OUTLAWS
Membership: Prowler (Hobie Brown), Rocket Racer (Robert Farrell), Sandman (William Baker), Silver Sable (Silver Sablinova), Will O' The Wisp (Jackson Arvad);
formerly Paladin
Purpose: To save innocent people; formerly to save Spider-Man's reputation
Affiliations: Avengers, Calculus, Excalibur, M. Eduard LeBon, Michelle Tiers LeBon, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Wild Pack
Enemies: Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Quasar/Wendell Vaughn, Sersi, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Thor), Boussard and his extremists, the deadly swarm imprisoned by the Arcane Order of the Night, Excalibur (Captain Britain/Brian Braddock, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phoenix/Rachel Summers, Meggan Puceanu, Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde), the Space Phantom, Professor Walshe and his clones (Shepherd and others), Winston Walker
Base of Operations: Mobile across the globe; formerly the State of New York, USA
First Appearance: (Unnamed) Web of Spider-Man I#50 (May, 1989); (named in title) Spectacular Spider-Man II#169 (October, 1990); (officially adopted the name) Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7 (August, 1991)
History:
(Web of Spider-Man I#50) - Spider-Man was accused of thievery at Winston Walker's
mansion through some clear photos taken by Nick Katzenberg,
printed in the Daily Bugle.
Many people who knew Spider-Man could not believe the news and were sure that he was innocent; people like Hobie Brown and
Robert Farrell. Others believed that Spider-Man had deceived them or
that he had changed his way of life, people like Thomas Fireheart and
Will O'The Wisp.
Fireheart flew to New York and in his Puma identity ambushed Spider-Man, accusing him to have dishonored and
humiliated him. Spider-Man did not have the time to explain his mission and fled, losing a beeper in the process.
Prowler and Rocket Racer instead had gone to the
crime scene to find evidence that there was a set-up against the
superhero. When Racer spotted Prowler he believed to have found the
real criminal and a fight ensued. They stopped after a while, uncovering
a member of the Wild Pack on the roof. The mercenary had the task to warn
Spider-Man and Silver Sable of Walker's departure, communication that he
had already given. The two heroes went searching for Silver Sable.
Furthermore Will O'The Wisp felt himself betrayed by
Spider-Man and tried to capture him. They fought outside New York,
where Spider-Man seized a cylinder from Walker. Will O'The Wisp was shot
by Davis, one of Walker's men; annoyed he hypnotized Davis to render
him inert. But when he tried to grab Spider-Man, he had to approach some
high voltage cables, whose electromagnetic field interrupted with his powers.
Spider-Man could flee and Will O'The Wisp followed him when he recovered.
They all met in an abandoned warehouse on Ellis
Island where Spider-Man gave the cylinder to Silver Sable. A massive
battle ensued during which Sandman defended Silver Sable and attacked Rocket Racer
and Prowler, while Silver Sable had to fight Puma outside, then Will
O'The Wisp arrived.
Spider-Man had to give the cylinder to Puma to
explain the situation. The cylinder contained documents proving that
Walker was guilty of various crimes. The theft served to force him to
reveal the true hideout of the documents and it had worked.
Before leaving Silver Sable offered a job to the
superheroes because she liked how they fought together.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#168) - Kingpin came in possession of an old building which had a secret crypt in its basement. 100 years ago an explorer named Ambrose Carpathian had brought a chest from South America and had hid it in the crypt. Calculus of the Young Gods calculated that the danger contained in the chest was on the verge of coming to light, destroying the world. Calculus set into motion a plan to counteract the danger.
Calculus had the Space Phantom impersonate She-Hulk and lure Spider-Man to free the threat in the chest. A deep black cloud sprung out, a cloud that flew over the city, giving chills to anyone who noticed it. Even Puma shivered seeing the cloud outside the window.
The Avengers did not believe Spider-Man when he explained that he had been attacked by She-Hulk; Spidey knew that something was wrong and was sure that She-Hulk lied.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#169) - So he sought the help of others,
who would believe him: Sandman, Prowler, Rocket Racer and Puma.
The Avengers watched from far, surprised that a hero
like Spider-Man could be related to these "Outlaws".
While the black cloud grew, eating the flesh of some
apes at the zoo, Puma and Prowler sneaked into Wilson Fisk's office.
There they found information about the building of the crypt.
At the NY Department of Building and Safety Sandman
and Rocket Racer found the microfilm of the basement; in that instant
Sandman attacked Rocket Racer, but the boy managed to escape from the
attack. Actually the Space Phantom had disobeyed Calculus' orders
and had impersonated Sandman during the meeting with Spider-Man. Afterward the
Space Phantom restored Sandman to his previous place in the building.
