Barr celebrates the first year of Batman and the Outsiders with Katana’s origin and a startling development for the intuitive Outsiders (they find out Batman is Bruce Wayne–and in a nice move from Barr, Halo feels really sorry for him, remembering how much Bruce Wayne hates Batman). The Katana origin part is lackluster. Though the trip to Japan does have some nice moments–mostly the Outsiders hanging around the Tokyo cityscape–Katana’s big secret is kind of dumb. She also let her kids burn because her husband, who was a sword, told her to. I mean, that isn’t how Barr plays it, but in one panel the kids are screaming for help, the next the husband-the-sword tells her to go, and the third, she’s out of there. Not sure how I much I trust Batman’s choice to have Katana look out for Halo… seems like the refrigerator might tell her to leave her… oh, and she does in these issues, that’s right. Katana abandons Halo one night (ruining Halo’s first date, I think). At least Halo wasn’t on fire.
When they get to Japan though (all of the Outsiders, who meet Katana there), we’ve already met the villains for the issue. While these villains have been imprisioned in Katana’s sword for hundreds of years, they all have dumb names they annouce–like Blowdart. It’s all sort of embarrasing to read, since these characters don’t need silly names or names at all (I liked it when Geo-Force tried to get the Norse guy to stop fighting him, the reasoning being he wasn’t Japanese like the rest of the bad guys). They’re filler to give the rest of the Outsiders opponents while–gasp–Katana fights her brainwashed husband to the death. I don’t even think letting Katana run the two issues solo would have been a ballsy move on Barr’s part (hell, he could have had Halo and Batman following her as a ‘B’ plot and Geo-Force and Metamorpho cruising Halo’s high school for cheerleaders a ‘C’ plot and no one would have blinked). I think he put all the nonsense in because he wanted to… so he’s solely responsible for a confusing, unsatisfying issue.
The third of these issues–continuing from the previous in the most contrived way possible–features a poisioned Batman who has to keep moving to stay alive. Barr ought to sue the makers of Crank. In an awesome move, the Outsiders unmask an unconscious Batman to discover his identity, then stage a re-killing of his parents (presumably Alfred tells them the details) in order to get him crazy. The issue also ties in to some earlier “Mr. Big” villainry, but it’s mostly fluff. With really, really bad Dan Day art. I don’t know who this guy is, but if he’s making me desperate for some Jim Aparo… it’s something.
There’s good stuff and bad stuff (mostly bad stuff, some of it above, some I’ve forgotten) in the issues. The good stuff is quite good in parts though. So good I’d say issue #13 features Barr’s best work so far in the series. Of the good, as usual, the relationship between Katana and Halo (until, of course, Katana abandons Halo). There’s also some interesting Batman material–like how much he’d like to live in Toyko. The moment where Halo remembers how much Bruce Wayne hates his alter ego is also really kicking. And even with the bad art and the dumb inclusion of another dumb supervillain (named “Mayme,” get it?) issue #13 is effective. Even if it does feel a little like Westworld in parts.
B
Recommend on Mahalo
1 response so far ↓
1 Marionette // Apr 7, 2008 at 9:45 am
I’m not entirely sure why I’m still reading along at this point. I find the art ugly, the writing poor, and the characters all bland and dull.
Stand out moments are like the farcical opening to #13, where Geo-Force rushes into the hospital and demands that the only doctor they can find stop treating his patient immediately and tend to Batman.
The art is so poor that it’s impossible to tell where in the hospital they are, but the fact that the patient is in a bed suggests that they have bypassed A&E and run straight into a ward. A ward where the lighting has gone out.
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