Legion of Super-Heroes #46 – “On the Fourth Hand” – Paul Levitz/Greg LaRocque, Pat Broderick/Mike DeCarlo
This one starts with four Legionnaires discussing some kind of plan they have, something they’re keeping secret from their teammates. Brainiac 5 is one of them, but the others are in the shadows. (Going by their hands on the splash page, I’d say Mon-El is definitely one of them, plus a couple of unidentifiable women.) Polar Boy has been getting a bad vibe lately and asks Tellus to use his telepathy to find out if anything strange is going on, while sending
Dawnstar to track down Chameleon Boy. On Rimbor, Chameleon Boy cycles through a number of forms to get close to an alien scumbag named Shraw who works for Starfinger. He finally succeeds, as another alien (Reefej) and impresses Shraw into inviting him to join up with Starfinger’s band of thieves. On Earth, Mon-El and Ultra Boy dredge a channel while Phantom Girl and Shadow Lass look on. Shadow Lass is worried about Mon-El’s shitty mood and he admits something has been bothering him, but says he’s going to do something about it and takes off. I assume this is part of the conspiracy we 
saw at the beginning of the story. At the Academy, Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel are testing Atmos and conclude that his powers are impressive, but he’s an arrogant prick. Bouncing Boy says Atmos can join the Academy but not the Legion, so Atmos gets mad and blasts him. On Rimbor, Chameleon Boy goes along on a raid to convince a money launderer to release some of Starfinger’s funds. Cham worries he may have to drop his disguise if innocents are in peril, but that doesn’t happen and they intimidate the “banker” into giving up the money. Dawnstar has tracked Chameleon Boy to Rimbor and called Ultra Boy, Phantom Girl, and Shadow Lass in for back-up. Ultra Boy isn’t
sure they should be interfering, since Cham’s Espionage Squad has a lot of leeway when it comes to missions, but Phantom Girl (who’s part of the Squad) says it won’t hurt to just check things out. Back at Legion HQ, Colossal Boy continues rehab on his injured leg and Polar Boy complains that being the leader is harder than he’d expected. On Rimbor, Dawnstar finds Cham and Phantom Girl makes contact, but he warns her off with a secret signal and she convinces the others he’s not there. At HQ, Tellus chats with Saturn Girl and is stunned when he casually probes her mind … and finds out there is a conspiracy and she’s part of it.
New Teen Titans #43 – “Fear Itself” – Marv Wolfman/Eduardo Barreto/Romeo Tanghal
This one starts right after last issue, with everyone happy that Mother Mayhem’s baby is a girl, which should put an end to Brother Blood’s legacy (at least temporarily). The Titans all have plans to relax in various places (even Cyborg, who lets Sarah talk him into going to Cape Cod before she leaves for her new job in San Francisco), except Raven. She decides to stay home and enjoy some alone time, but when she goes home to meditate, she senses a powerful emotion nearby … fear. We see a guy Jonathan lodge) in a restaurant with his wife and friends,
celebrating his impending appointment as an ambassador. But he suddenly freaks out when a thunderstorm rises from his glass and forms above him. He’s the only one who can see it, but it scares him so much he has a heart attack and dies. We see Phobia is the one who caused the illusion, drawing upon Lodge’s innermost fears, and she leaves (stopping on the way home to scare a peanut vendor to death). She reports success in her mission to the Brain, leader of the Fearsome Five. Raven goes to the restaurant (drawn by the powerful emotions) and talks to Lodge’s wife, who confirms his fear of thunder and lightning. 