One hour later it was Rocket Racer who attacked
Sandman, who obviously did not remember anything. Spider-Man, Prowler and
the others realized that something was wrong and that probably also
She-Hulk had not lied about not attacking Spider-Man.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#170) - The Avengers reached the building where Spider-Man and his friends were, and in that moment the Space Phantom replaced Spider-Man. He attacked Captain America, forcing the two groups to fight each other. However, Puma found the Phantom after he revereted to his true form and knocked him down, handing him over to the Avengers.
Questioned, the Space Phantom revealed
that he did not know the real identity of his master. He only knew that
everybody were pawns in his master's plan.
Gathering the information, the heroes learned about
Carpathian, the Arcane
Order of the Night, and about a rite that
failed to control the threat inside the chest.
They left to capture the cloud, that
had become larger, after the victims it had eaten. Thor's hammer and
Quasar's rays did not have any effect on the cloud as it seemed invulnerable.
But Spider-Man speculated that it was not a single entity, but a sort of
swarm. The heroes changed tactic and attacked to drove the black entity
into Sandman's suffocating embrace, and when Spider-Man tore a hole in
the sandy trap, the swarm spurted out right into the chest held by
She-Hulk. The chest was held shut by Quasar's light and Spider-Man's
web; Thor threw Mjolnir with the chest attached to it into outer space.
Mjolnir returned to the God of Thunder, but the chest was lost in outer
space. The human race was safe.
Before going away, Prowler, Rocket Racer and Sandman agreed with Spider-Man that
the experience had been positive.
With the Avengers gone Spider-Man tried to
speak to the "master", his Spider-Sense had perceived him. Calculus
became visible and told him that if the chest had been found by
Kingpin, the result would have been lethal for the human race.
Nonetheless, his status as a Young God, prevented him to directly interfere with the situation.
(Excalibur I#36 (fb) - BTS) - When a Sykmkarian
bio-nuclear simulator was stolen, Silver Sable took the Outlaws to
England to retrieve it from Darkmoor Research Center. Prowler spent
three weeks under cover to study the layout of the Center. That done,
the plan was to rendezvous in the buildings most obscure sector.
(Excalibur I#36) - Silver Sable and Sandman were outside Darkmoor
Research Center in amongst a crowd demonstrating against nuclear power
when Excalibur arrived on the scene. Captain Britain ordered the crowd
to disperse. Sandman asked Silver Sable what to do, but she told him to
stick to the plan as she'd been expecting Excalibur.
(Excalibur I#36 (fb) - BTS) - Silver Sable, Sandman, Paladin and Rocket
Racer regrouped and prepared for the rendezvous.
(Excalibur I#36) - Meanwhile, Prowler was inside waiting for the
rendezvous when he saw Excalibur arrive, guided by Professor Walshe. The
other Outlwas burst through a wall in a massive explosion. Silver Sable
ordered Excalibur to stand away from Walshe, announcing their intent to
recover the stolen technology. Captain Britain refused, prompting
Sandman to sand blast Captain Britain and Phoenix. Nightcrawler tackled
Prowler to the ground, thinking him an unpowered bystander in his lab
coat, and was promptly sent flying away by a burst of compressed air.
Prowler, having removed his disguise, considered making it a priority to
get a real job. Sandman tried to contain Captain Britain in one of his
sand constructs. Silver Sable attempted to restrain Meggan, only to be
telekinetically levitated by Phoenix. Paladin came to Silver Sable's
rescue, but Phoenix was only dazed by his gun. Silver Sable suggested he
kept her distracted, and Paladin impulsively kissed Phoenix. Meanwhile,
Nightcrawler managed to out manoeuvre Rocket Racer sending him flying
out of control. Prowler fired another blast of air at Nightcrawler, but
this time the mutant dodged. Meanwhile, Meggan recovered and mimicked
Sandman in order to restrain Silver Sable. Nightcrawler hurled Prowler,
who collided with Shadowcat. Shadowcat as they tumbled together they
discussed her intangibility powers and Prowler suggested using
pneumatics as a way to improve her control over them just as she phased
them both through a wall into a darkened room.
(Excalibur I#36 (fb) - BTS) - Prowler and Shadowcat discovered a hidden
lab where Walshe was keeping the bionuclear simulator.
(Excalibur I#36) - Meanwhile, Captain Britain finally broke free of
Sandman's restraint and punched him so hard that all his sand dispersed.
