Best of DC: Week of March 11th, 2020

Best of the Week: Batman and the Outsiders #11 – Bryan E. Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini and Clayton Cowles

It’s the Outsiders vs The Assassins in a knock-down, drag out fight for their lives!

After Lady Shiva meets up with Jefferson Pierce, aka. Black Lightning, in order to convince him to join her scheme to kill Ra’s al Ghul, she and the electricity powered hero are ambushed by Ra’s al Ghul’s trusted warriors in Ishmael, the turncoat Kaliber and Karma, a villain from Hill’s run on Detective Comics. Luckily for Jefferson and Shiva, Katana arrives in the nick of time with Duke Thomas, The Signal, and Cassandra Cain, Orphan (even though her mother, Shiva, is next to her).

Dexter Soy and Veronica Gandini begin the book with an epic single splash title page, showcasing the two sides as the Outsiders pick their respective opponents. It’s an absolutely beautiful scene with the moon shining in the sky with a bright white while clouds crest over it. The moon reflects on the surface of the water that both sides are standing in, giving the epic stand off a more dynamic feel as the water crashes around them. There’s an unintentionally funny bit where Shiva is standing tall with the Outsiders, but in the background without anyone to look at because the three combatants are closer to the foreground.

Wonky page aside, Hill does a good job of catching readers up with a few of our characters’ reasons for wanting to fight each other while Soy gives us several nice, up close shots of each character in eight panels. Lightning seeks revenge against Ishmael for killing one of the teacher at his school, Duke and Cass want a rematch against Karma for targeting them and injuring Duke back in Detective Comics and Katana faces off against Kaliber for betraying the Outsiders.

Each of their respective fights take place over the course of single pages for most of the issue and while there’s not much in the way of a deep story, the fights do help to expand on who some characters are, give others some catharsis and allows for one to just showcase how cool they are.

Lightning and Shiva’s fight with Ishmael is absolutely one of ideology. Blak Lightning has always been a hero, someone who was willing to save lives and give his own if he thought the cause was worth it. Lady Shiva is one of the deadliest assassins in the DC Universe and only seeks to weed the world of the weak. She sought Jefferson out because she knows that among Batman’s team, Lightning is absolutely one of the most powerful and susceptible to her way of thinking, if the right pressure were to be applied. At the same time, she sees how Ra’s al Ghul’s plot to destroy the planet would be counter to her goals.

Soy portrays Lightning with probably the most intense anger that we’ve seen from him in this story so far. His brow is furrowed and Soy inks a close up shot of Jefferson’s face to accentuate the bright blue and white that Gandini uses for his eyes. His lightning is intense, even as Shiva tells him that she knows he’s holding back, he doesn’t care as he’s acting as the distraction. We then get another page of Shiva enacting his plan.

Soy showcases Shiva’s speed and agility through various panels as she attacks Ishmael. Soy uses speed lines and blurring to convey how quick she can move as Ishmael’s defense is whittled away before she gives him one good kick across the face. Clayton Cowles utilizes excellent lettering with an intense “KRAK” as the foot connects and a powerful “ZZZATTT” as Lightning hits him with a blast of energy. Cowles also has fantastic bubble placement as Shiva counts down on every panel before unleashing Jefferson.

As that fight ends, we get a calm scene between the two as Ishmael lies unconscious in the water, his face just so that he doesn’t drown. Shiva tells Jefferson just how easy it would be to let him drown, but Jefferson points out that that would be murder. Because… of course it would be. Jefferson is a hero and is unwilling to take a life, not because he’s on a team with Batman, but because it’s his decision.

Karma was a Markovian soldier who had something of a past with Batman. This saw him don a mask that allowed him to read the thoughts and actions of his enemies as he targets those who he felt made Batman weak – Duke and Cass. He put them through hell over the course of many issues and this is what initially caused Batman to seek out Jefferson to help train them. This series would have spun out of that arc, but for whatever reason, delays kept it off until very recently.

