DCU Comic Book Reviews

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #3

Infestation

February 2008

Written by Chuck Dixon

Pencils by Julian Lopez

Inks by Bit

Cover by Eric Battle

Synopsis

In the midst of examining the OMAC the Outsiders had found at Jardine Tower, Hawkgirl, Geo-Force, and Black Lightning from the Justice League of America arrive to take it and destroy it.  Batman refuses to give it up.  As they debate what to do, the OMAC springs to life and attacks both groups.  Working together, they are able to defeat and disable to OMAC.  Now of no use to him, Batman let’s the Justice League take the OMAC.  However, Batman has recruited Geo-Force to join the team.  Later, Batman and the scientists check on the real OMAC, safe and secure at the Outsiders headquarters, whom they dub REMAC.  At Wayne Manor, two unknown people ring the door bell and are looking for Bruce Wayne and his boss, Batman.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I am not thrilled with this issue.  I dislike situations in which two heroes (or groups) meet, have a misunderstanding, and then battle each other.  At the very least the two teams didn’t physically fight each other, so I take that as a small measure of consolation, but there were at odds for the entire issue and that did not ring true.  Moreover, Dixon portrayed the Justice League as a hit first, ask questions later group as they rushed in to fight the OMAC without listening to what the Outsiders were saying.  I don’t believe the League would act in that manner; nor do I think the League would question Batman over the OMAC.  Granted, they shouldn’t trust him, but I can’t buy into the scenario in which the League would deem it necessary to take the OMAC away from him.  Watch him closely, yes.  Take it away, no. 

I found the scenes in the Outsiders penthouse apartment with Grace and Thunder to be useless.  What, exactly, were those scenes supposed to show?  Other than to repeat that we know Thunder is upset not being on the team.  It seemed pointless and didn’t really establish anything that we already knew.  Plus, Dixon’s ability to write a convincing lesbian falls short of the mark

The brief moment with Geo-Force being “traded” (or “transferred”) from the Justice League to the Outsiders just didn’t feel right to me.  I suppose because the decision was made by the team leaders without actually, you know, asking Geo-Force what he wanted to do.  I didn’t realize you could be traded from team to team like a baseball player or moved from on corporate job to another.  I always thought being a superhero was a volunteer position, not a job. 

I suppose changing the writer, who then changes the team’s line-up, will do it, but out of the 7 characters on the cover, only 4 are in the book (and one of those, Thunder, is not part of either team and doesn’t appear in costume).

 

PREVIOUS ISSUE	Main		Page	NEXT ISSUE

Home ●  Blog ● Who Are We? ● Site News
Alive and Well since April 16, 2006

 DC Universe Reviews.  All Rights Reserved
  Characters, trademarks, brands are property of DC Comics

For problems or questions regarding this website, please contact our kindly webmaster.
Last updated: 08/06/11.