Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The Outsiders

This whole IC thing as my nerves wrecked for all my favorite titles.

Lash, there is an interview with Judd over at the Newsarama that has me very excited about this title.....Also the rumors are growing that Boomerang Jr will be a member!

Whats going on with the comics these days? Over in Marvel, the Scarlet Witch and Polaris are corrupted (presumably) by Magneto...and now Donna/Troia...why are these good people being altered? It doesn't make sense!

Sniff sniff.

I'm in a serious case of denial, ever since the cover image for #34 was released. With the rumours Boom JR has replaced Arsenal on the team, I've begun to fear for Roy. I'm a big fan of the second stringers like Arsenal and Tempest.

OUTSIDERS #33

I can't believe even the Outsiders were going to leave people to die in an explosion. Sure, they turned back- but... maybe Alex Luthor and Kal-L are right. Actually, I'm even more surprised that the Rogues left Owen behind. Captain Cold, in particular.

Guess this gives credence to the rumors mentioned in previous posts. Could be fun.

OUTSIDERS #34

Uh- has Judd Winick been hanging out with Devin Grayson? I can't see that character operating quite the way he is here-- letting soldiers die, etc. The pretending-to-be-dead thing, I can see (though is *he* 'off the grid' too?). At first, I thought maybe that Arsenal was pretending to be Captain Boomerang, but I guess that is Digger's son, after all. Where's Roy? And Koriand'r?

There might be too many of these unaccounted for characters. It's starting to seem a bit of artificial suspense, IMO.

Hmm, weren't Roy and Kori in that image of potential JLA'ers?

Thunder seems to have adopted her father's costume and loses her blonde wig. Could this mean Daddy bites the dust in IC?

Don't know much about Boom Jr. but he looks great with this gang, someone who seems to really fit the bill as an "Outsider."

I was on the bubble with this book post-1 Year Later, because I miss Jade and CM Jr and Arseenal.

But Matthew Clark's EXCELLENT art this very issue convinced me to stick around; not to mention that I really like Boomer and that young-Jay Garrick cliffhanger has me hooked (what if they have a whole clone-young-JSA? Ohmigaw!!).

Thunder's new look is GREAT!

OUTSIDERS #37

Maybe Monsieur Mallah and The Brain should get their own comic book. They easily steal the show here, despite Superman's guest-starring turn and some interesting revelations about recent issues.

The stuff with Thunder and Shift is an unexpected twist. If only similar back-tracking could clean up the stains building up on the character of Nightwing. His little tete-a-tete with Superman really left the taste of bile in my throat. I just *can't* buy that this is Dick Grayson, who supposedly just spent a year of family time with his father, Bruce Wayne and good friend/brother figure, Tim Drake.

I really don't get what DC is doing with one of it's most popular, long-lived characters. Do they really think that readers want Jason Todd/Red Hood around at the expense of Dick Grayson? If so, I think they'll find themselves wrong.

This title is a bit maddening. There're events happening that'd have me dropping any other title, but each issue has a scene or character moment that keeps me buying.

I would not be surprised if this was supposed to be Jason Todd originally, and there were some hurried rewrites. Especially in light of the revelation at Wizard World Philly that Dick Grayson was slated to die in Infinite Crisis.

I'm inclined to agree with you OM. Of course, with the way they are handling Dick, I almost wish they had killed him.

Jamie

I'm not sure if it was Didio or Wacker in a recent Newsarama bit. But one of them mentioned that after the current arc in Nightwing, things will be getting better for Dick Grayson.

Judging from the quick, simplistic resolution of the dual-Nightwings in his own title, OM's theory is looking really good.

Nightwing here was god-awful! Too bad too, b/c I thought this was better than the previous few issues. Thunder and Metamorpho's scene was great (Todd, that's Rex if you didn't know) and Alan was actually pretty interesting.

I'd buy ten copies of a Brain and Mallah comic.

I feel like the team needs *something*. Its missing some part of the dynamic, or maybe some of the characters need to do more? Kitana could use some more spotlight and character moments.

What needs to stop though is super-heroes torturing people, as if Jack Bauer on 24 translates into the DC universe, especially Nightwing.

This issue is just further proof that Winnick has no idea about Dick Grayson's core values or his basic concept. The conversation between him and Superman just did not jive with me.

Unless, he's gonna pull a fast one on us. Which while it is possible, is highly unlikely.

Jamie

I am currently reading this entire series from a friend. I'm only on # 14. It's not as good as I thought it was going to be.

And I have a problem. Not just with Outsiders but with many comics. Why is Jade such a weakling? Besides guys with guns she's been punked by everybody else. This girl has powers of a GL?!?! But it seems if the other person has any powers at all...they are immune to her powers. I read another comic yesterday where Iron Man punches a normal human twice in the face...and the guy is still awake???

I am starting to wonder if Winick and Bendis are the same person?! Two dimensional characters that say bad words (ok Bendis' DD wasn't like that...and by that I mean Matt Murdock...the other characters were).

OUTSIDERS 38:

"better known by the nom de plume, Phobia..." When did Phobia become a writer?

