Outsiders Biohazard

On what was suppose to be Free Comic Book Day 2020, the nation is still dealing with a pandemic, from the unleashed coronavirus, trapped in isolation to prevent contact.


The team of heroes formed by Batman had to deal with a potential pandemic as well....but they were slightly more successful in stopping it before it got out of the lab that created it.


Here is that story from Outsiders #15 (January, 1987) from Mike W. Barr, Dan Jurgens and Mike Gustovich!

Biohazard

The story starts when Dr. Helga Jace, the Outsiders' resident scientist, arrives at Biogen Laboratories in upstate California. 

There, she meets with her former student, Dr. Marsha Chandler, who had created an aggressive virus designed to attack the immune system...and Dr. Jace berated Dr. Chandler for creating something that could be turned into a terrible weapon. 

This was enough to distract Dr. Chandler, who accidentally exposed herself to the virus, triggering an alarm, and getting Dr. Jace to summon the Outsiders.


The call went to Halo and Katana, who were in the middle of training, and they summoned the rest of the team.

Once at the lab, Black Lightning used his electrical powers to break in, and found gear to prevent them from breathing in any foreign microbes.  The heroes fought a group of the labs' staff, seemingly possessed, then found Dr. Jace and other members in isolation. 

Dr. Jace explained that the virus also attacks the brain, and had mutated into sentience.  Dr. Jace, using Dr. Chandler's notes, realized the virus could only survive in hosts, and would not survive long in the air, and thus creating a vaccine would eliminate it. 

The virus didn't want to die, so it started to possess the military called in for containment, and started to use the lab safeguards against the Outsiders, with the group saved by Metamorpho.  Dr. Jace finished Dr. Chandler's cure....but as Geo-Force saw, was allergic to one of its components. 

The team rounded up the military members, and got them the cure,  but the virus took Dr. Jace as a host, but some quick thinking by Looker got the virus out of Dr. Jace's body, ending this possible pandemic before it even started!  Would that it were so easy to wipe out a virus in a day!

Batman And The Outsiders Meet The New Teen Titans

Along time ago, before the internet and digital downloads, one would look into the window of a comic shop and see posters of upcoming events....

...one such as this wonderful poster by George Perez and Jim Aparo, promising the excitement of a meeting of the New Teen Titans and Batman and the Outsiders!

This happened in an issue of each of their series....as follows!

Light's Out, Everyone

Starting the crossover fun was New Teen Titans #37 (December, 1983) by Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Romeo Tanghal....with this half of a connected cover by George Perez (one of the earliest examples of this trick).


The issue starts out with Gizmo, one of the members of the Fearsome Five, helping to start a prison break for the other members of the team...matter manipulating Shimmer; her brother, super strong Mammoth; devious Dr. Light (former JLA and Teen Titan foe) and psionic Psimon.  These villains have a plan to increase their power, and plan to use scientist Dr. Helga Jace to help (as she had helped Shimmer and Mammoth in their past, being an expert on metahumans).

Meanwhile, in the Titans Tower; Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Changeling, Cyborg, Starfire and Raven were finishing a meeting and dealing with newest member, Terra (matter manipulator), when Terra got a mysterious signal (of much distress to her, as she immediately goes off because of it....foiling her secret plans to get more information on the Titans, as Terra is a secret agent for Deathstroke the Terminator).

Her alarm went off signalling the kidnapping of Dr. Helga Jace, and Terra arrives at the doctor's home, only to find Metamorpho, Black Lightning, Halo and Katana there....and Terra attacks!  The group fight her as the Titans start to arrive (usually team up trope), but then Kid Flash and Wonder Girl recognize Metamorpho and Black Lightning (and vice versa), so the fighting stops.

Just in time, as Geo-Force arrives....and greets Terra as his sister, Tara Markov!  Seems Tara had gotten her Earth powers a year before, and Geo-Force was looking for her,  but hadn't found her.

