DCU Comic Book Reviews

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #8

The Hard Way

August 2008

Written by Chuck Dixon

Pencils by Julian Lopez

Inks by Bit

Cover by Dougie Braithwaite

Synopsis

In China, Green Arrow, Katana, and Grace face a death sentence and are in front of the firing squad, but Batgirl comes to the rescue.  The four are outnumbered by the Chinese soldiers, but the odds become better when Thunder and Nightwing arrive with Remac, who is being controlled by Dr. Miandad in the batcave.  In Space, Metamorpho watches as the zombie-like astronauts fire their massive weapon directly at the moon.  Meanwhile, the Outsiders are able to escape China and return to Gotham.  They made it back, although Batman tells them Metamorpho is still missing.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I think I have reached the point where this extremely long storyline has started to wear thin on me.  Something has got to happen at some point.  Sadly, this is not the issue as we get the Outsiders fighting Chinese soldiers for all but a couple of panels.  And as good as Lopez and Bit are able to draw the action scenes, the reading of this issue drags on.  Part of that is the fact that previous issues also lacked plot and story development, so what happens (or doesn’t happen, really) just feels like the same old, same old.  The Outsiders need to be rescued.  Metamorpho is still in space.  Batman stands around watching everything with a stern glare.  Decompression is one thing; running in one spot for several issues is yet another. 

This story has gone on long enough that frankly I have forgotten the name of the mastermind who sent the space shuttle into space to begin with.  That plan involved breeding new creatures.  So, is the mega-gun Metamorpho found in space part of the same master plan with the breeding or is this something different?  It is sad to think that whatever Batman and the Outsiders are supposed to be fighting or whatever plans they are foiling have been completely abandoned.  Hell, from what I can remember, the Chinese are not even part of the breeding plan, but tossed into the mix when the Outsiders went looking for a space shuttle.  Think about that.  We spent several issues following the Outsiders embark on a failed plan.  Metamorpho is still lost in space.  As I said before, at some point, something has to give and something needs to be done.

 

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