A review by captwinghead
Outsiders, Vol. 5: The Good Fight by Art Thibert, Matthew Clark, Ron Randall, Judd Winick, Pop Mhan
3.0
This was interesting.
A little closer to the series I loved before the last lackluster tie in issue. Crisis on Infinite Earths (I think that's what it's called) is yet another huge DC event I know virtually nothing about. In wiki-ing it, I found that it was an event that attempted to reboot and retcon some of the aspects of DC characters. Interestingly enough, it said Dick Grayson came out of it lighter. I don't really see that. It did something to Shift from the looks of things and this was either when Roy joined the Justice League or he's just not here because he's finding himself. I'm not sure.
Either way, I started out a little confused as to what was happening but I rolled with it. It wasn't that relevant to the story. We begin with Anissa undercover and I had some questions because she's a lot more yelly in this volume than ever before. It's a pretty dark storyline about child soilders and because African dictators were trying to murder hundreds of thousands of people, I'm completely understanding of Dick's extreme methods. There is a point where he threatens his hero, Superman, because Superman threatens to shut him down. The realization that he wasn't bluffing was pretty amazing.
The plot with the clones initially made me roll my eyes because Christ, how many times do I have to read this? But they got me interested when they talked about who was purchasing the clones, why and the story of the ape guy and his boyfriend (?) the brain was actually believable by the end? I know, I'm surprised, too.
I didn't like that Roy was replaced with Captain Boomerang. I've never been fond of any iteration of this character. Starfire is gone from the team here and I'm entirely sure why. I like Katana being here, though. I really liked seeing a rather sweet glimpse of Grace and Anissa's romance. Loved the "I take care of my girl" line. That's about all I enjoyed, to be honest.
The art wasn't my fave. I'm super picky about the way Dick is drawn and this just wasn't appealing.
So, I can't figure out if Winick was told "hey, you get about 15 issues to write whatever the hell you want" and he ran with that and made something amazing before giving up after three volumes. Or, if they said "make whatever the hell you want", he got super excited and thought he had a long time span and then the giant event attacked. I'm not sure but it sucks because it looks like what often plagues the Marvel series of today, plagued this series. Winick had something pretty damn spectacular going; one of the most intriguing, in depth, complex characterization filled series I've ever read and then it just stagnated.
It bums me out because this, like Gotham Central, will never be recreated. I'm shocked a series like this was ever allowed to get made. So, I'm mourning the loss of a wonderful series and awaiting the last volume. I'm bummed but I suppose I can always reread the best of this series.
A little closer to the series I loved before the last lackluster tie in issue. Crisis on Infinite Earths (I think that's what it's called) is yet another huge DC event I know virtually nothing about. In wiki-ing it, I found that it was an event that attempted to reboot and retcon some of the aspects of DC characters. Interestingly enough, it said Dick Grayson came out of it lighter. I don't really see that. It did something to Shift from the looks of things and this was either when Roy joined the Justice League or he's just not here because he's finding himself. I'm not sure.
Either way, I started out a little confused as to what was happening but I rolled with it. It wasn't that relevant to the story. We begin with Anissa undercover and I had some questions because she's a lot more yelly in this volume than ever before. It's a pretty dark storyline about child soilders and because African dictators were trying to murder hundreds of thousands of people, I'm completely understanding of Dick's extreme methods. There is a point where he threatens his hero, Superman, because Superman threatens to shut him down. The realization that he wasn't bluffing was pretty amazing.
The plot with the clones initially made me roll my eyes because Christ, how many times do I have to read this? But they got me interested when they talked about who was purchasing the clones, why and the story of the ape guy and his boyfriend (?) the brain was actually believable by the end? I know, I'm surprised, too.
I didn't like that Roy was replaced with Captain Boomerang. I've never been fond of any iteration of this character. Starfire is gone from the team here and I'm entirely sure why. I like Katana being here, though. I really liked seeing a rather sweet glimpse of Grace and Anissa's romance. Loved the "I take care of my girl" line. That's about all I enjoyed, to be honest.
The art wasn't my fave. I'm super picky about the way Dick is drawn and this just wasn't appealing.
So, I can't figure out if Winick was told "hey, you get about 15 issues to write whatever the hell you want" and he ran with that and made something amazing before giving up after three volumes. Or, if they said "make whatever the hell you want", he got super excited and thought he had a long time span and then the giant event attacked. I'm not sure but it sucks because it looks like what often plagues the Marvel series of today, plagued this series. Winick had something pretty damn spectacular going; one of the most intriguing, in depth, complex characterization filled series I've ever read and then it just stagnated.
It bums me out because this, like Gotham Central, will never be recreated. I'm shocked a series like this was ever allowed to get made. So, I'm mourning the loss of a wonderful series and awaiting the last volume. I'm bummed but I suppose I can always reread the best of this series.