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Outsiders (2023)
Outsiders, Vol. 1: Planet of the Bat
Batwoman and Luke Fox are ready to explore the forgotten corners of the multiverse—and a universe of secrets is about to come to light!
Batman protects Gotham City from evil. Batman Inc. protects the rest of the known world. But what of the unknown world? What of the ancient evils in hidden tombs and forgotten tragedies from a magic-and-mad-science fueled super-heroic century?
Using his fortune, Luke Fox launches a new organization dedicated to shining light into the world’s darkest corners. His first recruit: Kate Kane, the Batwoman—who will re-embrace her military background to protect Luke’s dream and encounter every bit of strangeness the DCU has to offer.
And just wait until you meet the Third Man…or learn what universe-shattering secret they’ve discovered buried under Antarctica.
Outsiders Vol. 1 digs into all the forgotten corners of DC’s history, the true nature of the DC Multiverse…and the forgotten stories that make up its fabric!
Batman protects Gotham City from evil. Batman Inc. protects the rest of the known world. But what of the unknown world? What of the ancient evils in hidden tombs and forgotten tragedies from a magic-and-mad-science fueled super-heroic century?
Using his fortune, Luke Fox launches a new organization dedicated to shining light into the world’s darkest corners. His first recruit: Kate Kane, the Batwoman—who will re-embrace her military background to protect Luke’s dream and encounter every bit of strangeness the DCU has to offer.
And just wait until you meet the Third Man…or learn what universe-shattering secret they’ve discovered buried under Antarctica.
Outsiders Vol. 1 digs into all the forgotten corners of DC’s history, the true nature of the DC Multiverse…and the forgotten stories that make up its fabric!
160 pages, Paperback
Published November 19, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 4, 2025
3.2 stars
May 7, 2025
I read this last year but I must have been too lazy to add it to the Goodreads database myself. Anyway, it's basically Planetary in the DC Universe proper instead of the old Wildstorm universe. Good, not great, but good enough for me to want to read the conclusion.
April 9, 2025
Interesting. I wanted to give this book 3.5 stars. I found the concept interesting. This is a team of explorers, not superheroes. I found it just tipped the scale from weird to interesting, enough for me to give it a round up.
Luke Fox, formerly Batwing, and Bat Woman decide they are tired of the superhero cycle of fighting super villains and nothing really changing. So they decide to explore the unknown corners of the DC multiverse where they can change even less? Becoming true outsiders. Guided by the enigmatic Drummer. However, what are they being guided to?
I am not completely sold on the concept, but I thought Bat Woman was great in the series, and I would like to see what she plans next. The artwork matched the story well. It definitely got me curious/interested enough to see what comes next.
Luke Fox, formerly Batwing, and Bat Woman decide they are tired of the superhero cycle of fighting super villains and nothing really changing. So they decide to explore the unknown corners of the DC multiverse where they can change even less? Becoming true outsiders. Guided by the enigmatic Drummer. However, what are they being guided to?
I am not completely sold on the concept, but I thought Bat Woman was great in the series, and I would like to see what she plans next. The artwork matched the story well. It definitely got me curious/interested enough to see what comes next.
January 9, 2026
I read this series in single issues and it was good then but confusing so I was hoping reading the trade via hoopla the story would make more sense. But nope. The story here is still a bit hummmm even read in one go. But it is still a good / great story. Its supers but not a regular super story. Good stuff.
Read
February 20, 2025Oh dear. Oh no.
So back in the carefree days of the noughties, when boom and bust had been abolished and the alcopops flowed like water, there was a comic called Planetary. It fell way off schedule, went up its own arse, and the writer turned out to be a bad lot, but for a year or so it was glorious – real sense of wonder stuff, operating just a little off to the side of superheroes proper, a witty, elegiac meta look at all the sorts of story superheroes had crowded out of the market. It helped that it was set, loosely, within Wildstorm, a relatively new comics universe, where these archaeologists of the impossible could feel like they were genuinely adding a layer, not just cluttering the place up with so-what duplicates.
