Comics Fondle

The Outsiders go to space–and are apparently the only superheroes on the planet, as Superman, Wonder Woman or Supergirl could have handled these issues’ crisis in a matter of moments–and Halo falls in love (again).

It’s an amiable arc, with Kobra revealing itself and going after the Outsiders in their secret identities. In that sequence, it appears Bruce Wayne kills one of the Kobra guys with a laser gun (to save Alfred). It’s never discussed.

Alan Davis’s art is better, though his heads are still a wee bit wide and his non-emoting Katana is strange. He’s got her crying in one bit and it’s good.

All in all, these issues are a fine enough adventure. Maybe there’s some problems with suspense (there isn’t any–it’s unlikely Halo’s going to die after being kidnapped–and it’s kind of odd how easily she’s taken out), but it’s fine. Batman’s the least compelling once again, though Davis draws him pretty well. There’s a lack of excitement to Davis’s fight scenes though. For instance, I couldn’t tell what the Outsiders were doing during the final fight scene and the Batman versus King Kobra (is that the Kobra leader’s name?) was boring.

Barr goes heavy on pop culture references here. Star Wars is everywhere, but so is Madonna. There’s even a cameo by Gorbachev.

It’s just too bad the issues couldn’t have been more engaging (it’s almost like the pop culture references and the b-plots were supposed to distract the reader).

C

Recommend on Mahalo