The teams unite and realize they must look for the villains, the Fearsome Five, who took Jace (and both teams contact their leaders... ...Robin/Dick Grayson of the Titans and Batman/Bruce Wayne of the Outsiders.. ..who are meeting at Wayne Manor to discuss recent problems the two are having, with Jason Todd in the background, and Alfred Pennyworth letting them know their teams need them).

The entirety of both teams unite at Titans Tower, where they search for clues to find the Fearsome Five (getting notice that they are experimenting on homeless people....turning them into mud men).  The teams (with Batman taking over as leader, much to Robin's dismay), go to a Gotham island where the Fearsome Five are, but....the villains and their mutated men of the Mud Pack attack, and the villains flee....and blow up the island....sinking the heroes.....

Psimon Says

Batman And The Outsiders #5 (December, 1983) came out soon after, by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo (with Marv Wolfman as a co-plotter and cover by George Perez and Jim Aparo, giving the second half of a connected cover...letting you know these two issues connected in story, a piece occasionally forgotten in modern connected covers).

It starts with our heroes sinking in light of the explosion they just faced, with Batman feeling concerned because he was counting on Robin and the Outsiders to take care of Gotham should he die, and Robin thinking they wouldn't be in this predicament had he led instead....thankfully, Terra and Geo-Force work together and save the heroes from a watery grave, saving themselves and Dr. Jace.

Batman takes charge (as he did when working with Titans in Brave and the Bold), suggesting they go to the closer Outsiders headquarters under Wayne Foundation (though the Outsiders are unaware of Batman's true identity, unlike the Titans of Robin's).  Wonder Girl and Halo talk of their lack of knowledge of their parents' identities, and Kid Flash and Black Lightning talk of how they both tried to walk away from being heroes but came back, as Batman again takes dominance of the two teams.

Meanwhile, the villains have a falling out, as Psimon takes over his team, directing the others against Dr. Light, who escapes....leading to his being caught by the heroes.  They find out the villains had a plan of taking over New York City with a mind control device, and with Dr. Jace's help, find a way to immunize the heroes against it.

The Fearsome Five (less one) were using the Empire State Building to center their device and succeed in taking New York....as the heroes arrive to stop them, with Batman trying to divide the teams when Robin speaks up, saying Batman's orders will likely get them killed, and comes up with a division of the teams that takes advantage of his knowledge and experience, which does allow them to defeat the villains, and Batman and Robin finally make peace at the end (as Terra and Geo-Force plan to unite their family again sometime soon....).

All of this lays out a plan for future issues of both series, as Dick Grayson retires as Robin (and Wally West retires as Kid Flash), with Dick soon taking on the identity of Nightwing, as Donna Troy/Wonder Girl finds her real family (with help from Dick); and Black Lightning is confronted by the Masters of Disaster (and the reason he lost his powers for a time), and Halo discovers her true identity (and origins of her powers), with Geo-Force having to deal with fallout from more revelations and problems from his sister, Terra.

Psimon and the Fearsome Five return right before the Crisis On Infinite Earths as well, as the Titans and Outsiders will work together then too.

Read these yourself in New Teen Titans Volume 6 Tradepaperback of 2017 (including Dick and Wally's retirement) or Batman and the Outsiders Volume 1 Hardcover of 2017 (including the teams' origins, more on Markovia and Black Lightning's power problems)....a shameless bit of advertisement for DC, who brought readers these classic tales!


For those interested in comic marketing, and some of the ways done to make comics appealing to readers and give us some things to follow, check out my fellow Super Blog Team Up members blogs', as our assignment was to cover gimmicks that sell comics, focusing on the later years of Chromium...wherein covers were shiny to sell comics!


