Justice League America #28 – “A Date With Density” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Ty Templeton, Mike McKone/Joe Rubinstein
This one starts with Fire getting out of bed and putting her costume on. She’s been confined to bed for a few days because of whatever happened a couple issues ago. They’re being very secretive about it, but I’m guessing her powers spontaneously upgraded so she can burst into flames like the Human Torch. Downtown, Guy Gardner is relieving his boredom by trashing a crack house, without getting any kind of official approval first …or even telling his
teammates what he was planning. City officials aren’t too bothered (although they have to publicly condemn Guy’s actions), which makes Guy so happy he asks Ice out on a date. She initially turns him down, but he says she should forget his surface persona and try to see the real person underneath, so she decides to give him a chance. Fire’s not happy about it, but Ice goes on the date anyway. (It seems like Fire is hitting on Oberon, but I’m not sure if that’s something she’s always felt, or if it’s a personality change brought on by her power boost.) Downtown, we see Black Hand (in civilian guise) worrying 
about Guy’s efforts to clean up the city. Black Hand’s henchman reminds him that he’s retired from the supervillain business and his current operations are too small-time to attract Guy’s attention. Black Hand agrees, but we see Guy and Ice about to enter the theatre above which Black Hand has his office. (It’s a porno theatre naturally … great place for a first date, especially since Ice thinks they’re going to see Three Men and a Baby.) When Black Hand realizes Guy is there, he freaks out and attacks, interrupting the argument between Guy and Ice over his choice of movies. They basically ignore Black Hand (though Guy does deck him) to carry on their argument. After Black
Hand’s device fails, Guy and Ice get ready to leave which pisses Black Hand off so much he goes after them with a gun. When Guy takes him for a ride, Black Hand quickly surrenders, but Guy punches him out anyway. Ice is even more pissed off by Guy’s behaviour, but he naturally assumes she’s hot for him. At the Embassy, Big Barda comes by to help Fire learn to control her new powers, but she gets a surprise when she sees what those powers can do (although we still don’t get to see it yet).
Justice League Europe #4 – “Bialya Burning” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Bart Sears/Pablo Marcos
This one starts with Queen Bee (ruler of Bialya) and Jack O’Lantern gloating about how successful their plan to publicly disgrace the European branch of the Justice League has been. They used mind control to make crowds of ordinary people attack the League, knowing they’d come out looking bad if they fought back. And Jack O’Lantern’s direct attack last issue (which ended up destroying the Dome) just made things worse. Queen Bee wants revenge for the League messing around in Bialya and wishes she
could go further. It sounds like she has some sort of control over Jack O’Lantern too since she mentions ruling him “body, mind, and heart” (although he seems to be aware of it because when she mentions how much he loves her, he points out that he has no choice in the matter). Meanwhile, Power Girl, Flash, Animal Man, and Metamorpho have been sent to Bialya (the first two as civilians) to dig up dirt on Queen Bee, which pisses off J’onn J’onzz since Captain Atom didn’t run it by him first. But Captain Atom reminds J’onn that Queen Bee brainwashed Blue Beetle to kill Max Lord, so they need to do 
something about her. In Bialya, Queen Bee and Jack O’Lantern check out the progress on Owlwoman’s power boost (which Jack has already received) and we learn that the doctor giving the power boosts is also the one who forced Jack to love Queen Bee. Metamorpho sneaks around is gaseous form and learns that the “doctor” is actually a Dominator under Queen Bee’s mental control. Metamorpho informs the others and they decide to infiltrate Queen Bee’s facility to show her she’s not as invulnerable as she thinks. Queen Bee and Jack’s observation of Owlwoman’s experiment is interrupted when
a guard tells Queen Bee that the Leaguers are coming in through the sewers. She sends Jack to stop them and he accidentally kills a civilian before they kick his ass. Queen Bee thinks her elite guard can stop the JLE, but Metamorpho just gasses them all and they corner Queen Bee and her pet Dominator. Later, we learn that Quuen Bee made a deal with the League that she’d leave them alone as long as they kept quiet about how corrupt her regime is. We also find out that she had the Dominator kill Jack and rewards him with a bullet, which is her 
way of tying up loose ends. The Leaguers arrive back in Paris on a commercial flight and we see that Sapphire Stagg is on the same plane. Sapphire has come to Paris to see her husband, Metamorpho (who has amnesia and doesn’t even know he’s married). At the embassy, Catherine Cobert tells Captain Atom she believes he’s a good team leader (and she kinda hits on him too).
