Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors

• Credits: by Libbylawrence
• Published: March 14, 2000
• Link: Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors

January 31, 1986: Captain Comet notes that Lesla-Lar has dropped the Supergirl name and costume. Pariah and Harbinger arrive to warn the team of an impending invasion of an alien alliance of Dominators, Khunds, and Thanagarians, along with lesser partners Daxamites, Durlans, and Psions. Harbinger begins contacting heroes around the world. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 1”]

• January 31, 1986: Captain Comet explains that the supposed Supergirl of Earth-Prime is actually a self-deluded Kandorian from this universe named Lesla-Lar, and she has dropped the Supergirl name and costume at his request, taking the identity of Leslie Larson. Pariah and Harbinger suddenly arrive to warn the team about an impending alien invasion, explaining that an alien alliance of Dominators, Khunds, and Thanagarians, with two Daxamite partipants, seeks to destroy all metahumans on Earth before they become a threat against their empires. Captain Comet and his team head for the hero's spacecraft, the Cometeer, to investigate further, while Harbinger begins contacting all the superheroes around the world she can reach. In space, the Dominators reveal that they are using Pariah as a carrier of the equalization plague, which is meant to wipe out the metagene and make the humans docile and all the same. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 1: Harbingers of Doom”]

Summary: Captain Comet and Lesla-Lar save Washington, D.C., from Khund missiles. Gen. Eiling asks Captain Comet to lead the metahuman task force against the alien armada, since the JLA is busy dealing with Despero. The Metal Men, the Outsiders, and the New Titans arrive. The alien armada has arrived, Australia is blocked off by an energy cage, and the British Isles have disappeared. The New Titans protect Gateway City. Captain Comet disappears during a battle. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 2”]

• Captain Comet spots a Khund warship over Washington, D.C., and he and Lesla-Lar save the city from being destroyed by missiles. U.S. Army Gen. Eiling asks Captain Comet to lead the metahuman task force to fight the alien armada. Soon, Captain Comet addresses a large group of superheroes gathered by Harbinger – the Metal Men, the Outsiders, and the New Teen Titans, while the JLA is busy with the Despero situation. By now the alien armada has appeared in the skies, the continent of Australia has been blocked off by an energy cage, and the British Isles have completely vanished. The Titans protect Gateway City from Thanagarians and Khunds. Lesla-Lar battles two powerful Daxamites. Captain Comet and his team battle Khunds and Thanagarians, and Comet disappears. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 2: Metahuman Task Force”]

Summary: Captain Comet battles Terra-Man, Kasta the thrill-killer, and Malvolio of the Flame. In Australia, Air Wave II disappears and is presumed dead. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 3”]

• Captain Comet, transported onto a Dominator ship, battles three supervillains working with the alien alliance: Terra-Man, Kasta the thrill-killer of Thanagar, and Malvolio of the Flame. Meanwhile, another team – Air Wave II, Golden Glider, Mayflower, Multiplex, the Pied Piper, Plastique, and Silent Majority – battles Khunds and Thanagarians over Australia, liberating the continent, but Air Wave II disappears and is presumed dead. While the team is relaxing in an alien laboratory, Multiplex makes his escape by stunning the others, who awake to find themselves captive slaves of an alien mind-reader. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 3: Battleground Australia”]

Summary: As the Rehab Squad battles aliens across the U.S., Captain Comet rejoins them. The Outsiders and the Secret Six protect Gotham City. The Global Guardians protect Europe. Superman and the JLA join the fight against the aliens. Harbinger realizes the British Isles have been shrunken. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 4”]

• Captain Comet defeats Terra-Man, Kasta the thrill-killer, and Malvolio of the Flame, apparently killing them when he causes the Dominator ship to explode, taking others with it. Maxima observes him from her planet using a surveillance camera, planning to make him her mate. Dolphin, Starman, the Cheetah II, and Lesla-Lar continue to fight the aliens across the United States, and Captain Comet rejoins them. The Dominators discuss their next weapon, a powerful monster called Doomsday. The Outsiders, with Batwoman and Robin II, battle Thanagarians over Gotham City. The Metal Men and independent heroes such as the Creeper, Thorn, Jason Bard, and Johnny Peril fight aliens in cities across the U.S. The Global Guardians fight aliens throughout Europe. A team consisting of Arisia, John Stewart, and Katma Tui of the Green Lantern Corps, as well as Deadshot, Signalman, and Silver Swan, investigate Britain's disappearance, sending an energy signature back to Harbinger. In Washington, D.C., Harbinger is happy to learn that Superman and the JLA have joined the battle against the invaders, now that Despero is defeated. She matches the energy to that of Brainiac's shrinking ray and theorizes the British Isles have been shrunken. The team enters a cloaked alien ship above in search of the shrunken Britain. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 4: World at War”]

Summary: John Stewart (Green Lantern II) restores Great Britain to full size. Lesla-Lar battles Doomsday until Captain Comet shrinks it. The alien invasion is defeated. Lesla-Lar is given the name Valor by the media. Pariah, infected with the equalizing plague, sacrifices himself to save New York City. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 5”]

• January 31: John Stewart restores Great Britain to full size in its original spot, and the team battles through the alien ship, then returns to Washington, D.C. Lesla-Lar battles the unleashed Doomsday, and Captain Comet helps defeat the monster by shrinking it to microscopic size with Brainiac's shrinking ray. The captive team meets Brother Power, another captive missing since the late 1960s, and they escape. Another captive, an alien woman named Stealth, gives them a ride back to Earth, where the alien invasion has been defeated thanks in part to the JLA's eleventh hour efforts. Lesla-Lar is given the name Valor by the media. After Captain Comet fails to find a cure for Pariah's equalizing plague, the man vanishes. Pariah then destroys a remaining alien ship that stayed behind to destroy New York City with a fusion bomb, saving the city but seemingly dying in the process. In the aftermath of the invasion, Harbinger is employed by the Rehab Squad, the Pied Piper and Brother Power leave together, Stealth leaves to travel the Earth, and Deadshot and Multiplex are missing, having escaped in the confusion. Lesla-Lar joins the Rehab Squad as Valor. The watching Maxima makes plans to make Captain Comet her mate. [“Captain Comet's Rehab Squad: Strange Visitors, Chapter 5: Doomsday”]