And this version of Outsiders, which may or may not be meant to work alongside the last umpteen attempts at strip-mining Wildstorm, tries to redo all that within the crowded DC Universe, using a title and three-quarters of a team borrowed from the increasingly unwieldy supporting cast of Batman, who has gone beyond crowding out other types of story and is now even crowding out the other DC heroes. As a gag comic within a comic, that would have been priceless. But six issues, played somewhere close to straight? Ugh.
There are, to be fair, moments that made me smile, like the Challengers of the Unknown punching a dimensional portal shut, or the riff on the endless retellings of Batman's origin, but even ideas that should have had resonance like Jenny Crisis, spirit of the 21st century, or the secret society of monsters who no longer need to hunt prey when so much of humanity has decided to become willing victims, ends up feeling like it's imitating metaphors without fully understanding how they work, repeatedly sliding into hollow cliché. And when it's not that it's the sea monster story, exactly the sort of thing that worked so well in Planetary proper but here just becomes nothing at all because in a world where heroes have been twatting sea monsters for however many decades the current timeline allows, so what? And are we meant to take the implication of Aquaman as a genocidal brute seriously while he's still hanging out with Superman elsewhere in the line? It feels like trying to bite the hand that feeds, but only gumming it.
Oh, and by way of a final indignity: John Cassaday, whose art was so crucial to Planetary's ability to inspire awe, passed away recently. And among his last work was a variant cover for this Monkey Christ redo of some of his best work.
So back in the carefree days of the noughties, when boom and bust had been abolished and the alcopops flowed like water, there was a comic called Planetary. It fell way off schedule, went up its own arse, and the writer turned out to be a bad lot, but for a year or so it was glorious – real sense of wonder stuff, operating just a little off to the side of superheroes proper, a witty, elegiac meta look at all the sorts of story superheroes had crowded out of the market. It helped that it was set, loosely, within Wildstorm, a relatively new comics universe, where these archaeologists of the impossible could feel like they were genuinely adding a layer, not just cluttering the place up with so-what duplicates.
And this version of Outsiders, which may or may not be meant to work alongside the last umpteen attempts at strip-mining Wildstorm, tries to redo all that within the crowded DC Universe, using a title and three-quarters of a team borrowed from the increasingly unwieldy supporting cast of Batman, who has gone beyond crowding out other types of story and is now even crowding out the other DC heroes. As a gag comic within a comic, that would have been priceless. But six issues, played somewhere close to straight? Ugh.
There are, to be fair, moments that made me smile, like the Challengers of the Unknown punching a dimensional portal shut, or the riff on the endless retellings of Batman's origin, but even ideas that should have had resonance like Jenny Crisis, spirit of the 21st century, or the secret society of monsters who no longer need to hunt prey when so much of humanity has decided to become willing victims, ends up feeling like it's imitating metaphors without fully understanding how they work, repeatedly sliding into hollow cliché. And when it's not that it's the sea monster story, exactly the sort of thing that worked so well in Planetary proper but here just becomes nothing at all because in a world where heroes have been twatting sea monsters for however many decades the current timeline allows, so what? And are we meant to take the implication of Aquaman as a genocidal brute seriously while he's still hanging out with Superman elsewhere in the line? It feels like trying to bite the hand that feeds, but only gumming it.
Oh, and by way of a final indignity: John Cassaday, whose art was so crucial to Planetary's ability to inspire awe, passed away recently. And among his last work was a variant cover for this Monkey Christ redo of some of his best work.
January 25, 2025
There are some good ideas to be had in this modern Outsiders team but sadly these issues never quite get there. Having Kate and Luke team up could’ve been interesting (they’re both Bat folk but also exist outside of the core Bat family) and the introduction of quirkier characters should’ve added some depth but the whole story just feels like it wants to lead to the, somewhat lacklustre, reveal on the final panel. There are some moments to enjoy here; notably Luke and Kate seeing the different universe variants of themselves, but the ‘fun’ is few and far between.
All of this said the art throughout is great. Another book wherein Batwoman is done justice via the art!
2/5
All of this said the art throughout is great. Another book wherein Batwoman is done justice via the art!
