I know I'm cheating, last week I said I was going to review a good Batman comic. But the thing is Outsider was originally a Batman villain and Batman is in it, sort of. But before we look at this comic, time for some back story. The Outsider originally appeared in Detective Comics #334 in 1964, the Outsider was a Batman villain who had a very weird/interesting back story. It turns out the Outsider was really Alfred who sacrificed his life to save Batman and Robin, his corpse was stolen and a scientist used a regeneration ray to bring him back to life. Which turned him evil...
...eventually he turns back to normal, and everything is just peachy. However 47 years later an event happens called Flashpoint. Flashpoint is a big event going on right now, basically the plot is Reverse-Flash ran backwards through time and screwed up continuity. Which caused a lot of changes in the world for example Bruce Wayne was shot instead of his Father, which lead to his Father becoming Batman instead of Bruce. So with out further delay lets take a look at The Outsider#1. The cover is pretty good, the Outsider is standing over what looks like the Corpses of Batman, Cyborg, Abin Sur, and Blackout.
The comic opens in 1960 in the slums of Chandigarh, India. A woman is having a child. The woman is in tremendous pain, and dies after giving birth. The father is upset over this and tells his mother to take the baby away. However the baby's eyes glow ominously. We then cut to people running a away as a giant sink hole that is forming in the middle of the village, killing everyone except the baby who's skin is made of stone.
The narration explains that India blamed Pakistan for the disaster thinking Pakistan tested a atomic bomb on Indian soil. This created a war, and America had to intervene . The comic then cuts to today, we are told the Baby got sent to an orphanage where he was named Michael Desai. But now a days he more commonly referred to as the Outsider. The Outsider is in a meeting with Cyborg, discussing the war between the Atlanteans and the Amazons. The Outsider does not want to join Cyborg's army without Batman, so he declines.
One of his "employees" tells him one of his spies was killed by the amazons, the spy is revealed to be Alfred Pennyworth.
I assume this is a reference to Alfred being the Outsider in normal Continuity. But as another reference to normal continuity she tells him they have information on Adam Blake (A.K.A Captain Comet) however before she can tell the Outsider they are attacked by Mr. and Mrs. Terrific and Izumi Yasunari.
One of the Outsiders henchmen activate a Guard Statue which cuts Mr. Terrific in half. Mrs. Terrific doesn't take her husbands death well and kills a bunch of Outsiders henchmen but Outsider if unaffected.
They want revenge because the Outsider sent them to jail. But the Outsider just shoots her. It barley hits her and she taunts him. He reveals that it was just a distraction as the guard statue cuts her head off. Yusunari uses his fire powers to destroy most of the Outsiders base and the remaining henchmen. Once again the Outsider isn't effected, and tell Yusunari that he went to far.
The Outsider then runs through the fire and punches a hole through Yusunari. Later the Outsider discovers they didn't escape jail they were released by an unknown person in order to kill him. The comic ends with the Outsider wondering who wants him dead, wit a bunch of monitors displaying various heroes, including what looks like Damian Wayne as Robin, and a silhouette that looks like Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
This comic I good but not great. The action is good, and I like the Outsider as a character. Despite him not being Alfred he still acts like him, for instance he is seen drinking tea through out the comic and the cover itself reminds me of a certain Batman cover.
The Outsider also appears to be as strong and as invulnerable as Superman, and while im on the subject he also reminds me of Lex Luthor, the bald business man who doesn't like to get his suit dirty. Anyway I really liked this comic.
Rating: 4.5/5
But we aren't done yet next week we are going to look at another Flashpoint tie-in. So see you next week when i will review Flashpoint: Project Superman #1.
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