Save Nightwing, Cancel Judd Winick’s Outsiders

As regular FanBoyWonder readers know, we stopped reading Judd Winick’s Outsiders title shortly after One Year Later one year ago.

Once we stated our reasons, we were content to leave it that and then do our best to ignore Nightwing’s “adventures” in the Outsiders, even as they had little, if anything to do with the character we read in the book titled “Nightwing.”

But as Marv Wolfman and Jamal Igle are currently work hard to rehabilitate Nightwing—both the book and the character—with a considerable boost in April following the release of the widely acclaimed Nightwing Annual #2 by Mark Andreyko Joe Bennett & Jack Jadson— we can’t help but conclude that Judd Winick’s continued (mis)use of Nightwing in Outsiders will only serve to impede the Nightwing rehab project.

BTW…don’t just take our word that Nightwing is coming back, read this great piece in Newsarama http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=111050.

It struck us when reading Ryan of Film Fodder Comics, a regular reviewer of DC Books
http://www.filmfodder.com/comics and his review of Outsiders Annual #1, that we’re not the only ones dissatisfied with Outsiders.

Below is a copy of comments FBW posted to Ryan’s review section. Opposing (or concurring) viewpoints are welcome.

Thanks,
FBW



Hi Ryan,

Great reviews! I am in full agreement with you regarding your take on JSA Classified #25.

However, your review of Outsiders Annual #1 has moved me to take a moment to urge you (and everyone else reading this) to follow through on your inclination to drop Judd Winick’s Outsiders from your pull list. Please, just stop reading it.

I’m on record on my blog (http://fanboywonder.blogspot.com) as someone who is not exactly Judd Winick’s biggest fan (although in fairness, I’ve found his Trials of Shazam limited series to be satisfactory so far and am reserving judgment until the end of its 12 issue run), so you and others can keep that in mind as I attempt to make my case as to why the Outsiders must be canceled.

Like you I’m sure, once I pick up a book, I become exceedingly reluctant to drop it. So I hung there for 34 issues until after One Year Later…and to be honest those last dozen issues were only because Jade and Capt. Marvel Jr. were on the team.

As a long time comics reader, my beef with Winick’s Outsiders and most everything else Judd gets his hands on goes far beyond the fact that he displays little sense of comic book history and even less respect for the work of those creators who came before him.

Outsiders represents all of the worst aspects of Winick’s M.O.—his sanctimonious preaching on social issues masquerading as plot and character development, his penchant to superimpose the SAME personality traits on EVERY character and his John Byrne-like inclination to unilaterally hijack shared characters, leaving it to other writers deal with the fallout (think Nightwing).

In fact, if it weren’t for Nightwing on that book, I’d be content to never give Outsiders another thought (like say… Justice League Elite).

Which is why Ryan you should save your money. Save Nightwing, cancel the Outsiders.

Cordially,
FanBoyWonder