Longtime followers of this blog know that Batman's rivalry with Doom goes way back...
There was the time that Doom attacked the whole Batman Family... or when Doom helped The Joker get the upper hand... or when he turned The Silver Surfer against the Dark Knight...
So it was only a matter of time before he went against Batman's team. I like Batman as part of the JLA, don't get me wrong - but I think he is great with this group. I hope to seem them all together again now that DC Rebirth is underway.
What the movies have always got wrong about Doom is that he is that he is what if Batman was evil
ReplyDeleteBatman and The Outsiders was that rare occasion where the status quo was actually shaken up! The Outsiders were awesome. It's a shame Batman rejoined the League.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to see Creeper, The Demon, Plastic Man, maybe even Elongated Man join the team. Geo-Force, Katanna, Halo and Looker were pretty cool and there were some awesome stories...but, What If DC used more of it's older characters?...
Hopefully Marvel/Disney will get Fantastic Four back and do Doom right.
This is your best rendering of Dr. Doom, yet. Plain and simple as that. :-)
ReplyDeleteIs this a revamp of some kind? Because, even though I couldn't find past evidence of it (under your usual bottom-of-the-page parameters), I could _swear_ you did a dust-up between these two factions, once before!
ReplyDeleteDoom's battled Batman before as in the provided links, but this is his first encounter with the Outsiders...
ReplyDeleteI agree about Doom, Bob Layton put out alot of great covers for Marvel in the day! Outsiders were pretty good in the originals, but I haven't kept up on changes after their first year or so. The idea of bringing in some of the older, more experienced heroes would work in general with the right people. Creeper and Plastic Man, some of the lesser used characters could've built stronger followings given the chance. I've mostly given up on modern comics, but there are a few like Batman 66 are worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteOoooh! Paul Green just gave me an idea. Hey, Ross! How about Wonder Woman '77 meets the Reb Brown version of Captain America?*
ReplyDelete*He starred in those two TV-movies about Cap that CBS put out concurrent with the Nicholas Hammond Spidey series.
My absolute favorite group from the 1980s (things kinda fell apart in the 1990s). I thought Batman and the Outsiders were PERFECT as they were. I felt never they needed to ADD more members. Too many characters have spoiled many of team book. Mike Barr had to right mix of lesser used and offbeat heroes, with three new exciting creations, under the tutelage of the Man of Night himself. Windfall was the only new addition I didn't mind, cuz Halo needed a friend. But Looker should have only been a one-shot story (and she was basically Gaby with red hair). It wasn't long after I stopped reading BATO by the mid 1990s, that I stopped reading comics altogether. The decline of this book reflected the decline of the comic books in general- but NOT independently published graphic novels, which continued to buy and read.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest things about traveling is actually seeing the literary and artistic inspirations of many of my childhood comic book stories growing up. I am currently traveling through Czech Republic, Slovakia and Budapest, and I feel like I have traveling through Markovia, Latveria, and all the other "make-believe" eastern block countries that Batman, The X-Men, Fantastic Four, Nemesis, The Demon and other characters had adventures in during the Cold War era. Its been so awesome to say the least. I feel like I have been here before (and I kinda was- through the pages of Brave and the Bold and artists like Jim Aparo's perfect rendering of these locations). Prague especially has been a treat. So I highly recommend visiting Eastern Europe if you are a comic book fan.
ReplyDeleteIn keeping with the Outsiders' "outsider" theme, while they were Gotham-based I'd also have considered Man-Bat and the [pre-supernatural] Ragman -- and maybe the Creeper -- acceptable as additions.
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