Legion of Super-Heroes #43 – “And Wake to Find a Dream” – Paul Levitz/Greg LaRocque/Mike DeCarlo, Arne Starr
Last issue, the Legionnaires found out their Academy trainee Laurel Kent wasn’t really a descendant of Superman, and in fact wasn’t even human; she turned out to be a Manhunter robot, activated after a thousand years to kill the descendants of the humans chosen by the Guardians of the Universe to become immortal (in the Millennium mini-series). A group of Legionnaires (Brainiac 5, Shrinking Violet, Element Lad, Sun
Boy, Tellus, and Shadow Lass) tracked “Laurel” to a retreat in the Himalayas, but she blew the place up with them inside. Thanks to Brainy’s force-field, they survive the explosion and Sun Boy busts them out of the rubble, but Laurel is already gone. When Polar Boy is informed of Laurel’s deception, he gets worried and gathers as many Legionnaires as he can find Dream Girl and Invisible Kid join the meeting, as well as Brainy’s team as soon as they get back, but Chameleon Boy has taken off on a secret mission, and Timber Wolf runs into something strange when he goes to find Quislet and Wildfire. Polar Boy 
sends the others to South America to check out rumours of immortality cults and mysterious power drains from the local powersphere. They’re attacked by the (fully human) cult, but it turns out to be a misunderstanding and there’s no trace of Laurel around. Laurel ends up attacking the Grand Canyon, looking for the people she wants to kill, but the Legionnaires show up instead. She pounds them pretty handily and resists Sun Boy’s attempts to appeal to whatever shred of “humanity” might be inside her. (Sun Boy probably feels extra guilty, since he was going out with Laurel for a while and didn’t notice she was a robot.) Brainiac 5 uses a device to scan the area and concludes that
there’s no trace of Green Lantern energy that would be present in the people Laurel is looking for. She steals the device, thinking it’ll help her find her targets, and takes off. We get a quick look at Chameleon Boy, whose mission has taken him to Rimbor, disguised as a scumbag. On Earth, Laurel finds another refuge in the Himalayas, but the Legionnaires are waiting to ambush her. During the fight, she realizes the place has been deserted for a long time and concludes that her quarry is no longer on Earth, having moved out into space 
centuries ago. With her mission impossible to complete, she self-destructs and only Brainy’s force-field keeps the Legionnaires from being blown up too. Turns out the “immortal city” was fabricated by the Legionnaires to draw Laurel there and Brainy actually feels a little guilty about tricking her. Back at Legion headquarters, Timber Wolf tells Polar Boy that he found a miniature black hole (or something resembling one) in Quislet’s quarters, but Quislet and Wildfire were gone. Before Polar Boy can freak out too much about that, Atmos shows up and offers to join the Legion.
New Teen Titans #40 – “Round Holes and Square Pegs” – Marv Wolfman/Eduardo Barreto/Romeo Tanghal
This one starts with three separate robberies of wealthy men (Heatherstrom, Ford, and Griffin) by what look to be a mass of fog, a ghost, and someone invisible. The Titans are called in to investigate, but there aren’t any clues left behind. They hear that three more robberies are currently in progress at various museums and Danny Chase (their newest member since last year’s annual) suggests they split up to cover each robbery. Changeling is pissed off that Nightwing agrees with Danny and I think this is why so many fans hate Danny, because he comes off as a Mary Sue, always right and
always in the forefront of the action. Anyway, Danny and Nightwing go to the Metropolitan Museum and find Silver Fog robbing it. They mix it up, but Fog gets away and when they check him out, they find he’s a small-time inventor named Sam Toth. But Toth swears he hasn’t been the Silver Fog since his first defeat (in Adventure Comics) by the Dial H for Hero kids. He suggests his assistant (Edward Arling) could’ve replicated the particle generator Toth invented to make himself the new Silver Fog. At the Natural History Museum, Wonder Girl, Changeling, and Cyborg find Gentleman Ghost robbing the place. They go 
after him (and spend a lot of time wondering whether he’s actually a ghost or not), but he gets away by phasing through a wall. When Nightwing hears the news, he wonders why Gentleman Ghost would suddenly start working with a partner, since he’s always been a loner before. At the Museum of Science and Technology, Starfire, Jericho, and Raven find IQ robbing the place and once again, the villain gets away when his high-tech devices (and intricate planning) allow him to escape. (Starfire and Jericho have a weird moment where it seems like they’re hot for each other; that’s probably going to turn into something heavy later.) At headquarters, the Titans again wonder why three loners like Silver Fog, Gentleman Ghost and IQ would start working together. Danny (of course)
suggests they set a trap, so they stake out an exhibit where a priceless diamond chalice is on display, hoping it’ll bring all three villains. Nightwing’s gut tells him they’re missing something and he turns out to be right. When the three villains show up, they aren’t working together at all (the timing of the earlier robberies was just a coincidence) and end up fighting over the chalice. Silver Fog takes off and Gentleman Ghost pounds IQ, but before he can get away with the chalice, the Titans confront him. Gentleman Ghost escapes again, leaving the chalice behind (which was a fake anyway, the Titans having switched it for the real one).
Suicide Squad #10 – “Up Against the Wall” – John Ostrander/Luke McDonnell/Bob Lewis
This one starts with a Reverend Craemer being shown around Belle Reve. Craemer has been assigned to be the chaplain for the supervillains there (after pissing off his superiors in the church) and is taken around the place by Murphy. Their tour is interrupted when Duchess (who’s joined since bringing the wounded Slipknot in after last issue) breaks into the armoury to get a “real” gun, the one she was given not being up to her usual standards. Meanwhile, Amanda
Waller and some of the staff are discussing the recent wounded (Bronze Tiger, Slipknot, and Nightshade) and dead (Karin Grace). Waller doesn’t trust Rick Flag as leader, especially since he’s having a hard time dealing with Karin’s death, and Mark Shaw (aka the Manhunter) is going out on his own. Shaw stops by to see Flag and asks if he wants to come with him (mentioning another super-secret government group Argent, which I assume is setting up Manhunter’s own series), but Flag barely even acknowledges him. That 
night, one of the prisoners uses a fake eyeglass lens to fool the camera in his cell and bust out. The prisoner’s name? Matches Malone. Yeah, if the cover didn’t give it away, that certainly does. “Malone” sneaks into the storeroom (where his Batman outfit is in an evidence bag marked for Commissioner Gordon) and makes it to the records room to gather information. Security notices the computer in use after Waller has left her office and she realizes there’s an intruder. When they figure out it’s Batman, they know they’re in trouble since he can expose them. Waller sends guards (who Batman pounds easily) and gets
Flag, Deadshot, and Duchess after him. Batman takes Duchess out with some gas and decks Deadshot (suggesting that Deadshot unconsciously pulls his killing shots around the Caped Crusader), but Flag jumps him and they beat the shit out of each other for a while. Waller stops the fight and Batman threatens to expose the Squad, saying the public might not like their tax dollars supporting a bunch of convicted criminals. Waller makes a counter-threat: since Batman’s fingerprints are in the cell and she knows about his Matches Malone 
disguise, she could expose him too. He hands over the data he stole and promises to keep his mouth shut, but says he’ll find another way to bring them down. Waller lets Batman go and Flag is pissed off that he had to fight someone he considers a hero, someone who now thinks of him as an enemy. He gives Deadshot shit, saying he’s going to make the team shape up or else. That impresses Waller enough for her to reinstate Flag as the team leader.