{"id":22697,"date":"2020-09-12T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2020-09-12T08:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=22697"},"modified":"2020-09-10T16:49:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T16:49:02","slug":"outsiders-by-judd-winick-volume-1-the-darker-side-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2020\/09\/12\/outsiders-by-judd-winick-volume-1-the-darker-side-of-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Outsiders by Judd Winick volume 1: The Darker Side of Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Judd Winick<\/strong>, Geoff Johns<\/strong>, Phil Jimenez<\/strong>, Tom Raney<\/strong>, ChrisCross<\/strong>, Al\u00c3\u00a9 Garcia<\/strong>, Carlo Barberi<\/strong>, Ivan Reis<\/strong>, & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-8851-8 (TPB)<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, superheroes sat around their assorted lairs or went about their civilian pursuits until the call of duty summoned them like firemen – or Thunderbirds<\/strong> – to deal with a breaking emergency. In the grim and gritty world after Crisis on Infinite Earths<\/strong>, the concept changed with a number of costumed adventurers evolving into pre-emptive strikers – as best exemplified by covert penal battalion and cinema darlings The Suicide Squad<\/strong>. Soon the philosophy had spread far and wide\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Following the break-up of Young Justice<\/strong> and the – of course, temporary – death of founding Teen Titan Donna Troy<\/em>, a number of her grief-stricken comrades also changed from First Responders to dedicated – if morally contentious – hunters tracking down threats and menaces before they attacked\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 or indeed committed crimes at all\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This volume collects the initial storyline which introduced Judd Winick’s aggressive new take on edgy team-concept the Outsiders<\/strong>, compiling material from Teen Titans\/Young Justice: Graduation Day<\/strong>, Teen Titans\/Outsiders Secret Files 2003<\/strong> and issues #1-7 of the compelling and much-missed monthly comicbook that sprang from the first two…<\/p>\n

Winick, Al\u00c3\u00a9 Garcia and inkers Trevor Scott, Marlo Alquiza & Lary Stucker subdivided the tale into ‘Invocation’<\/em>, ‘Commencement’<\/em> and ‘Graduation Day’<\/em> as a really sexy robot arrives from the future just as juvenile superhero team Young Justice are getting on each other’s nerves and breaking up.<\/p>\n

Her confused actions inadvertently release a deadly android stored at S.T.A.R. Labs, which neither the child heroes nor the Teen Titans can stop. In a cataclysmic battle both Omen<\/em> and Donna Troy are killed. These tragedies lead to the dissolution of Young Justice, the formation of the covert and pre-emptive Outsiders and the reformation of a new Titans group dedicated to better training the heroes of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Even though a frightfully contrived ploy to launch some new titles, this tale is still a punchy and effective thriller from writer Winick, penciller Al\u00c3\u00a9 Garcia & inkers Trevor Scott, Larry Stucker and Marlo Alquiza.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the deadly debacle, the surviving champions reformed the Teen Titans as a group dedicated to better training the heroes of tomorrow. However, CIA trained ex-Green Arrow sidekick Arsenal<\/em> felt that it was not enough and convinced the heartbroken Nightwing<\/em> to help devise a covert and pre-emptive pack of professionals to take out perceived threats before innocent lives were endangered. Teen Titans\/Outsiders Secret Files 2003<\/strong> contributed a brace of tales setting the scene, beginning with ‘A Day After\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6’ <\/em>by Winick, Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis & Mark Campos which peeks into the private lives of all involved whilst ‘Who was Donna Troy’<\/em> – written and drawn by Phil Jimenez, with inks by Andy Lanning – is a short, moving eulogy for the character set at her funeral with friends and guest-stars discussing her life and career.<\/p>\n

The series proper begins with the 3-parter ‘Roll Call’<\/em>, illustrated by Tom Raney & Scott Hanna. ‘Opening Offers’<\/em>introduces new characters Thunder<\/em> (daughter of original Outsider Black Lightning<\/em>) and enigmatic super girl Grace<\/em>, established player Jade<\/em>, recently resurrected and amnesiac Rex Mason<\/strong> AKA Metamorpho<\/strong><\/em> the Element Man<\/strong> and, in a not particularly welcome, wise or team-building move, the futuristic fem-bot who had started the whole mess.<\/p>\n

With her memory-banks scrubbed clean and desperately keen to redeem herself, Indigo<\/em> adds eagerness and innocence to an embittered, but highly motivated and very determined team\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Their first mission catches them off-guard after a cruise ship is hijacked and an army of talking gorillas invades New York under the command of super-ape Grodd<\/em>. However, the devastating actions of ‘Lawyers, Guns and Monkeys’<\/em> is quickly revealed to be no more than a sinister diversion as the Joker<\/strong> uses the chaos to abduct new American President Lex Luthor<\/em>, leaving the team with the unwelcome task of rescuing one of the people they would most like to take out in ‘Joke’s on You’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

ChrisCross & Sean Parsons depict the Outsiders’ first true hunting party in ‘Brothers in Blood’<\/em>: part 1 ‘Small Potatoes’<\/em> as, after a series of small-time busts (acting on information from a mysterious and secret source), the squad uncover a diabolical scheme by religious maniac Brother Blood<\/em> to steal one million babies\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The cult leader activates hypnotised deep-cover agents in ‘Finders Sleepers’<\/em> and almost murders Arsenal, but even as the hero is undergoing life-saving surgery, the Outsiders – assisted by two vengeful generations of Green Arrow – rocket to Antarctica where Blood is attempting to free and recruit 1,600 metahuman villains incarcerated in maximum security super-prison the Slab<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As the battle rages and casualties mount, Nightwing is forced to choose between saving the infants or allowing Blood and an army of criminals to escape in concluding chapter ‘Pandora’s Box’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This first collection ends on a powerfully poignant and personal note as Metamorpho at last discovers the shocking reason for his lack of memories and faces ultimate dissolution in the superbly downbeat and disturbing ‘Oedipus Rex’<\/em> (by Raney & Hanna)\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Adding extra lustre and clarity, information pages on Thunder, Arsenal, Nightwing, Jade<\/em>, Grace, Indigo & Metamorpho by Winick, Jason Pearson, Garcia. Raney & Mike McKone, reveal all you need to know about the secret strike force\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Fast-paced, action-packed, cynically sharp and edgily effective, Outsiders<\/strong> was one of the very best series pursuing the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153take-’em out first\u00e2\u20ac\u009d concept and resulted in some of the very best Fights ‘n’ Tights action of the last ten years. Still punchy, evocative and highly effective, these thrillers will delight older fans of the genre.
\n\u00c2\u00a9 2003, 2004, 2019 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Judd Winick, Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, Tom Raney, ChrisCross, Al\u00c3\u00a9 Garcia, Carlo Barberi, Ivan Reis, & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-8851-8 (TPB) Once upon a time, superheroes sat around their assorted lairs or went about their civilian pursuits until the call of duty summoned them like firemen – or Thunderbirds – to deal with … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Outsiders by Judd Winick volume 1: The Darker Side of Justice”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,76,11,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-dc-superhero","category-teen-titans","category-young-justice"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-5U5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}