Legion of Super-Heroes #62 – “Why Must Magic Triumph?” – Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen/Mike DeCarlo
This one starts with some Legionnaires (Timber Wolf, Invisible Kid, and Sun Boy) helping to evacuate Weber’s World (where the United Planets government is headquartered) after the massive technology failure we’ve seen in the last couple of issues. The Legionnaires are worried since they can’t figure out what’s making the tech fail, and the fact that Ambassador Relnic thinks this may be the end of everything doesn’t reassure them. On Lallor, the local heroes tackle a huge monster, but even
Duplicate Boy’s power isn’t enough to stop it because the creature was conjured by magic. Another contingent of Legionnaires (Wildfire, Dawnstar, Saturn Girl, Sensor Girl, Phantom Girl, Lightning Lass, Colossal Boy, Tellus, Chameleon Boy, Element Lad, and Ultra Boy) are heading to Sorcerer’s World after the message Sensor Girl received from there last issue telling her that magic was supplanting science as the dominant force in the universe (as if they couldn’t see that for themselves). They come across a gigantic spider web in space (complete with giant spiders) and have to find a way through to 
continue their journey. Element Lad finally turns the whole thing into hydrogen and the ship resumes its course for Sorcerer’s World. On Colu, Brainiac 5 and his colleagues are more freaked out than most by what’s happening (since their society is so science-oriented) and Brainy ends up deciding to contact the Legion for help. The main group of Legionnaires reaches Sorcerer’s World, but find it surrounded by some kinda of protoplasm shell. Sensor Girl suggests they fly right into it and after some analysis, they ignite the goop and burn it away. But their first view of Sorcerer’s World isn’t what they were expecting … the whole planet is encased in metal. Back on Earth, Bouncing
Boy and Duo Damsel have opened up Legion headquarters for use as a trauma centre, even though Dr. Gym’ll is appalled at the primitive conditions. At Sorcerer’s World, Phantom Girl tries phasing through the barrier around the planet, but almost gets killed. They find a keyhole in the metal shield, which Sensor Girl says is symbolic, representing a way through the barrier. After trying to overload the lock with all their powers combined, Sensor Girl taps into her mystical side (her planet, Orando, was founded by colonists from Sorcerer’s World centuries ago) and figures out that it’ll take someone sacrificing their life to open the lock. In Metropolis, a handful of Science Police (Shvaughn 
Erin, Gigi Cusimano, Dvron, and Chief Zendak) have to hold back food rioters who are trying to storm the spaceport. Above Sorcerer’s World, the Legionnaires debate who should sacrifice themselves to open the barrier, but Magnetic Kid takes it upon himself to do it. Polar Boy tries to stop him, but Magnetic Kid insists it’s his choice and flies into the keyhole, opening the metal shell around the planet … and letting out a really pissed-off entity seemingly made of darkness. Is it Mordru or someone worse? We’ll have to wait until next issue (which is also the last issue of this Legion series) to find out.
New Titans #56 – “More than Human” – George Perez, Marv Wolfman/Mark Bright/Romeo Tanghal
Most of this issue is a flashback to the days of the original Teen Titans, back when the Titans West were around. The framing story has Mal (Herald) Duncan and his wife, Karen (Bumblebee) Duncan at a club in San Francisco discussing STAR Labs’ plan to create a new Titans team on the west coast with Sarah Charles. Karen mentions that there was once a west coast version of the Titans but that most of them wouldn’t be a good fit for the new team. Karen ends up telling Sarah a story about one of the
Titans’ early cases, which leads us to the main story told in flashback. Not long after Karen started working at STAR, she was showing Don (Dove) Hall and Lillith around and they found a restricted-access door. Lillith felt something behind the door that disturbed her and mentioned it to Robin, which led the Titans to the jungles of South America after a little investigating. The Titans (Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Hawk & Dove, Herald, Bumblebee, Lillith, Beast Boy (aka Changeling), Aqualad, Golden Eagle, and Flamebird) follow Lillith’s psychic powers to an encampment of STAR scientists. They’re 
attacked by guards but take them out pretty fast, although they destroy a lot of the equipment in the process. The head scientist (Roderick Buckminster) shows them his authorization to be digging there, but Lillith mentions the psychic feeling she has that whatever they’re digging up is alive. Buckminster says that’s impossible since the artifact they’re digging up has been there for centuries, but Lillith insists whatever’s inside is calling out to her telepathically, begging for help because it’s dying. The Titans help the scientists recover the “artifact”, which turns out to be a caveman (who Lillith’s telepathy tells her is named Gnarrk) frozen in ice with a jewel
embedded in his chest. They take him back to San Francisco, but Buckminster is more interested in the jewel (since it seems to be a renewable energy source) than saving Gnarrk’s life. He forces the Titans to leave (and promise to keep their mouths shut) in exchange for letting Lillith stay. The Titans prepare to leave and Lillith communicates with Gnarrk, trying to learn more about him and wake him up before the scientists remove the gem from his chest (which will probably kill him). The psychic rapport grows and overloads, knocking Lillith out. Another STAR scientist (Messner) comes in and is appalled that 
Buckminster has been operating outside the knowledge of STAR’s board of directors, and that he’s ready to kill a living Cro-Magnon specimen to get an energy source. Buckminster and his colleagues knock Messner out and are getting ready to kill him and Lillith when Gnarrk wakes up and goes nuts, pounding them. The Titans hear the ruckus and attack Gnarrk, who thinks they’re threatening Lillith when they try to help her. Security guards shoot Gnaark and he’s put in a life-support chamber, but Lillith can feel that he’s dying. She tells the others what she gleaned from Gnarrk’s mind … that he witnessed a comet land and a piece of it got embedded in his chest, expanding his mind and
protecting him from a volcanic eruption that buried him. Gnarrk’s mind continued expanding over the centuries until he was smart enough to advance mankind in unforeseen ways. His mind reached out and found a kindred spirit in Lillith, but he never recovers from the gunshots and ends up dying. The gem’s power dies with him (disappointing the scientists) and his body vanished, along with all record of its existence in STAR’s files.
Noticeable Things:
- I get the feeling this story might just be establishing the post-Crisis canonicity of the Titans West. Some of these characters, like Golden Eagle and Bette (Flamebird) Kane don’t appear in any stories besides this one and a Secret Origins issue about the various Titans teams.
- This story is said to take place about six months before the old Titans disbanded, and about a year before the New Teen Titans formed.