DCU Comic Book Reviews

OUTSIDERS #41

Mad Scientists, Part 2: Raising The Dead

December 2006

Written by Judd Winick

Pencils by Matthew Clark & Ron Randall

Inks by Art Thibert

Cover By Daniel Acuña

Synopsis

The Outsiders have just learned that the partner of Monsieur Mallah and the Brain to clone superheroes is Dr. Sivana, who is very aware of what the Outsiders are doing.  He decides to set off a bomb inside the nuclear power plant where the cloning was being done.  The Outsiders are able to evacuate in time, although the whereabouts of Mallah and Brain are unknown.  Later, Dr. Sivana calls the Lois Lane at the Daily Planet to reveal that the Outsiders were not dead, but were indeed alive and well.  Sixteen hours later, the Outsiders learn of the news that they are considered the prime suspect for the explosion. Later, Thunder and Grace talk and make love while Boomer and Metamorpho talk and share drinks, and Katana and Nightwing just talk.  Nightwing finds evidence that Sivana is planning on taking over the world and if the Outsiders don’t stop him in the next 24 hours, he’ll really do it.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“It could be tomorrow when the @#$% really hits the fan.”

I like the idea behind the concept of this issue in which the news of the Outsider’s fake deaths reaches the news media allows Winick to show its effects on the team, plus the effects it had on them while they have been undercover.  I am just not sure I like the execution.  The only part I liked was the Katana/Nightwing interaction, which seemed natural for the duo of seasoned veterans.  However, Metamorpho and Shift’s angst does not work for me.  The idea that Shift returned to Metamorpho due to guilt doesn’t work for me.  The whole idea doesn’t work for me.  To put it into perspective, I also dislike moments when telepaths download their consciousness into another person for a short period of time, so I guess I just have this negative bias of two people (or minds) sharing the same body.  That, however, is just me, your mileage may vary.  The first scene of the paired Outsiders, and the one that bothered me most, is the Grace and Thunder love story.  While I don’t have a problem with it, I certainly wonder about the change from Grace boinking Arsenal to boinking Thunder.  While I hope this gets addressed at some point, my real concern is over Grace’s true nature, which Thunder seems to know. The only tidbit we are given is that it is something that could keep her out of jail.  And if Thunder knows, why wouldn’t Arsenal know?  Maybe he did and never told.  But why this big mystery to begin with?  I liked her better when she was bouncer at a bar.  In one sense, Winick is obviously doing something right since I have all these questions, but on the other hand I should be able to enjoy the book without these nagging questions.

What makes this issue work is Dr. Sivana.  Winick is always able to create crafty villains with just a touch of black humor and insanity that makes interesting when the appear and so thoroughly evil that it makes you cheer for the hero.  The good news is that I really like this type of character.  The bad news is that Dr. Sivana is coming across as Black Mask lite from the Under The Hood arc.  Winick needs to delineate between the two, otherwise he is using the same character with a different name.

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