Justice League International #14 – “Shop or Die” – J.M. DeMatteis/Keith Giffen, Steve Leialoha/Al Gordon
This issue really leans into the goofball humour we think of when we think of JLI. It starts with an alien on a planet with the unlikely name of Yecktamecktokovia watching as the planet’s technology is sucked up into orbit by a giant spaceship. Apparently the ship (called the Cluster) is retrieving the tech from the planet which it has just decimated. The Cluster’s captain is an alien called Manga Khan, who has a habit of talking out loud to himself and SUDDENLY SHOUTING FOR NO REASON. His
assistant L-Ron tells him he’s found the next place the Cluster can reap energy from … a little planet called Earth. (I’m not sure if Manga Khan is meant to be a spoof of Galactus, but there is a certain similarity, especially in their ship design.) On Earth, Green Flame and Ice Maiden try to join the Justice League, but J’onn J’onzz tells them it’s not that easy. In the suburbs, Mr. Miracle and his wife Big Barda are enjoying their marital bliss and expecting Blue Beetle and Booster Gold to drop by for dinner. Barda and Miracle seem to be enjoying their boring suburban life—I guess it’s a relief after 
growing up on Apokolips—with Barda even cooking dinner for their guests. (Although she’s not much of a cook … she puts mayonnaise in lasagna.) On Yecktamecktokovia, G’nort crash-lands and finds out the once-thriving planet has become a wasteland. He tries to find out what happened, but the language barrier stumps him until he figures out his ring can translate. He learns about Manga Khan and that his next target is Earth, so he heads there hoping to prove himself as a Green Lantern. Manga Khan plants a transmitter on Earth and L-Ron tells the entire planet that they’re interplanetary brokers, selling planets to other systems who need the resources. L-Ron gives them a twelve hour deadline and if the planet
doesn’t cooperate … well, there’ll be trouble. The Justice League are summoned as the governments of Earth try to decide what to do. Naturally, the United Nations can’t agree on anything, so the JLI get ready to confront Manga Khan as the deadline approaches. And since Batman and Black Canary are absent, J’onn ends up inviting Green Flame and Ice Maiden to join after all. But nobody knows that G’nort has arrived and is ready to help Earth against Manga Khan … which will probably just make things worse.
Infinity Inc. #51 – “A Death in the Family” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Michael Bair, Lou Manna/Bob Downs
This one starts with Lyta (Fury) Trevor and Hector (Sandman) Hall’s wedding, attended by their teammates, plus a couple of special guests like Starfire and Jonni Thunder. Even though Hector can only spend one hour in the normal world and Lyta can only spend an hour in the dream world, they figure they can make it work. Wildcat figures an hour here and there will be plenty, but she’s a lot less charitable with Nuklon, since she’s pissed off about him proposing to Lyta. Mr. Bones comes in to tell Skyman that Jade
needs help with Solomon Grundy downstairs. Skyman tells Bones that he’s recommending Helix be taken off probation and that Bones can go visit them. When they get downstairs, Jade goes nuts and attacks them, commanding Grundy to attack as well. Bones tries to use his cyanide touch on Grundy, but since he technically isn’t alive, it has no effect. But Grundy does shove Bones’s hand against Skyman’s face, killing him. Grundy knocks Bones out and he takes off with Jade, who turns out to be Harlequin, using the hypno-glasses she stole from Molly Scott to alter her appearance. When Bones wakes up 
and realizes Skyman is dead, he’s devastated. Harlequin goes to a club to meet her boss, the Dummy (who uses an android as his partner in a ventriloquist act). Bones shows up at Beth (Dr. Midnight) Chapel’s clinic and keels over. Beth uses a new imaging machine to check Bones’s invisible body for tissue damage (and we find out Bones is African-American). She gets a call about Skyman and how he died, but Bones overhears and takes off, figuring he’ll be condemned for Skyman’s murder no matter the circumstances and wanting to find Jade and Grundy first. At Infinity headquarters, the team tries to come to terms with Skyman’s death and argue over how best to find Bones. They also argue over who the new leader should be until Stripesy (Skyman’s old partner) tells
them Skyman wanted Brainwave to succeed him as leader. In an old mansion, we se Dummy gathering a new team that he calls Injustice Unlimited, which includes Harlequin, Hazard (Gambler’s granddaughter), the second Icicle, and Artemis (daughter of Huntress and Sportsmaster). Some of them aren’t thrilled at being bossed around by a wooden midget, but Dummy demonstrates his leadership by showing how Harlequin controls Grundy by pretending to be Jade. Elsewhere, we see Bones hitching a ride to Santa Barbara, where his Helix teammates are being held.
Young All-Stars #13 – “Deadlier Than the Male?” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Howard Simpson/Malcolm Jones III
Last issue, the Young All-Stars (plus Amazing Man and Robotman) took their teammate Fury to a secret lab under Bedloe’s Island where some scientists are running Project M (as in Monster). Robotman’s old pal Chuck Grayson hooked Fury to a machine to help deal with her transformations into Tisiphone, the Blood Avenger. Unfortunately, Ultra-Humanite had his brain smuggled into Project M, hoping to put it in the body of King Kong.
But things got a little wild and Ultra’s brain ended up inside a Tyrannosaurus Rex from Dinosaur Island. Fury can’t be disconnected from the machine without harming her, so Iron Munro stands guard while the others attack the T-Rex. Dyna-Mite makes some headway with a blast, but Tigress has to save him from being crushed. Ultrasaur sends Robotman flying toward Fury and Munro almost kills himself trying to catch Robotman (whose mechanical body is busted to pieces). Munro (who’s lost most of his clothes) gets worried when he realizes the machine Fury is hooked to is no longer running. Neptune 
Perkins and Tsunami try to flood the dinosaur, but everyone is shocked when Tisiphone rises from the rubble to attack Ultra. Ultrasaur gets pissed off at Tisiphone’s claws slashing his scaly hide, so he tosses some rubble at them and takes off. When the All-Stars ask Tisiphone to change back to Fury, she scoffs, telling them she’s been imprisoned in Erebus for long enough and has no intention of going back. The dinosaur and Tisiphone scare the crap out of some tourists in the Statue of Liberty, while the Munro frantically digs through the rubble so he can go after Fury. Dr. Mazursky freaks when he finds out there’s a dinosaur controlled by a super-villain on the loose, and his assistant (Per Degaton)
gets worried when he finds out Deathbolt was captured, since he’s the one who let Deathbolt (and Ultra’s brain) into the underground lab in the first place. Munro gets directions from the tourists and goes after Tisiphone, hoping to stop her before she kills someone and makes Fury a murderer. He gets frustrated when he can’t find her, knocking a cop aside and smashing part of a building in anger. Back in the lab, Mazursky is more worried about getting the dinosaur back intact than any damage it might do. Per Degaton lies about how Ultra got 
into the lab (making up some bullshit about a power drain) and secretly assures Deathbolt he’ll help him escape. In New York, Tisiphone finds Munro but when he implores her to change back to Fury (or Helena Kosmatos), Tisiphone tells him that’s impossible because Fury no longer exists. Munro freaks out and attacks her, but she slices him up with her claws … which is surprising, since Munro is supposed to be invulnerable. Tisiphone tosses him into the street and takes off, leaving bystanders (and us) to wonder if Munro is dead.