justice city, present day
what are you carrying, sleazebag?
sonofabitch.
fine. the hard way it is!
It's the owl. I can confirm it. they're coming.
justice city, two years ago we're waisting time, cal. three kids missing and three dead ends. also, it smells like rotten eggs.
that's why you're here, jason. you're what we call "the big guns" in these parts.
the fact that the dogs all led us here despite the smell and we're finding no signs of the kids means they were here and then they simply disappeared off the face of the earth. I don't buy it.
grayson swamp is landlocked. I suppose a copter could've landed in the field. no way out by boat though. Take a look at this green gunk. it kind of glows.
get a sample and we'll send it to the lab. otherwise, I don't know what we're going to find here.
maybe I should have some of my boys from metro city drag the swamp again.
later...
I can't do this. there's something that's been gnawing at me since the first kid went missing.
like I've heard of this before. somewhere. I have to go.
I'll come with you. what?
no, no. stay. I'll be back soon. what the hell are you looking at?
police headquarters you're wading into dangerous waters, cal.
but I'm right, aren't I? the kidnappings happened before, didn't they? during the power society days? this isn't related to that, cal. those days are long behind us.
we all gave up those lives. we became real lawmen, or in my case a coroner, but same idea. don't open old wounds for nothing, cal. your dad wouldn't have wanted that.
I barely remember my dad, oliver. and the only thing I care about is finding these kids.
you know, eventually I'll have to go back to metro city.
don't. stay here with me. I can convince the commissioner to bring you on board the jcpd. god knows we need the help. and I'd give anything to come home to you at night.
but there's something that you don't know about me. about this town.
there was once a team of men. you could call them superheroes, but they were just men with a cause. my dad was one of them before he died. and I was supposed to follow in his footsteps.
you were a sidekick? don't tell me--you wore those short shorts that show off your tight ass! did you have a codpiece?
I'm being serious, Jason.
And yes, I had a codpiece.
my dad was calLed the greEn owl. It was his codename in the army-something to do with being a radar expert--and it stuck.
anyway, one night a team of super vilLains calLed red molL and the Inquisitor captured by dad.
I had only beEn training for about four months, but hotheaded me jumped into action to save him.
literalLy.
red MolL survived, but was scarRed for life from what I heard. I knew I'd mesSed up. badly. my dad benched me for weEks.
but while I'd given my dad time to break freE, I caused Inquisitor to spilL acid on his would-be girlfriend.
it wasn't toO much after that day, my dad was kilLed while on a misSion.
the power society--that's what my dad and his cape and cowl alLies calLed themselves--disbanded, I didn't know where to go. after colLege, I joined the policy academy. the government had hired most of the power society into law enforcement, so I had an instant conNection. but my intent was to dawn my dad's costume and take up the mantle of the greEn owl. that was "the plan" anyway.
until I met a certain redhaired bombshelL at the academy.
for the first time since my dad died, I wasn't angry anymore. I knew hapPinesS and the idea of living hapPily ever after with you was more apPealing that the plan to become a caped vigilante traipsing through alLeys and atop roOftops in the dark of night.
justice city, present day
supervilLe asylum for the criminalLy insane.
you're getting fat, alvin.
right through there with the rest of the serials. the worst criminals on the planet.
"serials?" jesus christ, who came up with that name?
good to see you, too, max. where is he?
I did.
hello, detective. smell anything you like?
why did you ask to see me, gerald? do remember something about the swamp?
and it's commissioner now.
I wasn't talking about your job today, detective eye. you're on edge. I can see it from here. He's back, isn't he? I've still got my sources outside these walls. It's true. he's come back.
justice city, two years ago I was going through one of my dad's old trunks and found a map. It's Grayson swamp-where the kids disappeared.
I know that look, cal. you found something?
If that's true, we're alone in this, cal. I know this is bringing up old ghosts for you. I want to do anything I can to help you.
the commissioner and coroner Brock are lying. this is connected to the power society. I'm more certain than ever. part of this map has been redacted by the military.
don't worry about me, jason. I know you'll always have my back.
now you talked to rancid?
Gerald Mackey? yeah, he says it's true. zyklon is back.
