Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep!!: Outsiders

Showing posts with label Outsiders. Show all posts

Saturday, December 22, 2007

What the #$%^--Batman and the Outsiders

Really, two bad Batman books in one week???

A few comments regarding this week's Batman and the Outsiders #3:

A) So the idea of setting themselves up to appear as a gang of rogue heroes or criminals--out the window, huh? When the idiot contingent of the JLA knows you're not bad guys, well, goodbye to any and every idea Tony Bedard set up. Plus, transferring members between teams...pretty good clue to the media and public that everybody is on the side of good.

B) Hey, a great '70s throwback--a deceptive cover!! Man, Canary and J'onn don't even appear in the bleedin' issue. Hell, the Martian Manhunter isn't on EITHER team these days...he did quit the Outsiders in issue #2, right? Obviously, I'm not the only one getting creative direction change whiplash here!! Even the cover artists need a scorecard.

C) Let's go back to this transfer thing. Geo-Force is "transferred" to the Outsiders. Apparently without anyone telling him, or asking him. Nope, just someone blurting out, "Brion, you're an Outsider now. Ta ta."

Now, aside from the general rejoicing in the blogosphere that the sainted JLA is no longer "tainted" by Geo-force's membership (what, he's worse than Vibe? Really?), this whole incident raises some fascinating questions.

Batman WANTED Geo-Force on the team?

What, exactly, does the JLA get in return for this "transfer?" (Aside, of course, from the addition by subtraction of improving your team by removing Geo-Force?)

What, is this the Initiative? Is Geo-Force a draftee, with no choice about where he gets to be a hero? Two months from now, in the middle of a mission, is someone going to tell him, "Brion, you're in Shadowpact now?"

Is this like sports, where players can be traded for draft picks, or "for a player to be named later?" Does Black Canary get to chose an Outsider to join the JLA later?

Can heroes be transferred between any two teams? Kid Devil to the Challengers of the Unknown? Enchantress to the Green Lantern Corp? Hourman to the Legion of Super-Heroes? Or is there a "trading deadline," so it can only happen in the first 15 issues or so?

What about "inter-league" trades? Booster Gold to the Mighty Avengers? Venom to the Injustice Society? Invincible to the Last Defenders? Luke Cage to Dynamo 5? John Constantine to the Suicide Squad? (hey, wait a minute....hmmmmmm....)

Somewhat more seriously, I get that Dixon was asked to take over literally at the last minute, and that he wanted to set up the team members he thought best. But could there have been a more painful, clunky and unimaginative way to accomplish this? Catwoman declares herself a coward and splits? J'onn Jonzz just up and quits because...well, I'm still not sure? A magic wand is waved and now Geo-Force is on the team?

Chuck Dixon, you've blown my mind. Not in a good way, mind you, but it is indeed blown.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Upon Further Review...Batman

After reading some of this week's DC books, I had to go back and look up something in Detective Comics #33:

Hmm, that's not how I remember it, but in light of this Ra's Al Ghul nonsense, I guess it makes sense. Let me check again:

How's that for making Batman more modern?

Hmm, again not quite how I remember it...I must be getting old. Given Batman & the Outsiders #1, I'd better check again:

Obviously, my memory is playing tricks on me. I'd better concentrate and check one more time:

Ahhhh, there's the Goddamn Batman I know and love...

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Punic Wars, Part II

Remember how Rome not only destroyed Carthage, but also salted the earth so nothing would grow*, and then later founded their own Roman colony there?

That's sort of like what's happened to Tony Bedard's DC books, especially Batman and the Outsiders.

So, how is that 2 year exclusive contract working out for you, Tony?

*Yes, I know that "salting the earth" story is almost certainly untrue. Don't stop me when I'm on a roll!

Monday, August 6, 2007

This Is Not My Batman

There are two different Batmen in the DC universe these days. (OK, I know

there are 52ish, but let's not go there right now).

There's the one we're most familiar with: the Dark Knight Detective, the man driven by childhood tragedy to stop crime and save lives and throw
engine blocks at criminals and thwart homicidal maniacs.

And then there's the one who tries to secretly rule the world from behind the scenes. He's Blofeld.

Oh, he'll argue that he's a "good" manipulative mastermind, that he's merely trying to make the world safer for us all. Check out these panels from Five of a Kind #1, the lead-in series to the new Batman and the Outsiders.

Now me, I'm pretty old school when it comes to the Caped Crusader. Heck, I don't even believe that Batman belongs in the Justice League. It always seemed to me that going out into space to fight Starro is too far away from his mission statement; how many citizens of Gotham City get murdered by the Joker or Two-Face or the Black Mask Gang while Batman is monitor duty?!?

But being in the Justice League was at least minimally defensible...a threat to the world is, by extension, a threat to Gotham. So, while I'm not thrilled by it, I accept it.

But Batman constructing the OMAC system to "protect" the world from superhumans? Batman deciding which "new world order" is the correct one? Batman engaging in complex political manipulations to affect governments and topple regimes? Batmen needing a secret team to run Mission:Impossible plans in foreign countries?

That's not my Batman. That's just Amanda Waller or Maxwell Lord, except we're supposed to approve because we "know" Batman is good. This is Tony Stark territory.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying this isn't a natural character development for Bruce Wayne...you can certainly make a good case this kind of shift in focus makes perfect sense for him. But I don't like it. This is not my Batman.

I don't want to read about Superman becoming a Hero for Hire; I don't want to read about the Flash's adventures with the Mystic Elves of Sherwood; I don't want to read about Tony Stark becoming a fascistic dictator (oops, too late). These might all be good stories, but they take the characters too far away from what they are, from their roots.

So when I see Batman manipulating things so both Boomer and Nightwing leave the Outsiders, plotting to topple Checkmate, and while generally ignoring Gotham, well, that's not my Batman. And it makes me sad, because I miss him.

Of course, this explains Batman's total absence from Countdown. Let's see: a re-powered Black Adam was hiding out in Gotham City, a re-powered and oddly behaving Mary Marvel is hanging out in GC; Trickster and Pied Piper, who killed the Flash, are hiding out in GC; Penguin is summoning the Suicide Squad to take out Trickster and Piper, again in GC...and not one single panel of Batman in the entire series (excluding the 4 pages in #50, which merely re-told the Batman vs Karate Kid fight already presented in JLA). Guess he's too busy overthrowing governments or something to actually care about what's going on in his city...that's not my Batman.