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.

On the Outs

I'm going to drop Outsiders.

The book has been a schizophrenic ride from the beginning, but under Dan DiDio and Phillip Tan it seems to be reaching a new low.

Sure, the book has been in some weird places the past few years. But under Peter Tomasi and Lee Garbett/Fernando Pasarin it seemed to have stabilized. Characters I didn't normally care about became interesting and characters I hate became tolerable.

But all of that seems to have been wiped away in a single issue. Geo-Force is more annoying that ever before. Katana is acting very strange. Owlman (one of Tomasi's best creations for the book) and Black Lightning are being played like chumps.

Now, it's possible that this is all part of some larger more grandiose plan. But if it is I'd like to get a hint that we'll be reaching a status quo that's acceptable to me as a reader. But all the hints were the other way. That's why the book is going into the discard pile.

Any other readers of Outsiders dismayed at the recent turn of the events? I mean, is the book really any good without Alfred?

Re: DiDio on Outsiders

Good Lord, the way people on the Internet are reacting to this news you'd think DC had hired Satan to write a comic book starring Hitler.

I wish people would chill out a little bit. I get it. A lot of people really hate Dan DiDio. I don't get that but it is what it is. But you know what? It's not like he's seized control of Green Lantern or kicked Morrison off of Batman and Robin so he can write it himself. He's going to be writing Outsiders which is a book full of C-listers at best.

Sure, I'm kind of bummed that Tomasi and Pasarin aren't going to be sticking around. But they've probably got other stuff on deck. DiDio didn't have them removed so he could take over.

I think everybody who's having a hissy fit over Dan DiDio writing Outsiders really needs to get some perspective...

Inside Outside

Have you been reading Outsiders? You should be. Pete Tomasi is a radical comic writing machine, and Outsiders has gone from being a damn mess to being one of the books I look forward to the most each month. It's crazy.

The Outsiders are up against a sinister group of immortals called the Insiders. Yeah, that's probably not an accident. Seems these immortals gain their immortality from some sort of mysterious metorite.

What's that? You've heard that story before? Why yes, there is another character in the DC Universe who was made immortal by a meteorite. It's the same metorite. But it made this guy immortal way before these guys. And he's coming for what's his:

Yes indeed, that's Vandal Savage, immortal genius caveman and inventor of murder, the wheel, and cannibalism.

The "Insiders" are so screwed.

Why Not Me?

I'm sort of confused about this new Outsiders team. As far as I understand it Alfred has gathered together a group of heroes who represent different aspects of Batman's personality.

Well, that I understand. I guess what I'm having trouble is this: where's the part of Batman that steps over the edge and brutally beats criminals within an inch of their lives? I mean, that's a classic part of what he does, no? Why didn't Alfred get in touch with someone who has the requisite skill set to freak out and start kicking bad guys in the face?

Every team needs a guy like that...

Back to This

Here's a topic I haven't talked about in a long time: Cassandra Cain.

She showed up in Batman and the Outsiders #2, you know. In costume as Batgirl. It was a very "old school" Cassandra kind of scene, what with the one-liner and the unnecessary violence.

I listened to an interview with Chuck Dixon a while ago. He talked about putting Batgirl on the team. It was an editorial decision, it seems. And that makes me very leery. I mean, the last few "editorial decisions" regarding Cassandra Cain taught her Navajo and had her toting a sniper rifle. Not what I'm looking for.

But despite that, I'm optimistic. From what I heard in the interview, Mr. Dixon seems to get Cassandra's character. He wrote a number of issues of her original series and has a pretty good idea of how she's supposed to work. So here's hoping things turn out all right.

I'm actually more interested in the issue of Detective that Mr. Dixon mentions in the interview. He said that he'd written a Detective fill-in that shows how Batman is able to come to trust Cassandra again. That's going to take some hoop-jumping...

Team Work

I didn't get an invitation to join you-know-who's new Outsiders team.

I mean, it's not like I actually expected it. But know that I was hopeful that I might get a call. When I heard that he was taking over the team, I thought maybe it was an opportunity. Sure, he doesn't want to work with me when people know it. But a covert team that he can disavow? It's a match made in Heaven!

I'd fit right in among a team of misfits and freaks that nobody else wants to have around. And if you need someone with cred as a "dangerous, unhinged psychopath" then well... I'm your man!

Plus I would get to hang out with all sorts of interesting people. Katana, Metamorpho, Geo-Force... Well, not Geo-Force. But you get the idea. People who have an understanding of being on the outside and occasionally entering into psychotic religious delusions.

And so I waited by the phone. For quite a while. I even tried calling, but I couldn't get the nerve and hung up before anyone had the chance to answer. I did that a couple of times, actually...

Getting Outside

Well, well, well. Things are looking up for a certain "Daughter of Cain." If my eyes do not deceive me that's Batgirl on a team with a bunch of characters who can all charitably be called heroes (with the exception of Geo-Force, who we like to call "incompetent").

The big question is, how are they going to get her back into working with Batman? I mean, in the past few years he has barely acknowledged her presence. He's ignored her almost completely. Not to mention the fact that DC's had her written so inconsistently recently that no two appearances are the same.

Ever since they canceled her book, DC hasn't had any idea what to do with Cassandra Cain. Hopefully Chuck Dixon will find something to do with her. And Batman as well...