“21st-Century Baby”
Artist: Robert Carey
Color Artist: Valentina Taddeo
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Review by James Attias
Outsiders #4 begins a fresh story for the team, albeit one with some old comic book roots. Will the gang survive the party?
Born into Madness
In the four issues we’ve had of this series so far, the team has faced potentially four world-ending threats. On more than one occasion the answer hasn’t been to fight but to sit down and talk their way out. So, let’s sit down and talk about this issue.
This time around we get the mysterious Drummer telling us Jenny’s tale; her birth, her powers, and mainly her curse.
Nerd Talk
I could happily talk about Batman, the Bat-family, the Justice League, and even the Avengers, until I’m blue in the face, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a comic-related topic I’m unfamiliar with. Enter this latest run of Outsiders. A lot of the stories, characters, and teams that are being referenced in this book are definitely Outside (pun) of my wheelhouse.
Every issue so far has talked about The Authority, Stormwatch, Planetary, and the Challengers of the Unknown. To know all of those things I think you’d have to be a 40-something Englishman who claims to hate superhero comics, but still reads them and has a band t-shirt on that you’ve never heard of, as well as a bad haircut. Luckily for you nerds, I’m a thirty-something Englishman who loves superheroes, has a Batman t-shirt on… and a bad haircut! So I hope my perspective gives the translation that you, my beloved readers, all need.
As far as I can tell, these stories are taking elements from older books, and bringing their own spin on them into main continuity. So, you don’t need to be an expert to read these, but it incentivizes you to go back and pick them up, for a bit more context if you like what you’ve read.
This is a very well-told story that I feel is aimed at two demographics, neither of which I fit into. I won’t judge, though, I’ll just say that I really like superheroes and it upsets me when people talk about them like they’re all Homelander from The Boys. Not everyone is evil!
London Calling
The art in this book was fun. Living in London, it was nice to see Tower Bridge and have it called by its actual name (not London Bridge) and only one shot of Big Ben (on the cover), which always seems to be visible from all areas of England in many other comics that have been set in my home country.
This story definitely felt like it was planting the seeds for a spin-off book, or a story to be continued. Hopefully, each of these issues is building to something, because at the moment each chapter feels like “Villain of the Week” TV.
Conclusion
Outsiders #4 was an entertaining read and finally feels like it’s building the title towards something. I’m looking forward to seeing exactly what…
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment