Justice League International #11 – “Constructions” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
This one starts with Maxwell Lord welcoming J’onn J’onzz and Captain Atom to his office. Max looks pretty good for someone who was shot a couple issues back, but he has a problem and was hoping J’onn and Captain Atom’s friends from Millennium (especially Superman and Green Lantern) could help him with it. When he learns that de facto group disbanded after Millennium, he settles for the Justice League helping him, claiming someone—possibly a supervillain—is after him. J’onn calls in reinforcements, interrupting Black
Canary showing Rocket Red around headquarters. The team heads for Max’s building (with Booster getting sick on the way … they’re really leaning into the humour aspect by now). When they reach Max’s building, they’re attacked by rockets and end up ramming right into the building (on Batman’s orders), where they find Captain Atom being attacked by mechanical arms. The whole building uses its own security systems to attack until Guy Gardner overloads the building’s power. Max tells them someone has invaded his computer systems and is watching him constantly, which sounds pretty paranoid except something did make the building attack 
them. We’ve seen Max conferring with a computer intelligence before (which the JLA doesn’t know about), but it seemed to be his ally, so I don’t know why it would be against him now. Batman wonders if the JLA’s old foe, the Construct, might be behind the attack, since its favourite trick was to take over computer systems. Max tells them where to look for his unseen enemy, which makes them suspicious since he supposedly doesn’t know who’s after him. When they approach the mountain, the Construct comes busting out to attack, but the computer intelligence monitoring the fight calls it back to home base. As the League chases it, we see someone (who looks a lot like the New God, Metron) talking to the computer, which seems to belong
to him. The computer claims the JLI took it over and forced it to gain international status for them and to make replicas of the world’s leaders. Metron is concerned, but thinks he detects a spark of sentience from the computer, which suggests it’s acting on its own. The Construct smashes through the wall into Metron’s headquarters, addressing him as Master, which surprises Metron. When the League shows up, Mr. Miracle realizes some of the tech looks familiar and then realizes why, as they’re confronted by Metron.
Infinity Inc. #48 – “The Making of a Man” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Vince Argondezzi/Tony DeZuniga
As the cover says, this story tells Nuklon’s origin. It’s been told before, but I guess this was meant to be the definitive post-Crisis version, not only giving us a canonical backstory for Nuklon, but for some of the other Infinitors, especially Fury. It starts with Nuklon on a plane trip, reminiscing about his younger days, which leads to a series of flashbacks. We see eleven-year-old Albert Rothstein being picked on at school and fighting back, despite his small stature. His mom (Terri
Rothstein) isn’t too impressed, but his “Uncle” Al Pratt (aka the Golden Age Atom) says it’s okay to stand up for yourself. Atom reveals his secret identity to Albert and takes him to meet some other JSAers … and their kids, Lyta Trevor, Hector Hall, and Rick Tyler. Albert hangs out with them (and develops a crush on Lyta) while working out with Atom to get into shape. After an eight inch growth spurt one summer, Atom figures Albert’s genes are finally showing up, since his grandfather was Cyclotron, the atomic powered villain who accidentally gave Atom super-powers too. Albert takes up basketball to 
please Atom, even though he doesn’t really like it, and is a natural because of his height. At his bar mitzvah, he reunites with Lyta and the others and they end up going on a tour of NASA, where Albert’s mom works. Rick decides to take a spin in the centrifuge and Lyta and Albert have to rescue him. Rick is taken home by his parents, while the others head out to Trevor Island, a hidden oasis in the Pacific where Derek and Joan Trevor have a retreat. (This is one of the main retcons that came out of Crisis; since the original Wonder Woman never existed, Lyta’s parents are now Derek Trevor and Joan Dale (aka the costumed crimefighter Miss America), who was meant as a replacement for
the Golden Age Wonder Woman. Later, Hippolyte travelled back in time disguised as Wonder Woman, which put a lot of her Golden Age adventures back into continuity, but I assume Derek and Joan would still be Lyta’s parents.) Albert helps Derek fix up an old P-38 plane and Derek teaches him to fly it. Atom thinks he’s wasting his time when he should be practicing basketball and gets really pissed off when Albert sprains his ankle trying to ride a Kanga. A few years later, Albert (who’s topped out at 7’6”) gets a basketball scholarship to 
USC, but he still doesn’t enjoy playing since it’s all too easy. When Lyta comes for a visit, Albert takes her out on the town and ends up missing a big alumni dinner, which pisses Atom off. Albert finally tells him the truth and Atom apologizes for pushing him, saying that a person needs challenges to be fulfilled. Atom tells Albert he’s sure he’ll meet whatever challenges come his way and conquer them. Back in the present, Albert arrives in Washington and is met by Lyta (who’s still pregnant) and her family. Derek confides in Albert that he’s worried Lyta may be in some kind of terrible danger.
Young All-Stars #10 – “Like Father” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Brian Murray
This story tells about Iron Munro’s father (Hugo Danner) and is based on Phillip Wylie’s 1930 novel Gladiator (which was one of the inspirations for Superman). The tale is told is flashback, as Munro reads the diary he got from the priest last issue. Hugo Danner’s father was a scientist named Abednego and his mom (Matilda) was a bit of a harridan. Abednego invented a serum to increase strength and used it on his pregnant wife, so when Hugo was born (in 1894) he quickly showed signs of being different. His parents hid his “gifts” from everyone else, but
when he finally went to school, Hugo ended up pounding some bully without even breaking a sweat. As he grew, Hugo got stronger, faster, and more invulnerable to harm. He banged a girl named Anna (who Iron Munro realizes is his mom), but they broke up soon after and Hugo went to college. His powers made him a football star and got him plenty of women, but he ended up having to work in the summer because his father’s bad investments wiped him out. Hugo thought about crime (which would be easy with his powers), but the morals his father instilled in him stopped him. He did some boxing and wrestling, 
making money by beating all challengers, but was devastated when his latest girlfriend married someone else. Back in college, he accidentally killed someone on the field and left school to become a pearl diver. When World War I started, Hugo enlisted in the Foreign Legion and distinguished himself by wasting a bunch of Germans. He considered storming Berlin, but the War ended before he had a chance and he went back to the United States to work a succession of jobs. While working at a bank, he used his super-strength to open a vault where an employee was trapped. Instead of being grateful, the manager had him arrested, thinking he had some secret way of opening the
vault. The cops pounded him and he took off, ending up back home in time to be there when his father died. Abednego told Hugo about some notebooks on the serum that gave him his powers. Hugo found them, but wasn’t sure if the world needed any more people like him. (Hugo assumed he was sterile, since he’d banged so many women and not gotten any of them pregnant.) After trying to make a difference in Washington, Hugo bought his way onto an archaeological dig in the Yucatan with a Professor Hardin. They found an old Aztec pyramid, but Hugo was forced to reveal his powers when saving Hardin 
from being crushed by a huge stone slab. When Hardin learned of Hugo’s powers (and the notebooks), he thought it would lead to a new race of supermen who could reshape the world into a paradise. But Hugo dreamed of the negative side of that possibility: super-powered beings fighting each other and destroying the world. Hugo left his diary for Hardin and headed out to :challenge God” by standing on top of the pyramid during a storm and calling out a challenge. He was hit by lightning and killed (and the notebooks were fried too) and Hardin buried him and wrote the final entry in the diary.