Participants include:

Super-Hero Satellite: 70s-80s Photo Covers

Comic Reviews By Walt: The 90s Revisited: Shiny Covers

Chris Is On Infinite Earths (Blog): Adventures Of Superman 500 (White Bag and Lenticular Cover)

Chris Is On Infinite Earths (Podcast): Episode 33: Team Titans 1 (1992) Five Variant Covers

Source Material: Spider-Man Torment (1-5 by Todd McFarlane)

Comicscomicscomics.blog: Daredevil Fall From Grave (319-325) Gimmick Covers and costume changes

The Telltale Mind:  Worlds Collide - the Intercompany Crossover

Between The Pages: Guerrilla Marketing

DC In The 80s: Justin's 5 most memorable DC gimmicks from 1990-1995 including Robin, Spectre and more!

Comics In The Golden Age: Fawcett's Mighty Midgets comics

Unspoken Issues: Darkhawk 25

When It Was Cool: Polybags!

In My Not So Humble Opinion: Pop-Up Cover Force Works 1

Black & White and Bronze Comics Blog: Stan Lee's foray into the magazine format with Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine of 1968


I thank all my regular readers for also checking out all these great members of the Super-Blog Team-Up family, welcome new readers brought to me because of the SBTU, and thanks to everyone for a love of comics as well all team up well!!

Watching The Monitor: Batman And Friends

Batman was usually the one watching people....checking on his friends and associates to keep them safe and looking out for villains and criminals to prevent them from causing harm.

Still, the Monitor had to see what Batman was doing at this time, as he had walked away from the JLA to form the Outsiders, had strained relations with Superman, and had a new Robin in Jason Todd as Dick Grayson had become Nightwing and was working more with the Titans than ever.

Two By Two

First up, an old foe of Batman's was in need of the Monitor's services in Batman And The Outsiders #14 (October, 1984) by Mike W. Barr, Bill Willingham and Bill Anderson (all under a cover by Jim Aparo).

Maxie Zeus, a Gotham mobster who thought he was the king of Olympus, had escaped prison and was planning a strike against the Olympics (kidnapping Greek contestant Lacinia Nitocris).  Maxie made a call to the Monitor to build his own New Olympians...

...(metahumans with powers that were similar to the Greek gods...Diana, Nox, Antaeus, Proteus and Vulcanus....and Argus in the next issue; all as perfect counters to the Outsiders).


All while the Outsiders (Metamorpho, Black Lightning, Katana, Halo and Geo-Force) go through various problems in their own lives....until Batman summons them to the Olympics to compete with Zeus' New Olympians.

Going For The Gold

The battle between the Outsiders and the New Olympians continues in Batman And The Outsiders #15 (November, 1984) by Mike W. Barr and Trevor Von Eeden (under a cover by Jim Aparo).

The New Olympians and Outsiders battle, at least until Batman realizes why Maxie Zeus was interested in  Lacinia Nitocris....the single dad was looking for someone to take care of his daughter.

All this gave the Monitor and Lyla a great deal of information on Batman and the Outsiders.


Both Batman And The Outsiders tales were reprinted in Batman and the Outsiders Hardcover Volume 2 in 2018.

Hacker

Next up, the Monitor checks out the strained relationship between Superman and Batman in World's Finest Comics #311 (January, 1985) by Joey Cavalieri, Stan Woch and Pablo Marcos (all under a cover by Paris Cullins and Klaus Janson).

In what seems to be a more playful mood for the Monitor, he gives Davy (a teenage hacker from the suburbs) access to Superman's Fortress of Solitude's computers, unknowningly unleashing various of Superman's pets and giant robots loose on Gotham, as Batman tracks down the hacker, mostly as a test of Batman's detective skills (though he also sets into motion a group of villains, the Network, that would vex Superman and Batman over the next few issues).

This tale has yet to be reprinted (and for Superman's side in the Superman/Batman battle, check his upcoming fact sheet of Monitor observations).

Broken Dates

Doug Moench, Rick Hoberg and Rudy D. Nebres give us the next Bat-themed adventure of the Monitor and Lyla in Batman #384 (June, 1985), all under a cover by Paris Cullins and Robert Allen Smith.

