Outsiders 9 cover by Tom Raney & Sean Parsons

A very cool action oriented cover from the 2003 Outsiders serie launched by Judd Winick that featured incredible art by Tom Raney, doing the best work of his career (with his short sting on Mutant X) up to that date, and Chriss Cross.

I never understood what Winick was so hated and bashed by comic fans as I always found he was a very solid writer, very characters oriented. He has now successfully migrated towards kid’s literature.

Here we have a great shot of Black Lightning zapping the hell of (easy pun intended) the villain of that story arc, Sabbac whose character design I always loved for its spot on simplicity. The curved horns work really well.

The Nightwing figure is a nice bonus as he is tense, ready for action but you feel like he is a bit outmatched between the two powerhouses.

Despite the fact that the lightning effect was added in post prod, you really get a sense of what is happening by Sabbac turning away from Black Lightning’s zapping hand and by his body being lighted by it.

I find refreshing that all of them offer poses that are different from what we are used in terms of fight, the usual iconic passive aggressive stances. Here you really get a sense of a melee, that it is but a shot of a rapidly evolving scene.

My only caveat is that I believe the cover could have worked better if the villain was bigger. Then again, he was not designed as gigantic either in the story, so the proportions make sense here.

For his full reveal within the story, see this very gallery for another Sabbac shot.

This was my first Raney cover and it felt great as I’ve loved his art since his humble beginnings in Marvel Age (yes, you read that right ;).