Justice League International #24 – “The Road Less Traveled” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Ty Templeton/Joe Rubinstein
This one starts with Maxwell Lord doing a little soul-searching. Apparently when the Gene Bomb went off, it affected Max, which means he has a meta-gene. Having that gene means he has the potential to gain super powers given the right circumstances. But Max can’t help wondering if the sentient computer that manipulated him into forming the new Justice League (as we saw in issue 12) knew about the meta-gene when it chose him as a partner. Max decides to go to the mountain where the remains of the computer are buried and when he finds a convenient hole in the rubble, can’t help
wondering if he’s expected. He rappels into the mountain, coming across the remains of his old boss, who died in a spelunking accident. Max makes him way through the tunnels to the room where Metron’s computer was housed and finds it in pretty bad shape. Back at JLI headquarters, Oberon is going crazy from being stuck on monitor duty while everyone else is sleeping and is getting testy. In the mountain, Max partially activates the computer, which taunts him when he asks if it knew about his meta-gene. The computer blows up, knocking Max out. When he wakes up (five hours later), he finds 
he’s now sealed inside the mountain. His signal device is fried and he can’t dig himself out, so in despair he just starts yelling for help. Back at headquarters, Blue Beetle somehow “hears” Max’s cries for help and can even see where he is. Beetle talks Ice into joining him and they rescue Max, who can’t figure out how Beetle “heard” his cries for help. Meanwhile, Oberon (who thinks Max is recuperating from the gene bomb and won’t be back all week) is planning a big party. Which leads us to …
“Across a Crowded Room” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin
Maguire/Joe Rubinstein
… the second story in this issue, which starts with the aforementioned party. Pretty much all the current JLI roster is in attendance (Batman, Mr. Miracle, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Rocket Red, Captain Atom, Ice, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Guy Gardner, and Gnort), plus a bunch of other heroes (Power Girl, Firestorm, Elongated Man, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Atom, Flash, Animal Man, Big Barda, Major Force, Creeper, Starman, and Metamorpho).In case you’re wondering, Fire is in bed because she’s sick 
(and very mad about missing the party), and J’onn is upstairs with Max and Oberon. Oberon threw the party as a way to get a bunch of heroes together for the purpose of recruiting some of them for the League. Oberon’s questioning of the potential recruits pisses most of them off, but they’re interrupted when the shrunken aliens (from a couple issues back) grow back to their normal size and crash the party. When the aliens see a room full of superheroes, they try to take off but are pursued immediately. The heroes get in each other’s way, letting the Khunds beam themselves away with the teleporter. (It was set to rematerialize them at the Australian Embassy,
which doesn’t exist anymore, so the Khunds are basically disincorporated.) Max points out that having too many heroes in one place can be a detriment, but proposes a solution … sending some of the heroes to Paris to represent the Justice League in Europe. Max chooses Power Girl, Flash, Wonder Woman, Metamorpho, Animal Man, Elongated Man, Rocket Red, and Captain tom for the new team and we’ll be seeing them soon in the new Justice League Europe comic.