The gang of Dr. Fang uses the Monitor to hire the Calendar Man (and in either a fit of whimsy or unknown knowledge, the Monitor picks Calendar Man as one of Batman's most deadly foes).

The Calendar Man keeps with his calendar motif, attacking Batman and his new Robin, Jason Todd under crimes based on the days.

The First Day Of Spring

Doug Moench, Pat Broderick and Doug Smith set off the next tale of Batman vs. the Calendar Man in Detective Comics #551 (June, 1985) with Pat Broderick providing the cover.

The Monitor only gets named dropped here, but assume he is still watching, as, to protect Robin, Batman bars him from this case (as Batman is worried that Calendar Man will kill Robin....and, perhaps exposing a weakness of Batman's....his need to protect those around him, which will push him into danger for himself).

Neither of these Calendar Man tales have been reprinted, and he is defeated in the next issue of Batman.

Victor Victorious

Though Batman does feature in Tales Of The Teen Titans #58 (October, 1985) by Marv Wolfman, Chuck Patton and Romeo Tanghal (cover by Patton/Tanghal), it is important for the Monitor and Lyla.

Nightwing (the former Robin, Dick Grayson) is a bit distracted with the Titans, as Cyborg (Victor Stone) attempts an operation at S.T.A.R. Labs to restore much of his humanity.

Of course, this would be a perfect time for the Fearsome Five to attack (Gizmo, Mammoth, Shimmer and new members Jinx and Neutron, led by Psimon, who replaced Dr. Light as leader).

In the battle between teams, Psimon gets thrown into the water and would have died....had not the Monitor sent Lyla (as Harbinger) to bring him aboard his satellite (as Psimon was one of a select few the Monitor had originally chosen to help against the Crisis On Infinite Earths....).

This tale has been reprinted in the 8th New Teen Titans tradepaperback.

On a long, winding road to the Crisis, the Monitor has been checking on the Titans, JLA, JSA, the Legion of the Super-Heroes and folks like Swamp Thing....all getting ready for the battle to come!

An Outsiders Christmas Carol

The Outsiders have been celebrating Christmas for a few years, and Charles Dickens' classic tale has been around for a few years longer....

....so, it only makes sense to mash them together!  

Outsiders 

Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo brought us "A Christmas Carol - 1985" in Outsiders #5 (March, 1986), with the Scrooge like character being Eben Mudge, a man who was forced into being a mob account 40 years ago for Tommy Sinclair, after losing his partner at Christmas time.

The Outsiders try a Christmas Carol operation on him to try to get him to turn state's evidence, with Katana putting a samurai potion in his coffee to make him suggestible.  Mudge is then visited by the ghost of his old partner (Geo-Force), who tells him of the three ghosts who will come next.  

Halo arrives as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Metamorpho as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Black Lightning as the Ghost of Christmas Future.  Mudge not only gives up the evidence to telepathic Looker (who needed the trip down memory lane to probe his mind), but also convinced the man to reconcile with his estranged family.

As a back up tale by Mike W. Barr and Trevor Von Eeden, Black Lightning and Katana help save a department store from thieves who kidnapped the store's Santa's son!

Adventures Of The Outsiders

Now, a year later in Adventures Of The Outsiders #43 (March, 1987), this tale was reprinted for the newsstand (The Outsiders followed in the footsteps of the New Teen Titans and the Legion of Super-Heroes having a Baxter series direct to comic shops, then a year later, reprinted the tales for newsstand distribution).

This experiment didn't last long (only 8 issues in The Outsiders case), but did give us this Kevin Maquire/Bruce Patterson variant cover of Jim Aparo's original cover.   The Outsiders had had a few previous Christmas tales, one meeting with Phantom Stranger, the other with Superman, and A Christmas Carol was also used by the Teen Titans as well!

