Justice League America #31 – “Crossed Wires” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Adam Hughes/Joe Rubinstein
This one starts with the Spectre arriving at a devastated village in Eastern Europe. He was drawn there by mystic forces, but he can’t figure out why since there are no human souls left in the village … not even the souls of the dead. The Gray Man shows up and we’re reminded of his mission: collecting dream essence from the recently dead on behalf of the Lords of Order. Spectre points out that there’s no dream essence to collect here and Gray Man gives him a cryptic answer about this being the beginning of a long
trail that will keep them both very busy. In the old Secret Sanctuary outside Metropolis, Blue Beetle, Mr. Miracle, and Booster Gold are working on an upgrade to the team jet (which they haven’t mentioned to J’onn or Max yet) and discussing what might happen if the League runs out of funding. The discussion gets very meta (with talk about comic books and stuff), but we do learn that the League has rented out part of their hangar space to the Doom Patrol for a bit of extra cash. At the Embassy, Fire and Ice have new costumes and Fire’s quite happy with hers. (Adam Hughes is the new penciler, so you 
know it’s a sexy costume.) Ice isn’t quite so thrilled, although she’s really not showing any skin at all. Fire’s enthusiasm dies down when they end up getting locked in their room. Meanwhile, Dr. Fate shows up to join the team. This isn’t the original Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson), nor is it technically the new Dr. Fate (which is an amalgam of married couple Eric and Linda Strauss); Eric is sick, so Linda is flying solo as Fate right now and she’s kinda freaked out about the idea. Batman shows up later, just as the fire department is leaving, and Oberon explains things to him. Fire and Ice were locked in because the building’s security didn’t recognize their new costumes, then Dr. Fate crashed through
a skylight and Fire freaked out, losing control of her new flame powers. Dr. Fate tells Max she wants to join the team and he’s thrilled. Huntress also shows up to join the team and Max tells Oberon to show her and Fate around. Batman catches Guy Gardner goofing off on monitor duty and they find out Sue Dibny has been trying to get an emergency call through for a while. Apparently, the European branch disappeared from the monitors while investigating a disturbance in a village. The main team heads over to Europe, but Batman’s worried because their only info comes from news reports about a series of 
devastated villages with no bodies left behind. As they get closer, they see another village in the middle of what looks like a full-scale war and head down to help. Meanwhile, Spectre and Gray Man are nearby, still debating their roles in the drama. Gray Man has apparently found some dream essence to harvest, but Spectre still can’t figure out why he feels compelled to be there. He vows to do his duty though, whatever the cost. This is the beginning of a crossover with JLE, which continues immediately below.
Justice League Europe #7 – “Teasdale Unbound” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Bart Sears/Pablo Marcos
This one starts with the Eurpean Justice Leaguers (Captain Atom, Power Girl, Metamorpho, Flash, Animal Man, Ralph (Elongated Man) Dibny, and Rocket Red) surrounded by a mob of irate villagers. It’s all they can do to hold back the crowd, who seem to be trying to bite them like vampires. When the JLA show up, Power Girl tosses Flash up to the shuttle so he can warn the non-invulnerable members to wear protective suits, since one scratch could turn them into slavering vampires (or whatever these crazed villagers really are) too. The new team doesn’t
have much more luck stopping the horde than the others did, and most of them refuse to believe these are actually vampires, even though the United Nations emergency team nearby confirms that bites and scratches transfer their blood lust … and that they always retreat at dawn. Nearby, Spectre and Gray Man are waiting and Gray Man is certain he’ll soon have some dream essence to harvest for the Lords of Order. (If these really are vampires, they no longer have souls, so I guess hat’s why he can’t harvest anything yet.) Power Girl and Fire discuss their respective teams, with Fire saying she’s found a real 
family with her team, but Power Girl says her branch hasn’t gotten that close yet. Captain Atom explains the situation to J’onn, who suggests tracking the vampires down during daylight. Captain Atom says it’s possible, but they’d have to kill them and they are technically just innocent people who have been turned into monsters. J’onn agrees they should be contained and cured if possible, but the head of the U.N. task force says he’ll wipe them all out if necessary to prevent further spread of the outbreak. Batman and Ralph scour the village during daylight to find a sleeping vampire and sure enough, when
Ralph pulls one into the sunlight, it burns up immediately. That makes Ralph think they really are vampires, but confirms for Batman that they aren’t. Meanwhile, we see the mastermind (if that’s the right word) behind this scheme, a nebbishy professor named Irwin Teasdale. Teasdale has some kind of grudge against Simon Stagg and is using this vampire plague to get back at him (somehow). But we see the Gray Man is actually the one pushing Teasdale to act. Dr. Fate senses Spectre’s presence and talks to him, reminding 
him that the Lords of Oder aren’t above meddling with humanity for their own purposes. Spectre takes Fate through a mystic portal to see the Lords, and we see Gray Man feeling triumphant at his plan working out so well … a plan that will supposedly enable him to get rid of Spectre, Fate, and the League before taking over the world and turning into a vast gray landscape.
