AUTHOR: BRYAN HILL | ARTIST: DEXTER SOY | PUBLISHER: DC COMICS | FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

As one of comics’ great outsiders, it’s ironic that the Batman should find himself busy with so many superhero teams. By now, the Bat-family alone is busier and more crowded than most iterations of the Justice League. Batman’s latest group project is his newest version of The Outsiders – or Batman and The Outsiders, with DC slapping their most popular character’s name in the title of the book.

This particular version of the team consists of Black Lightning, Katana, The Signal, and Orphan, making it more Bat-centric than previous line-ups. And, as such, a lot of the drama is in seeing members of the Bat-family clash with Katana and reluctant team leader Black Lightning (see Detective Comics for some backstory there).

While one is happy to see the often underappreciated Black Lightning and Katana get their time in the spotlight, the book’s success rests on how invested one is in the characters – particularly Batman’s current batch of hangers-on. Tortured and grim as they may be, The Signal and Orphan are hardly the most engaging characters we’ve ever seen propping themselves up in the Batcave. But hey, if anything is going to make us care about these guys, it’s a good team-up book.

And for now, writer Bryan Hill sets up plenty of tension and drama between the team, seeding a resentment and distrust between Batman and Lightning, with the former pulling the strings in typical Bat-fashion. Hill is smart to keep this first issue action-orientated, jumping from set-piece to set-piece, pausing only for a dramatic flashback or to have the heroes brooding and exchanging barbs.

Otherwise, the plot is disappointingly bland and convoluted, with a central mystery that takes in a bit of Terminator and a lot of metahuman action. The art by Dexter Soy flows nicely, and while this looks like your typical Jim Lee-inspired modern Batman book, it brightens up considerably (due to no small assist from Veronica Gandini on colours) whenever Black Lightning gets to use his powers.

For better and worse, this is Batman and the Outsiders, and not The Outsiders. Even though Batman is a less prominent presence than one might expect, there are a lot of pre-existing relationships and history at play here, making it difficult to pick up and jump into quickly.