mercy_'s Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 - I Fought the Law and Kicked its Butt review

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    The Art Was Great...

    I've always jokingly referred to Kory as "Slutfire" simply because I dislike the fact (and admit to needlessly hating on her) because of her relationship with Dick (insert penis jokes here).

    The fact that the nickname now actually applies doesn't really give me any joy. I was giddy for about fifteen minutes before it really sunk in what a low blow this was to the portrayal of women in comics. There's nothing wrong with a woman who's comfortable with her sexuality. There's nothing wrong with a woman who knows what she wants and who isn't afraid to go after it. Just the reverse in fact, women like that are to be applauded.

    But Starfire has always had amounts of both that strong woman (she's willfull and she's from a warrior race, this is a woman who's stood up to Lobo before) and one of the industries favorite selling points: fanservice. Her outfit (or lack there of), the enormous boobs (really, her entire body), the gratuitous poses etc. And that's a part of the character that I have always hated. Because this industry needs less fan service and pandering to hormonal teenage boys (and even grown men), not more of it.

    This issue took any redeeming factors that Starfire once had and completely erased them. It basically turned her into a blow up sex doll. Gratuitous poses? Check. Wet bathing suit shots? Check. Clothes practically (if not completely) falling off her body? Check (and congrats on that one, because I seriously didn't think that it was possible to make her costume any smaller without getting rid of it completely, which would be the next logical step). Sleeping with both male leads? Check. The fact that she doesn't even know who Dick is (when it's been stated and brought into proof that their former relationship remains canon)? Check. She has essentially become a brainless blow up doll.

    I'm severely disappointed with this issue and Scott Lobdell to say the least. I'll read the next two issues and finish up the arc, but if there isn't a damn good explanation as to why this has occurred and not only that, but a rectification of her personality, then this is getting dumped like yesterday's garbage.

    DC has said that they're trying to encourage diversity. And this relaunch was a great chance for them to draw in new female readership with good titles exemplifying badass women. This was a chance that was not only missed, but taken in the complete opposite direction. My younger sister (she's seventeen), who has never read a comic before in her life, picked up this issue off of our coffee table. She flips open to a random page and somewhat jokingly asks "why are you reading porn?" When that is the first thought that comes to somebody's mind when they pick up a comic...immediate turn off, DC.

    There were two comics that came out this week that got a lot of flack for being over-sexualized and gratuitous. Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws. The difference between these comics is that Catwoman, although it goes pretty heavy into fan service territory art-wise, has a strong female lead who knows exactly what she wants and isn't afraid to get it, but is also in full possession of her mental faculties and doesn't come across as a slut. Simply as a sexy woman, who likes and enjoys sex (and there's nothing wrong with that. It will never stop baffling me as to why men are so afraid of dominant women personalities) and isn't afraid to experience it in the completely consensual relationship that she has.

    If that's a tl;dr issue for you, the bottom line is this. The art is fantastic.

    21 Comments

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    knighteagle

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    Edited By knighteagle

    AHHHH! Given the fact that Starfire and Red Hood are two of my favorite characters and Kenneth Rocafort is an amazing artist I had to pick this up. Obviously there was a lot of controversy with Starfire for obvious reasons.. I was kinda dissapointed with her potrayl (and im a 19 year old hormone raging male) but im hoping this is just how they want the character to start out so we can see her develop feelings and/or a relationship and be confused by them, thats what i think anyway. Other than Starfire I was really pleased with the issue, it was fun, fast paced and the art.. AMAZING! I really hope people will give this another chance :)

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    entropy_aegis

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    Edited By entropy_aegis

    @Static Shock said:

    I like how Red Arrow and Red Hood mention Dick Grayson as her ex, but Starfire doesn't even remember who Dick Grayson is.

    Best post here.

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    limbani

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    Edited By limbani

    i find this comic sexist and violent. this is not "detective comics" anymore. 1 stars just okay for such a bad issue. i think they'll suspend it soon.

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    Static Shock

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    Edited By Static Shock

    I like how Red Arrow and Red Hood mention Dick Grayson as her ex, but Starfire doesn't even remember who Dick Grayson is. 

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    pikahyper

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    Edited By pikahyper  Moderator

    @The Dark Huntress: I read everything so I'll get to it eventually unfortunately.

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    Mercy_

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    Edited By Mercy_

    @pikahyper said:

    who reads porn??? o.O?

