The One Year Later storyline is the Outsiders has been very hot and cold with me. I was less than impressed with the past few issues. I thought that the idea of a Jay Garrick clone was interesting. And I was curious to see how this ties in with the storyline over in Teen Titans. Will Outsiders # 37 finally get me interested in this One Year Later storyline? Let’s find out.
Creative Team
Writer: Judd Winick
Pencilers: Tom Grindberg & Matthew Clark
Inker: Art Thibert
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: The issue starts with the man, Alan Scott, telling the Outsiders that the speedster that they caught is not Jay Garrick. Alan does say that it looks just like Jay when he was younger. Metamorpho states that the Jay Garrick clone is suffering from some sort of mild form of flesh-eating virus and is slowly decomposing. The clone’s costume coated his skin with a constant dose of an antibacterial retardant to keep it at bay. Metamorpho was able to replicate it and has been dosing the clone with it. Alan scans the clone’s body with his ring and confirms that it is a clone of Jay Garrick. Alan then tells the Outsiders that he will be taking the clone off their hands and to be glad that is all he is doing. Grace asks Alan if he is threatening them now that he is a part of Checkmate. Alan says he is threatening them. Alan tells Nightwing that the Outsiders are only operating at the sufferance of Checkmate. That at any point Alan can pull the plug on the Outsiders’ reckless mission. Alan tells Nightwing that he is operating just ten shades from a terrorist organization. Alan takes the Jay Garrick clone’s body and tells the Outsiders that he will be watching them. With that Alan leaves. (Alan Scott is a stud. I love the way that DC has been handling him in the wake of Infinite Crisis.)
The Outsiders proceed with their mission to gather more intel on the clone that President Benin unleashed on them. We cut to President Benin in his underwear and tied up in the Pequod. President Benin sees Thunder and calls her a traitor. Thunder tells Benin that she was always a spy. Benin then smugly comments that he still made her a whore when he forced her to share his bed. At that point, Metamorpho turns into Thunder and tells Benin that it was actually him that was in his bedroom that night. Benin looks sick. (A little “Crying Game” scene for you.) At that point, Thunder pushes a button and opens the bay doors of the Pequod and Benin falls out of the ship. He has a harness around him and the rope is attached to the bay of the ship. Thunder then asks Metamorpho if they should tell Benin that he didn’t really have sex with Metamorpho. That it was just an endorphin induced hallucination. Metamorpho says “No.”
With Benin hanging below the ship, Thunder asks him who he got the Jay Garrick clone from. Benin claims to not know who he got it from. Thunder then drops Benin even closer to the ground. Benin yells out that he got the clone from a person named “Silver and Grey.”
We cut to Nightwing searching through Benin’s computer files. Captain Boomerang then says “Silverback and grey matter…?” And with that we cut to Monsieur Mallah and the Brain. Mallah tells Brain that the Jay Garrick clone has gone missing. Brain claims that Benin is an idiot and they shouldn’t have to deal with men like Benin. Mallah comments that Mali is the only country that grows the herbs for the next generations’ compound for their cloning technology. Brain says that for years they have been exploring and expanding the realm of cloning technology and have funded their operation by selling the fruits of their labors. Brain rants that they will not be brought down because of one idiotic dictator. Mallah responds that this is not why the Brain is so mad. Brain comments that the last configuration should have worked. Mallah says that they are getting closer. Brain tells Mallah that he is so tired of this life. Brain asks Mallah why Mallah won’t just let him die. Mallah lovingly embraces Brain and tells him that he could not live in this world without Brain. That they will make Brain a body and he will be whole again and then they will be together. (Ooookay, that was creepy and just a little gross. I know Diversity Dan Didio really wants to diversify the DC Universe, but do we need a man/ape bestiality storyline?)
We cut to the Outsiders dropping off Benin on a small uninhabited island far away from the rest of the world. Nightwing tells Benin that this is Benin’s new home. Thunder tells Benin that Deputy Minister Ralu Allon is now the new President of Mali. We then cut to the Outsiders aboard the Pequod. We Allon tied up in a helicopter with Katana with her sword at his throat. Katana tells Allon that they have an island for him if anything even remotely improper happens in Mali. Allon says that Mali will be a land of peace. Choi tells Metamorpho that they are letting Benin off easy. Metamorpho says that there will be barely enough water and food for Benin to survive. That Benin is getting what he deserves. Nightwing says that Benin was a despot who killed massive amounts of people. That Benin deserves this and will never hurt anyone again. Suddenly, Superman flies up to the Pequod.
Superman and Nightwing have a private conversation in the Pequod. Superman tells Nightwing that he wants all of this to stop. Nightwing says he won’t stop. Superman says that he never thought he would have to tell Dick, of all people, what was right and wrong. Nightwing retorts that he never thought that Superman would stand in his way of trying to help people. That Superman saves the world. Nightwing is trying to save the few corners of it which Superman’s hands are too big to reach. Nightwing continues that if he scrapes his knuckles to get it down then that’s the price he has to pay. (Nice speech, Nightwing!) Superman responds that it aren’t Nightwing’s knuckles that are getting scraped. That he is hurting people and Superman can’t allow Dick to do that. Nightwing responds that he is only hurting bad people and that he doesn’t need Superman’s permission to do anything.
