DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE OUTSIDERS #16

The Deep, Part Two

May 2009

Written by Peter J. Tomasi

Pencils by Lee Garbett

Inks by Trevor Scott

Cover by Lee Garbett

Synopsis

Orbiting in outer space, the Outsiders discover a massive tremor in Germany.  Around the world, various people who have lived extremely long lives are told they need to repay their debts.  It is time for them to die.  In Germany, the Outsiders investigate the tremors.  While Geo-Force leads a team to search the area, Halo talks to one of the survivors, a little girl who says she saw a one-eyed monster.  In Iceland, the near-immortal people climb into mechanical robot similar to what the little girl saw and descend into the ground.  Via monitors, they are being watched by immortals.  Meanwhile, Geo-Force digs deeper into the Earth, eventually finding one of the robots.  The robot seizes Katana and then runs away. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Let’s take this issue by bits and pieces, because my overall opinion of this issue is that there was some good and some bad and strangely enough both occur within each scene.  Overall, I have a mixed reaction to the issue, but I think I am leaning towards the good.  Or at least good enough that I am looking forward to the next issue. 

First, there is the opening dialogue with Metamorpho trying to explain why each hero was asked to join the Outsiders and how they exemplify an aspect of Batman.  I have a couple of problems with this, the chief among them the explanations are weak for some of them and don’t quite fit (see:  Black Lightning).  The second is that even if it fit perfectly, I think this is something that should be sub-text, part of the story that the readers can discern it for themselves.  Despite this, I found the scene to be amusing and I liked the way Tomasi handles Metamorpho and Garbett’s art highlights the wackiness of the character very well. 

Second, we get to the section with the villains, which is an interesting scene.  It is a good set-up, but sadly it doesn’t tell us anything.  Yes, we learn that we have a shadowy group of immortals using humans for their own nefarious purposes.  For what reason?  What are the robots?  At this stage of the story, I think we need more than just vague evilness; I think we need something a little more concrete so that we can understand what the Outsiders are up against and what they are trying to stop.  As I said, it starts off well, but I think we needed more. 

Third, we get to the biggest scene of the book and we finally get to see the team in action.  Tomasi makes the most of it with all of the team members getting a chance to do what they do.  The interactions are great and merge well within the investigation of the earthquake site.  While I found the discussion from the team and why they are there in the first place a little tiring, I actually didn’t mind it since I think the team should still be wondering what is going on and what they ware doing.  It makes sense.  What bothered me is the reason why the Outsiders would be investigating an earthquake in Germany.  Because there wasn’t a reason.  As the reader, I know it’s connected to the Big Bad, but looking at it, what possible reason would the Outsiders be involved with the earthquake?  And why aren’t there other heroes involved in the clean-up, you know like Checkmate or the Global Guardians or whatever German hero DC has created recently.  It just seems odd to me and is not explained well enough to make me overlook the inconsistencies. 

Fourth is the cliffhanger, which I liked, but it was a little confusing.  Did the robot grab Katana because she has what they want?  Or was she collateral damage because she happened to be standing next to whatever they want?  Hopefully in the next issue we’ll learn more and get a sense of what the bad guys want.

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