Outsiders Looking In…
Outsiders #50
This seems to be the last issue of this series, though they’re kicking off a new “Batman and the Outsiders” series sometime soon. And like far too many final issues, this one is an absolute mess.
First, Batman decided in the last issue to take over the team and staff it with his heroes of his own choosing. They ran five weekly one-shots over the past month where he picked his team; I skipped those issues, because DC gets enough of my money and didn’t need me to pay them $15 for some ill-considered, corporate-driven slush. So anyway, the new team is Katana, Metamorpho, the Martian Manhunter, and Grace, with Catwoman joining up at the end. They’re still trying to play the “We’re good guys disguised as bad guys” game, which doesn’t seem like it’d be very successful — heck, Batman’s a member, and everyone knows he’s in the Justice League. When you’ve got all these “criminals” associated with a well-connected vigilante like Bats, everyone’s gonna figure they’re running a scam on the underworld.
Anyway, the team hangs around some seedy dive in Gotham City (Well, Grace hangs around the club — everyone else is either in disguise or monitoring from outside). The Suicide Squad appears, including former Outsider Captain Boomerang, along with Thunder, another former Outsider — and Grace’s lover. On top of all that, the current Outsiders are trying to safeguard a bunch of low-rent amateur supervillains for some reason no one is aware of. There’s a lot of fighting and chaos and people doing stuff for no real purpose. It’s a complete muddle.
Verdict: Thumbs down. It’s especially irritating that there’s absolutely no explanation for why Thunder and Captain Boomerang are out, and Martian Manhunter is in. In other words, if you didn’t shell out an extra 15 bones for the weekly “Five of a Kind” one-shots, you didn’t find out the full story. That’s a rotten way to treat customers.
By the way, yes, my reviews are going a lot slower than I want them to. Sorry about that. I haven’t had a lot of spare time to work on them, so I’m stuck writing them in the few non-hectic hours I have. I’ll get the rest written ASAP.