From its first issue, Outsiders hasn’t been your typical superhero team book. Half of that is due to the legacy of the title; the original Outsiders were formed when Batman broke away from the Justice League, while Nightwing’s team took a more proactive approach to fighting supervillains. The other half comes from how the creative team of Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, Robert Carey, and Valentina Taddeo pay homage to the Wildstorm Universe – specifically Planetary.
That continues with Outsiders #8, with the focus centering on Batwoman. After learning the secrets of the Drummer, Batwoman quit the Outsiders in disgust. But the mysteries of the universe aren’t done with her. An emergency call leads Batwoman to the deep parts of the Southwest, where she encounters Ginny Hex – the descendant of legendary bounty hunter Jonah Hex. Ginny recently picked up a revolver that carries a curse…and that curse will soon claim her life. Can Batwoman save her from the literal ghosts of the past?
Lanzing and Kelly have used this comic as a vehicle to explore different aspects of the superhero genre, from the origin story to the very nature of canon itself. Here, they explore the role of violence – and how it can often beget more violence. Part of the curse is that when you use the revolver to kill someone, you’re forced to carry it forever until you fall…and then the curse falls to the next person. The duo not only tap into ghosts and guns as a metaphor for how the cycle of violence can ruin one’s life, but they also highlight the horror of this happening to a teenager.
So does Carey. His artwork is still amazing, but it takes on a horrific edge this time. The ghosts who once held the gun wander the Earth, but unlike other ghosts they can see you. They can talk to you. And they most definitely will kill you, as Batwoman finds out. Carey illustrates these specters as the half-remembered nightmare they are, and if you glance close you’ll see the wounds they suffered in life; it grows even more eerie due to Taddeo coloring them a faint electric blue.
But above all else, Outsiders #8 looks at what Batwoman is going through. Her anger at the Outsiders, her desperation to save Ginny, and her own internal issues are all put on display – much like the previous issue, this is a character story first and foremost. It’s that level of work that makes Outsiders worth reading, and hopefully it keeps this up as the series is now heading into its final batch of issues.
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