The fight starts off pretty poorly as Karma reads Cassandra’s thoughts, making fun of her Orphan codename, much like I did earlier, and kicks her away. Karma is a quite capable fighter, but he hasn’t faced Duke in quite some time and doesn’t know about the hero’s new found power. Duke had initially had some PTSD when thinking about Karma, likely because of a bomb that the villain had strapped to a Batfan and exploded when Duke arrived to save him.

Duke’s powers over the light had been corrupted by Ishmael earlier in the series and this left him with a new ability to enshroud himself and others in a black shadow. He and Cass use this to their advantage to distract Karma, allowing Soy and Gandini pay off all of their months of pain and anger. Cassandra swings across Karmas face with both of her feet, knocking him back as the glowing red star of his mask leaves a small trail. The fight is honestly pretty one sided from there as Cass just beats the man.

The final fight between Katana and Kaliber is pretty much just an excuse for Soy, Gandini and Cowles to draw cool stuff. Kaliber fires a shot from one of his energy guns with a bombastic, transparent BOOM to accentuate its power and bright orange and yellow colors. Katana gets into an excellent pose and uses her Soul Sword to deflect and spread the blast with a “SHNNNNG” lettering that curves around part of the shot and her sword. Katana has no time to play any games with him, at all.

She also makes short work of him while revealing that she had never liked him. Cowles utilizes similar minimal panels to convey Hill’s script as she tears down his lack of discipline and honor before making fun of his hair while still being threatening. Soy makes Katana look like an absolute badass as she takes Kaliber’s gun arm in one fell swoop before kicking him in the gut. Kaliber may be something of a good eye and a trigger, but Katana, like Shiva, is one of the most dangerous women in the DC Universe with a sword and not someone that should be faced in a one-on-one close quarters fight.

With all of their enemies defeated, Katana holds her sword to Kaliber’s throat as he tries to convince the Outsiders that Ra’s only wants to “save the world.” In some respects, that could be true. He sees humanity as a disease and would rather the planet Earth and his chosen few thrive without the chaff. He’s built a cult of personality around himself and that’s how he’s maintained a following for centuries. Not that it was difficult to convert someone like Kaliber, a stock mercenary. But the merc soon reveals that this fight was meant to serve as a distraction as explosions ring out across a Cambodian town.

It’s another beautiful scene with the calm blues of the moons afterglow and the night sky itself is contrasted by the bright and fiery oranges of the explosions. My only criticism is that while the scene does feel weighty, there’s still a lot of empty space where more explosions and destruction could be. They sort of feel minor by comparison to the rest of the shot and maybe pulling in closer would help, but either way, it’s a nice scene.

Ra’s goons escape and Katana rallies the Outsiders to go and help the people. Despite not approving of Cassandra choosing to join Batman’s crusade, Shiva affirms her pride and love of her daughter and joins her in heroism, even if it’s only for a short time. Meanwhile, in the background of this story, Sofia, the metahuman who Ra’s initially tried to recruit away from Batman affirms that she wants to do good in the world and Batman leads her to choose her own identity.

Bryan Hill’s excellent Outsiders series continues to be one of the more underrated DC titles out right now as this issue was absolutely action packed thanks to Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini and Clayton Cowles. It definitely built on these excellent characters that deserve more acclaim and a book separated from having Batman in the title because he is still barely present.

That’s also another point I will keep harping on, Batman is still a non-entity in this book and I think that’s something that this story does well. It allows for Black Lightning and Katana to grow as characters to take on the teacher role like Batman did in the original Outsiders comic. Duke and Cassandra have so much to learn, but so few Batman writers want to put a focus on them while Bryan Hill is giving them center stage alongside two big heroes. They absolutely deserve it and I want to see them in so many more things going forward.

I want this series to go well past fifty issues because it has, consistently, been one of the best paced, best drawn and best told series that DC has had going for it in a long while. This gets another high recommend from me.

Best of DC: Week of January 8th, 2020

Best of this Week: Batman and the Outsiders #9 – Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini and Clayton Cowles

Ra’s al Ghul wins when he’s able to convince you that his methods are the right ones.