Eclipso After Crisis

Thinking about the moon makes you think about the lunar villain, Eclipso, who had a small run of his own series in the House Of Secrets in the 1960s, then menaced a few select heroes like the Justice League of America, Metal Men and Green Lantern in the 1970s and 1980s....

...but, after the Crisis On Infinite Earths, Eclipso was working his way up to bigger and better things!

Those things included appearances in the Outsiders, Phantom Stranger and Starman..

Outsiders

Eclipso returned in Outsiders #17 (March, 1987 by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo), with "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night--!", but it was the return of Batman that took the focus of the cover.  Batman had left the team about the time Looker became a member, but fate had a way of bringing them back together again.

A series of museum robberies put Batman and the Outsiders on the trail of the People of the Dark, and their high priestess, leading the Outsiders and Batman to the island of Diablo, where the Prime Minister of the land recounted the origin of Eclipso, how high priest Morphir scratched solar scientist Bruce Gordon with a black diamond during an eclipse....and Gordon was on the island at the time continuing his research along with his fiancee, Mona Bennet.  The high priestess and her cult captured Batman and the Outsiders, who met Bruce Gordon, whom the priestess was using in a ceremony during the eclipse to reform...Eclipso (who must have reformed slightly during the Crisis, but had been bodiless since his last appearance facing off against John Stewart during his early run as Green Lantern.  The Outsiders figured to wait until the eclipse passed to face Eclipso (since he was most powerful at this time), except...Eclipso made sure the eclipse wouldn't end!

Then, in Outsiders #18 (April, 1987, by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo), the team would "...Rage, Rage Against The Dying Of The Light!", trying to find a way to stop Eclipso's artificially continuing eclipse.  The team was well suited to face Eclipso, with Black Lightning and Metamorpho working in tandem, Halo's light powers, Looker's mind powers, Geo-Force's gravity and Katana's mystic blade, but Eclipso revealed that he is "no mortal man, but the personification of a concept", allowing him to survive their attacks, and still grow stronger, until the team again combined their attacks under Batman's direction to weaken him and trap in the one prison that had held him for years...the body of Bruce Gordon.

This ended the immediate menace, but began a more tortured life for Dr. Bruce Gordon again...

Phantom Stranger

Both Bruce Gordon and Eclipso were on hand next for the four issue mini-series of the Phantom Stranger from the 1980s, where Eclipso would again threaten the Earth.  The Phantom Stranger himself was only beginning to reform in Phantom Stranger #1 (October, 1987 by Paul Kupperberg, Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell), but events were happening in Gotham and Metropolis (as well as the rest of the world) that would require his attention and "The Heart Of A Stranger".  Commissioner James Gordon was finding the remains of a mob hit, while Jimmy Olsen found ties to the Russian mob in Metropolis, and the United States and Russia were approaching a state of war as natural upheavals were taking the Earth, with S.T.A.R. Labs scientist, Jenet Klyburn trying to piece together the troubles....and Bruce Gordon, knowing that there is trouble wishes someone would help him against it.

Phantom Stranger faces Lycaon and his cult, with a little help from James Gordon against a demon, then confronts Eclipso, who, working with the Lords of Chaos and claiming to have just found magic, is subtly working to destroy the world, hiding his plans from all the usual heroes....with the Phantom Stranger looking for new allies, finding a disheartened Bruce Gordon.  

With Phantom Stranger #2 (November, 1987, by Kupperberg, Mignola and Russell), it is a fight for "The Soul Of Man!", with Eclipso tormenting Bruce Gordon via their mental link, but the Phantom Stranger working on Gordon's behalf.  Jimmy Olsen continues to follow his leads on the Russian mob, while the world gets worse, and Gordon and the Phantom Stranger find they will get no help from the Lords of Order, but instead go to recruit Jenet Klyburn, with the trio going to research a disaster site.

While there, they discover the mystic connection to the supposed natural problems the Earth is having, with the doctor taking action to help Phantom Stranger and Gordon stop this particular problem, while Lycaon and his cult grow in power, as does Eclipso.

