Story: "1951 Part Three: --Why?" (22 Pages)

Credits:

James Robinson and David S. Goyer (plot)
James Robinson (script)
Peter Snejbjerg (pencils, inks)
Bill Oakley (letters)
Greg Wright (colors)
Jamison (color seperations)
Peter Tomasi (edits)

Feature Character:

Starman VII

Guest Star:

Hourman I

Supporting Characters:

Starman II
Ted Knight
Doris Lee (in flashback)

Villains:

Mist I
the Matinee Idols, Mr Lee

Guest Appearance:

Thom Kallor

Comment: This issues also includes two pages from the Shade's journal.

Synopsis:

Jack and David Knight try to stem the panic in the cinema where The Mist has released his poison gas, while Hourman works on the Sandman's sleep gas. Ted Knight, meanwhile, pays a call on Mr Lee, the father of his deceased girlfriend Doris. He reveals to the man that he is Starman and demands to know the truth of Doris' death. He has realised that Lee is behind his own daughter's killing. Lee was making a deal with the Mist to help him find the right research at the chemical companies he robbed, but Doris overheard him and said she'd find someone who could stop the villain - Starman. Before Doris could tell Ted, she had been killed by the Mist's people. Lee tells Ted that the Mist is meeting the Russians at a nearby airfield; Ted makes his way there and leaves Mr Lee to his guilt.

As Jack and David find that the frenzied crowd begins to overwhelm them, the Mist and his Russian comrades are met by yet another Starman - Ted Knight, back in costume at last. Ted is able to capture the Russians, but he cannot capture the Mist, only prevent him escaping with the Russians' money. As he does so, Hourman succeeds in pumping the sleep gas into the cinema's ventilation system.

Some time later, Jack is able to persuade Ted to resume his real life in Opal as well as his life as Starman. As he and David talk later, they realise that the party Jack sends his father off to is the one where he met their mother for the first time - Jack finally finds out why he's there in 1951. As they talk, David suddenly hears music. His Starman costume returns to him, he clutches his chest, and disappears - he has gone back to the moment of his death.

Jack hides a message for his dad explaining who he and the Starman of 1951 are in a research journal. He wonders how long it will now be before he sees his son again. As he wonders, he is greeted by the Starman of the future, Thom Kallor, come to take him home.