Outsiders #25

The Insiders Part Four

Judd Winick Writer
Carlos D'Anda Artist
Guy Major Colorist
Phil Balsman Letterer
Tom Palmer Jr. Assoc. Editor
Jeanine Schaefer Assist. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor

Our cover by Mike McKone shows all the Outsiders defeated and strewn around Brainiac 8. As is usual for McKone, the emotional expressions don't come through very well. So my attention is immediately drawn to Brainiac 8's outfit, which is much more modest and practical than what she's been wearing in the previous three issues (and inside this one, as well). So it is a mistake, but it's a very odd one, because McKone also drew the cover of Outsiders #24, which featured Brainiac 8 in that ridiculously skimpy garb. So this is probably the fault of the colorist, and none of the three editors working on this book caught it. Don't worry, we'll have a few more mistakes in this issue that also slipped through their fingers.

Our story begins with a quick flashback to three weeks ago, where Shift and Indigo slept together and had an introspective discussion on the nature of reality. We cut back to today, where Brainiac 8 has Wonder Girl in her grasp as the original Brainiac descends from above in his large, head-shaped ship. Shift tries to talk to Indigo, but the robot insists she's Brainiac 8 now, and the only to stop her is to kill her. Starfire attempts to do just that by blasting her in the back, and Nightwing orders the heroes to spread out so they're not a sitting target. And Lex Luthor unleashes Superboy on them again.

Beast Boy joins a few of the Outsiders in attacking Brainiac, and they even manage to pull him out of his ship. Luthor starts to get his hands dirty, by hitting some heroes with a sonic disrupter. Arsenal throws a bomb at Luthor, but this draws the ire of the brainwashed Superboy. Wonder Girl attacks her boyfriend again, pleading with him to fight off the mind control. Luthor sees this is starting to work, so he shoots a rocket at Wonder Girl, determined to eliminate Superboy's achilles heel. But Luthor's plan backfires. As Superboy watches Luthor attack Cassie, he regains control of his senses and says, "Leave her alone, 'Dad.'"

We then see that Cyborg has suddenly joined the fight, even though it seemed like he was still being repaired last issue. Robin's arm also has seemed to heal in record time, as he has apparently removed his heavy-duty cast mid-battle. Robin comments that they're not causing any actual damage to the Brainiacs, so Nightwing orders Starfire to stop holding back. She reluctantly agrees, and Nightwing gives everyone a hasty order to steer clear of her impending attack.

Conner has begun to rip apart Luthor's armor piece by piece, shouting that he'll never be Luthor. But after pulling off one of Luthor's gauntlets, he exposes himself to three Kryptonite stones Lex has on his glove (red, green and blue). Disgusted, Lex says he'll kill Superboy and make him stronger. Kid Flash suddenly zips in and takes off with Cassie and Conner to get them away from Starfire's attack.

Starfire has flown up above Brainiac's ship and lit up the whole sky with a blinding light. She unleashes her full power in a blast that directly hits the ship, presumably knocking it down right on top of Brainiac and Luthor. But it is unclear what exactly happened to those two classic villains. Brainiac 8, however, is still up in the air, vowing to kill everyone. And at this point, we're given a quick panel of Kid Flash and Speedy to remind us that they're here.

Nightwing calls in everybody with a ranged attack to hit Brainiac 8 at the same time. But their combined might isn't quite enough to take her down, especially since Starfire is exhausted after her big blast. But Shift finally has a breakthrough, attacking his former girlfriend, which prompts the old Indigo to begin talking to him again. She explains that she is a real, separate personality inside Brainiac 8, and she has temporarily regained control. Indigo says that the plan all along was to send Brainiac 8 back in time to kill Donna Troy, but because of the fluid nature of time, they created the Indigo personality to take over after that murder and hide among the heroes. Indigo begs Shift to kill her, saying Brainiac 8 will soon regain control and will force Indigo to watch as she kills everyone. So Shift sadly complies, transforming Indigo's circuits to dead, inanimate flesh.

This touching scene strongly effects Nightwing, who is reminded that they're all standing on the spot where Donna Troy was murdered. Dick says when he joined the Outsiders, it wasn't supposed to be personal (whatever that means), but now that is is, he no longer wants to be a part of it. So he quits the team on the spot. We then end with a quick epilogue of Donna Troy watching from some mystical location, saying it's time to come back.




Ugh. What a disappointing conclusion. We had two competent teams get together to battle two classic DC villains, and they were basically defeated off screen. What happened to Brainiac and Luthor? They surely couldn't have been killed in such a lackluster manner. And I don't think we were meant to believe that, either. So it's frustrating that this issue just glossed over those two. You'd think someone (possibly Kid Flash) would at least try to look for them at the end.

I'm also disappointed in the sloppy art and storytelling, as well as the minor continuity problems that easily could have been prevented by our editors, who were also in charge of the Teen Titans issues. I'm sick and tired of Nightwing being a major drama queen every time he shows up. And I'm sad that Bart had nothing to do in the finale. But my biggest gripes come from the set up of this story as a whole.

Judd Winick introduced Indigo in Graduation Day, and while I haven't read all 24 issues of the Outsiders between then and now, I do have to say that this story feels like revisionist history on Winick's part. What was clearly set up as a freak accident (Donna's death) is now suddenly a deliberate and convoluted plot. This crossover failed to explain why Brainiac wanted to kill Donna Troy in the first place, let alone why Brainiac 8 was suddenly reactivated from the Indigo shell. I think it would have made more sense for Brainiac 8 to not come back until after Donna came back. But that's just me.

Geoff Johns planted the seed of Superboy being "related" to Luthor in Teen Titans #1. This also required some revisionist history, but it could be explained away. Luthor, a patient man, willing to play the long game, covertly had a hand in creating Superboy, then left him alone for a few years while he ran for president and whatnot. Now he's back to being a full-time super villain and has decided that now is the right time to reap the reward of all that patience. And this is what we got? Superboy's surprise attack was the perfect time to kill somebody, but Luthor called him off. They met up with Brainiac, but didn't do anything together. They were just two separate villains that happened to be in the same place at the same time. I don't see how Brainiac's involvement helped Luthor at all. It actually hindered him, since Brainiac brought in the Outsiders. I just don't get it.

I did kind of like the fatal flaw in Luthor's plan. As he is essentially incapable of understanding love, he was unable to anticipate the effect Wonder Girl would have on Superboy. But where Johns was searching for an emotional payoff after two years of teasing us, I don't think that delays was necessary. I would have preferred to see this story in place of Graduation Day. Superboy finds out he has Luthor's DNA, then immediately goes into that brainwashed rampage, perhaps even killing Donna Troy, if that was necessary. Even without that murder, Superboy's rampage could have been a stronger motivator to split up Young Justice than the Indigo attack was.

Next time, we'll return to the Rogues War in The Flash #224.