Writer and Editor: Mike W. Barr
Artist: Alan Davis

Cover Price: 75¢

My copies: Cover price

I used to subscribe to every team book there was in the mid-eighties, and Batman and the Outsiders, or BATO as it was called in the parlance, was one of the big books back then. By my estimation, they were trying to reproduce the phenomenal (and deserved) success of the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans by taking a few known but underused heroes, a few new heroes, and making them into a family-like team. Looking back, it was a pretty bad book. Bad characterization of Batman, annoying and badly designed villains, drawn out and implausible (even for comic books) storylines, and heroes killing villainous underlings without a single word of reproach or moral consequence in a colorful, child-friendly book. The killings themselves were pretty cool, but schizophrenic in a book with the super-moral Batman. In particular, the Aparo art is, well, not my cup of tea. Inspired by "The Nail," I pulled out the year's worth of issues with Alan Davis' art.

Alan Davis apparently made his mark as a Judge Dredd artist fifteen or so years ago, and I think this run on BATO was his first American art, although he did some issues of Detective around the same time. My favorite of the run was his first two issues, the tail end of the "Who is Halo" storyline. It is badly written, in my opinion, but the wonderful and fresh art add subtleties that make it a compelling book. He really is an excellent visual storyteller, and has Maguire-like skills with facial expressions. Coming on the heels of Jim Aparo's run, where all the expressions have the diversity and subtlety of an exclamation point, Davis' art was a quantum leap. His Katana, a martial arts swordswoman, is particularly exciting. Seeing her frazzled hair express her exhaustion, her appreciable shortness, and her fluidity of movement in battle show how much Alan Davis can really do. The costumes are brightly colored and fun, Davis seems to love the characters (who made a brief appearance in "The Nail"), and other than Metamorpho, the characters have essentially been forgotten but are a significant part of DC history.

After all my cooing about Alan Davis, it is fun to read some of the lettercols in the books. Several of the letters, especially the early ones, complain about what a bad artist he is. One complains that Halo looks like a twenty-seven year old, not a teenager. Interesting complaint given that Aparo's women look like his men. I thought the observation was accurate, she looked like Laura Dern in the issue being discussed, but she looked great also. Mike W. Barr, as the editor and writer, answers the letters rather defensively and with dismissive and slipshod arguments with fans who take the writing of the book more seriously than he seems to have. Regardless of who's right in the specific arguments, it is a lively letters page through the run. A talent like Alan Davis, however, deserved better, and after thirteen years seems to have gotten it.

This run on BATO/AOTO is absolutely worth it if you can find it. Conveniently, the writer and artist names are at the top of the cover of the books, so even in an out of order comics shop, they are relatively easy to track down. I can't say anything about their availability or price, but I would guess they are pretty cheap, under two bucks, and at that price, worth it for the Alan Davis art.

Writer and Editor: Murray Boltinoff
Artist: Bruno Premiani

Cover Price: 12¢

My copy: $7 at Roger's Time Machine, W. 14th St. in Manhattan

I really dug this issue, and can't wait to find out if the rest of the series was like this. Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol was among my favorite, so I cast about for other Doom Patrol stuff. The Kupperberg part of that series wasn't for me, nor was the Rachel Pollack stuff, for very different reasons. The seventies Doom Patrol was just another adventure team, no great amount of thought went into it. The sixties, original Doom Patrol has a quaint version of what Morrison was up to. Cliff Steele covers up his anger over being a freak with a flippant attitude, but still has the warm heart we see in the Morrison run. Rita Farr and Steve Dayton have marital issues over age and separation due to heroics. They behave like a big dysfunctional family. Deep stuff for the funny books of the mid sixties.

Issue 121 is the famous last stand of the Doom Patrol where they allow themselves to be blown up in the place of a small town in Maine. It unfolds in a satisfying way, including splintered alliances among the villains. Also, we get to see Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, who from the Morrison run, we know to be lovers. It is also noteworthy, because Rita Farr, Changeling's foster mom, dies. Steve Dayton, Mento, commits himself to bringing her killers to justice. This eventually drives him nuts, as seen in early issues of the New Teen Titans.

I see that issue of Doom Patrol goes for seventy bucks, which doesn't exactly count as cheap. This particular book is worth tracking down, for historical reasons if you're a modern Doom Patrol fan, and for story reasons. Things happen in this book that become part of DC's accepted history. To me, that's worth seven bucks.

Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Dan Jurgens and Rick Burchett
Editor: Brian Augustyn

Cover Price: $1.25

My copy: $1 at Roger's Time Machine, W. 14th St. in Manhattan

The cover is excellent, and the interior of the book fulfills its promise. As a huge fan of the late seventies/early eighties Justice League, the lineup is a dream come true: Green Arrow, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, Red Tornado, Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern and Firestorm, all on the cover in the old satellite, all in their costumes of the day. The nostalgia of the cover makes it worth the money before I even open it up.

Fortunately, the inside is just as fun. This is set on an alternate earth, or something, it isn't explained in this issue, and I don't care. It's part one of three, so it is all exposition, all tangle and no solution. It is very satisfying on its own. The JLA has become a semi-fascist force for eliminating crime and criminals to save the world from itself, very much like Kingdom Come. Green Arrow and Hawkman get in their classic liberal-conservative shouting match. The coloring is rich and slightly dark, but not over-inked, reflecting the bent of the characters as written. I think of these years of the Justice League as a barren wasteland, second in its history only to the Vibe years, but this episode is great fun. I wonder how much Brian Augustyn had to do with these issues, especially after seeing his work on this year's brilliant JLA Year One series.

I'll bet the rest of the story is fun, too, but boy is this a fun issue. Commissioner Gordon makes the case for humanity against meta-human tyranny, even if it is imagined as benevolent. The story is a neat little parable about Civil Liberties. Flash and Atom set off nuclear warheads in China because "going after us with nuclear missiles really ticked me off!" Hal Jordan is installed as the Vice President of the United States. Hawkman takes Sinestro's ring and orders him dismembered. Fun stuff!

This is the kind of book you might find in a 99¢ bin somewhere. If not, it should still be pretty cheap, certainly under two bucks. Absolutely worth it.