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Everybody loves the outsider, outcast, or underdog. And since Batman initially formed his team of Outsiders over 2 decades ago, we’ve thrilled to their outsiderness. Then Batman up and left the Outsiders to fend for themselves. Then DC uber-writer Judd Winick took Nightwing and Arsenal and gave them a team of Outsiders. And then, Batman had to come back and take the reins back. Thus the circle is complete. Now they’re back under the control of the man who created them. Since the formation of the new team, we’ve lost some members and gained some. In the first few issues, we had Catwoman (always a nice piece of cheesecake) and Martian Manhunter. But now they’re gone, and have been replaced by Green Arrow, Batgirl and founding member Geo-Force. And now, in Batman and The Outsiders #6, they’re in deep space and deep trouble.

Last issue ended with the megalomaniacal, murderous and all around strange-o Belgian guy, Jardine, getting taken into custody by what seem to be two more new members, Ralph and Sue Dibny, doing their best Deadman impersonations, but not before Metamorpho hitched a ride on a space shuttle for… well… space, so they could find out what exactly Jardine is up to with his OMAC experiments. With me so far? Now, Batman has dispatched the team to steal another rocketship (this time from a heavily-fortified Chinese army base) while Metamorpho takes a look around a monstrous space station that seems to have a crew of people that seem human but they also seem to share a hive mind. Still with me? Unfortunately for our heroes, they meet some Chinese metas that want to seriously burn their collective bacon and most of them, with the exception of Geo-Force and Batgirl, are captured. Get all that?

I didn’t think so.

Let’s just take a breath and ask ourselves a quick question. What the hell is going on in this comic? I don’t mind a good character-based team comic, but it’s also important to have some semblance of a plot. I can understand that this is a mystery, but I had to go back through the first five issues of this comic to even kinda-sorta comprehend what’s at work here. What is Jardine trying to accomplish with the OMAC’s and Brother I, other than it having something to do with it doing it all in space? How did Francine Langstrom get all caught up in this (other than all the owesies to Batman)? Is Batman so content to mostly stay behind the scenes and run everything from on high? Why does Thunder keep appearing, but not yet be part of the team? Who is Salah (other than a super computer geek) and why did Batman have to knockout-gas him? What’s going on the the reprogrammed OMAC they have in their base? What is going on?!?

Apart from that little problem, this is still one heck of an entertaining comic. My favorite moment comes when Ollie admits to having a little Batman identity crisis at the start of his career. The character moments, when they make sense, are often fun and engaging and they make us care about this merry band of outcasts. I really like the art team of penciller Carlos Rodriguez and inker Bit (yes, Bit).  But I just really have a big problem with the plot not coming together after six issues.

Chuck Dixon is a smart guy and a talented writer. I hope that he doesn’t try to make it too much smarter though. I’m really confused.

Batman and The Outsiders #6
“Ghost Star”
Written by Chuck Dixon
Pencils by Carlos Rodriguez
Inks by Bit
Colors by Marta Martinez
Letters by Sal Cipriano

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