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Outsiders Vol 5 4

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"21st-Century Baby": At the stroke of midnight on the first moment of the 21st Century, a girl named Jennifer Cressi is born. By age twelve she has developed a severe anxiety disorder with frequent panic attacks and, due to her metahuman powers, these attacks coincide with catastrophic events in

Quote1 At the turn of every century, when that clock strikes midnight, the powers of the world-- the real powers, not this flights-and-tights nonsense-- well, they get born. Living embodiments of the century to come. We call 'em Century Babies. Quote2
— Drummer

Outsiders (Volume 5) #4 is an issue of the series Outsiders (Volume 5) with a cover date of April, 2024. It was published on February 13, 2024.

Synopsis for "21st-Century Baby"

At the stroke of midnight on the first moment of the 21st Century, a girl named Jennifer Cressi is born. By age twelve she has developed a severe anxiety disorder with frequent panic attacks and, due to her metahuman powers, these attacks coincide with catastrophic events in the immediate vicinity and around the world. When nobody comes to her thirteenth birthday party she cries for seven hours, triggering devastating floods in Jakarta. Jenny's mother, a social worker, knows that Jenny will not be able to survive in the foster system and so they move frequently to prevent her being taken away, which only makes her feel more isolated and anxious.

In 2018, Jenny goes to her first party and for once is able to enjoy herself without feeling afraid or needing to use any of her techniques to keep herself calm. Every partygoer has the best night of their life, a family twenty miles away stops fighting and the New York stock exchange hits an all time high. Jenny finds the courage to ask out a boy she likes, but a week later she sees him kissing another girl and the global financial system collapses.

Jenny notices the pattern of how her worst moments coincide with devastating world events, and so decides to separate herself from society. She spends six years wandering around the world, avoiding social connections or strong emotions. Three days ago she ended up in London where, starved for human contact, she throws a party. At the party she meets a woman named Kels and immediately falls in love with her. The two share an exciting, whirlwind day of romance, which sends a wave of positivity around the world resulting in the best day of the century. However, that night Kels sends Jenny a text abruptly breaking things off, plunging Jenny into the worst despair of her life. Since then there have been two days of riots, suicide and even a huge earthquake in Chile.

Drummer tells the Outsiders about Jenny and says that they need to neutralise her before she does any more damage. Batwing and Batwoman find her in an industrial area with unstable energies sparking off her and trying to control her anxiety attack with self-calming exercises. Jenny hears them coming and flees, firing a bolt of energy at them as she goes. She flees into an underground station and creates an obstacle for the pursuing heroes by inducing feelings of panic in bystanders. Batwoman throws a smoke bomb into the crowd and leaps over them, but by the time she chases Jenny onto the platform, she has already disappeared into the tunnels.

Jenny climbs up an emergency staircase and bursts through the door back onto the surface. Drummer is waiting for her on a park bench nearby and asks Jenny to sit and talk. Drummer tells Jenny that she is a Century Baby and more importantly she is the Spirit of the Century, the latest in a line of women born to embody the century. She offers to help Jenny learn to control her powers, but Jenny blasts her away and shows how she can send her emotions into people that can handle them. She says she doesn't need Drummer or anyone else to tell her how to live and declares herself to be Jenny Crisis, saying she will make sure the 21st Century ends better than it started.

Batwing and Batwoman catch up to them, but Drummer tells them to stand down. She says that Jenny has her powers under control and isn't a threat. Luke asks Jenny if she wants to join or at least cooperate with the Outsiders but she declines and goes off to join a crowd of people. Later that night, Drummer writes Jenny's story in the Planetary Guide.

Appearing in "21st-Century Baby"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:


Other Characters:

  • James Cressi (Single appearance) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
  • Kels (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
  • Octavia DeVeau (Single appearance) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
  • The Authority (Mentioned only)
  • Banshees (Mentioned only)
  • Batman, Inc. (Mentioned only)
  • Connor Cruz (Mentioned only)
  • Dr. Chen (Mentioned only)
  • Dr. Kerner (Mentioned only)
  • Jessica Poliso (Mentioned only)
  • The Spirits of the Century (Mentioned only)
  • Waverly Family (Mentioned only)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

  • Outsiders Jet

Concepts:

Notes

  • Drummer's dialogue with Jenny Crisis reveals that she has known many Spirits of the Century, and implies that she may be from the Wildstorm Universe.
  • Jenny Crisis is described as the Spirit of the 21st Century, which Jenny Quantum was previously identified as during the The New 52 era. According to Drummer, Jenny Quantum has disappeared and presumably been replaced by Jenny Crisis, likely as a result of the latest Multiversal reboot.

Trivia


See Also


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