DCU Comic Book Reviews

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #12

Outsiders No More, Part 1 Of 2

December 2008

Written by Frank Tieri

Pencils by Ryan Benjamin

Inks by Saleem Crawford

Covers by J. Calafiore

Synopsis

Now, the Outsiders pay their final respects to a fallen teammate.  Two days ago, Grace and Black Lightning visit Thunder in the hospital.  Earlier that night, Batman tells the team he needs to concentrate on Black Glove.  Batman has a plan.  He sends a code to Remac which will provide Batman’s location so the Outsiders can join him.  Green Arrow, however, doesn’t think it was Batman and blocks the code.  Although Batgirl agrees that it wasn’t Batman, she wants to accept the code, then use it to find out who it was.  The code is imputed to Remac.  He causes him to explode.  Later, in the hospital, Batgirl wants to keep the team together, but they go their separate ways.  Now, after the funeral, Robin helps to break the code.  It came from the Black Glove, who gloats about the death of the Outsiders.  However, Batgirl vows to keep the team intact, even if she has to put them together herself. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Much like the first part of this story, this issue is largely insubstantial and provides very little of consequence.  In fact, much of this story and this issue feels forced, a plot and story that is created by editorial decree rather than a writer’s idea.  Let’s face it, the Outsider who dies is unimportant, a new character introduced in this book who only existed to provide comedic asides.  There was never much to Salah (or Remac or the two together) to make anyone really care about his death.  But, an Outsider (and it is a stretch to say that Salah is an Outsider) is slated/scheduled/picked to die so DC editorial tries to treat as something big.  So, Tieri tries to manufacture some emotion, first with the funeral, then trying to make us think it might’ve been Thunder.  Then, Tieri manufactures conflict between Ollie and Cassie, which doesn’t work either, in order to generate tension before Remac gets blown.  All of it comes across as shallow because it is manufactured and not real.  Ultimately, this two-part story is best forgotten. 

I love the ending with the Black Glove when he says, “Whoever is hearing this is hopefully already dead.”  Think about that statement for a moment.  I mean, why create a special message if your intention is to kill the person the message is for? Usually you create a message to lament how your enemy figured out the first plan but for your enemy not to worry, there is a back-up plan.  Not to say, “Hey, you’re dead, so listen to this….”  Anyway, it made me laugh. 

On page 3, we get “two days ago,” which makes sense.  After Remac explodes, we get another “two days ago,” so does that make it “four days ago,” from the funeral.  It looks like they are in the hospital so should that be “two days later.”  Ah, the foibles of quality control.

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