New Titans #59 – “Beest of Burden” – Marv Wolfman, George Perez/Tom Grummett/Bob McLeod
Last issue, the Titans found out that Cyborg had something implanted in his mechanical body that allowed Wildebeest to control him remotely. They took him to STAR Labs, but found out STAR had implanted something of their own into Cyborg the last time he was repaired there. One of STAR’s doctors (Brewster) swore their implant has nothing to do with Cyborg being controlled, but pointed out that fighting against the control could kill him. Donna, Starfire, and Bumblebee tracked the control
signal to its source, but walked right into a trap. This issue starts with them digging out of the rubble of a blown-up building. Raven contacts them telepathically to let them know that Brewster wants to operate on Cyborg to remove whatever’s controlling him. None of the Titans are sure if they can trust Brewster, but Cyborg’s grandparents are there and give permission for the operation. Preparation takes a long time, so Nightwing and Changeling have time to get to San Francisco just before the main operation starts. The doctors find a switch on Cyborg’s implant that Brewster says they didn’t put there. They successfully replace 
it, but seeing a grainy image from Cyborg’s internal memory during the procedure makes Nightwing suspicious. Cyborg feels better by the next day, but doesn’t trust anyone at STAR to help his recovery, not even his girlfriend, Sarah Charles. Nightwing has Bumblebee check out the image file they saw during the operation, but the file is encrypted and she can’t break it. Nightwing figures Donna can use her new powers to get what they need. Later, Sarah and Brewster are lured to a fake meeting and realize someone must want them away from Cyborg. Sarah is about to sound the alarm, but Bumblebee stops her. Brewster rushes to the med-lab and finds a projection of Cyborg’s memories. First, of
Cyborg and Sarah getting it on, then a more recent one, which Brewster says is impossible since the recording device was turned off before that. But that admission confirms Nightwing’s suspicions, that STAR has access to Cyborg’s memories and have been watching them almost like a TV show all along. (The projected memories didn’t actually come from Cyborg’s mind, it was Donna using her new powers to tap into his thoughts.) Nightwing suspected there must be a recording device in Cyborg’s memory, since there was no other way for Wildebeest to know so much about the team’s whereabouts. They threaten Brewster until 
he tells them about the implant STAR put into Cyborg’s head and who had access to it. Nightwing comes up with a way to figure out who the guilty party is, but it could be dangerous for Cyborg. He’s all for it, wanting to catch whoever’s been fucking with his head. They replace the implant and track the culprit to Long Island, where Cyborg confronts the guy who added the control chip to the implant (and who he assumes is Wildebeest). Wildebeest has a fail-safe inside the chip that he uses to knock Cyborg out, as he prepares some traps for the other Titans. But Jericho is hiding inside Cyborg and jumps out, decking Wildebeest before he can set off his traps. The other Titans bust in and Wildebeest does manage to activate a self-destruct, but Raven’s soul-self contains the explosion and Donna uses a force shield to protect everyone
else. Turns out Cyborg was unconscious the whole time, being controlled by Jericho. Wildebeest’s mind “shuts down” as soon as he’s caught, so he’s sent to a psych ward. Back at STAR, Cyborg is revived (without any implants) and Nightwing tells him he wants him to lead the Titans, since Nightwing has some other business to take care of. I assume that’s leading into the “Lonely Place of Dying” storyline, which has already started in this month’s Batman. After saying his farewells, Nightwing leaves and we see the real Wildebeest nearby, laughing his ass off because he’s bluffed the Titans into thinking they beat him … again.