By: Jeff Lemire (story), Andrea Sorrentino (art), Marcelo Maiolo (colors)
The Story: Komodo learns that dads should never get in between a mother-daughter relationship.
The Review: As cool a concept as the Outsiders may have seemed at first, they also seemed slightly antiquated and a little at odds with the criminal demands of the modern world, especially one populated with superpowers. I mean, characters like Green Arrow, Katana, or Hawkman* are in the same boat, or would be if they didn’t modify their martial artistry with trick arrows, magic swords, and Nth metal. The Outsiders haven’t kept up with the times quite as well.
Ollie made that pretty clear last month when he took out nearly an entire clan by himself with a single umbrella arrow. Even fighting amongst themselves, without the pressure of defending against gunfire—can you imagine the slaughter if there was such a thing as a Gun Clan?—we haven’t seen much to recommend them as truly formidable threats. If there’s a title that can stand to skew its balance towards action, it’s this one. The inter-clan battle in this issue is far too brief for its size, making it hard to appreciate the power and skill of the warriors involved.
It’s not as if Lemire has a ton of new material that he has to get through. Much of the dialogue here is basically a repeat of exchanges from the last two issues, except louder. In Ollie’s argument with his dad, some lines seem taken practically verbatim from their meeting in #28: “What I did made you the man you are. It made you the hero you are!” Between Ollie’s baleful speeches to Robert and Emiko screaming for Komodo to stop lying to her, you could call this issue “Attack of the Resentful Children: Part Deux.”
Naturally, Robert takes his son’s rant to heart while Komodo doesn’t give a crap about his (adopted) daughter’s whining. Lemire has set up a clear parallel between the two men: both have lied to and used their children, all for the sake of a supposedly mystical arrow. Neither are paragons of fatherhood, but at least Robert isn’t willing to shoot through his own child to get at his mortal enemy. I sincerely hope his martyred save of Emiko at the end here doesn’t mean he’s about to written out just after he was written back in, although bigger characters have died for less, and in even less time.
Robert’s potential death may be the cliffhanger you’ll be waiting on until next time, but for my money, the really important takeaway from this issue is Magus’ uncertain place within the Outsiders mythology. He belongs to no clan, apparently; indeed, he’s referred to as a clan all to himself, “The Mask.” Butcher calls him a shapeshifter, which he proves by playing Ollie’s double, and Komodo claims he’s immortal, which is partially true. Magus doesn’t take an arrow straight through the head very seriously, anyway. Besides that, the perfect timing of his appearances suggests some degree of foresight, which gives a bit of credence to Komodo’s accusation that Magus may be moving players around for his own game.
It’s a crying shame that Lemire turns the actual war among Outsiders into a mostly talking-heads issue, especially when he’s got a magnificent artist like Sorrentino, who can easily work wonders where action is concerned. When I think of all the pages spent on Ollie looking bitterly at his dad instead of a sweet fist/ax/sword/arrow/magic battle, I tell you, it’s enough to make you sigh with deep, abiding regret. At least Sorrentino gets out some effective expressions here, particularly where the women are concerned.
Conclusion: If this is the climax of an all-out war between ancient weapons clans, then it doesn’t seem like much of a war. A gangfight, more like it.
Grade: C+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: *All JLA members, you’ll notice. Make of that what you will.
– Back in Seattle, Richard Dragon recruits Count Vertigo to his cause. An unlikely combination, but I can dig it.
Grade
Conclusion