Happy Birthday, Justice!

I thought this issue was going to fall under my "three times" rule, since, um, I'd bought it twice from separate dollar bins in the last month or so; but I'm not sure I had this issue when it came out! Which is weird, since I had a subscription at some point, and I remember the cover, but that might be from the New Universe house ads. It is memorable, you have to give it that. From 1988, Justice #22, "Hide and Seek" Written by Peter David, pencils by Lee Weeks, inks by Mike Gustovich.

We mentioned some time back how the first fourteen issues of this series were retconned, because somebody decided the fantasy elements weren't in keeping with the New Universe's mission statement of "the world outside your window." Instead of being Tensen, a "justice-warrior" from a magical land; he was now John Tensen, an undercover narcotics agent and paranormal who spent the better part of a year tripping his head off, his mind warped by another paranormal, Daedalus Darquill. Oh, yeah, like that name spells world-outside-your-window...This issue, after being captured and drugged at a Live-Aid style concert for victims of "the Pitt" disaster (not that one, Timmy! Or that one either.) John was again in la-la land, seeing the world as a Dungeons & Dragons medieval hodgepodge: he takes down a police helicopter, seeing it as a dragon with mounted riders. In remembrance of his beloved "Endolina," who may or may not have existed, I don't recall; John refrains from killing, using his shields to keep the fallen "dragon" from crashing down hard.

Meanwhile, back at the police station, where John had blown a hole through the building in escaping; the cops, the army, and the National Security Council are getting into a pissing match over jurisdiction, while also not making any effort to search for the escaped "justice killer." John had killed a lot of bad guys, sure; but I'm not sure how many they would be able to pin on him: not because he was crazy at the time, but he usually disintegrated his victims, so...no habeas corpus, right? John's college age daughter Angela is there as well, as well as the psychic Playback, and the perpetually sniffly Mr. Pasko. As night falls, John gathers with some bums around a fire: their bully of a leader tries to shoot him, but John's shields bounce the bullet back, killing him. The other bums, who had been ordered to find more fuel for the fire, wonder how their boss would burn... 

Back at the station, John's lawyer had about had it with him, before realizing bricks from his escape landed on her car. Then, John shows up, thinking she was Endolina: she maces him a bit, which only makes him think she wasn't Endolina, and he takes off again, ranting at nothing. The lawyer bails, and we cut back to the bums, who receive another visitor, wearing a shirt like John did in his early issues, and carrying a flamethrower. Next issue for him! This next bit doesn't quite line up, but I see what they were trying to do: Playback sees the recent past, and the scene with John and the lawyer; but John's powers are such that he can see Playback watching him! Which isn't great for his already dubious mental state, but Playback knows what direction he took off in. Updike, the NSC man, wants to tranq John; Angela angrily points out drugs don't go well with her dad, and seemingly shouts him out of using it. The army gets there first, although John sees them as wolfmen, and their leader Col. Browning as Darquill. He tears through the soldiers, again showing mercy, although he doesn't intend to show any to Darquill...

Then, for little reason, John sees Angela as a hideous monster: I don't know if there's an in-story reason why? It could be he never wanted kids; or perhaps Darquill put that in him to make him turn on his loved ones. Trying to talk her dad down, Angela braves the danger and hugs him, snapping him back to reality, or closer to it. Updike does get to use his tranquilizer gun, though: on Col. Browning, to keep him from backshooting John, and probably Angela. (Browning may show up later, or in other New Universe titles: I think he had been Spitfire's government contact, and not a great guy.) Updike wants John for the NSC; but the story ends with the return of the bums, who gather up weapons and ammo from the downed soldiers, so they can go feed their fire? OK, that punchline didn't quite land, and the bum bits cut into Angela's monster-reveal, even if the cover sells it.

Also this issue: Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe-style entries for Justice, Playback, and baddie Seraph; the latter of whom I'm not sure had appeared yet! Also, the entries give birthdates, since another New Universe tenet would be the characters aging in real time; so Justice would be 75 today! Well, it's not like his hair's gonna go more white...wait, he would've been just shy of his 38th birthday when this issue hit the stands, but Angela's at least 18 and probably closer to 22? Not impossible, but it doesn't seem to add up! We'll close with that aforementioned house ad: the New U. was down to four regular books, and I think Star Brand was even bi-monthly. Although, Nightmask was still making guest-appearances; and the back cover has an ad for the upcoming the Draft, which would also feature him.