Suddenly Shadowcat called the rest of Excalibur and the Outlaws through
to the next room where they saw irradiated clone bodies strung up from
the ceiling around the simulator. They listened as Walshe explained his
plan to use the simulator to create a strain of humanity capable of
surviving a nuclear holocaust, before revealing that he was a faulty
construct of Arnim Zola's. The simulator started to overload, affected
somehow by the battle. The clones and the Shepherd, another of Walshe's
creations, run amok and broke through to the outside where there were
still innocent protesters. While the Outlaws helped Excalibur evacuate
the crowd, Meggan mimicked Sandman's powers to disrupt Walshe's ESP box,
causing the clones, Shepherd and simulator to shut down safely, her
empathic abilities telling her that Walshe wanted to die so he could
save everybody. Sandman picked up the simulator, and the Outlaws
departed on good terms with Excalibur. Especially Paladin and Phoenix
who simultaneously asked each other to call sometime!
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#25) - Silver Sable wanted
to create a rescue team for particularly dangerous missions that the
ordinary soldiers of the Wild Pack were not able to deal with.
Sable called Prowler and Rocket Racer.
She also wanted to call Will O'The Wisp but she did not know how to
contact him. Instead, Will O'The Wisp "perceived" that Sable wanted him,
so he appeared in the middle of the meeting. Hobie Brown was a bit
scared by Will O'The Wisp.
Silver Sable named the group the "Outlaws", because
of their career; they started as criminals but eventually they redeemed
themselves.
She informed the Outlaws about the mission: to free
the Michelle Tiers LeBon, the teenage daughter of Eduard LeBon. The
teenager was prisoner of an extremist group, politically opposed to LeBon and led by Boussard. Brown suggested that
if the extremists were so dangerous, it would have been better to call
another ally into the Outlaws, one stronger than the three of
them together: Sandman. Sable informed them that this was impossible because Sandman was already working for Boussard!
(Spectacular Spider-Man Annual I#11) - In central Quebec, the Wild Pack had the Monastery where Boussard and the extremists were under
observation.
Hobie Brown kept on getting nervous due to Will O'The
Wisp's presence, while Farrell was happy about the job.
Sable unleashed the Outlaws. Rocket Racer used some
smoke grenades to distract the guards; with his mini-rockets he
opened the gate of the monastery to Sable and Prowler could land in
the court. The fanatics were armed and opened fire, but Sable returned the favor, hitting every enemy she saw.
Rocket Racer used his rocket-punch to knock out an enemy but was overwhelmed by a very painful sonic wave. He was
powerless, but Prowler saved him, destroying the wave generator. Four
hooded extremists had them cornered, fortunately Will O'The Wisp's
glowing sphere appeared. Four arms came forth from the sphere, grabbed the
men and smashed their heads against each other. The way seemed clear
but Sandman appeared.
(Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7/6)
- The physical-based attacks of Prowler, Rocket Racer and Silver Sable
were totally useless against Sandman. But Will O'The Wisp resisted.
Augmenting his own density he allowed the fist of Sandman smash against
him, then hypnotized Baker. Racer shot two mini-rockets, apparently
destroying Sandman, but actually freeing him from his contemplative status.
Sandman became a sandstorm. Silver, understanding that she was losing
precious time, ordered the other Outlaws to deal with Sandman while
she continued the mission.
She found Michelle Tiers
prisoner of Boussard, who pointed his gun at the
girl's head. Sable did not try to shoot. Meanwhile Racer and Prowler
could do nothing against Sandman, who realized why Sable was missing.
Will O'The Wisp perceived Sandman's thoughts and acknowledged a strong
conflict. Even though he didn't understand why, Will O'The Wisp felt that
Sandman had no evil intentions, so he let him go.
Sandman reached the helicopter where Boussard, who was still pointing the
gun at the girl, invited Sandman to flee with him. Sandman hesitated for a moment then acted quickly. He blocked the helicopter's rotors and
disarmed Boussard, enabling Sable to shoot him with a tranquillizer dart.
Later Sandman confessed to
Sable that he had infiltrated the extremist organization to free the
hostage, but he did not manage to do it alone. He wanted to be taken
back into the Avengers' roster, but he was sure he had failed.
Silver Sable offered him a contract and a place in
the Outlaws.
Comments: Created by Gerry Conway (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Keith Williams (inks).
The initial group comprised of Puma, Rocket Racer, Prowler, Sandman and Will O'The Wisp
was not named in its first appearance, being an almost casual assembly.
The second gathering was absolutely not casual, as a
result of Calculus' plan and Spider-Man's calling, however, the cause
was not Silver Sable's as it could have seemed from the end
of the first meeting. The group's name was on the cover and was repeated
by Captain America, but in a generic sense.
Silver's group (in Excalibur#36)
consists of herself Paladin, Prowler, Sandman, and Rocket Racer. Though
they are referred to in a text box says the world regards them as
"outlaws" but the team name isn't used in the issue. The cover, however,
says: "Excalibur in an Outrageously Overwhelming, Omnifarious, Out
and Out Onslaught against the Outlandish Outlaws."
