Some thoughts about Batman & the Outsiders #17

The Outsiders are over.

Ra's Al Ghul has been defeated and now the team doesn't have a proper mission but this affects Batman the most.

Yes, this book is finally over and just like most of its existence, it ends with a whimper instead of a bang.

This doesn't come much of a surprise of course since for like the last 10 issues, Bryan Hill has done nothing but extent the plot about the fight against Ra's Al Ghul to the point that most chapters felt immensely tedious, not to mention that such arc didn't have any right to be as long as it was neither from a character, nor story standpoint.

And is not like there were good moments because at times I considered this book genuinely entertaining based on the character dynamics and how well Hill handled most of the cast, particularly Black Lightning but ultimately this wasn't enough to ignore the completely hollow direction.

There are some glances of that brilliance here, an issue completely centered around character work, about how the whole cast sees each other now that the battle is over with solid moments here and there (I especially liked the conversation between Bruce and Cassandra). Then again, this reminds me of the lack of a proper plot that was so prevalent during most of this run due to how little it actually happens ("We don't know what to do next". That's the whole premise) and the ending is so underwhelming that it feels fitting at this point.

Marcio Takara handles the art and is solid with clear expressions and storytelling although his style might be a bit too angular for my taste.

Mediocre ending for a mediocre series. Should have been better.