Double Duty: Batman & The Outsiders #4

Batman and the Outsiders #4
Published by DC
Written by Chuck Dixon
Pencils by Julian Lopez

FourthMan's Take:

I should really like this book. I dug The Outsiders and am a huge fan of Batman. I fondly remember the days when Dixon was a good writer. He still shows that gleam every once in a while (check out The Iron Ghost for proof).

Thing is: this book has been forgettable so far. On top of that I can’t even remember when issue #3 came out, making it that much harder to remember the details of the book. For those of you in shock about that, remember that on average I read 10 comics and a trade a day. That puts me at close to 500 single issues a month, delays on books can cause huge problems with my comprehension.

With that out of the way, this issue does pick it up some. I still don’t quite understand this team or some of Dixon’s out of character voices. For example: Green Arrow, of all people, should be all about some second chances. Yet his attitude towards Batgirl borders on strange. Is there some jealousy there and if so why? These are the kind of character issues that make a book stand out, but when dropped like this make it forgettable. Oh yeah, there is the whole “Brother I” thing, too. Is Dixon being a smartass?

The big thing here though is the “Remac”. Unfortunately a lot of the tension that could have been built on this idea is given away almost immediately. We see a regular OMAC pretty much copy the “Remac”’s abilities. This is a missed opportunity. I don’t see how withholding that till next issue would have harmed anything. It is nice to see the OMACs playing a huge role in the DCU again, check this week’s Countdown for more on that.

The biggest plus on this book is the art. Lopez has some shaky lip scenes at points, but overall it is very nice. His Batman and Batgirl are very impressive and his Green Arrow iconic. Might have to hunt down some more of his work

All in all, this book is better then the last three, but it will really only be a true achievement if I remember what happened when #5 ships.

Huxford's Take:

I held off on reading Lee's take on the issue until I had already read it. I was originally expecting that he might have a more positive take on the issue than I expected I would (based on previews for the book on Newsarama). Imagine my surprise in finding out that we had many of the same gripes. Well, at least the gripes were in the same area. Given Green Arrow's problems with certain members of the League of Assassins recently, I can understand him not being understanding of Batgirl's presence right away. I was a bit surprised by how familiar he was with her role with the League and how little faith he had in Batman choosing her to be on the team. The resolution of his concern was every bit as clunky as the introduction of it, really.

In fact, this whole issue doesn't have even a coherent, consistent voice. It makes me wonder if Dixon's script wasn't changed to a noticeable degree by editorial. I can grasp not liking his work on the issue, but not the idea that it feels incompetently slapped together. That doesn't seem like Dixon at all. I'd have to agree that the artwork from Lopez here is a positive. It, also, isn't completely consistent...but it is largely enjoyable. Even when given a goofy, out-of-place Remac shape-changing display. I'm not sure how well this book is going to hum along with the apparent sloppiness effecting the first 6-8 issues (at least partially caused by the whole Bedard/Dixon shuffle).