Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Batman and the Outsiders Special #1

By Hervé St-Louis
February 22, 2009 - 12:29

Batman is dead, but he left protocols for his butler, Alfred Pennyworth to follow so a new team of Outsiders can be assembled and pursue a mission that needs to be completed. This is why, Alfred learns, Batman created the Outsiders years ago. Older and new Outsiders are recruited. Black Lightning, Geo Force, Halo, Katanna and Metamorpho are joined with the Creeper, and Owlman. Will the team be good enough to accomplish Batman’s last mission without his presence to guide them?

DC Comics can be fun sometimes. I’m not talking about the comic books. I’m hinting at the office politics here. It seems to have been planned that Batman would be shelved for a while quite a while ago, yet a new series with the Outsiders was given the green light but a year ago. Now that Batman is dead, the series has no real purpose, and they have to recreate this series, again for like the fifth time, I think.

But this time, they decided to go to basics and pulled the traditional cast of the Outsiders and adding logical recruits. We haven’t seen much of Owlman in this issue, but he should be a suitable proxy for Batman. Also, the Creeper just fits in and it’s a wonder he was never added to the original roster. Still this issue is nothing but a basic recruitment issue, and I don’t understand why this “special” could not have been published in the regular series where it might have cost less. There isn’t an expanded page count and there isn’t anything particular about this comic book.

I’m not a fan of Adam Kubert, so of course I care little for his work in this issue. It’s tolerable and does the job. He plays with new page layouts, using much more space to draw an empty story.

Rating: 6 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12