Stratonaut #1 Night Wynd Enterprises, 1991, b&w.
1 Stratonaut #1 cover NYC, Manhattan Island: black boy Perrigrin catches up to blond boy pal Kestrel and they discuss inventor Henry who made a baby bouncer that didn't work last year. A bald man asks them if they want to do his thang, his gang are looking for little dudes to do jobs. Kestrel tells them the kids they recruit have not been seen around any more. The man leaves, making a peace sign. Perri worries that Kes is going to get them snuffed.
Jingles, a bald guy tells blond girl Nightingale that this area is all dried up. Jingles used to be called Head Hunter when he was pimping crack whores. The two work for a big guy.
Henry, a scientist who lives in a high rise and has a pony tail tells Perri he needs a brain to try out the glider wings like Kestrel is.
Boys in bat costumes and wings are let out of a dark zeppelin. Perri looks over the side, "Shit, that's a long way down!" Kess jumps, "Shut up, Peregrine!" Kess flies up in a move that the suit is not supposed to do. The captain of the zeppelin wants the flight suit and glider wings that Kess wears. His wings only glide but Kess's manoeuvre. Flying bat boys fire guns at Kess but split up on him. One jumps off a ledge onto him. Kess tells him he will kill them both. The kid says, "Then we die!" Kess elbows the kid's face and the kid falls. Kess looks at one boy before he fell, "Huh...Gerry?"Two other boys in bat wings come, firing guns, "Die! Die! Die!" This one might be Gerry. One hits a skyscraper and is splattered and falls down the wall. The other is ripped of his wings and falls, still firing his gun. Kess knew the kids... they were street kids. Kess lands and tells his two friends.Henry suggests they sleep on it.
Nightingale tells Jingles to scrap another boy off the streets. Gerry vanished months ago and they thought he went home.Kess tells Perri it was like they were crazy. The boys see a van that is around when their pals vanish. They cut through an alley and ditch the van at the Hudson. Or they try to. Kess, blocked by Jingles, kicks him between the legs and knees in him in the head. They run. Nightingale drives at the boys in the van. Perri is grabbed by two bald men in the back. Kess yells,"Perri." As Nightingale drives at Kess, he falls off the pier but makes it a splashdown, his shirt riding up. He finds himself on the beach under the pier amid garbage, "Perrigrin?"