I'd like to get my hands on some of that Mr. Fixit Hulk vs Thing. And see how ol' Benjy does against this kind of Hulk.

Batman and the Outsiders v.1 #1

"Wars Ended... Wars Begun!"

0.60 USD @ August 1980 (Cover Page and 24 net pages)

Co-Creator & Writer: Mike W. Barr
Co-Creator & Artist: Jim Aparo
Colorist: Adrienne Roi
Editor: Len Wein

Notable quote(s): "I've had enough of your two-bit Justice League! From now on these are my new partners!" – Batman

“The matter is closed, Batman! I said no member of the Justice League would interfere, and I gave my word!” – Superman

“… then effective immediately… I resign!” – Batman

“I’ve heard the cries of the dying… and the mourning… the victims of crime and injustice… I swore I’d do everything in my power to avenge those deaths… to protect innocent lives… and if I fail to keep that promise… my entire life is a lie!” – Batman

“But the three of us… we’ve always served as an example to the others…” – Superman

“I never asked for that, Superman! I never wanted men to imitate me—only to fear me! I only want to do my work! Nothing is more important to me… and to stop me, you’ll have to kill me!”

Synopsis: Bruce Wayne is at a party in Wayne Manor and having a conversation with Lucius Fox, one of the officials of Wayne Enterprises who is headed overseas on business for Wayne Enterprise. Bruce excused himself as he had to take care of business. Lucius joking asked him if the business was a blonde or brunette. Bruce answered a redhead. Fast forward to the next scene and Batman is fighting a redheaded drug dealer. He apprehends him but noticed he was too late, and the drug deal already took place. Batman was upset that he arrived late to apprehend the drug buyer as well but he was on the East side dealing with a fire. He noted to himself that he has to find a way to be able to do more. And for the next 48 hours he goes on a crime busting spree across Gotham but fatigue set in and he went back to the batcave to get a couple hours of sleep. He was met by Alfred and with the current newspaper he read bad news that a Gothamite was missing in an overseas revolution. Lucius Fox.

Without resting, Batman calls for an emergency JLA meeting at their orbital space station. Green Arrow grumbles regarding the emergency meeting. Batman arrived and states they have no time to waste and they have to leave for Markovia, the area overseas that erupted in revolution. Superman tells Batman they have to talk, which Batman tells him that it can wait. Batman explained his situation that an old friend is missing in the middle of a revolution and that they have to find him. Wonder Woman interjects between the two and says they can’t do that. Batman told her he is also concerned with the public and not just his friend. Wonder Woman understood Batman’s point, but Superman quickly chimed in that he checked with the U.S. State Department and was told by them that sending troops or the JLA could escalate the problems in Markovia. Superman told them the JLA would stand down. Batman told Superman, that he didn’t tell them. Superman sternly told Batman the matter is closed and no member of the JLA would interfere as he gave his word. Batman agreed, and he turned around to go to the teleporter and told the JLA that effective immediately he has resigned. Superman couldn’t believe it. And Batman explained to him why he must go and help out the cries of the dying and victims. We cut to a brief origin story of Bruce as he goes through his monologue. Batman is about to leave and if Superman wants to stop him, then Superman has to kill him. And so he has teleported to Markovia.

In castle Markov, the king is mortally wounded in his bed, and his dying breath he told his two sons they must work together to fix this revolutionary problem and to find their sister. He dies. And the two brothers discuss what to do about the revolution. They are interrupted by a female scientist that told the new king her science is the only thing that can turn the revolutionary tide. The new king forcefully tells them that they need the money to purchase more weapons, and not spend on science, which has given their sister Tara, some superpowers. Brion tells his brother, the new king, Gregor, to listen to the scientist, and that if Brion wants to get superpowers as well, that the new king cannot stop him.

