Outside and Inside

Good Lord the Outsiders look to be a mess.

I stopped buying the book shortly after DiDio took over, but I still see the previews from time to time. It's a fascinating window into a world that that I never get to see. It's like gazing into an alternate DCU where everything is completely ridiculous -- but not in a good way.

Absurd characters (see: Freight Train), ridiculous plots (see: Simon Stagg and Java), and hackneyed melodrama (see: the death of Sapphire Stagg). I really don't know what DiDio is trying to do here. I do like Tan's art, but it feels like he's being wasted here on Outsiders.

It's really a shame, too. This book has been all over the map since it was relaunched. When it started it looked like it was going to be pretty good. Then Batman got killed and there was a creative change (plus Cassandra Cain got jettisoned, natch). It started to suck again and then Tomasi and Pasarin took over and turned things around again.

But that didn't last long, transitioning into the current era. And I imagine the only thing that keeps this book from being canceled is the fact that Dan DiDio is writing.

They should let me write Outsiders. I could do better.