NIGHTMASK #8: 'Transfer Point'

June, 1987
(22 Pages)

Cover Artists: Keith Giffen & Michael Bair
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Penciler: Keith Giffen
Inker: Rick Bryant
Letterer: Agustin Mas
Colorist: Andy Yanchus
Editor: Michael Higgins
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Summary:

From afar, Nightmask witnesses Justice enter the Ballad Clinic for Dream Research, and find Lita, Keith's (Nightmask) physical trainer, picking up her weights in the basement gym. She turns, tells Justice that Dr. Ballad isn't there, and asks him to leave. Justice's eyes glow, and in response Lita throws one of the weights at him, only for it to be deflected by his shield. She charges and is blasted to atoms by his sword arm.

Elsewhere: Keith Remsen, his sister Teddy, and his legal guardian, Lucian Ballad are exiting a theater in Times Square. Keith spots a haggard-looking man who flees when tries getting his attention. Keith gives chase, only stopping when Justice steps between him and the strange man. Lucian tries to talk rationally with Justice, only to be reduced to ashes by his sword arm. Keith saves Teddy from the same fate by grabbing her out of her wheel chair seconds before it is blasted to smithereens. The duo flee into the subway, but the rush hour crowd sweeps Teddy away. Keith spots the stranger he was chasing earlier, confronting him but losing him when Justice catches up. The stranger slips onto the train just before the doors close.

Keith realizes that this is "just like a bad dream" and tries to manifest his Nightmask ability. He succeeds, jumps onto the back of the train, and chases the man after he leaps from between the cars to the floor of the subway tunnel. Nightmask is close to catching the man when a blast from Justice throws him off balance. Justice tells Nightmask that he must be judged. Nightmask gives him the slip, and finally recognizes this for a dream.

Nightmask then encounters a group of homeless people, as well as two mysterious, hooded figures who give him advice. Justice catches up, and the two fight, only to have the sewer floor give way beneath them. He almost panics with the idea that Teddy isn't there to anchor him, and theorizes that if the dream violently ends, it will kill him. Suddenly, Justice, now reduced to skeleton, gets up and renews the pursuit. At the same time, Nightmask manages to catch the stranger in question, discovering that this is his dream, and that Justice is truly after him, only to lose him again.

Nightmask then breaks through the cavern wall, into the center of the dream, where all of the backgrounds merge into one. He finds Teddy, but cannot reach her. The same two figures from in the sewer tell him that she is deep asleep. A passing train car stops, its doors open and Keith now sees why the strange man he is chasing is afraid of Justice -- he witnessed the murder of his older brother, a drug dealer by trade, by Justice (see Justice #1). The kid fled into the subway tunnels until the police finally found him. Since then, he retreated into catatonic fear which has culminated in this dream.

Nightmask catches the stranger and demands that he take back his fear of Justice, after having transferred it to him. The stranger replies that he cannot, and vanishes as his physical body wakes. The two hooded figures who helped Nightmask reveal themselves to be his parents, who died in an airport bombing nearly one year ago (see NIGHTMASK #1). Keith felt guilty for surviving while they did not, and finally must come to terms with the reality of the situation. After doing so, he shatters the Justice persona using a new found power, and wakes up in his own bed. He tentively checks the house room by room and finds everyone and everything is well. After returning to his room, Keith pulls his parents' picture out of his dresser and puts it on the bedstand as a reminder of their love, and the lessons he has learned this night.

Summary written by Rod Myers Jr.