April, 1987 (22 Pages) Cover Artist: Geof Isherwood Writer / Penciler: Geof Isherwood Inker: Vince Colletta Letterer: Rick Parker Colorist: Bob Sharen Editor: Michael Higgins Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

In Alphabet City, New York, a young girl searches desperately though the slums for her father. A few blocks away, Arnie, the cab driver, returns to his apartment to find Tensen relaxing in front of the television. When the cabbie asks Tensen what he would like for dinner, Tensen responds by leaving in search of the residual energy that sent him to New York in the first place (see Justice #1).

The little girl, Sara, searches for her father only to be taken in by a crack addict who takes her back to his apartment and feeds her a sandwich laced with drugs. Sara runs away, feeling very sick, and it is only after she has found refuge in an abandoned building that Tensen finds her. He searches her aura, but finds only pureness, mixed in with "some type of fatal evil." The little girl mistakes Tensen for her father. Meanwhile, the drug dealer, Chain, confers with his superior, Zirco, who tells him that if the little girl squeals about what's been done to her, then the police will arrest them both. Chain swears he will rectify his mistake.

Tensen brings Sara to Arnie's apartment to care for her. Immediately Arnie knows what is wrong with her, that she has overdosed on an illegal drug. Tensen sees her aura getting darker, meaning she is dying. Feeling that because he had regenerated a missing hand a few weeks ago (see Justice #4), he might be able to heal Sara of this poison. He feeds his life energy through her, curing her of the drug, then quickly falls asleep after the act is done.

In the morning, Tensen takes Sara out to get some breakfast, as ordered by Arnie. At the supermarket, Chain, the drug dealer, spots her and kidnaps her. Tensen pursues the man but is too slow, as Chain flags down a taxi and leaves to see Zirco. Once at Zirco's, Chain takes her to the storeroom until Zirco can figure out what to do. No sooner does Chain take Sara to the storeroom than does Tensen find them. As he prepares to fire his sword at Chain, Justice is assaulted by several gang members, all armed and ready to fight. After Justice subdues them, however, Chain stabs Sara in the back and she falls to the ground, mortally wounded. Justice then decides to beat Chain, rather killing him slowly than using the swiftness of his sword. Zirco tries to resuscitate little Sara, but cannot and suggests that Tensen use his vehicle to take her to a hospital for treatment.

At the hospital, a surgeon tells Tensen that the girl has died. Now, Tensen decides to turn his attention to the corruption on the streets of New York rather than the corruption from his homeworld.

How many times have you seen a book like this?  The problem with this issue, aside from the truly bad scripting by Geof Isherwood (who should stay at his drawing table and away from the typewriter), is that sadly, well ... the annoying characters here, such as Arnie the cabbie.  That, and we're really trying to deal with too many issues at once, aren't we?  Someone else could have handled this story better, much better, and some have.  Here we have diverse topics such as homeless children, children without parents, drug abuse, child abuse, adoption, and all sorts of other agendas.  Geof Isherwood thinks he's doing a good thing when he has Justice suddenly decide to face the human menaces rather than the alien ones he's been chasing, but wait ... if we look back at past issues, Justice has already been doing that!  As a result, there's not much to like here, in my opinion.  Another bad inking job by Vince Colletta. Rating: 1 Bolt (out of 5)

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