That’s the unfortunate lesson that Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning, is forced to learn when one of his closest friends is killed at the behest of Ra’s al Ghul. The book opens with Jefferson thinking back to when he met his professional colleague, Tina McClintock. She was one of the first people to welcome him to his position as Principal in Metropolis, sticking by him even after he leaves to work Gotham. Dexter Soy draws these scenes with friendly intimacy, showing them growing as friends and colorist Veronica Gandini mutes most of the colors in the flashback, but emphasizes Tina’s distinct red hair.

We then cut to a somber splash page with Jefferson standing by her half burned corpse with his head down in despair. It’s a powerful scene as it’s the first time he’s experienced such a close loss because of his superhero identity and with it being so close to home, his anger and sadness is palpable through the page. Dexter Soy does an amazing job of inking shadows for effect and Gandini makes excellent use of lighting to show the gravity of the situation.

Batman shows up soon after to inform Jefferson that it might be the work of one of Ra’s people and tries to ease his allies anger, but Jefferson isn’t having it. Jefferson acknowledges his anger and how much we wants to kill Ra’s for what he’s done, but this causes him and Batman to have a small clash. Instead of being firm with Jefferson about things, Batman tries to console him by repeating what Jeff told him in an earlier Detective Comics arc; That “It’s not his fault.” Jefferson abdicates leadership of The Outsiders team to Katana before taking some time off to clear his head.

One of the best things about this story is the continuing friendship being built between Katana and Black Lightning. As soon as he leaves the hospital, she is there waiting for him to get a feel of his headspace. Gandini colors the afternoon sky with a simmering orange, as if to emphasize Jefferson’s bubbling rage. Katana understands his anger, his want to kill because, unlike Batman, she has no reservations about it. She knows that Jeff is the glue that holds the team together and does her best to keep him from turning to the dark.

The two walk and talk for awhile and Jefferson explains how he’s tried to avoid violence all of his life.That’s always been one of the core aspects of Black Lightning’s character – the idea that he wants to be a positive influence on his community when there’s been so much violence in and around him for years. That’s why he decided to go into teaching, to help keep the youths of his neighborhoods from falling into the darkness that he’s now slowly being consumed by. Katana doesn’t even disagree that Ra’s deserves to die, but clarifies that Jefferson is the best of them and if he falls, then they all do. She reminds him that The Outsiders will be there to stop Ra’s and whatever he has planned.

Meanwhile, Orphan and The Signal, Cassandra Cain and Duke Thomas respectively, are testing out Duke’s new powers over darkness in Metropolis. They manage to take down a local drug dealer together, but then Batman confronts them for keeping secrets, something he does all the time. Soy and Gandini do a lot for this scene as far as possible symbolism goes. One single street light shines down on Batman insinuating he’s right, but his face is covered in shadow. He’s also positioned above Duke and Cass with a bit of distance between them, showing a divide as he talks down to them.

As Bruce is in the middle of dressing down his kids, Superman appears to talk about everything going on with Jefferson. This is pretty cool as it’s not often that we see Superman involvement in Batman stories like this. Bruce tries to tell Superman that none of this is his business, but Superman counters that he’s heard everything and they both know that Ra’s is far more dangerous than Bruce is thinking right now. Superman asks Bruce to change how he goes about things, just this once as to not hurt Jefferson or the kids before flying away.

Unfortunately for Batman, the rest of his Outsiders are already thinking about changing things up as Bruce’s methods aren’t working out as well as they expected. Duke and Cass decide to seek Shiva out for a final confrontation and to stop trying to live up to Batman’s ideal. I kinda like this shift for Duke as it shows him taking a route that Dick Grayson did many years ago. At the same time, Katana and Jefferson finish their talk and also want to take the fight directly to Ra’s.

This issue of Batman and the Outsiders was heavy on the emotion. The last time I’d even seen Black Lightning even close to as angry as this had to have been in the mid-2000s Justice League of America. I’m glad that Bryan Hill is giving him dimensions other than uplifting and determined.

