Outsiders 38-40

Outsiders (Volume 4) #38
Written by Keith Giffen and Dan Didio
Art by Giffen

Keith Giffen joins Didio in this issue of the Outsiders and it vastly improves the dialogue…I would assume…I did not go back and re-read the previous issues but I do remember horrible dialogue. What is clear about Didio is he and I both have a common interest in the history of this team. If Didio loves these obscure characters and brings them back for his run, why can’t he understand the love for characters like Cassandra Cain, Linda Danvers, Kyle Rayner, and Wally West?! But I digress, this was actually a cool issue as we see the return of a lot of former Outsiders as they battle it out in Markovia. Hell, even Technocrat shows up. I loved it. I hate to say that, but Didio and Giffren did a good job here.

Outsiders (Volume 4) #39
Written by Keith Giffen and Dan Didio
Art by Giffen

The big villain manupulating things behind the scenes is revealed to be Veritas whose motivations are not explained and Geo-Force becomes one with the land of Markovia erecting huge walls of earth around the country’s borders for some reason. It was not as good as the last issue and left me very confused. It looks like Batman will be showing up for the final issue though.

 

Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 2) #40
Written by Dan Didio and Phillip Tan
Art by Tan

This is the final issue of this series and truly a finale to the Outsiders’s long history in the DC Universe which is beautifully recapped in the pages of this comic. One day I want to go through this again and see if every Outsider appears in the flashbacks because it sure seems like they covered it all! I am actually very proud of Didio for this. I know I can’t stand the decisions he has made as head of DC but he sure does love the Outsiders. So why in the hell did he restart the continuity of the DC Universe with the new 52 if he loves the Outsiders so much! Geo-Force is left here a broken person and it is sad we will probably never see this resolved. I actually even liked Tan’s art in this. We even get to see him draw Cassandra Cain in a flashback! Didio included Cassandra in a book he wrote! Or…I bet it was Tan.

 

 

Waste Of Panels

Outsiders (Volume 4) #28
Written by Dan Didio
Art by Phillip Tan

 

As I expected, this book is not getting any better. What the hell is Didio doing?! Still no explanation for Geo-Force’s actions…is he being manipulated? Is Katana? And still no mention of Halo! Where the hell is she? The entire issue was a rather boring fight between Black Lightning and Geo-Force with Didio’s lame narration. What a waste of panels.

Where is Halo?!

Outsiders (Volume 4) #27
Written by Dan Didio
Art by Don Kramer

 

Didio oh Didio! Why do you write such bad dialogue? Do we need to make fun of you even more then we already do? Black Lightning final line in this issue was so lame. Geo-Force and Katana are acting really strange still (I am hoping that there is going to be an in-story reason for this) and there is no fucking mention or anything of Halo?! Where did she go? Did someone forget about her? What is going on with this book? Where is Phillip Tan, how are we needing a fill-in artist already? Why is this guy in charge of DC Comics when he can’t even keep things together on this one book? Yes it was cool to see classic Outsiders villains the Masters of Disaster and I like the continuity references but this issue is just soo bad. Why is Owlman referring to Blackest Night as Blackest Night? Why not the time where everyone became Black Lanterns? Didio is writing him as if he is aware that it was a comic mini-series called Blackest Night! This is awful. Just awful.