In “The Deep, Part 2,”
THE OUTSIDERS manages to maintain its recent gains, in spite of some slight problems. This issue is a straight continuation from last month and does not serve up as many engaging moments as its precursor but does keep the pressure on where it counts most. Tomasi and his artistic buddies continue to unravel the ambiguous nature of the villains with whom The Outsiders will no doubt inevitably clash. After the Event-Heavy first installment of
BATTLE FOR THE COWL and all of the dire problems, which the plague of Continuity presented us with, it, was refreshing to find relief in the unlikely form of
THE OUTSIDERS and I am still happily surprised with the quality of this semi-reboot.
The only real hiccup of this issue comes inside “The Haven”, a Bat-Spaceship orbiting the Earth. The Outsiders discuss their mission and purpose and Metamorpho lays out how each of them represents a different facet of Batman. This seemed unnecessary and did not really provide any new insight into the purpose of the group or the specific members, which featured in the two previous entries in the series. All the same, it was humorous to see The Outsiders in space in a Bat shaped craft, without the problem of fitting Brucey in a spacesuit and trying to maintain his patented grimace while orbiting the globe. This is perhaps the only title actively benefiting from the absence of Bruce Wayne/Batman, which is ironic because of the heavy damage it took during the BATMAN, R.I.P/FINAL CRISIS nonsense.
With DC recently laying out the future of Batman while the cries of subjugation can be heard from a large portion of the comic reading fan base, it is interesting to see that THE OUTSIDERS has simply trimmed the fat, where as the remainder of the Batman related titles are caught up the in this ludicrous EVENT. I am surprised that DC, in their infinite wisdom did not see fit to replace the team format in THE OUTSIDERS with Björk playing a whale-person, as in Drawing Restraint 9. Hell, it may still be on the schedule- perhaps the conclusion to BATTLE FOR THE COWL? Everybody finds their inner whale? Makes more sense than a Caveman Batman. Anyway…
Just remember friends that if you do find your stomach churning like the seas in Matthew Barney’s engaging film, you just have to suck it up. Make do with the scraps of BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL or learn to love what you’re fed. Nobody likes an ungrateful orphan.
The interplay between The Outsiders is nicely subdued, while steering away from the gloomy and the morose and making sure to present a fun group of cast-offs. I am still feeling very positive about the potential of Creeper and hope to see him get more personally involved soon.
The underground clan of evildoers is moderately intriguing as of this issue, but I expect it to become much more so in the following months. It is serious only in the sense that it gives The Outsiders something to play off of; the panels detailing the pursuits of these rogues are themselves imbued with the mix of the fantastic, humour and a John Carpenter sense of where horror and sc-fi meet. This makes Paul happy.
For no reason at all, here is some Roddy Piper in They Live...
FROM DC COMICS: "'The Deep' (part 2 of 6). Who are The Insiders, and what exactly are they searching for deep under the Earth's surface that could alter the future of mankind? As The Outsiders engage the first defensive circle of The Insiders, the newly formed team face a severe test as Geo-Force displays a unique perspective on how best to lead them in battle – and it doesn't sit well with Black Lightning."
