DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE OUTSIDERS #21

The Hunt, Part 1

October 2009

Written by Peter J. Tomasi

Pencils by Lee Garbett

Inks by Trevor Scott

Cover by Lee Garbett

Synopsis

While returning back to the batcave, the Outsiders notice that Arkham Asylum is burning and the inmates have escaped.  When the get the batcave, they find it is closed off and they are unable to get in.  Alfred tells them that the new Batman has a new batcave.  In the meantime, Alfred dispatches the team to take find and retrieve the various inmates.  Katana, Halo, and Creeper are sent to Louisiana to find Killer Croc.  Geo-Force and Metamorpho are sent to Wyoming to find Clayface.  Owlman and Black Lightning are sent to Arctic Circle to find Mr. Freeze.  However, Mr. Freeze finds them first and captures them.  In his new lair, Mr. Freeze attempts to operate on his head, to remove a chip implanted by Black Mask.  Before he can do it, however, Owlman and Black Lightning escape and capture him.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I don’t know what to make of this.  The original premise, putting together the Outsiders to battle against the mysterious group Insiders, is put away so that the Outsiders group can get more in line with the events in the Batman titles.  And I am not really sure why this was needed.  Was there a particular need for all of the Arkham convicts to be re-captured?  I say let them out there so that the writers of the Batman titles can use them if they ever needed them.  The whole idea behind this story doesn’t seem to be merited, unless Tomasi has something brewing with the way Alfred is treating the group.  And that is my other problem with this story.  Alfred is acting weird.  Maybe it is a plot point that will become important, but right now Alfred is not acting the way I would think he would act (or was shown to act in earlier issues).  Are you telling me that Alfred wouldn’t be able to multitask?  He couldn’t direct the team while helping Batman and Robin?  It seems weird to me.  And that is why I can’t make heads or tails of this issue.  Granted, some of the previous issues were not the best, but at least the book had direction.  Now, everything is thrown to the sheets and it feels like we’ve begun again with a storyline that doesn’t seem to be necessary. 

What exactly is Alfred referring to when he mentions important things on going on in Gotham that require his attention?  Is this just a vague, generic reference because he doesn’t know what the other titles were doing at the time he wrote this, or is there really something going on and Tomasi is ahead of the current bat titles?  Whatever, it sounds ominous and actually sounds worse than what is currently happening. 

The issue doesn’t really end.  It more or less stops as if Tomasi ran of pages in the middle of the story.  And I have to believe there are more pages, with the events featuring the other set of pairs still yet to be told.

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