Batman and the Outsiders article over at Newsarama ... (SPOILERS)

[Retro315]

Peter Tomasi had some interesting things to say.

Apart from confirming my suspicions that none other than the Outsider himself, Alfred Pennyworth was going to be the mastermind coordinating the team in Batman's absence ... we get some looks into how the Outsiders as a team are a natural extention of Batman himself ...

And also a hint about Owlman's identity (which won't be a drawn out affair) ... Batman trusts his detective skills completely, it's said.

My money's on a Slam Bradley or a Jason Bard if they don't go the Crime Society route ...

[HaroldAllnut]

My money's on a Slam Bradley or a Jason Bard if they don't go the Crime Society route ...

I'm fairly sure Slam Bradley's way too old to be gallivanting about in tights and bad-ass Owl armor; I think he's the grandfather of Catwoman's baby.

Isn't Jason Bard's knee still f-ed up from when Killer Moth shot him back when he was on the GCPD? Ah well, that doesn't stop him from doing PI work. That, and he completely recovered from full blindness. That's a fairly good guess regarding Owlman, actually.

It obviously can't be the Earth-3 Owlman. That'd just be a bad idea.

[Retro315]

Isn't Jason Bard's knee still f-ed up from when Killer Moth shot him back when he was on the GCPD? Ah well, that doesn't stop him from doing PI work. That, and he completely recovered from full blindness. That's a fairly good guess regarding Owlman, actually.

Not to mention that the way Batman hired Bard for the "day shift" back in Face the Face kind of matches Tomasi's wording in "Batman is confident in his detective skills".

[Captain Jim]

Yeah, I thought about Jason Bard too. I also agree that there's no way it's Slam Bradley.

[Cayman]

Bard would be awesome.

[Captain Jim]

Alfred Pennyworth was going to be the mastermind coordinating the team in Batman's absence

That may be a bit of an overstatement. It says he's "the mission leader, their command central and also their conscious (sic)." A bit ambiguous, really. It also refers to Geo-Force as the "leader."

[Retro315]

There's always a difference between your intelligence coordinator and your field leader. But I think it's "intelligence coordinator" who gets the title of "mastermind".

The only reason I suggested Slam Bradley ... Owlman just doesn't look as "pretty boy" as Jason Bard. He looks a bit grizzled. Then again, isn't Sam Bradley Jr. a detective as well?

But yeah ... Bard is the best fit in my book.

[AlistairCrane]

What happened to Batgirl?

[earl]

"Then again, isn't Sam Bradley Jr. a detective as well?"

Probably not a bad guess, as from a character it is completely open to being written as you want.


They probably wouldn't use the characters, as they are kind of tied to the current Batman storyline, but Knight & Squire or some of the other Club of Heroes would possibly be cool characters to use.

[AlistairCrane]

Sam Bradley Junior is dead. CLEARLY you didn't read Catwoman.

[Mundungus]

I've been following Peter Tomasi around the DCU since he turned full-time writer. I've never read an Outsiders book but I want to start here.

Even though Last Will and Testament completely distorted continuity, I thought it was powerfully written and want to see the continuing adventures of Geo-Force.

[PastePotPete]

I checked out the Outsiders R.I.P. tie-in because I heard that Batgirl was putting together a team of characters, each one of which represented a facet of Batman. That sounded like a really fun concept to me.

With cameos from Man-Bat and Vigilante I had to pick it up.

BUT

I gotta say those three issues were poorly written and the art was worse. I have not been digging Tomasi's work. And in the interview when he describes how the characters are facets of Batman...his reasoning is exceptionally weak.

Geoforce is his leadership? Black Lightning is Batman's...heart? Halo represents Robin? What? The "Different facets of Batman's personality" is just a tacked-on reason to put together the original Outsiders.

It's too bad because I would have loved to have seen a writer take that concept and really run with it.

[Babylon23]

As a fan of the Barr/Aparo Outsiders series, I'm happy to see most of the original members back in the team, especially Halo. I've tried this book out a couple of times and it hasn't held my interest, but I'll definitely be checking it out now.

[Mundungus]

I checked out the Outsiders R.I.P. tie-in because I heard that Batgirl was putting together a team of characters, each one of which represented a facet of Batman. That sounded like a really fun concept to me.

With cameos from Man-Bat and Vigilante I had to pick it up.

BUT

I gotta say those three issues were poorly written and the art was worse. I have not been digging Tomasi's work. And in the interview when he describes how the characters are facets of Batman...his reasoning is exceptionally weak.

Geoforce is his leadership? Black Lightning is Batman's...heart? Halo represents Robin? What? The "Different facets of Batman's personality" is just a tacked-on reason to put together the original Outsiders.

It's too bad because I would have loved to have seen a writer take that concept and really run with it.

I wouldn't say they are necessarily weak. If they were exact facets of Batman's personality than we'd have very little chemistry. It'd just be a room of partial Batmen fighting each other. He's pulling several characters together where you can draw some kind of relationship of Batman's own psyche together while still keeping them their own selves.

I wouldn't say that Batman is a particularly exceptional leader, I could be wrong. He seems more concerned with his own agenda even when working with others. Having Geo-Force play the leader role makes perfect sense, because he certainly isn't going to be the best of leaders and from the looks of it, has his own agenda.

I'd write more, but I want to keep watching Californication.

[oddballuk]

I'm looking forward to Tomasi's run on Outsiders.

Hearing Metamorpho described as a utility belt was awesome and I think Tomasi has a good grasp on the characters, Black Lightning especially.

As for Owlman?

My guess is Ted Kord!

He's someone whose skills as a detective would be respected by Batman (Bwah ha ha years notwithstanding!) .

Also Owlman reminds me of Nite Owl who was an alternate Blue Beetle.

Stretching too much?