Comics Fondle

In today’s comics, supervillains are evil enough to compare to Armadillo on “The Shield.” In the 1980s, apparently they were just as evil, but had environmentally conscious nicknames and powers. (I’m mostly referring to the bad guys–the Masters of Disaster–killing their employer because they know it’ll piss off Black Lightning). These two issues contain three B4s (big battles by Barr)–one with just the bad guys, then two with the Outsiders versus the bad guys. I think… it’s either three or four. I find it hard to believe Barr went through an entire issue (#10) without a five page battle scene.

The story resolves Black Lighting’s guilt over killing a teenage girl (natch, her mom gets it and he feels super). Poorly, as the parenthetical observation suggests and the two issues seem simplistic, like Barr wasn’t willing to let the threat against Black Lightning gestate. I’m trying to remember what else happened in #9 (there’s a good reason I can’t and I’ll get to it in a second), but it seems like very little. All the scenes played toward the story at hand, except the dropped hints for the next story. Whoop dee doo. Oh, I think Geo-Force went to graduate school and I have to wonder where he got his undergrad. Do Markovian credits really transfer?

The reason I don’t remember #9 very well is because of the Halo backup. It’s a goofy, kind of dumb, high school superhero story and it’s pleasant and works real well. It might be Barr’s best writing in the series so far. Not to mention the Bill Willingham art. I have a friend who mocks Willingham’s art mercilessly, but after eight issues of Aparo… the Willingham is a great change. Willingham also manages to draw Halo to look like a teenage girl, as opposed to Aparo (who might just be adjusting since Barr does have Metamorpho lust for her).

Except Aparo didn’t pencil #10, some guy named Steve Lightle did. Lightle’s art, with expressive faces, ought to be an improvement over Aparo–except there’s a lot of action and the art in #10 comes off very static. And Lightle’s perspective is noticeably poor at times.

Did I even talk about the story? I can’t remember. I can only imagine reading Outsiders for almost a year and having Lightning’s lame story resolved so limply.

C

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