It’s okay to be angry, especially after a tragedy like this. The same can be said for the puberty analogue of Duke’s changing powers and Cassandra’s want to not be treated like a broken kid anymore. With Dexter Soy’s amazing art and Veronica Gandini’s expert colors, this book is an absolute high recommend.

Best of DC: Week of July 10th, 2019

Best of this Week: Batman and the Outsiders #3 – Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini and Clayton Cowles

Batman’s Outsiders has a lot to learn before they can properly function as a team.

After losing Sofia, the girl that they were charged with protecting, Baman gathers the team together and tells them that they are going to get her back, but first they need to be tested. On the other side of the coin, Sofia finds herself in the clutches of Ra’s al Ghul, who places the man who killed her father in front of her. Ra’s tells her to kill him, her own test to see if she’s worthy of being trained by him.

The book flips the focus between two central characters specifically, those being Sofia and Duke Thomas, aka The Signal. As mentioned in my last review of Batman and the Outsiders, this book was slated to come out around the same time or after an arc in Detective Comics where Batman’s sidekicks were being targeted by a murderous villain by the name of Karma. His primary targets were the Cassandra Cain and Duke Thomas, the latter of whom is still suffering from PTSD after failing to save a kid with a bomb strapped to him by Karma and being injured in the explosion.

Ishmael, the man who killed Sofia’s father, kneels before her and goads her into attacking him, telling her that he heard her father’s last thoughts before he died. He says that her father wishes that she were killed instead of him and Sofia succumbs to her anger, striking Ishmael. After a smokescreen clears, Duke is met by someone wearing Karma’s gear and attacks the figure in a rage. “Karma” tries to convince Duke that he doesn’t deserve the metahuman power that he has, the ability to see what others cannot (see Dark Knights: Metal), and that Batman must be disappointed.

After thoroughly thrashing Ishmael, Ra’s gives Sofia a sword, telling her to end Ishmael and become another of his weapons. She holds the sword in her hands and thinks long and hard about her decision. Ultimately, she decides that vengeance is the only option and chooses to plunge the blade into Ishmael. Ra’s reveals the test for what it is, allowing Ishmael to defend himself and telling Sofia that if she joins him, nothing will hurt her again.

Cornered and afraid, Karma approaches Duke and asks him where is his team now, making him think that The Signal is all alone. Suddenly, Cassandra kicks Karma in the face, Katana slashes him in the face of the mask and Black Lightning picks the kid up from the ground. Bruce reveals that he was the one under Karma’s mask and tells Duke that he is very proud of him.

This issue was made great by the duality of the situations presented. Batman normally takes in broken kids and builds them back up to be strong, compassionate and in tune with their emotions. Ra’s al Ghul takes young men and women and turns them into unrepentant killing machines under his will. Duke could just as easily have been in the same position that Sofia is in now and vice versa. Sofia, however, will be a harder case to bring back to the light now that she knows that she has given in to her darker side. Sofia has a chance to become like Damian if she’s lucky, but who’s to say?

Duke has already been to the dark depths since his late childhood, watching his parents get forever Jokerized, dealing with an army of wannabe Joker kids as a teen and fighting against the Dark Multiverse as Batman’s new ward. Duke has been through a lot, but he’s also been able to overcome every threat in his way. Karma took that security away from him when he made Duke watch his own failure and this left the young man angry and broken, unwilling to take orders from anyone lest he make the same mistakes again.

Batman and the Outsiders succeeds at placing it’s focus on characters other than Batman, leaving him as more of a support player while the stories hone in on individuals or team dynamics than Batman’s leadership. Duke Thomas has been out of the picture for a while and having the gates flood open on his headspace in particular made me very happy. I also kind of like Sofia. While not exactly super fleshed out yet, she shows a lot of promise especially making the decision to have this new character go down a dark path in the beginning. She has good motivations and I actually hope that by the end of this arc, she earns a place on the team properly.

High recommend.