Batman and the Outsiders #5 Review

T Is for Turbo


Written By: Bryan Hill 
Art By: Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 11, 2019

I really hope this book picks up the pace and I hope it's soon!  We are almost done a trade of story and yet, the Outsider's team has just stood around, argued, bonded, argued some more...and all of this is happening while Batman keeps telling us that they have to save Sofia.  Well, do they finally get to the task at hand?  Let's find out...



The issue opens with a page of half conversations showing the reader how tough it is to get into Kadym and blend in.  It's easy to get the point after one or two panels and really, it doesn't really end up meaning much anyway.  Plus, I thought we were going to get some undercover gun runner coolness, but all we get is Katana holding a gun and say she is a weapon.  It's all a lot of window dressing leading to Katana to give him a little lesson about the guilt of taking another man's life...or maybe not, it's hard to say since it is all interrupted by Kaliber calling to say he has eyes on Sofia.

Black Lightning and Katana may not have friends in Kadym, put they have kickass dirtbikes and head off to the confrontation with Sofia that is three issues in the making.  I'd love to say it was worth the wait, but it's just an extended scene with Black Lightning doing Black Lightning things and Katana knocking some sense into Sofia who didn't just say no to drugs and seems to want some Outsiders' help.

It all looks great and I wouldn't expect much less from Dexter Soy and this art team, but when Jefferson realizes it's all a trap, but not for them, we get a cliffhanger that makes all the dilly-dallying and force and repetitive team interactions that lead to this point all make sense...but not in a great way.  I will wait to see what this ending could lead to because there are a lot of cool things that may come about from it, but something important better happen soon in this book or I will have to drop it...and not like it's hot.

This issue is just par for the Outsiders course so far and by that I mean not a lot happens in the issue, but there is a cool cliffhanger that is just enough to keep me going forward.  The art is a huge plus, but the five issues we've gotten so far can probably all be read in fifteen minutes with this one being the quickest of the bunch.  I just need more out of this book because it just doesn't feel important at all right now.

Bits and Pieces:

Batman and the Outsiders is such a good looking book, but looks can only get you so far and once you delve deeper, there isn't that much else there.  The overall story has progressed at a snail's pace and in the end, it just hasn't been that interesting.  I hope things quickly change for the better, but right now I can't recommend this issue or series.

5.5/10