Outsiders #27
Outsiders #27 wraps up the self-contained 'Tick Tock' two-parter, a deliberately intimate story wedged between two of the bigger narrative events of DC's mid-2000s publishing cycle — the 'Insiders' crossover and the Infinite Crisis lead-in arc 'Crisis Intervention.' Its chief narrative distinction is a stark moral moment: Katana executes the comatose villain Fuse in his hospital bed, a cold-blooded act that crystallizes the moral distance between this iteration of the Outsiders and Batman's standard code. The issue also marks the very beginning of Peter J. Tomasi's writing career at DC, with 'Tick Tock' being his first documented work on any Outsiders title before he went on to become one of the publisher's most prominent writers of the following decade.
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The issue was written by Peter J. Tomasi, who at the time was better known inside DC as an editor overseeing Justice League-related titles; 'Tick Tock' (issues #26–27) is cited across multiple sources as his first work on the Outsiders as a writer. Regular series writer Judd Winick stepped aside for this two-issue guest run before returning immediately afterward to helm 'Crisis Intervention.' The arc was produced with artist Will Conrad (inks by Sean Parsons, colors by Guy Major) and edited by Eddie Berganza and Jeanine Schaefer, with Dan DiDio receiving a cover credit. Notably, the story has never been collected in a trade paperback edition, leaving it accessible only in single-issue or digital form.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Title: 'Tick Tock, Part Two' — concluding chapter of the two-issue 'Tick Tock' arc (Outsiders Vol. 3 #26–27), published August 10, 2005 with a cover date of October 2005.
- Writer: Peter J. Tomasi (guest writer); artist: Will Conrad; inker: Sean Parsons; colorist: Guy Major; cover: Kevin Nowlan; editors: Eddie Berganza and Jeanine Schaefer.
- This is documented as Tomasi's first writing work on the Outsiders, predating his later full-time writer career at DC (Green Lantern Corps, Batman and Robin, etc.).
- Featured Outsiders in this issue: Arsenal, Black Lightning, Katana, and Metamorpho; Batman appears in a supporting capacity; Katana is the moral focal point.
- Villain Fuse — a criminal who could turn victims into living uranium bombs — dies in this issue when Katana executes him in his hospital bed; Fuse had his first appearance in the preceding issue #26.
- The 'Tick Tock' arc slots chronologically inside 'The Insiders' crossover event, between the main story and its epilogue, and leads directly into the Infinite Crisis tie-in arc 'Crisis Intervention' written by Judd Winick.
- The 'Tick Tock' storyline has never been collected in a reprinted trade paperback edition, making the two single issues the only print form.
- The large Justice League-associated characters indexed for the broader catalog (Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, Captain Marvel, etc.) do not appear in this specific issue per the DC Database character listings; their index association reflects the series catalog rather than this individual issue's cast.
Cast · 14 characters
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