With that Nightwing pulls out a small lead box. Superman asks what it is. Nightwing says that Superman knows exactly what it is. Superman asks if it has come to this. Nightwing says it hasn’t, but he needs Superman to let him do his mission. That there are things that none of the other super heroes are willing to do. Things that have to be done for the common good. That Nightwing will do these things. Superman says “Fine. For now.” Superman adds that Nightwing is getting very close to a line that he will not let Dick cross regardless of what he carries in his lead box. With that Superman leaves. Choi and Boomerang had been eavesdropping and step out and say they are impressed with the balls on Nightwing. They ask Dick if he really has Kryptonite in the lead box. Nightwing says “yes” and then leaves. Choi comments that it’s Nightwing’s world, we just live in it.”
We see Nightwing walk into a secret room in the Pequod where he has a lead box open revealing Kryptonite inside of it. Nightwing comments “Yeah, we just live in it.” End of issue.
Comments:
The Good: This issue was good and yet not good. It is really hard to explain. The issue was interesting and well written. But, it just doesn’t fit the characters. I’ll get back to that theory in “The Bad” section.
I liked the opening scene with Alan Scott. I love how DC has handled his character in the JSA, 52 and Checkmate. They have really elevated Alan Scott to the top of the Super Hero hierarchy in the DC Universe, which is exactly where I think he belongs. It looks like we are going to see a Checkmate v. Outsiders storyline at some point in the future. That should be very interesting.
The interrogation of President Benin was funny due to Metamorpho making Benin believe that he had sex with Metamorpho.
I thought that the scene between Brain and Mallah was great. Very creepy and kind of gross, but still very well done. The dialogue was perfect and well written. It highlighted the strong bond between Brain and Mallah. It also nicely explained what the two of them have been up to with regard to all the cloning efforts.
I really enjoyed the scene between Nightwing and Superman. The dialogue was fantastic. The way Winick contrasted the difference between what Nightwing is doing to help the world versus what Superman does was spot on. Nightwing came of as a total bad-ass giving no ground at all with Superman. Pulling out the little lead box with the Kryptonite in it was the perfect ending. And I like how the Outsiders aren’t making any friends at all. It seems like there is a good chance that not only will the Outsiders’ lock horns with Checkmate, they may also cross swords with Superman at some point in the future as well.
I liked the ending scene. I like that the other Outsiders are impressed with Nightwing’s testicular fortitude much like how the JLA’ers are impressed with Batman. The final page of this issue is rather ominous and it appears that something very heavy is weighing on Nightwing’s mind. There is more than meets the eye with Nightwing and I’m interested to find out what it is.
Winick is doing a great job building quite the powder keg that is sure to come to a huge explosion at some point in the future. Outsiders #37 is well written and has good dialogue. The pacing is also well done. Outsiders #37 is definitely the best issue so far in this One Year Later storyline.
The Bad: Now, even though I thought this issue was well written and that it was the best issue so far in this One Year Storyline, I still have issues with what Winick is doing.
The scene with the Outsiders stranding Benin on a small uninhabited island in the middle of nowhere just didn’t work for me. Having Allon tied up with Katana’s sword at his neck being threatened with an uninhabited island of his own if he did not benevolently rule Mali also didn’t work for me. Now, don’t get me wrong. The scene was well written. I also liked the punishment. However, it simply isn’t believable that an Outsiders team led by Nightwing would engage in these types of tactics.
That leads me to the Nightwing and Superman scene that I enjoyed in “The Good” section. Yeah, it was cool and well written, but it wasn’t Nightwing. Nightwing has never acted like that in the past. He also doesn’t act like that currently over in his own title. That is what really gets me. Dick Grayson over in Nightwing is acting like he normally does. He is a good guy who does the right thing and does not want to end up being just like the Batman. However, Dick Grayson in the Outsiders might as well be Batman. As a matter of fact, Nightwing in this issue is acting more like the Batman than Batman is acting over in the last issue of Detective Comics. The scene between Superman and Nightwing would have been much more in character if it had been between Batman and Nightwing.
The obviously disparate versions of Dick Grayson between his own title and in the Outsiders is hard to reconcile. So, while I think that the Superman and Nightwing scene was well done and I liked the hard assed tactics used with Benin and Allon, it simply doesn’t jive with Nightwing’s character. If this was a title of a more hardcore character, like Batman pre-Infinite Crisis, then these scenes would make more sense.
The artwork was simply average. The pencils by committee gave the issue a rather inconsistent look. Neither penciler blows me away. Between the two, I think Matthew Clark did a better job than Tom Grindberg. However, both artists are inconsistent panel to panel.
Overall: Outsiders #37 has been the best issue so far in this One Year Later storyline. The pacing was just right. The dialogue was well done. The story was interesting. However, the jarring difference of Nightwing’s character in this title is making it hard for me to really get into the storyline and enjoy it to its fullest. I think that this current storyline has some potential and I’m interested to see where Winick is going with all of this.