Legion of Super-Heroes #57 – “Under a Watchful Eye” – Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen/Al Gordon
This one starts with Emerald Empress torturing (and killing) the Inquisitor for not discovering the secrets of immortality for her (as we saw him try to do last issue with Blok and Mon-El). Empress decides to rely on her own powers to find the information she’s seeking, but it seems like the Emerald Eye of Ekron may have developed a mind of its own and is no longer under her complete control. At Legion headquarters, Dawnstar is still too weak to track Emerald Empress (but she is getting
pretty close to Wildfire) and Sensor Girl figures Empress will come to her if he waits. In Africa, Invisible Kid is visiting his sister Danielle when he gets an emergency signal that someone is attacking the nearby university. It turns out to be Emerald Empress, hoping the scholars there can help her quest for immortality. The Eye can see Invisible Kid, so he tries to trap it, but Emerald Empress blasts him. More Legionnaires (Lightning Lass, Blok, Tellus, Timber Wolf, and Magnetic Kid) show up to confront the Empress. At Science Police headquarters, we see the new Chief (Gigi Cusimano) coordinating the evacuation of the university and talking with Shvaughn Erin. In Africa, Emerald Empress handles the Legionnaires quite easily and flies off 
towards Rome, where she blows away some Science Police. The Legionnaires combine powers to take out the Eye, but get blasted. Emerald Empress leaves and Invisible Kid decides to follow her. At the Museum of Mystic Arts in California, Sarvisa shows up from Sorcerer’s World with a message for someone on Earth … but she doesn’t know who. The Legionnaires chase Emerald Empress to Metropolis and attack her again, but she grabs Polar Boy and threatens to kill him and blow up the whole city by wrecking the fusion powersphere. Giffen’s art has always been a little weird, but it’s really getting strange now; some of the characters (Emerald Empress, Dawnstar, Gigi) are almost unrecognizable.
New Titans #53 – “Battle Plan” – Marv Wolfman/George Perez/Bob McLeod
Last issue, after finding out Donna (Wonder Girl) Troy was taken from Earth as a baby and raised on another planet by the Greek Titans, the New Titans accompanied Donna back to New Chronus at the behest of Phoebe, a Greek Titan who ended up dying. The Greek titans are under siege by a “seed” they raised (Sparta), who wants to eliminate all the other seeds like Donna (and her old friend Xanthi, who they picked up along the way). Another group of Titans found a seed named Athyns, who didn’t trust them and tried to kill them, but when their ship
approached New Chronus, Sparta blew it out of the sky. Raven manages to grab Starfire and teleport the two of them to safety on New Chronus, but they’re worried about what happened to Cyborg, Nightwing, and Jericho, as well as Athyns (whose body Jericho was inside). They bail out before the ship crashes on Syriannaq (the nearby planet that Sparta has taken over) and they hide from Sparta’s soldiers in some woods. Nightwing managed to sedate Athyns, but he keeps fighting Jericho’s control because he refuses to believe what they’re saying about the Greek Titans. Cyborg is spotted and engages 
Sparta’s troops to keep them from finding the others, getting blasted for his efforts. On New Chronus, the Greek Titans warn Wonder Girl against going to rescue her friends, telling her that if Sparta can absorb the power of the last three seeds, she’ll be unstoppable. Changeling morphs into an indigenous animal so he can go with Raven and Starfire to Syriannaq, but Wonder Girl and Xanthi argue over who should go with them. Nightwing and Athyns (still under Jericho’s tentative control) sneak through the capital city looking for Cyborg. They find him strung up in the square by Sparta’s soldiers. Sparta stokes the
crowd’s paranoia over “alien invaders” and tortures Cyborg to draw his friends out. It works, with Athyns/Jericho fighting Sparta’s troops while Nightwing tries to get to Cyborg. Starfire, Changeling, and Raven show up to help and Raven goes after Sparta with her soul-self but gets blasted. Starfire is hit by one of Sparta’s machines, but absorbs the energy and blows the ship to pieces. Xanthi shows up to help, having convinced Donna he should be the one to face Sparta. On New Chronus, Donna is wishing she’d gone instead of Xanthi and the Greek Titans are feeling guilty for all the harm Sparta is causing. On 
Syriannaq, Xanthi gets through to Athyns and he remembers being raised on New Chronus with the others. He joins the fight willingly, allowing Nightwing and Changeling to rescue Cyborg. Sparta blows Raven’s soul-self apart, taking her out of the fight while she reassembles it. Sparta is ready to kill Athyns (who apparently used to be her lover), but Xanthi throws himself in front of the blast and is killed. Starfire’s ready to waste Sparta for that, but she takes off, leaving them wondering what to do now that one of the last three seeds is dead.