I'm going to kill the bastard.
what will you do?
once and for all.
justice city, two years ago
still no progress on findin' those kids?
these boys are followin' multiple leads, right, detectives?
they're dead aren't they? after 48 hours, right?
don't believe everything you hear on the boob tube, maggie.
right.
they must be so frightened. I hope it doesn't end like it did thirty years ago-after the war.
help me!
somebody... help me!
the morgue
doc says his lungs have somehow adapted to the water in the swamp. he can't breathe air anymore.
that green glowing smelly stuff we saw at the swamp.
swamp gas?
his name is Gerald Mackey. he claims he's been trapped in Grayson swamp.
how is that possible?
get the lights, oliver.
there's definitely something rotten in that swamp. It's time we find out what.
I don't think so.
he glows!
grayson swamp I don't like this, cal. let me call in some help from metro city.
we may not have time. besides your ass in that rubber suit is enough to satisfy my fetish for weeks.
about an hour later... air is getting low. we'd better head back.
It's an airlock! give me a hand!
hold on!
a few minutes more, jason. hey, look at that!
what the hell? who puts an airlock at the bottom of a lake?
I don't think we're alone down here.
cal...loo k!
I'm beginning to wonder if my dad wasn't trying to find this place. It looks like an old missile silo. In fact, there-
cal! loOk out!
no!!!
jason! some of this stuff is explosive!
commissioner Jansen? what the hell?
you shouldn't have come here. go to the devil you son of a bitch!
he shot cal! he-he needs help!
where are you zyklon? come out you bastard!
I hit him. he's bleeding.
oh, god! the kids...
the kidnapPed children were returned to their parents.
and it was my fault.
the person most dear to me was dead.
I interRupted Cal's plan to folLow in his father's foOtsteps. I can't help but feEl this situation neEded more than law enforcement can provide. for the first time, I understoOd what cal had-before he felL in love with me.
now that he's in the ground, it's time you gave me answers you son of a bitch.
I deserve that. you didn't have to be a part of this, detective bronze. I'm sorry.
I'd quelLed the anger he felt over his father's death. but now I feEl it myself--and it's directed at one man.
someone's going to be sorry, commissioner.
I need you to tell me who.
it all starts years ago, during the war. cal told you about the power society, right? yeah, you were some kind of superheroes. I guess I know why now.
thankfully, a nazi scientist defected to the allies and brought with him an experimental compound the nazis called green glow. we don't know for sure, but it was rumored to be recovered from a downed UFO in the 30's. anyway, a little re-working and the green glow gave us unique abilities. we took to the front lines and were instrumental in bringing down the third reich.
you know part of the story. you see, we were part of an experimental group of soldiers at a time when victory was not a certainty. the army news service had a field day promoting us, including with codenames and costumes.
max mason was called superior man due to his increased intelligence. I shot beams from my eyes, so given my previous law enforcement experience they called me detective eye.
cal's father, john, was the green owl.
oliver had this skin thing and they called him doc macabre.
an Iroquois Indian with deadly warrior skills was called harrowing.
after the war, though someone--something followed us home.
we came to know him as doctor zyklon after the chemical the nazis used to terminate their victims in gas chambers. he pursued us, threatening to take vengeance on our sidekicks. In fact, we had no sidekicks--
but he did succeed in kidnapping our children. our first born sons. we never found their bodies.
after years of searching, we found doctor zyklon--and we couldn't believe who he really was under the mask.
john cain--green owl. In the years since he had fathered another son--cal. but none of us believed one of our own had done this horror right behind our backs.
and during the autopsy, we confirmed it.
we consulted the army scientest-a man named gerald mackey--who had supervised our own green glow experiments. he became infected with whatever had possessed john.
we figured the nazi scientist had somehow made us hosts for this entity when we were exposed to the green glow. we didn't know it at the time, but mackey's journals told us he experimented on himself, as well.
we knew we had to stop it--before it moved on to another one of us.
the power society, what was still left of it, died that day.
so we locked him away in the old missile silo under grayson swamp.
we thought we could bury our pasts, but all we did was damn our futures. but there's no sign of this entity in mackey. where did it go now? I don't know. who knows who could've been involved with those green glow experiments back in the day?
an old emergency elevator shaft.
before we locked mackey down there, cain used it as his base of operations. I'm surprised he never told cal about it.
commissioner, how did you get into the missile silo?
he called it the owl cave. why? are you planning on something impulsive, detective?
Go ahead. Gift it your best shot.
Agghh— dammit! I was just kidding!
WHO’S A SLEEPY BOY?