Outside in the countryside, refugees are fleeing, and and old man and his family came across Bruce Wayne who was getting off a car he drove. The old man begged they will do anything if he can drive them far away from the soldiers. Bruce held up a picture and offered the old man a deal. He’d give them the car in return for showing him the way to Dr. Jace (the female scientist at Castle Markov). A deal was struck, and Bruce game them his vehicle in exchange for the information. In another part of the countryside, a black American male approached a Markovian solider with his hands up and holding a bag. He tells the soldier he wants to be taken to his leader, and tells the soldier he has something that the soldier's boss wants. And he drops the bag to the ground and a bar of solid gold popped out. The black man said that his name is Fox and that he is looking for his brother. And he was taken to The General who agreed to bring him his brother in exchange for gold bars. But before any actions can take place, the General slumped forward dead stabbed in the back originating from the outside. There are two soldiers with them, and is abou to shoot the black American guy, he goes on the offensive and takes down both guys. Outside, soldiers fanned out looking for the General's killer. They hear a scream sounding like their comrade, and the female superheroine, Katana is shown with sword drawn at hand and a dead soldier at her footsteps. She killed another soldier before drawing fire from others, and she ran back to the jungle for cover. The black guy put in his costume and mask, and is the superhero, Black Lightning. After taking down another soldier, he was hit from behind with the butt of a rifle, and Black Lightning went down, knocked out cold. Batman has hacked the radio and was dismayed that there are "outsiders" interfering, so he'll have to save Lucius Fox, and also the two "outsiders." And in the building, Batman found a blonde woman who is laying in the rubbles appearing hurt. He checked her pulse, and she woke up surprised and blasted him with a laser of some sort. Scared the blonde young woman was generating lasers from her hand and shooting at Batman in defense as if scare for her life as she repeatedly told him to please not hurt her. Batman reassured her he was not. And she collapsed in Batman's arms apparently in a weakened state still at this time.

In another location, an experiment is taking place in a scientific laboratory. It is Dr. Jace with Prince Brion, the new king's brother. She pulled the lever, and Prince Brion was zapped with energy. He emerged with newfound powers. Just in time as Revolutionary soldiers entered the laboratory and found them and started shooting at them. Brion's new lava powers helped as he shot bursts at the soldiers, immediately melting their weapons as if he just shot them hot volcanic magma from his hands. One of the soldiers shot him from behind. Apparently he is not bulletproof. Ouyt of nowhere another "outsider" arrived and ripped away his disguise revealing the superhero, Metamorpho. Vanquising many soldiers, we found out that Metamorpho was there to see Dr. Jace in the hopes of helping him change back to human form. But his solid form was shot from behind by one of the soldiers, and he broke into pieces. The soldiers gathered Metamorpho, the doctor, and Brion. They buried Brion in an unmarked grave as they didn't want to give the people a marked grave of a martyr. As they turned to leave, we see Brion's hand reach out into the open air from underneath all the pile of earth. Back to where Batman and the young blond lady, we see them flying in the air as she also has the power of flight. Batman baptized the woman with the name, Halo. She doesn't remember her name or who she is, and Batman promised to help her find her identity. He power has her lit up like a powerful light bulb, so she changed her aura so that they are not spotted by Revolutionary soldiers as Batman wants to do more recon. A soldier was sneaking up behind Batman. He noticed, but Halo thought Batman didn't notice the soldier and blasted him. Batman was too late to tell her don't do it as he has seen the soldier already. The other soldiers saw Halo's blast and headed their way. Batman took on all the soldiers, but the massive quantity overpowered him and knocked him unconscious. He didn't blame Halo, but instead blamed himself for the situation for working with amateurs. Batman regained consciousness and found himself chained against the wall in a cell. He was woken up by fellow prisoner, Lucius Fox. Also in the cell are unconscious Black Lightning chained against the wall and pieces of Metamorpho on the corner. The door opened, and in came their "host," Baron Bedlam, who started the so-called modest insurrection of Markovia.

Comments: First off, I didn't know that the Batman illustrator I remember from my childhood was from just before the Crisis of Infinite Earths, and it is Jim Aparo. This is the Batman illustrations I remember from my childhood. Very dynamic and well rendered, his Batman had that "cool factor." It is sort of like some of those old Gil Kane art. It was fun, old fashioned awesomeness. The art was unrestrained and I just delighted in reading them or more like viewing them. Of course, it is not going to be considered high literature in the realms of acadamia. But it is definitely considered for something more interesting than high literature in the minds of classic comic book readers. And that is old school fun and entertainment.

