Outsiders/New Olympians: Fencing and Wrestling

Batman and the Outsiders #15, p.5-7, 12-16
Event #2: Wrestling/Boxing
For Markovia: Geo-Force. For Greece, Antaeus.

Annnnnnnnd GF is off to a bad start, attempting banter that reminds us his education isn't everything it should be, and fails to be culture-appropriate. Why bring Judeo-Christian myth into a battle with Maxie Zeus' themed cohorts? Antaeus may not be particularly eloquent, but "CRUSH YOU!" always does the job for guys his size.

Event #3: Fencing
For Japan, Katana. For Greece, Diana (not that one).

So this is where Mike Barr's writing gets absurd. Katana is a master swordswoman. I mean, she's built her entire persona around a sword motif. Diana, for her part, is an archer, prominently displaying a bow. So what does Diana choose for an Olympic event? Swords. SWORDS. Of course she does. Obviously, the woman likes a challenge. The fact that Katana can't use her own blade is beside the point. It's not like rapiers are Greek either.

STOP THE PRESS! We now randomly cut to Gotham Community College for a subplot scene! You tell me if it was worth cutting away from the Olympic action.

That's Denise Howard, Geo-Force's smarter school mate, and she's gotten a scholarship. Yay for her. Uhm... If she was an important supporting player in the series, maybe I'd care about this, but it's her third scene ever, and the last one made it clear she wasn't headed for a romance with Brion (like I said, she's smart). Ok, ok, there's another panel that follows where the prof looks sinister. I guess it's an EVIL scholarship. Arright... back to the Olympics.

Geo-Force is being trounced, I'm happy to report. Throwing a guy over your head then being surprised when he hits you in the back, well, that's the usual Outsiders tactical genius, isn't it? Speaking of genius, while GF was being beaten up, he suddenly grew an impressive knowledge of obscure Greek myth:

That's an unlikely bit of information for remedial student Geo-Force to have. Antaeus is leaving the arena because Batman is making an escape, which leads Diana to also quit the sword fight, which was a draw, really. Thankfully, Katana picks up Diana's bow and does some fine trick archery to save Batman from the goddess of the hunt's rapid dogs.

So Diana the archer picked up a sword to fight Katana, and now Katana the swordswoman is doing Green Arrow-level archery tricks. I'm not saying it's not a samurai-type skill to have. I'm saying Katana has never been seen using a bow or training with one, and the two women's skill sets have been switched between them.

That's right, the archery character thinks Katana is way better that she is at it. And yet fought her at a standstill with the épée. Maybe you wanna change trademark weapons there, Lady Di? Meanwhile, with all that new information flooding into his head from all the bad writing, Geo-Force stops Antaeus from grabbing the Dark Knight and keeps him from touching the Earth or its avatar with anti-grav powers. It's amazing how quickly the big lummox starts to pass out.

Yeah, that guy should really never take a plane. He could die. As for the mystery of Maxie Zeus' departure. By noisy helicopter. Which was parked right there in the arena. I'll keep that for Friday's closing ceremonies. First, we need to find out what the handball score is (has anyone in North America ever said this before?), and that'll be tomorrow.

CURRENT MEDAL COUNT!
Canada: 4 gold, 9 silver, 4 bronze (17)
USA: 6 gold, 4 silver, 10 bronze (20)
Japan: 1 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze (6)
Greece: 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (0)
Markovia: 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (0)