2/5
February 22, 2025
Yet another outrageously boring book featuring Luke Fox. This guy cannot catch a break - no writer seems to have any idea what to do with him. Kate is an obtuse tool for most of this. The Drummer was okay (if only cuz her face is Actually Angelia Jolie), but the reveal's pretty meaningless if you've never read the source, which I haven't yet.
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October 24, 2025Hell yeah.
December 30, 2024
3.25
Good weird. A bit like Doom Patrol. But the very end, like the final page, was a bit of a let down for me.
Good weird. A bit like Doom Patrol. But the very end, like the final page, was a bit of a let down for me.
January 24, 2025
I’m having a hard time processing this book. It’s so smartly written, and such a love letter to PLANETARY. It’s a worthy successor and a smart use of the characters.
But …
PLANETARY is maybe my favorite work of fiction. In any media, and that shadow looms large.
But …
PLANETARY is maybe my favorite work of fiction. In any media, and that shadow looms large.
July 12, 2024
The darkest pieces of the DCU have been left untouched for too long...
Luke Fox has spent time in the Bat-family (along with his father, Lucius). They've done what they could to right the wrongs, save people, and do good. There's always been something missing. Maybe there's another way around things. If you can get past the tights and capes, the universe has a lot tucked away. Parts of the it get overlooked and forgotten with every 'Crisis'.
What if those pieces were found again? Find the legends. Identify the lore. A team could do it...outside of the norm. (Have to have that Batman connection, I guess?)
(Does this sound familiar? It should. Dust off your comics and go read some classic Wildstorm Authority and Planetary)
----
What we have her is Planetary 2.0 (Heck, there's even a "Drummer") enmeshed heavily with some Multiversity and some Wildstorm elements. I can't (but ohhhhhhhhhh do I want to) spoil everything, but a lot of the Wildstorm universe pops up in this book.
Are we going to see a Wildstorm resurgence? Maybe. They might pull a 'Doomsday Clock' and explain away how several characters have been given 'history' in the DCU with no mention of the Wildstorm universe getting erased. Compare/contrast the 'New 52', 'Wildstorm', and 'Dakotaverse' universe resets...
Hmmm.
======
Bonus: The series feels like the best of a Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison idea
Bonus Bonus: What happened to Jenny Quantum? Welcome, Jenny Crisis?
Luke Fox has spent time in the Bat-family (along with his father, Lucius). They've done what they could to right the wrongs, save people, and do good. There's always been something missing. Maybe there's another way around things. If you can get past the tights and capes, the universe has a lot tucked away. Parts of the it get overlooked and forgotten with every 'Crisis'.
What if those pieces were found again? Find the legends. Identify the lore. A team could do it...outside of the norm. (Have to have that Batman connection, I guess?)
(Does this sound familiar? It should. Dust off your comics and go read some classic Wildstorm Authority and Planetary)
----
What we have her is Planetary 2.0 (Heck, there's even a "Drummer") enmeshed heavily with some Multiversity and some Wildstorm elements. I can't (but ohhhhhhhhhh do I want to) spoil everything, but a lot of the Wildstorm universe pops up in this book.
Are we going to see a Wildstorm resurgence? Maybe. They might pull a 'Doomsday Clock' and explain away how several characters have been given 'history' in the DCU with no mention of the Wildstorm universe getting erased. Compare/contrast the 'New 52', 'Wildstorm', and 'Dakotaverse' universe resets...
Hmmm.
======
Bonus: The series feels like the best of a Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison idea
Bonus Bonus: What happened to Jenny Quantum? Welcome, Jenny Crisis?
November 16, 2024
[Review covers the entire 10 issue series]
The latest iteration of the Outsiders unites Batwing, Batwoman, and a mysterious Drummer who may or may not be a character we've met before for some mindbending adventures into dimensions and locales just outside of the usual DC fare.
Hivemind Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly set up some interesting meta commentary on the nature of stories and your role in them, while also telling some neat little one-and-done stories that all seem disconnected until the final few issues link everything together in a 'oh I should have seen that!' kind of way. There's some links to Planetary, The Authority, and some other more 'obscure' DC properties at times, but the book never forgets that it's a story about stories, and it all comes back to that.
