DC Comics; August 1983
Cover by Jim Aparo

Title: “Wars Ended … Wars Begun!”
Synopsis: Fed up with Justice League regulations, Batman quits the team and heads to Markovia to rescue Lucius Fox.

Writer: Mike W. Barr
Penciler: Jim Aparo
Inker: Aparo

Review: As the Bronze Age came to a close, team-up books were out and superteam books were in. Nowhere was that fact more apparent than at DC, where Batman and the Outsiders directly replaced stalwart team-up title The Brave & the Bold in the company’s monthly lineup. Co-creators Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo field a great mix of characters for The Outsiders, putting together a team that felt both familiar and new. But there was a lot of material to introduce here, and this first half of a two-part origin story feels a little rushed, even by Bronze Age standards.

Grade: B

Cool factor: Though not as strong as he once was, Jim Aparo continues to be a masterful artist.
Not-so-cool factor: Baron Bedlam. The first in a menagerie of lame villains that plagued this series.

Notable: This issue includes a “A First Issue Pseudo-Editorial” by Mike W. Barr.

Character quotable: “If I wanted to hurt you, we wouldn’t be talking!” — The Batman, bad ass.

Copyright ©2016 Off the Wahl Productions, all rights reserved. Each week, T. Andrew Wahl takes a look at a Bronze Age Fantastic First. For more reviews like this one, check out Wahl’s website, SequentialReaction.com.

This article originally appeared in January 2014.