The last two issues of Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Robert Carey’s Outsiders has dealt with two different kinds of guns: Batwoman fighting a cursed gun that compelled whoever picked it up to carry out violence, and Batwing with a massive cannon that could destabilize reality. Outsiders #10 brings both of these weapons into play, as Jakita Wagner, better known to readers as the Drummer, intends to use their destructive power to resurrect her universe, which will wipe out every other world in the Multiverse. Can Batwoman and Batwing stop her in time?
Lanzing and Kelly have been using Outsiders to dig deep into the mechanics of storytelling in a shared universe, With this issue, they tackle the biggest question of all: what happens when a story ends? Endings in comics are rare, especially when it comes to shared universes, but the way Lanzing and Kelly write this comic makes it feel like the world is ending. They know how to build tension: most of the issue has Batwing and Batwoman racing to stop Jakita. They know how to keep readers hooked: the ending wasn’t what I expected, and it sets the stage for the final issue.
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But I have to give the Hivemind credit for managing to incorporate elements from previous issues into Outsiders #10. The Carrier, after learning of Jakita’s plans, summons Jenny Crisis, Ginny Hex, and the giant leviathan the Outsiders saved in Outsiders #2 to stop her. There’s even an element from the haunted house episode that comes into play! Not a element of this overarching narrative is wasted, and that’s impressive. Plot threads can often go unanswered for years in comics, and that’s if writers remember to touch up on them; while I feel that this series could go on for another year or two (or 10), I admire that nothing will go untouched on.
Seeing this series end will also mean an end to Robert Carey’s artwork, and that’s a shame because he has been delivering some stunning imagery. Outsiders #10 is arguably where he hits his peak, delivering work that literally breaks out of the page. There are moments featuring the Kaiju kid that show just how huge it is, while the ending features reality fracturing and breaking apart into pieces, fading to white courtesy of Valentina Taddeo. Carey also understands how powerful Jakita is; whenever she hits something, it’s like getting punched by a cruise missile: the ground explodes and a shockwave ripples out, which he draws with an almost loving detail.
Outsiders #10 serves as the beginning of the end of the story that its creative team has been telling for nearly a year, while also exploring what it means to “end” a story in a superhero universe. I’ll also say this: The end of the world never looked so good.
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