DCU Comic Book Reviews

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #1

The Chrysalis

December 2007

Written by Chuck Dixon

Pencils by Julian Lopez

Inks by Bit

Covers by Doug Braithwaite and Ryan Sook

Synopsis

In Central City, Katana and Catwoman parachute into Jardine Tower, the North American Headquarters of Jardine, Ltd.  Elsewhere, Batman monitors the situation along with Thunder.  Outside the tower, a vandal is attacked by security guards and taken inside for interrogation.  When the intrusion into the building is detected, the vandal morphs into the Martian Manhunter.  Meanwhile, Metamorpho helps Katana and Catwoman enter the building and to their target.  The trio fight off the security guards, who eventually retreat.  An alarm sounds and radiation levels in the building start to rise.  Suddenly, the tower’s purpose is revealed as an OMAC appears.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

The ending killed this issue for me.  Up to that point, it was a competent, engaging, compelling team book, which did not surprise me since Chuck Dixon is a veteran comic book writer.  He knows how to pace a story and it shows as he carefully introduces the team, their abilities, and their relationships while at the same building a good mystery and suspense as the story progressed.  Actually, I wasn’t all that interested in what they were after, just how they were going to get it.  And, in that sense, Dixon succeeds admirably, showing the team working individually and alone.  Then came the ending.  I understand the need to attempt to tie the Outsiders activities to Batman, after all he’s the leader, the one pointing them in the right direction, so it makes sense he would want to tackle an enemy that means something to him.  So, yes, going after the OMAC makes sense, but as a reader, I am tired of the OMACs.  They were all over the place leading up to and even after the middle Crisis, which was two years ago at this point.  Two years is a long time to revisit an old concept.  I hope that Dixon has something more in mind, other than just going after the last of the OMACs.  If he can introduce some kind of twist to the OMAC, then it might be workable, but otherwise it seems of a retread of older events. 

The costume for Katana on the cover does not match the one she wears inside the comic.  I need to pull out my copies of the recent Birds of Prey to see if either costume matches what she had in that series.  Not that it makes much of a difference, I am just a little curious. 

It is interesting to note that some of the behind the scenes information about this series is more compelling than the actual series.  First, Peter Tomasi was supposed to be the new writer and he bailed.  Tony Bedard was handed the gig and he orchestrated the Five Of A Kind event that introduced his new team and lead up to the re-launch.  He was pulled of the title when DC editorial disagreed with his planned direction.  By that time, however, the new team was in place.  The final writer, Chuck Dixon, has publicly stated that he is not fond the new team and plans on adding in new characters and replacing those he doesn’t like (Grace and Thunder, presumably).  So, by the end of this arc, we will probably see a complete change in content.  It should be fascinating to watch as Dixon transforms this title to the team he wants.

 

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