Story: "Killer's Garden" (22 Pages)

Credits: Brian Augustyn (plot, script); Sal Velluto (pencils); Mark McKenna and Ken Branch (inks); Ken Lopez (letters); Trish Mulvihill (colors); Eddie Berganza & Kevin Dooley (edits)

Feature Character: Firebrand III (last in Showcase '96 #4)

Supporting Characters: Eve Tanner (head of the Childfind Network; first appearance); Jason Bard (first post-Crisis appearance; last in Batman and the Outsiders #16; next in Birds of Prey #1), Leo McCloskey, Javier Sanchez

Villains: Max the Knife (Max Kern, behind the scenes, first appearance)

Other Characters: Dr Newton P. Lowell (last in #1, no further appearances to date); Mrs Kanowsky (mother of a missing girl, first appearance); Jim Duncan (a federal agent, first appearance); Ned (a medical examiner), Meg Shannon (a police lieutenant), Burt Weiss (another police officer; first and only appearance of all three), Alan Plank (an innocent man controlled by Max Kern, first and only appearance), Alex's parents (first and only appearance)

Synopsis:

Alex Sanchez starts a new job with the Childfind Network, and find that his first case, to locate college student Kathy Kanowski, intersects with a police investigation. It appears that there is a copycat killer fashioning crimes after one 'Max the Knife', who took grisly trophies from his female victims, but is now paralysed in hospital. Sanchez fears that Kathy could be one of his victims, and assists the police in their search. Eventually, the perpetrator of the crimes is located and brought down by Firebrand and the police. It is assumed that he somehow picked up information about Max's m.o. when in the hospital Kern resides at, and the case is closed. Javier Sanchez, however, fears it is far from over, worried that somehow Kern has spread seeds of evil through the city.