With one end of Earth ended, Eclipso focuses his mind on the next two.

Phantom Stranger deals with dreams of being helpless in "Thunder In The Night" from Kupperberg, Mignola and Russell's Phantom Stranger #3 (December, 1987).  The Phantom Stranger deals with his new found humanity, and gets comfort from Bruce Gordon, himself dealing with having unleashed Eclipso (though Phantom Stranger comforts him with the thought if it hadn't been Bruce, it could have easily just been someone else....).

Tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. get worse, with Valentina Volstok (Negative Woman of the new Doom Patrol) working for the U.S. government trying to find the cause, with Jimmy Olsen finding the Russian mobster has ties much further up than he thought, being pursued by a demon Russian mobster, with Phantom Stranger showing up to rescue him (instead of his usual pal, Superman).  Gordon, Olsen and the Phantom Stranger head to the White House, where it is found that the demon can shift bodies, and takes over the U.S. President, to begin World War III, with only the combined effort of the Phantom Stranger, Jimmy Olsen, Bruce Gordon and Ronald Reagan stop this world threat.  Meanwhile, Lycaon works out a TV deal, and Eclipso hoping his last mystic end to Earth will be the one to end all life on Earth.

Phantom Stranger #4 (January, 1988 by Kupperberg, Mignola and Russell) offers "A World Full Of Voices" for Lycaon, or more accurately, a chance for him to expand his Temple of Divine Light with a worldwide television audience.   Eclipso plans to have Lycaon unite the world's will as one, and use the power that comes from that to destroy the planet.  Valentina Vostok tries to stop Lycaon, but fails, while the still all too human Phantom Stranger tries to gain power of his own at Stonehenge, getting into conflict directly with Eclipso, who uses his own black diamond against the Stranger.  All the while, Lycaon tries to unite humanity's will. with Bruce Gordon in the audience...and, as he does tap into the power of humanity, it pulls the Stranger and Eclipso to the studio, where the Phantom Stranger is able to stop Lycaon, tapping into that power instead to restore his own mystic might, ending the threat of Eclipso for a time (though Phantom Stranger would hand around with Bruce Gordon for a bit, during a run in Action Comics Weekly....).

Starman

After resting for a while, Eclipso returned in Starman, stepping out of the "Star Shadows" for a four issue run, starting with Starman #42 (January, 1992, by Len Strazewski, John Calimee, Andrew Smith, Roy Richardson and Alan Kupperberg.  The solar powered Starman (Will Payton) is having overload problems with his powers, and goes to get help from Dr. Kitty Faulkner of S.T.A.R. Labs (who is also the solar powered heroine, Rampage).  While there, Starman meets Dr. Bruce Gordon, who is a solar scientist, with Kitty letting Will know Bruce knows her secret, and Will and Bruce swap origin stories, (with Will's being he became Starman after being struck by an energy beam from space).  Gordon suggests they take his solar jet into space so he can get readings off of Starman in order to diagnose his condition, and off the two go.

While in space, their ship runs into intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo, and, while Starman is occupied with him, the moon crosses the sun, turning Bruce into...Eclipso!

With "Blue Moon" from Starman #43 (February, 1992 by Len Strazewski and Vince Guarrano), it is revealed that the Lords of Chaos put Lobo on the hunt for Eclipso, for his failing to destroy the Earth, offering Lobo quite the bounty.

Lobo and Starman fight on the moon, while Eclipso retrieves his black diamond and costume (which he had subconsciously gotten Bruce Gordon to hide on the solar jet).  Eclipso asserts that it was his satellite which had generated the energy beam which turned Will Payton into Starman, and that Eclipso had been using his heroic creation as an energy storehouse.  Lobo and Starman's battle eventually brought them to where Eclipso had landed the solar plane, and Lobo was ready to take in Eclipso for his bounty.