Raven talks to the detective on the case (Captain Herrold, who’s filling in for the injured Captain Hall) and learns about Phobia’s presence. Raven runs into Sarah Simms and her special-needs kids and hangs out with them for a while before getting back on Phobia’s trail. Phobia is sleeping and having a nightmare, where we see what her biggest fear is … being completely alone. She wakes up and tries to shake off the nightmare before heading out to scare someone else to death (a businessman named Katzman, who has claustrophobia). Raven finds her and Phobia tries to use Raven’s fear of being taken over by Trigon against her. But Raven fights back, figuring out Phobia’s fear of being alone and giving her a
taste of it. Raven shows mercy and Phobia takes advantage of that, knocking Raven on her ass and taking off. She asks Brain for her next target, wanting to keep busy, and he sends her to the location, saying she’ll know the target when she sees him. Raven now knows that Phobia uses her fear powers to mask her own fear because of some emotional trauma in her past. Raven wants to help Phobia, but knows she has to stop her. She figures out Phobia’s victims are all up for the same ambassadorship and goes to find the next target … who turns out to be Phobia’s father, Lord Hawkins. She’s surprised, but her hatred for him 
makes her eager to kill, him. Apparently, he threw her out of the family when she was nineteen because she kept using her powers to hurt people and she’s had abandonment issues ever since. Phobia is pissed off at her father, but can’t bring herself to kill him and totally loses it. Raven appears to tell Lord Hawkins that she forced Phobia to look past her loneliness to her fears. Hawkins assures his daughter he’ll help her and she no longer has to be alone and that seems to make her feel better, so Raven leaves them to work things out, heading back to Titans’ HQ and labelling Phobia’s case “closed” (which is probably premature).
Suicide Squad #13 – “Battle Lines” – John Ostrander/Luke McDonnell/Bob /Lewis
This story continues straight from JLI 13, with the Squad in Russia to rescue Nemesis, and the Justice League there to stop them. The two teams start fighting, but it’s not the usual superhero brawl. Duchess thinks she recognizes Mr. Miracle (who doesn’t recognize her as Lashina) and starts fighting Beetle and Booster. Guy Gardner tries the gentle approach with Captain Boomerang, letting him fling his boomerangs while Guy sits safely inside an energy shield. J’onn and Vixen end up hugging instead of fighting, and we see that Captain Atom and
Nightshade have been secretly dating for a while, so they’re ready to do more than just hug. Rick Flag decides to reason with Batman, knowing he respects Nemesis. But Batman is still pissed off about the Squad operating without authority and does a complete 180 from last issue, saying that if Nemesis is with the Squad he’s not worth rescuing. That pisses Flag off and he and Batman start fighting. While the others mix it up, Rocket Red talks to Nemesis and learns he’s been beaten and is scheduled for execution for 
trying to break Zoya Trigorin out of Russia in Suicide Squad 7. Being Russian, Rocket Red was kinda playing devil’s advocate before, saying Nemesis was probably a spy and his injuries were incurred trying to escape, but he’s a fan of Trigorin’s writing, so he has to rethink his opinions on Nemesis now. In New York, Amanda Waller and Max Lord continue their argument about Lord wanting the JLI to expose the Squad as a publicity coup. Waller resorts to violence to threaten Max, who’s still bedridden. In Russia, Rocket Red tells J’onn he thinks Nemesis should be freed to avoid a wrongful execution and they try
to break up the fighting between teams. Deadshot is about to kill Mr. Miracle, but Bronze Tiger interferes and he misses, leaving Deadshot wondering if he missed because of Bronze Tiger, or if he unconsciously pulled his shot at the last second (something Batman accused him of doing earlier). Speaking of Batman, he and Flag are both too stubborn to quit fighting and have to be pulled apart forcibly. Batman walks away and Flag keels over. The Squad escape through one of Nightshade’s portals, 
leaving the League to take official custody of Nemesis, since their charter allows them to do so legally. (Captain Atom notices a kiss between Nightshade and Nemesis and gets a bit jealous.) Since the Squad got away, Waller has nothing to worry about and leaves Max’s hospital room. At the Embassy, Batman quits the team, saying he’s tired of babysitting morons, while at Belle Rêve, Captain Boomerang recounts the fight between Batman and Flag, which he apparently loved.