There's a lot of characterization minutely explored in these few pages. We see the prime difference between Batman and Superman and problem with each other's character is definitely open a good six years prior to Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns. Superman comes across as somewhat utilitarian here, placing the public good over the private good. Batman comes across as deontological, the opposite that of Superman, with Batman holding private good over public good. Hmmm this reminds me of the 2006 Marvel Civil War series where Iron Man's stance was utilitarian, and Captain America's stance was deontological.

I'm just going to keep it simple and look forward to issue #2 and view more Jim Aparo goodness.

I love the idea of Batman creating the Outsiders and the Aparo art is great too.

Other than that, I found the villains to be too goofy for my taste.

Later issues have beautiful Alan Davis art as well.

I am not familiar with Alan Davis, but I do love the Jim Aparo illustrations in the Detective Comics and Batman series in the 70's and 80's.

Thunderbolts #110

2.99 USD/3.75 CAN @ March 2007

Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Mike Deodato, Jr.
Colorist: Rain Bareto
Letterer: RS & Comicraft's Albert Deschesne
Cover: Marko Djudjevic
Editor: Molly Lazer
Consulting Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Don Buckley

Synopsis: We join the story in Colorado, a secured Bullseye is being interviewed by an unknown man. Bullseye is tied down to a chair and is surrounded by armed men with weapons pointed at him. The man offered Bullseye a job to capture illegal unregistered superheroes (being very well compensated), but no killing is allowed. He told Bullseye that he was injected earlier with miniature nanotechnology generators that act as a "phone." If he disobeys orders or kills, then the signal is sent. The first time is a shock, and it progressively worsens for each time he breaks the rules until eventually on the fourth time, he'll be a vegetable unable to move in a medical facility. This scared Bullseye as he had a prior brain tumor that left him helpless and unable to move, and he broke a sweat. The man approached him and touched Bullseye's forehead thus touching his sweat and then placed the finger in his mouth and told Bullseye, he tasted like fear. And out of the silhouette comes the figure of Norman Osborn, the new leader of the Thunderbolts.

The story moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where the superhero formerly known as Jack Flag is having an argument with his girlfriend as she is asking why he still has his old superhero costume. She's paranoid that they might capture him and send him to the Negative Zone. He says he still has it not because he agrees with Captain America, but because no one should be driven away because they have a different opinion or belief. Then a commotion happened outside, it was a mugging of some sort. She suggested she'll call the police. He disagreed as it didn't do anything the last time, so he'll take care of it and put a mask on and jumped out the window to do some crime fighting. The scene cuts to the news where newsmen are talking about Tony Starks fascist style of government security action, and ended with Norman Osborn's redemption themed interview.

The story moves to Thunderbolt Mountain once again and it is full of armed soldiers. They are moving secured six Thunrderbolts members to a Thunderbolt carrier called the T-Wagon, the flying jail cells they utilize. And they launched, apparently they were being monitored live by the media. And the news cuts to a toy commercial where Thunderbolts toys take down a Captain America toy.

The story goes in flashback mode where Norman Osborn is interviewing Doctor Karla Sofen, aka Moonstone. She tells him she's feeling better health-wise with her Moonstones in her possession. Norman offered her the job of field leader of the Thunderbolts which she wasn't biting, because she knows Songbird is the field leader. Norman reassures her, he doesn't want Songbird who has morals. He needs someone with no morals and who can get the job done by whatever means necessary. And she obliged by asking to read the contract and for a pen to sign.

Comments: First off, this is one of the best covers of any comic book I have ever seen. Djudjevic really sets the mood here. That cover oozes danger, and the danger emanating from this team will basically be really bad for someone. I love the way Songbird looks so metallic and cold. You have a feeling someone is going to get hurt real bad. If the reader had spider-sense, that would be sounding like a fire alarm ringing right now. And seeing what happened to Jack Flag, I have a feeling he'll be in hot water in future issues.

This is a menacing Thunderbolts team being put together by Norman Osborn. There's lack of scruples between the new organization leader and the new field leader. I can just imagine the sadistic things they will do to unregistered superheroes just to bring them in. This doesn't bode well for unregistered superheroes in the aftermath of the Civil War era. You can just feel the doom and threat sinking in in this era of the Marvel Universe.