Lobo and Eclipso would battle on the "Dark Side Of The Moon" in Starman #44 (March, 1992 by Len Strazewski, John Calimee and Roy Richardson).  During that battle, Starman helped, separating the two for a bit, and getting a few facts from Bruce Gordon as Lobo had weakened Eclipso, figures its us (Starman and Eclipso) against them (Lobo and the Lords of Chaos), works with Eclipso to make Lobo think Starman had incinerated him, getting Lobo to leave with "proof" of Eclipso's death to get his money.

But, Starman then learns of Eclipso's duplicity, nearly getting brain damage, as the villain takes the solar plane on the run to head back to Earth and Kitty at S.T.A.R. Labs....leaving Starman behind, realizing he will need help to defeat Eclipso.

With Starman #45 (April, 1992 by Len Strazewski, John Calimee and Roy Richardson), Kitty is indeed there at S.T.A.R. Labs for the return of the solar jet, but instead finds Eclipso in "Starlight, Star Bright".  Eclipso defeats Kitty, even when she turns into Rampage, and Eclipso plans on using her as a power battery (letting slip that Gordon had gotten Eclipso's origin a little wrong, suggesting "there is a little of me in everybody".).  Eclipso's devilish plan to get more power from the approaching Starman is foiled, as Starman recruited help from Justice League Europe's Power Girl (a friend of his since the Invasion!), exposing Eclipso to the concentrated sunlight Starman can generate...bring back Dr. Bruce Gordon.  With the menace averted, Gordon is able to get answers for Starman's power surge, that it was natural, and he just has to get use to his new more powerful self.

This ends up being the last issue of Will Payton's Starman, but Kitty, Bruce Gordon, Mona Bennet and especially Starman get to be involved in Eclipso's next plan, revealed over the course of the DC Annuals of 1992, as well as the 2 issue bookends of Eclipso: The Darkness Within (as well as Eclipso's 18 issue series), with seeds to Eclipso's true nature having been planted in these series, to enhance his history after his appearances in House of Secrets.

Superman Visits Batman And The Outsiders For Christmas

Superman came to visit Batman and the Outsiders at Christmas time, though not quite for the best of reasons in Batman and the Outsiders #19 (March, 1985) in "Who's Afraid Of The Big Red S?" by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo (with Aparo also providing an ornamental cover for the issue)....

...sadly, this wasn't a casual social call, or even singing of Christmas carols, but something a little more serious.

Halo rushed into Wayne Manor to get help from Batman (Bruce Wayne), and after a bit (where she recalled her own personal exchange with Geo-Force), explained that he had gotten a call from a fellow graduate student, one Denise Howard, who had taken too many sleeping pills.   Geo-Force rushed to her rescue, to get her to safety, and found out that Denise's professor had been trying to take advantage of her, only offering her a scholarship in return for favors.  This enraged Geo-Force, who went off to handle the matter.  Fearing for the teacher's life, Halo came to Batman for help.  Batman said he would send a friend, and that Halo should go meet him (the other Outsiders were busy; Metamorpho dealing with his girlfriend, Sapphire Stagg, and issues with her dad, and Katana and Black Lightning dealing with a mugger taking on Santas as Katana misses Halo).

The help Batman called was his friend, Superman, who went with Halo to stop Geo-Force, as he was confronting the lech, working another student in his mountain cabin.  After a brief fight, with Geo-Force using his gravity powers to nearly match Superman, Batman arrived, finding evidence of this man performing this behavior before, and taking him off to jail.  Geo-Force then checked on the then recovering Denise (in his alter ego of Prince Brion), with her recovery being the start of a Merry Christmas.

This issue was a double Christmas treat, as, while Jim Aparo had drawn much of Batman and his family, as well as the rest of the DC Universe over the years, it was a rare chance for him to draw Superman, as well as a little of his supporting cast at the Daily Planet (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, even non-regulars like Melba Manton and Percy Bratten, all enjoying the Christmas cheer!).

