Not Your Grandfather's Superhero Team: The Outsiders Appreciation Thread

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

I guess Red Hood's book was a kind of replacement for the outsiders but I would prefer they just make it an Outsiders team.

Maybe Dick can join in the wake of FE. Bring in Katana, Metamorpho and Halo and you are ready to go.

But that wouldn't be the same. Trust me. The Outsiders need a good creative direction. I'd hate to see DC just throw them into Red Hood'd book just to get them back.

[Sutekh]

I loved the various colorfully clad and tightly themed villain teams they would go up against. The Masters of Disaster. The New Olympians. The Force of July. Just so many fun creative villains (with great Alan Davis art, back in the day).

Sympathy for the Fuhrer was a hell of a story.

[pageturner]

But that wouldn't be the same. Trust me. The Outsiders need a good creative direction. I'd hate to see DC just throw them into Red Hood'd book just to get them back.

Who needs the same? I have the past already I am prepared for something new.

What book does not need a good creative direction?

The name outsiders is off the board for now, so call them outlaws who cares. If it is a well written chemistry between the characters then I am all for it. I can see Jason and Kori fitting in easy enough. Roy already has shown he can do it.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Who needs the same? I have the past already I am prepared for something new.

What book does not need a good creative direction?

The name outsiders is off the board for now, so call them outlaws who cares. If it is a well written chemistry between the characters then I am all for it. I can see Jason and Kori fitting in easy enough. Roy already has shown he can do it.

I mostly meant that I would rather they not be written by Lobdell. After the mess he made of the Titans, I would like for a different writer to handle the Outsiders.

[ABH]

I'm a big fan of the original Batman and the Outsiders, specifically.





I like this re-design by Clay Mann:

The Pre-New 52 Outsiders were so called because they were a superhero team made up of weirdos and freaks that didn't "fit in" with the handsome, dashing, swashbuckling stereotype that was present in many of the JLA members. Sort of like the Doom Patrol.

In some ways, the Outsiders were DC's answer to the X-Men, and I'd love them to return to that. Black Lightning could easily be the Outsiders' "Cyclops".

[Nomads1]

This thread needs more awesome pictures.

It may be a ccool picture, but Didio's whole Outsiders run was, IMHO, one big mess.
Aside from the original team, my favorite Outsiders are the 90's Barr and Peletiier Outsiders. I really Loved that series, despite Black Lightning's abscence. I found the whole "outsider" concept was very well explored in that series, which was fairly unpredictable. I'd love to see it collected some day (however, I'm not holding my breath). HATED Winnick's Outsiders. His new characters were, IMHO, lame as hell, and his tough charactarization of the established characters was a real bore. Liked Dixon's, but it didn't have enough time to really develop into something. Tomasi started strong but seemed to fizzle too soon, and I've already made my feeling clar about Didio's.
I definitely wouldn't mind seeing the Outsiders operating under GA, but some of the classic, besides Katana, need to be on board.

Peace

[John Venus]

What about when Arsenal rebuilt it?

People who feel a need to call GA a clone always will it is no big deal. Superman (natural powers), Batman(no powers), Wonder Woman(mythical), and Green Lantern (magic/alien object) are the prototypes of all the characters who came after. Even those characters borrow from those who came before.

If GA had an outsiders team it would be very different. Maybe Katana could be in it but that would probably be it.

I haven't read Winick's run yet but from what I have seen it has a very 'Dark Teen Titans' feel to it with the addition of characters like Nightwing, Roy and Starfire.

As I have mentioned before, GA has his own unique traits and history that should be taken advantage of. He once had his own family of superheroes, why not take advantage of that? I don't mind him being a member of the Outsiders, I am opposed to him leading the team and folding that team into his universe.

Who needs the same? I have the past already I am prepared for something new.

What book does not need a good creative direction?

Because I would rather have something that honors the previous history while moving towards something new. Like how the early issues of JLD took aspects of the best Vertigo stories but still managed to do something different.

I loved the various colorfully clad and tightly themed villain teams they would go up against. The Masters of Disaster. The New Olympians. The Force of July. Just so many fun creative villains (with great Alan Davis art, back in the day).

Sympathy for the Fuhrer was a hell of a story.

Agreed. Especially about the Fuhrer one. I don't think DC could get away publishing a story like that in this day and age but it was a powerful story with a powerful message.

There is a lot of potential with the Masters of Disaster and the various villains created for the book that should be tapped into.

But that wouldn't be the same. Trust me. The Outsiders need a good creative direction. I'd hate to see DC just throw them into Red Hood'd book just to get them back.

One idea I had for the Outsiders would be that they would be the bad ass normals of the DCU who ends up facing threats out of their league and trying to survive in the crazy world of superheroes. You can have a few meta humans like Black Lightning and Grace Choi but the majority should be normal people using their gadgets and skills.

[John Venus]

I'm a big fan of the original Batman and the Outsiders, specifically.

I like this re-design by Clay Mann:



In some ways, the Outsiders were DC's answer to the X-Men, and I'd love them to return to that. Black Lightning could easily be the Outsiders' "Cyclops".

Seconding the love for Barr's Outsiders.

Well, the team was created during the height of NTT, Giffen's LOSH and Claremont's X-Men at the time. So it definitely took some inspiration from that team for some of the characters. Halo could easily fit into a NTT or X-Men.

