Outsiders #26

Dan DiDio's first issue picks up with a status quo I know nothing about, since until now I've been reading Outsiders in trade. And wow, the team must have been really messed up over the past few months. Geo-Force is a sad sack, wandering around his castle yelling at people and trying to use his teammates as a special forces squad of assassins. Black Lightning and Katana are the assassins, and I was pleased to see that BL is against the idea, but wow, this team is fractured too. Meanwhile, Metamorpho and Jack Ryder (the Creeper) are having some coffee at Metamorpho's request, but the minute Ryder resists the gesture, Metamorpho rips one and leaves (not a joke). He leaves Ryder sitting in a cloud of methane. That's just odd, isn't it?

The issue wasn't exactly new reader friendly. I don't know who Geo-Force is yelling at for the first third of the issue. I think the sadness in Geo-Force's life all stems from that weird DCU Last Will & Testament one-shot that I ignored rather than picking up from recent issues of this title. I will say I'm thrilled to see the Eradicator showing up in this title again. Does his inclusion make this a Superman title now?

Philip Tan and Don Kramer do a decent job splitting the art. While I prefer Kramer's clean pencils, I think Tan's scratchier, moodier pencils fit the tone of this book better. I just don't think I'll be following the book after Peter Tomasi's trades end. I'm interested in a team of heroes handling weird cases, not in some Eastern European hit-squad. (Unless you guys tell me that Eradicator is just awesome. Then I'll get it.)

Average