    I've always been a huge fan of Roy and Lian, I'm so behind I haven't gotten to Cry For Justice yet but when I found out they were killing her I was pissed, still am really, she was pretty awesome and she made Roy a better character with the whole Cheshire dynamic. I've always liked the way DC portrayed single parents, the kids are always well written and make the parents more easy to identify with like Donna Troy's son, the little girl Black Canary was taking care of or even Manhunter's son until they made him older and a douche.

    If you are a Lian fan...you do not want to read Cry for Justice. I adore Lian and I literally threw that book across the room when I was reading it.

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    pikahyper

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    Edited By pikahyper  Moderator

    who reads porn??? o.O?

    I've always been a huge fan of Roy and Lian, I'm so behind I haven't gotten to Cry For Justice yet but when I found out they were killing her I was pissed, still am really, she was pretty awesome and she made Roy a better character with the whole Cheshire dynamic. I've always liked the way DC portrayed single parents, the kids are always well written and make the parents more easy to identify with like Donna Troy's son, the little girl Black Canary was taking care of or even Manhunter's son until they made him older and a douche.

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    Stompa

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    Edited By Stompa

    This is the first time i read the review of a member but it surely will not be my last. Very good analysis i will look more often to the reviews.

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    RazzaTazz

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    Edited By RazzaTazz

    I was wondering if anyone would rate this lower than I did

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    Mercy_

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    Edited By Mercy_

    @obscurefan: Thanks duder!

    @rogue_mar1e said:

    @The Dark Huntress: No worries. I also want reasons to like Starfire, but this is just not helping. o__o

    One of the revamps main objectives was to pull in a new readership. If I was coming in with absolutely no knowledge of the characters or history, I wouldn't be giving this series a second chance.

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    obscurefan

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    Edited By obscurefan

    I think this is the most true title for a review I've seen on this site. Says so much about how little there is.

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    rogue_mar1e

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    Edited By rogue_mar1e

    @The Dark Huntress: No worries. I also want reasons to like Starfire, but this is just not helping. o__o

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    Mercy_

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    Edited By Mercy_

    @rogue_mar1e: THANK YOU <3

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    rogue_mar1e

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    Edited By rogue_mar1e

    This. This. THIS.

    All the awards, Courtney. Great review.

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    Mercy_

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    Edited By Mercy_

    @jrock85: I'm fairly certain that Lobdell was quoted in one of the articles here as saying that she was never even born.

    But honest to god, that's better than her being dead.

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    jrock85

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    Edited By jrock85

    @The Dark Huntress: Oh yeah. I'm happy to see that "Cry For Justice crap gone too. I wonder does this mean that Lian never existed. Part of Roy's appeal to me was the fact that he was a single dad.

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    Mercy_

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    Edited By Mercy_

    @jrock85: I've never been overly invested in either Jason or Kory. My reasons for picking it up were three-fold. 1. Roy Harper is one of my favorite characters and I couldn't be more overjoyed about the fact that Rise for Justice seems to be non-canon now. 2. The art is absolutely incredible. 3. I WANT to like Kory, because I have a few friends here who seem to like her O_O And the fact that Higgins has said that she won't be with Dick or even be appearing in his book meant I wouldn't have to worry about the love triangle trap and could focus on Kory by herself.

    So this book absolutely sucked for somebody who went into it wanting to find redeeming factors in Starfire. Because what I found was the complete opposite.

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    jrock85

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    Edited By jrock85

    @The Dark Huntress: The only reason that I'm sticking with this book is because I'm a huge Jason Todd fan. If were buying this book strictly because of Kory, it would be really hard for me to keep it on my pull list.

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    Mercy_

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    Edited By Mercy_

    @jrock85: I feel pretty much the exact same way.

    I tend to be an art over story girl. If the art is absolutely incredible, and/or it's an artist that I know I love, I'll definitely pick something up. And if the story isn't that great, but the art is impeccable, I'll continue reading. Conversely, if the story pretty much sucks and the art is amazing, I'll continue in most cases.

    But when the story (or characterization in this case) sucks this badly, it's gonna take a lot for me to continue after the next two issues.

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    jrock85

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    Edited By jrock85

    I was enjoying the issue until it was revealed that Kory is now a semi-amnesiac slut.

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    InnerVenom123

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    Edited By InnerVenom123

    Starfire's ..... lust for life bugged me, but aside from that I actually really enjoyed the book.

    Also, a thing I've heard from OCD Hoodies: THAT HOOD SHOULD NOT MAKE EMOTIONS VISIBLE.

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