April 2015

• Title: Convergence: Batman and the Outsiders #1
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Marc Andreyko
• Artist: Carlos D’Anda

By throwing together various past and present versions of DC charaters together Convergence continues to be a bizarre mix of intriguing to truly awful. Convergence: Batman and the Outsiders #1, which gives us Batman‘s team of heroes from the 80s, is the first issue of Convergence to show us all the heroes still in costume. Despite most of the team being without their powers that hasn’t stopped the Outsiders from following Batman’s example and continuing to suit-up to do what they can for a city trapped under a dome for a full year. It’s also the first issue to really deal with the reality of diminishing resources of a city completely cut-off from the rest of the world for month.

Given how many characters the comic has to introduce it does a pretty good job (although once the dome falls, like most every Convergence title, things get less interesting very fast as Mortal Kombat begins). One odd note: Although the cover of the issue gets Batman’s look right the art inside makes a major mistake not arming the classically-clad Caped Crusader in his classic utility belt of the time. Considering the look of the old characters is the major selling point for the series it’s distracting. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]