Flash Facts: Marine Marauder

Something a little different today....a villain who ended her career facing the Flash, and he started it facing Aquaman.

It's nothing odd, it's just that there were two villains who used the identity of the Marine Marauder, one who faced Aquaman, and the second, who faced first the Outsiders, then Flash and Aquaman!

Marine Marauder I

The Marine Marauder started (and ended) his career in Adventure Comics #449 (January-February, 1977, by Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo) in a story appropriately entitled "The Menace Of The Marine Marauder".


The Marine Marauder was a marine biologist who was a little crazy, using his technological ability to control air breathing marine life to menace Aquaman, stealing a shipment of vaccine bound for Europe in a blackmail attempt, with Aquaman and Mera being called in to stop him (failing, but tracking him down and retrieving the vaccine (but being too busy trying to find Aquababy, whom Aquaman's octopus friend, Topo, took off with, to capture the villain). 

Marine Marauder II

The original Marine Marauder didn't return, but, in Adventures Of The Outsiders #37 (September, 1986 by Mike W. Barr and Trevor Von Eeden, under a cover by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez), a new, female Marine Marauder first appeared.

Dr. Marlene Simmonds was a competitive marine biologist, who used the money she made in business and a talent for oceanography, taking that money (and some of her unnamed brother....who might have been the original Marine Marauder?), starting her career as a super-villain, with an attack on a cruise ship (which just happened to be one the Outsiders were taking a vacation as they were moving from Gotham to California) in ""Won't You Let Me Take You On A -- Sea Cruise?".  Marine Marauder captured new Outsider, the telepathic and telekinetic Looker in this issue.....

...and, with Adventures Of The Outsiders #38 (October, 1986, also by Barr and Von Eeden, with a cover by Garcia-Lopez), Marine Marauder thought to find a way to take Looker's powers, but was stopped by the rest of the team of the Outsiders, being taken away in the clutches of an octopus (which she didn't seem to be able to control), all in the first story of two in this issue (with this being "Many Brave Hearts Are Asleep In The Deep").

The second story dealt with the Outsiders arriving in Los Angeles, setting up for their appearance in the baxter paper stock version of the Outsiders #1 (November, 1985, which also introduced Looker, though her back story evolved over the last issues of Batman and the Outsiders, starting in #27, and Adventures of the Outsiders), and preparing for the reprints of that direct only book to appear in the next issue of Adventures Of The Outsiders (where the team first faced the robotic Nuclear Family!).

Marlene Simmonds next appeared in a story in Flash #66 (July, 1992)....in fact, it was a "Fish Story", by Mark Waid, Michael Collins and Roy Richardson...with a race between Flash and Aquaman?  (No, not really....it was Superman and Flash who would race, but not here!).

Wally West (who was Flash at the time), was trying to enjoy a sea cruise with his girlfriend, Linda Park, when the ship was hijacked by whales and taken to an island (where Wally saw Aquaman in the distance).  It wasn't Aquaman controlling the whales, but Marine Marauder, who is using the people on the ship to search for the Lost Crown of Enlil, a Babylonian god of the seas, who had been reported to die in this area, with Marlene looking for his crown, as it would enable her to control the seven seas.  Aquaman and Flash go underwater to retrieve it (to prevent harm to the passengers), finding it, but Aquaman puts it on, as Enlil was manipulating Aquaman at this time....and plans to kill the passengers by flooding the island with a giant wave.  Flash thinks quick, knocking the crown off of Aquaman, and saves everyone...except Marine Marauder, who disappears as the wave crashes as she goes after the crown.  Aquaman helps Flash re-board the passengers, so Wally and Linda can continue their cruise.

Other than appearing in Who's Who Update '87 #4 (November, 1987) and an alternate Earth version cameo in JLA: The Nail #2 (September, 1998) with Ocean Master...
 
... that was it for the Marine Marauder, but she should resurface somewhere!