Robert Carey's artwork is a big draw. I don't think I've ever seen his interiors before, but he bends his style to whatever Lanzing & Kelly throw at him, with equal parts big, sweeping pages and smaller, more intimate character fare across the eleven issues.
A little weird, a lot head-scratching, and excellent from start to finish.
The latest iteration of the Outsiders unites Batwing, Batwoman, and a mysterious Drummer who may or may not be a character we've met before for some mindbending adventures into dimensions and locales just outside of the usual DC fare.
Hivemind Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly set up some interesting meta commentary on the nature of stories and your role in them, while also telling some neat little one-and-done stories that all seem disconnected until the final few issues link everything together in a 'oh I should have seen that!' kind of way. There's some links to Planetary, The Authority, and some other more 'obscure' DC properties at times, but the book never forgets that it's a story about stories, and it all comes back to that.
Robert Carey's artwork is a big draw. I don't think I've ever seen his interiors before, but he bends his style to whatever Lanzing & Kelly throw at him, with equal parts big, sweeping pages and smaller, more intimate character fare across the eleven issues.
A little weird, a lot head-scratching, and excellent from start to finish.
April 12, 2024
This is easily my favorite thing that Lanzing and Kelly have done. It's not really an Outsiders comic though. It's really Planetary set in the DC universe. This time the group consists of Batwing, Batwoman, Lucius Fox, and the Drummer except the Drummer is now female. They are still doing their "Archeologists of the Impossible" thing. Robert Carey's art is really good. That 6th issue is exceptional. Love that they go to "The Place Between the Pages" where everyone has just lived through a Crisis event or cancellation. Really looking forward to the back half of this series as it looks like we'll get some explanation how this all fits together with the Wildstorm characters.
April 18, 2025
I am torn, but will have to explain below:
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
At first I thought, well this is just a Planetary rip off, not only because a Drummer exists but because the first two tales include century babies and a monster graveyard. Throughout the 6 issues, there would be fun instances, but overall it wasn't extremely exciting, probably because again Planetary did it in an incredible way.
Then the final issue (page, really) reveals that Drummer was really Jakita Wagner from the original Planetary, which is kinda cool, but doesn't really have an impact of the rest of the story since the story is now over.
So, my diagnosis of this book is fun parts! Otherwise tries to live up to something it doesn't need to.
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
At first I thought, well this is just a Planetary rip off, not only because a Drummer exists but because the first two tales include century babies and a monster graveyard. Throughout the 6 issues, there would be fun instances, but overall it wasn't extremely exciting, probably because again Planetary did it in an incredible way.
Then the final issue (page, really) reveals that Drummer was really Jakita Wagner from the original Planetary, which is kinda cool, but doesn't really have an impact of the rest of the story since the story is now over.
So, my diagnosis of this book is fun parts! Otherwise tries to live up to something it doesn't need to.
April 11, 2026
Not sure what to think about this title. It's very odd and I doubt it will have any major impact on the DCU. There is a second Volume, so perhaps this will make sense after reading that.
Basically, Lucius and Luke Fox found a giant machine in the Earth and created a team to study odd findings and phenomena. Joining the team are Batwoman and a mysterious lady known only as Drummer, whose origins are about to be revealed at the beginning of the next issue. They deal with deep sea creatures, multiversal Batmen, the "Jenny" of the 21st Century, and monsters who have sided with Nocturne and her newborn child "The End".... all very weird things.
This one is just odd enough that I would wait and maybe read both Volumes at the same time.
Basically, Lucius and Luke Fox found a giant machine in the Earth and created a team to study odd findings and phenomena. Joining the team are Batwoman and a mysterious lady known only as Drummer, whose origins are about to be revealed at the beginning of the next issue. They deal with deep sea creatures, multiversal Batmen, the "Jenny" of the 21st Century, and monsters who have sided with Nocturne and her newborn child "The End".... all very weird things.
This one is just odd enough that I would wait and maybe read both Volumes at the same time.
August 6, 2024
Issues 1 and 6 I really enjoyed. I liked parts of the other issues however characters would make a revwlatjon that I missed, I went back and re -read the issue, making it none the clearer.