As for the redesigns; why is Metamorpho dressed in a bondage outfit?

I am also not feeling Katana's outfit. This was her best look imo:

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/...871-katana.jpg

Designed by Lee Garbett.

[Sutekh]

I am also not feeling Katana's outfit. This was her best look imo:
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/...871-katana.jpg

Agreed. Any super-person (of any gender) who isn't invulnerable or force fielded or otherwise protected by their powers, and goes into battle wearing butt-floss and a sports bra needs to spent some time in the intensive care ward getting painful and expensive skin grafts over the 70% of their body they forgot to cover before entering a fight with people who can generate fire, lightning and explosions, and rethinking their priorities. *Especially* if they want to keep rocking that pristine skin, and not elicit gasps of horror whenever they appear, because of all the gnarly scar tissue on display.

With all this Forever Evil focus lately, I kind of want to know if Owlman ever formed a Crime Syndicate Earth version of the Outsiders. An evil Halo (all Violet, all the time!), an evil Geo-Force (perhaps his brother?), an evil Metamorpho, an evil Black Lightning, and an evil Katana (hunting down swordsmen and warriors the world over to take their souls, and harvest their skills and strength for herself!). We've seen 'the evil Justice League' off and on for over thirty years now. It might be fun to see Crime Syndicate versions of the Outsiders, or Teen Titans, or Young Justice, or even the Global Guardians!

[Kapparition]

I think we have a pseudo Outsiders feel book with the Red Hood book currently. I am a big fan of the old series though.

[nj06]

I like this re-design by Clay Mann:



In some ways, the Outsiders were DC's answer to the X-Men, and I'd love them to return to that. Black Lightning could easily be the Outsiders' "Cyclops".

That Clay Mann image is great and makes me want to see him on the title now. I agree about Katana needing more armor, while Looker (?) should cover up more as well. I would add more color to Halo's outfit as well. The white makes the look seem unfinished to me. Also who is the dude with the helmet in the bottom right? Is that Geo-force?

[ABH]

That Clay Mann image is great and makes me want to see him on the title now. I agree about Katana needing more armor, while Looker (?) should cover up more as well. I would add more color to Halo's outfit as well. The white makes the look seem unfinished to me. Also who is the dude with the helmet in the bottom right? Is that Geo-force?

Yeah, I'm sure it's meant to be Geo-Force.

[John Venus]

Agreed. Any super-person (of any gender) who isn't invulnerable or force fielded or otherwise protected by their powers, and goes into battle wearing butt-floss and a sports bra needs to spent some time in the intensive care ward getting painful and expensive skin grafts over the 70% of their body they forgot to cover before entering a fight with people who can generate fire, lightning and explosions, and rethinking their priorities. *Especially* if they want to keep rocking that pristine skin, and not elicit gasps of horror whenever they appear, because of all the gnarly scar tissue on display.

With all this Forever Evil focus lately, I kind of want to know if Owlman ever formed a Crime Syndicate Earth version of the Outsiders. An evil Halo (all Violet, all the time!), an evil Geo-Force (perhaps his brother?), an evil Metamorpho, an evil Black Lightning, and an evil Katana (hunting down swordsmen and warriors the world over to take their souls, and harvest their skills and strength for herself!). We've seen 'the evil Justice League' off and on for over thirty years now. It might be fun to see Crime Syndicate versions of the Outsiders, or Teen Titans, or Young Justice, or even the Global Guardians!

Agreed. Katana is a pure fighter type character so she should be armored up with more than a few scars on her body.

Whilst we haven't seen an evil Outsiders group on FE, there was one in the 'Justice League Crisis on Two Earths' movie but they were basically cameo appearances:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Hj8bkEZ8E

They were Owlman's Made Men in the movie. You can see evil Black Lightning in that clip. The one in the mask fighting WW is named 'Sai' who was the opposite of Katana but used sai's instead which could also be a reference to the Marvel character Elektra. There is also evil Halo who fought GL and though she does not appear in the clip, there was also an evil Looker.

That Clay Mann image is great and makes me want to see him on the title now. I agree about Katana needing more armor, while Looker (?) should cover up more as well. I would add more color to Halo's outfit as well. The white makes the look seem unfinished to me. Also who is the dude with the helmet in the bottom right? Is that Geo-force?

Yeah, I'm sure it's meant to be Geo-Force.

I agree, Halo needs more colour in her uniform. Looker is a model and part of her character is her obsession with her appearance so I can see her wearing a costume like that just because she likes to. Though I would have her switching outfits all the time like Wasp from the Avengers just to play up that angle. A sexy outfit for Monday, a more practical outfit for Tuesday, etc, etc.

I am pretty sure the other guy is supposed to be Technocrat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocrat_%28comics%29

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

I am pretty sure the other guy is supposed to be Technocrat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocrat_%28comics%29

Yeah, I'm sure it's meant to be Geo-Force.

No, I'm pretty sure its supposed to be Geo-Force. You can tell by the 'GF' logo on his shoulder.

[John Venus]

No, I'm pretty sure its supposed to be Geo-Force. You can tell by the 'GF' logo on his shoulder.

The helmet reminds me of Technocrat but the GF and colours are more in keeping with Geo Force and it looks like the artist is depicting the classic Outsiders.

Hmmmmmmm.....