Ghosts in Batman & the Outsiders v2 #05 (May '08)

[perletwo]

Filling a request from busterella.

This guy has the most perfect drop evar on The Batman.



When suddenly dun dun dun



I'm not sure I can adequately explain the plot, but here's the essentials: Bats has sent a strike team made up of Green Arrow, Batgirl, Katana, Geo-Force and Metamorpho overseas to stop the launch of a rocket filled with unknown but probably genocidal payload. As will usually happen in BatO, the mission turns into a hairball. But...



At least one rocket launches as Metamorpho tries to stop it. Ollie thinks Rex has been killed (though I'm not sure that's even possible.)



And then - nothing. You'd think this revelation would be earthshaking, but the Dibnys don't show up again until the War in Hell mini.

As best I can tell this is not already on here. I think it was probably posted new before the Great Disaster on LJ; either that or it was left untagged to avoid spoilers. I'm going to tag it appropriately, though.

Comments

[darkblade]

Do we have to refer to the shutting down of the LJ comm as the Great Disaster? I'd prefer to save that term as an insulting short hand for Countdown.

[darkblade]

Also I want to know why these Ghosts didn't go through the same problems as Deadman with their Black Lantern corpses.

[foxhack]

We don't refer to Countdown as "The Great Disaster" because there's no such thing as Countdown.

[blakeyrat]

Maybe the commandos in the second scan would do better if they wore pants.

Or maybe that's just an unfortunate color choice...

[rhythmbandit]

I love the Dibnys. And I approve of villains in white suits. But how is that sword staying on Katana's back?

[tsunamiwombat]

Whoever those two crazies with guns are, I love them.

[kd_the_movie]

The situation with the Dibneys is kind of bullshit. Sue's death rocks the entire DCU with Identity Crisis, yet Ralph's was abit under the radar and hardly mentioned PLUS their new status as Ghosts hasn't even been acknowledged by the mainstream DCU yet.


It's a classic case of valueing the event (identity crisis) over the characters.

[theanswer]

Ralph should have a legacy teen taking up his name in Teen Titans. Get rid of that Bombshell gal and bring on an Elongated Kid or something. Or bring back Offspring. <_< I love guys who can straych.

[sir_mikael]

I'm thinkin the crazies are the Dibny's temporarily taking over mercenary bodies. The mercenaries may or may not be crazy in "real life" bu since I have no clue who they are I can't say.

[tacobob]

Looks like Cyclops (From The X-Men) had another garage sale and made some $$ off his old glasses. They seem to show up in all sorts of comics.

[dalf]

"Countdown"? Is that some kind of powerdrink?

[perletwo]

The villain complex was in fact crawling with mercenary types, including one "where does the machine begin and the man end" cyborg, the strike team had to get through to reach White Suited Badguy. But unless "Gunhawk" is an actual name, no, we've no clue who they are.

[foxhack]

Someone's already taking up their name, sorta: Tracy Thirteen, who was retconned into being adopted by the Dibnys, even though nobody ever saw her in their previous adventures.

[theanswer]

Well that's not the same thing really. o_o

[foxhack]

... And yet that's going to be the best we'll ever see.

[theanswer]

I doubt that. D:

We'll get a new Elongated Person sooner or later.

[perletwo]

I think I'm the only one that uses the term really, and I only started because of the two things happening more or less concurrently.

Besides, that Other Thing did give us this:

[comicoz]

Yay, the ghost detectives!

[jaybee3]

My eyes! My eyes! It burns!

And as funny as this moment was, it is both sad (from Mary Marvel's characterization POV) and hideously drawn (like most of Countdown).

[jaybee3]

Really.

Considering Deadman had a significant part in the BN: Batman mini and considering the role of the Black Lantern Dibnys in the main series, one would have thought Johns would have at least registered the point that the Dibnys souls are still out there while this is all going on. But he hasn't.

[jcbaggee]

I think there's a strap, but the artist couldn't be bothered drawing it properly all the way to the sword.

[cf105]

My fanon is that post final crisis Scott and Barda grabbed them for some couples scrabble to break in the new fifth world

[thokstar]

No, there is a Countdown (obligatory shiver). It just that whenever anybody mentions Countdown (obligatory shiver) they're forced to shiver in response.

[lieut_kettch]

I wonder if, just for variety's sake, Ralph sometimes jumps into the gal's body and Sue jumps into the guy's.

[sianmink]

But Kyle was finally being useful! (as a bludgeoning device)

[busterella]

Thanks for filling my request! :)

Oh man. It's Sue. And Ralph. And they're together. And they're snarky. And Flirty. And not angsting. And shenanigans. It's beautiful.

DC please STOP FUCKING WITH THEM and give me more of this instead plzthnx.

[espanolbot]

Wait, Ollie hit on Sue?

Well, isn't the first time he's attempted to get into a married woman's pants, I guess.

[gamerguy]

I would so buy 'Ralph and Sue: Ghost Detectives'.

[nezchan]

MORE CRAPPY COMICS THAN YOUR LONGBOX HAS ROOM FOR!

[nezchan]

Okay, a Ralph & Sue/Scott & Barda team-up mini would be the most awesome thing ever with a side of pie.

[nezchan]

I have no money (poor college student) and I'd set aside money for that. Just for the sheer OMGAWESOME of it all.

[ashez2ashes]

Could Sue and Ralph possess their Black Lantern bodies? That'd be amusingly ironic.

[busterella]

Deadman couldn't possess his, so probably not, sadly.

[cmdr_zoom]

This. There is no part of this that is not awesome. MORE OF THIS.

[psychopathicus_rex]

So we have no idea who 'Gunhawk' and his partner really are, right? This is a shame. 'Cause they're still awesome, even if they were possessed at the time. The Dibnys have infected their souls with cool!

[koschei]

Except that they have his & hers visors.

[chrysicat]

I know it's been days, but...
believe it or not, Gunhawk was a pre-existing character created in 1994 ('Tec #674). Judging by the matching visor, the woman is the second Gunbunny (the first changed her name and gimmick and became Pistolera before being killed off in Secret Six ongoing, issue #2)...unless it's just that all the mercs have that type of visor, of course...

...and while I'll admit I've actually seen Gunhawk before, at least even I had to use Wiki to figure out his first appearance and his identity (Liam Hawkleigh)?

[psychopathicus_rex]

Gunhawk and Gunbunny?
...
...
Awesome.