Though Phoenix does snark "Yeah, right." as
Excalibur stand there in total victory, and there's some major
alliteration going on with all the O's, I quite like "Outlandish"
as a descriptor for the team.
There is a note that the issue takes place prior to
Sandman joining the Avengers.--Changeling
I'm not sure whether considering Paladin
member of the Outlaws or not. In my opinion, he is the most mercenary
among them and Sable included him in order to reach a sufficient degree
of "firepower" and experience for the mission in the United Kingdom.
Moreover, Paladin probably consider himself a solo player, and for this
reason he did not create a bond with the others.--Spidermay
The fourth roster, logically did not include Puma, who
was a mercenary on his own and for sure did not need Sable's money. The
group name was made official by Silver Sable, but how could she know
that it had already been used by Cap? Anyway, it served to Sable as a
general test before creating an Elite Squadron inside the Wild Pack.
Profile by Spidermay and Changeling.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Outlaws has no known connections to:
Walshe has no known connections to:
Shepherd has no known connections to:
Jonathon Shepherd, former intelligence man for Domino, killed by Armajesuits, @ Domino II#1
Thomas "Tommy" Shepherd, AKA Speed of the Young Avengers, @ Young Avengers#10
or any other character with a similar name.
Winston Walker has no known connections to:
Davis has no known connections to:
Michelle Tiers LeBon has no known connections to:
The Monastery of Saint Croix has no known connections to:
Winston Walker was a very rich man
living in New York.
He earned his money through illegal activities, even laundering
dirty money for the Maggia.
The Department of Justice had only suspicions but no real evidence
that he was connected to any criminal organization.
Walker was in possession of many documents proving his crimes, but he was
smart enough not to keep them in his mansion in New York.
A group of private citizens hired Silver
Sable to find the necessary evidence. Sable's agents discovered that the
documents were at Staten Island, but not exactly where.
Sable asked Spider-Man to steal something from Walker's mansion.
When Walker read the news in the Daily Bugle he got worried about the
compromising documents and went to check the hiding place on Staten Island.
Spider-Man followed him and took the cylinder with the needed
documents from Walker. Will O'The Wisp also showed up on the scene. Walker ordered to
kill both, but Spider-Man escaped with the documents and Will O'The Wisp
followed him.
--Web of Spider-Man I#50
Davis was one of the two bodyguards of
Winston Walker.
Davis was armed with an Uzi.
Davis and his colleague had to ensure Walker's privacy and safety, but they failed when Spider Man stole from the mansion.
They escorted Walker outside New York, where he had buried the safe with the compromising documents, but again they were surprised by Spider-Man. Davis was astonished to see Will O'The Wisp's shining globe, but soon recovered and shot at him. The bullets passed through the body of the super-being, who hypnotized Davis and sent him home.
--Web of Spider-Man I#50
Michelle Tiers was the young daughter of Eduard LeBon, a high officer of the Parliament of Canada.
Michelle was kidnapped by Boussard, an extremist who politically opposed LeBon. She was taken prisoner at the Monastery of Saint Croix in Central Quebec.
She was saved by Silver Sable and the Outlaws, who had been hired by her father.
--Spectacular Spider-Man Annual I#11/2 ([Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#25/3], Spectacular Spider-Man Annual I#11/2, Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7/6
images: (without ads)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#170, cover (The Outlaws, with Spider-Man)
Web of Spider-Man I#50, p5, pan2 (head shots)
Web of Spider-Man I#50, p6, pan1 (Walker, head shot)
Web of Spider-Man I#50, p23, pan6 (Davis shooting to Will o'the Wisp)
Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7/6, p10, pan5 (Silver Sable's Outlaws)
Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7/6, p9, pan2 (Michelle Tiers LeBon)
Appearances:
Web of Spider-Man I#50 (May, 1989) - Gerry Conway (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Bob Sharen (colors), Jim Salicrup and Tom DeFalco (editors)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#169 (October, 1990) - Gerry Conway (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils and inks), Bob Sharen and Renèe Witterstatter (colors), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#170 (November, 1990) - Gerry Conway (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils and inks), Bob Sharen (colors), Jim Salicrup and Tm De Falco (editor)
Excalibur I#36 (April, 1991) - Scott Lobdell (writer), David Ross (artist), Al Milgrom (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#25 (August, 1991) - David Michelinie (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils and inks), Ed Lazellari (colors), Dany Fingeroth (editors)
Spectacular Spider-Man Annual I#11 (August, 1991) - David Michelinie (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils and inks), Ed Lazellari (colors), Dany Fingeroth (editors)
Web of Spider-Man Annual I#7 (August, 1991) - David Michelinie (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils and inks), Ed Lazellari (colors), Dany Fingeroth (editors)
First Posted: 03/19/2017
Last updated: 03/19/2017
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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