As reported last week, DC Comics is bringing back the Outsiders with a new volume of Batman and the Outsiders with Bryan Lee Edwards writing and Dex Soy on art duties. So we figure, now’s a good time to give you a recap of who this team was and who are some of fan-favorite characters that joined their ranks and what have they been doing so far.

The upcoming volume is the third volume under the title, the very first Batman and the Outsiders was released back in 1983 and was created by Mike W. Barr with artists Jim Aparro and Alan Davis.

This was a team of heroes that Batman organized to do things that may need approval or things that the Justice League just can’t do because of their status. The original team consisted of:

• Batman
• Geo-Force
• Metamorpho
• Black Lightning
• Katana
• Halo

These were the characters that went on their different adventures together until Batman left the team in Batman and the Outsiders # 31. After that, the book was given the title “Adventures of the Outsiders” with the team still intact.

*yes Batman was an asshole for leaving them behind. If you need a modern take, go check on Justice League of America where he also eventually ditched the team*

Adventures of the Outsiders ran for a few more issues and ended with issue # 46 which was publshed June 1987.

Outsiders Volume 1

Outsiders Volume 1 was released November 1985 and featured the same roster namely Geo-Force, Katana,Metamorpho, Black Lightning, Halo and Looker. the book was still written by Mike W. Barr with Jim Aparro. No team changes were done throughout this volume and this also cemented the roster for future members of the team. It wont be the same without any of these characters as part of the team.

Outsiders Volume 2

The next volume for Outsiders was published in 1993 with the volume 1 team intact with some new additions like Wyld, Faust and Technocrat. The character Dervish also joined in issue # 3 while the female Dr. Light joined later in September 2001.

The Outsiders volume 3

The third volume had a radically different team with traces of the original members. Batman is replaced by Nightwing as the brains of the operation while Black Lightning’s daughter Thunder joins the team as well. A part of Metamorpho’s being called Shift also joins the team.

Here’s the lineup during this era:

• Nightwing
• Arsenal
• Grace
• Indigo
• Thunder
• Shift
• Jade

Indigo joins the team as a way to make amends for her actions which caused the deaths of Omen and Donna Troy during the crossover Graduation Day with Young Justice.

Other members who joined the Outsiders include Huntress, Starfire, Metamorpho and Captain Boomerang.

Another addition to this iteration of the comic book outsiders is Captain Marvel Jr. Aka Freddie Freeman.

When both Arsenal and Nightwing quit the team, Batman took over once more and held out try outs in a special event called “Five of a kind”.

The pairings that Batman used to select his new Outsiders were as follows:

• Grace and Wonder Woman
• Nightwing and Captain Boomerang
• Katana and Captain Marvel Jr.
• Thunder and Martian Manhunter
• Metamorpho and Aquaman

The book continued until 2011 and went through several tie-ups to Batman storylines like Batman RIP and the fallout of Batman’s “death” in Final crisis. Team-wise they had seen members like Owlman (Roy Raymond Jr) and Creeper.

Towards the end of the run, Black Lightning and Geo-Force were running two different Outsiders teams. One in the US and another in Markovia.

The team has also seen appearances outside the comics. There was an episode of Brave and the Bold with Batman and Wildcat teaming up with younger versions of Black Lightning, Metamorpho and Katana.

The third season of Young Justice is called Young Justice Outsiders and will feature characters like Geo-Force, Katana and Forager to name a few.