Metamorpho as shapechanger... now that we've seen that for a couple of issues, what do you think? I don't like it-- element shifting was powerful enough. Why not use Mirage or amp-up Gypsy? I don't get it.

More Nightwing nuttiness. I think an intervention might be in order.

Pretty decent villain-getting-the-unexpected-upper-hand scene at issue's end. How this fits in with TEEN TITANS is a bit confounding. I liked the fakeout-- with Monsier Mallah and The Brain ultimately revealing their real deadliness.

DC's giving this pair quite the push, aren't they? good. Villains that combine fun and deadly are *not* a dime a dozen.

Mystery Lad, regarding the Shift/The Element Man (whatever his name is right now) as a shapeshifter? Don't care for it.

Mostly because it's just a ripoff of another Winick title and character...Morph over in Exiles. When I was Shift start acting silly like that...well it's not really the character. It's like Benjamin Grimm suddenly gets shapeshifting powers and he goes all silly like the Impossible Man.

I hope Monsier Mallah and the Brain find true homosexual love one day and ride off into the sunset. Heck they need a mini atleast! They are so...wierd yet I can't stop watching!

I finished reading all the issues a couple of days ago. I expected this title to be better but it's certainly fun. I'm a fan of Grace for sure...and I always liked Roy Harper. I compared Winick to Bendis...(which is good and bad)...I will also compare him to Claremont (which is mostly good) and like CC his is VERY wordy. geez!

Anyways, new team? Since I don't love this title I don't mind the shake ups so much. Glad Black Lightning Girl isn't blond anymore. Nice to see Nightwing back. The new Boomerang? I like him. And I am glad Katana is around personally.

It's a kick butt title. I don't believe Nightwing would go for the torture stuff personally.

OUTSIDERS 39:

Lordy, M'sieur Mallah tickles me. His little tap-dancing conversation with The Brain was fun! Aptly strange, yet cute, in a demented sort of way.

And his one-by-one predator-playing-with-his-prey psychological torment of his captives... *this* is why villains capturing super-heroes and holding them in weird bondage poses is a *good* thing. Love the way he messed with Thunder's head, especially. That was a bit of a jawbreaker!

What I didn't like? The clones-- who/what/why *are* they? Is the wind one a clone of WINDFALL? Is that PLASTIC MAN or his clone? Should I recongnize the fiery one, or the amphibian one, or the bug-winged one? I liked their visuals-- they just need personalities and names to go with them. I'm forgetting the clone business here, I suppose. They're probably 'mayflies' that'll be around for just this storyline.

The SHIFT bit is interesting-- and I'm curious about what'll happen to KATANA... and about just who GRACE's 'people' are.

Still, what's good isn't quite good enough to overcome the poor use of NIGHTWING-- though that's not really a factor in *this* particular issue.

Mystery Lad, I am thinking Grace is from Apokolips personally...or Genesis? That would be cool.

I have no idea who those clones are??? Aquaman clone? The bug guy possibly Martian Manhunter? I think I am wrong on them. Only other thing I can think of is some of the old Quality comics guys like Plastic Man? But the Red Bee never had bug powers? Oh well.

I can only speculate on who clones are - Beast Boy, Lagoon Boy, Black Canary, Firestorm, and lastly Plastic Man. I could be wrong, somehow.

I read # 39.

Clark's art remains excellent and I am enjoying the book despite the lack of Jade and Marvel Jr.

I'll also throw in a guess that Grace is a New God.

My only complaint about # 39 is that I would rather have seen the kool new Brotherhood recently featured in T.TITANS instead of the "clones".

Also, in T.TITANS, it is shown that the Brain and Mallah failed in their cloning attempts. When did that change?

So, Batman's coming back-- I suppose there'll be a name change to BATMAN & THE OUTSIDERS. Apparently, he'll pick from among these candidates

Nightwing
Boomerang

Katanna
Shazam

Thunder
Martian Manhunter

Metamorpho
Aquaman (new kid)

Grace
Wonder Woman

I've listed them in pairs because the solicits for the five issues in which the line-up will be set describe them as twosomes from which Batman will pick 'his' Outsiders.

Dick's already been confirmed (drat it! I *hate* Winick's Nightwing!) I think it'd be a mistake to oust Boomerang- but we know Bats has lingering trust issues, even if he's no longer the grim 'n gritty exemplar he once was.

I think it'd be a huge shock if WW actually became an Outsider, and if Grace stays, I'd bet that Thunder will, too. Shazam's presence doesn't even make sense- surely it'd be Freddie who'd be considered? And as Shazam, the former Captain Marvel would be too busy for membership in a second-tier team. So, Katanna's in.

Which leaves Metamorpho/Aquaman the most potentially unpredictable pairing. Of course, nobody's said that the membership's going to be *one* from each issue-- or that the members considered are only the ones listed here.

Anyway, unless Winick really sells his portrayal of Dick Grayson, I'm not sure how long I'll reading this. Maybe if they did something unexpected, like bringing back Technocrat or Faust or Windfall... or adding someone unexpected like Flamebird or *this* Earth's Duela or Molly Mayne Scott or Hero (from The Ravers)...

Check out the latest solicit. The cover has a number of distinct arms with Batman. Anyone care to start the guessing?