The current incarnation of DC’s Outsiders comic couldn’t possibly get any worse – or so you would think. Like Marvel’s late Exiles books, the Outsiders has spent the last few years as an exercise in waste – waste of characters, waste of talent, waste of readers’ time and money.
Named after the once-great team helmed by Batman in the 1980s, the Outsiders was launched by Judd Winick some years back as a home for heroes who were too old to be Titans and too young to be Justice Leaguers. The book was no great shakes – in fact, in the post-Infinite Crisis One Year Later period, it was pretty god-awful.
Buh-buh-buh but wait it gets worse!
As part of the year-long experiment in pointlessness that was Countdown, the book was rebooted under the name and dynamic associated with the good old days: Batman and the Outsiders. Some of Winick’s Outsiders stayed, while others went on to become Justice Leaguers or (no-longer-teen) Titans.
Batman claimed to have a crucial reason to take over and rebuild the team, a grand covert mission to save the world. What actually happened was the book launched with several simultaneous confusing, boring and unresolved plots, and the team that Batman assembled with so much care changed rosters at least once per issue. This went on for a few issues, until disgruntled writer Chuck Dixon left the book, without making official statements but sending a general message to his fans and comics news sites that “DiDio is a retard, this book never had a chance and whether the perception is that I’m abandoning this sinking ship or that I’m being pushed, I’m just happy to get off.”
After a few more issues, Batman “died” and the book suddenly had a complete new roster, creative team, and was once again titled The Outsiders. For the first time in my life, I found myself thinking: “This book was better when Winick was in charge”.
The cancellation-waiting-to-happen known as the Outsiders is going through more changes, as announced yesterday at the Long Beach Comic Con. Starting in January 2010, the art will be handled by the excellent Philip Tan – but the writing chores will be handled by the master of disaster himself: Dan DiDio. That’s the creative team change. As for the plot, and the team roster? The promotional image accompanying the announcement would suggest that the Outsiders is now a Superman book.
This should be interesting… not an interesting comic, but interesting like a car wreck that’s so gruesome you’ve just got to stop and take a look.
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