the treasure vaults. Morgan hears the commotion, so he and Tara go to check it out. Scavenger knocks Tara out and surprises Morgan because he has a pistol. But Morgan surprises him right back with his Automag, causing Scavenger’s ship to crash. Morgan pounds him, but Tara asks him not to kill Scavenger … who’s so grateful to be spared, he tries to shoot Morgan in the back. Khnathaiti figures a scumbag like Scavenger will be a perfect minion for her and uses her magic to 
transport him to the volcano. Scavenger isn’t impressed by Khnathaiti (even when she absorbs another sorcerer to make herself young and hot), but she doesn’t give him much choice. In Shamballah, Jennifer tells Power Girl she’s needed back in the outside world and they say goodbye (and maybe it’s just me, but it almost seems like there’s a vibe between them, even though Jennifer says they’re “like sisters”). I think this is just a way of cutting Warlord off from the regular DC universe; Morgan even says earlier that “thee last thing Skartaris needs are superheroes”, which sounds like a meta-comment to me. Later, we see that Khnathaiti has transformed Scavenger into something she calls the Scavenger of Souls.
Batman Annual #11 – “Mortal Clay” – Alan Moore/George Freeman
This one starts with Clayface watching All in the Family and reflecting how his life of wedded bliss with his beloved Helena hasn’t turned out to be as blissful as he thought. This is the third Clayface (Preston Payne), who can dissolve people into goo with his touch. Helena is a mannequin that Clayface fell in love with (being sort of a waxwork himself inside his special containment suit) and the last time we saw Clayface (in Detective 479) he was running into a burning warehouse to “rescue” her and he never came out. Apparently, he couldn’t find Helena but did manage to jump out the window before burning to death. He was
despondent at losing his love and wandered around Gotham in disguise, blaming Batman for separating him from his soulmate, until he saw Helena again in the window of a department store. (I’m assuming it was another mannequin made from the same mold.) He sneaks in and starts living secretly in the store, coming out at night to spend time with his lover (and the implication is that he’s boning her somehow) and her “friends”, the other mannequins. But when Helena is moved to a lingerie display for one day, Clayface gets mad and jealous, thinking she was screwing around on him. (Judging by the lingerie the mannequin is wearing, it must’ve been part of Victoria Secret’s 
S&M collection.) Clayface spies on Helena after she’s moved back to Evening Wear and when a security guard steals a scarf from the mannequin’s neck (for his wife), Clayface assumes he’s her boyfriend, since she “let” him take the scarf. Clayface uses his powers to dissolve the guard, dumping his liquefied remains blocks away. Clayface thinks Helena has become distant lately and when he sees her looking at the Bat-Signal in the sky, wonders if she’s having an affair with Batman. Meanwhile, Batman has recognized Clayface’s handiwork in the dead guard’s remains and figured out he’s holed up in the store. When Batman comes in to look for Clayface, he assumes his suspicions were right and that Batman is there to see Helena. Clayface
attacks and Batman leads him through the store in a running fight. Clayface is about to turn Batman into goo when he sees Helena “smiling” at him and figures she’s enjoying having two men fight over her. Clayface decides she’s not worth it and spares Batman, who makes sure he’s put away in Arkham Asylum instead of prison … and that Helena can go with him. But as we saw in the beginning of the story, domestic life isn’t really working for Clayface.
“Love Bird” – Max Allan Collins/Norm Breyfogle
This is a story about Penguin getting paroled from prison, swearing he’s reformed because he’s fallen in love with a woman named Dovina Partridge. 
She promises to marry him as long as he goes straight and he swears he will, but Batman is highly skeptical. Batman’s suspicions grow when he hears Penguin has opened an umbrella factory and is putting out the word to his former henchmen to come by. Batman and Robin bust in and start a fight with Penguin’s men, but it turns out he really was going straight and the umbrella factory was legit. He hired a bunch of his ex-cronies and was trying to keep it a secret since consorting with felons violates his parole. Batman feels bad for screwing things up for Penguin, but the parole board won’t listen when he asks them for leniency. Penguin ends up back in prison, but Batman explains things to Dovina, so at least Penguin doesn’t lose her.