"Are you guys third-string JLA or what?"

Um...unfortunately, yes.

Let's get this out of the way right now. I have absolutely no problem with superheroes that have fantastic supernatural abilities, fly around the world and into alternate dimensions. I just have a problem when Batman does it.

The main problem with issue #5 of BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS is grounded in Batman's strengths as a character, what works in his mythology, and how he is generally at odds with fitting into an ensemble cast.

Batman in this title just seems redundant to me -- the glue to try and hold together the fragments of ideas and occasionally pleasing action sequences. This speaks of the larger problems in this particular issue.

I felt zero connection to pretty much everyone who featured. Green Arrow oddly seems to be a better fit than Batman in attempting to bridge the realism/supernatural gap. This seems to me to be a problem whenever Batman is planted in a world not his own. Why does everything have to end up with an "all in" mentality?

Danger on a world scale? Works for Superman, not for Batman.

If this had taken the same characters and visual style and fixed it firmly within the confines of Gotham City and had not felt the need to up the stakes to ridiculous levels, then I could see really liking B&TO. The benefit of having a larger collection of characters and villains surely lies in the ability to explore the relationships and hierarchies that exist within the world when a character like Batman loses his individuality and is merely one part of a world of super heroes and crime fighting sorts.

This series has no interest in doing that. Besides some highly superficial friction between Green Arrow and Metamorpho -- much like the Batgirl/Green Arrow dynamic that was left unexplored in issue 4 -- this falls flat like a rather large super thing falling….somewhere.

The sense of humor that pervades the series is one of its stronger points. Everything is kept relatively light in nature and always up, unfortunately leaving no room for character development. There are no down moments to -- you know -- examine the motivation of the characters or any of those silly things. Sometimes exploring motivation and getting deep in character development is not a requirement. Sometimes it can just click naturally and further explanation is not advisable.

This is not one of those times.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #5 feels two-dimensional and not in that “fun, just enjoy the ride” kinda way. The ensemble based, battling unspeakable odds vibe has been done better nearly everywhere else -- JLA for one. The combination of characters and team members still feels random and without considerable thought to how they will add or subtract to the execution of a compelling story.

I don't think this is a terrible piece of work; I admire some of the ideas contained within. It is however wracked with a large identity crisis. There seems to be no purpose or reason to the inclusion of Batman, past being a bankable name to pull readers in. He feels like a supporting actor waiting around set all day to finally film a scene which didn't need him to begin with.

There is a serious lack of weight here, even from the perspective of only wanting continuous set-pieces and larger than life characters.

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #5, like the previous four, is a mismatch of attitudes and perspectives that just doesn't work.