I wanted to love it as I love Planetary and Kate Kane, unfortunately I didn't.
Art particularly for Batwoman was really good.
Issue 7 was really great too. If there's a deluxe edition I'd buy that but not standards.
A digital read.
I wanted to love it as I love Planetary and Kate Kane, unfortunately I didn't.
Art particularly for Batwoman was really good.
Issue 7 was really great too. If there's a deluxe edition I'd buy that but not standards.
A digital read.
July 17, 2024
This is a bad Planetary reboot. This whole thing felt so lifeless and honestly boring. All it seems to do is try to be cool, but it doesn’t work. I don’t even know what is happening at all in this. Maybe it’ll get more interesting in issue 7 onwards, but so far I’m feeling absolutely nothing reading this and just feel like I read this to read it.
April 27, 2026
Decent book, but not great by any means and only just merits 3 stars for me.
Most of the issues are fairly well-written, and the art is good enough, but overall it’s a pretty forgettable book.
I didn’t find any of the characters particularly interesting, and I was really losing interest toward the end. The fifth issue was especially bad.
Wouldn’t really recommend.
Most of the issues are fairly well-written, and the art is good enough, but overall it’s a pretty forgettable book.
I didn’t find any of the characters particularly interesting, and I was really losing interest toward the end. The fifth issue was especially bad.
Wouldn’t really recommend.
August 26, 2024
3.5 Stars.
January 6, 2025
This ranges from pretentious with no substance to unfathomably stupid.
April 7, 2025
This book aims somewhere between Planetary and Morrison’s Animal Man. It doesn’t reach that level of perfection, but it hit what it was aiming for.
May 14, 2025
Couldn't eliminate my curiosity entriely since I loved Planetary. 2 stars because someone did art for this book. Negative 6000 stars for doing this story in the first place. Truly awful idea.
July 8, 2025
When you bring back Planetary, please just bring back Planetary. Or better yet just leave it alone.
February 5, 2025
Batwoman, Batwing, and a woman named Drummer are recruited to investigate some of the weirder corners of the DC multiverse. In a lot of ways this reminded me of some of the more recent Doom Patrol books, and it is clearly intended as a sort of sequel to Planetary. I've never read Planetary, so I don't know if this hits the same notes. In addition to this, the big problem I have with this book is that writers Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing try so hard to conceal the underlying mysteries that everything gets muddled. There's weird for weird's sake and then there's weird with a purpose, and the purpose here is well disguised. The excellent artwork by Robert Carey is the best thing about this book.
February 11, 2025
Very meh. There are interesting ways you could add Planetary to the DCU, but this was not it.
January 30, 2025
I picked this one up after hearing it served as a sequel to or spiritual continuation of Planetary, one of my favorite series ever. I was nervous, and the nerves were a little borne out.
This is a really weird story, with abstract parts to the narrative that I'm still wrapping my head around. I also haven't keet current with DC comics in more than a decade, which left me in the dark about lots of characters and the state of the multiverse.
I didn't dislike Outsiders, but it's pretty radically different than what I expected. I wish it stood more on its own.
This is a really weird story, with abstract parts to the narrative that I'm still wrapping my head around. I also haven't keet current with DC comics in more than a decade, which left me in the dark about lots of characters and the state of the multiverse.
I didn't dislike Outsiders, but it's pretty radically different than what I expected. I wish it stood more on its own.
December 20, 2024
Everyone wishes they had written PLANETARY. This ain't that. It's an interesting area of the DCU but when you say you're not going to be all BATS then you're all bats, it just feels like Kelly couldn't give up the purse strings... I'll finish it if the other issues get put in a trade.
December 21, 2024
i really enjoyed the first two issues, but then with the third issue it went downhill for me. Not as good as Planetary and more weird than previous outsiders. not sure i will bother with the next volume
January 3, 2026
On the one hand it's awesome they made a sequel to Planetary. On the other hand they seem to be exclusively investigating DC legends as opposed to Planetary which had stuff from Marvel and pulp comics.
November 29, 2024
I kinda love this book. It blew my mind in a good way.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews