RHTO #12
Let me just say two things. This cover is worth the money........ Rocafort my hat is forever tipped in your favor, and second, like many hoodies, i am greatly saddened by Rocafort's departure, especially since he was suppose to draw this issue. But we must move on, and Green must show his stuff. We are back in space, with a whole lot of stuff going down, but on to the review.
THE GOOD:
We are back in space hoodies, and we are right where we left off. Roy continues to spill the beans about what happened before he was captured by the Blight. We see some cute interaction between Roy and Kori, and even Kori warming up to being Roy's "best friend". Depalo takes a minute to talk to Kori, and asks why she is setting up Roy for heartache. Yet again we get a deep look into what Kori feels. In a world where she couldnt find happiness, Roy found her. It gives me such hope for their relationship, and even as fan of the Dick/Kori relationship, I am very happy to see Kori so content. We cut to some more Isabel and Jason chatter. Then we see Roy once again proving how smart he really is by helping diverge unnecessarily wasted power fuel up life support systems........ ya Roy did that. The Blight teleports aboard the Starfire and a battle ensues which is when Roy takes a teleportation beam meant for Kori, and he is tranposrted aboard the enemy ship and all things are brought full circle. Blackfire also shows that she is more as a prisoner of war but helping out the Blight at the same time. But once we get our heads wrapped around that Roy shouts that he was meant to be taken and tackles Blackfire, and she is teleported along with Roy onto the Starfire. Komand'r says that she pretened to work with the Blight, and has a tearful reunion with Kori. They talk about the past, and how Blackfire will always regret betraying Kori. Now i am siding with Orn and Jason, in that i dont trust Komand'r at all. She said some terrible things about Starfire and suddenly she is al like "oh i didnt mean that". Ya ill be keeping my eye on her. We then cut to a very interesting part where the leader of the Blight explain their reasoning into attacking Tamaran, and beings chatting with a human. Ya that threw me for a loop. He tells the leader that the reason why earth is interested in Tamaran is because of the "thirteen". Now obviously these two know what it means, but i have no clue. At first i was confused and thought they were mentioning the Untitled, but hopefully this will be explained in the future. We then cut to a scene between Jason and Roy which will make your jaw drop..........Roy.............mentions his past.........about damn time if you ask me.
SPOILERS!
He talks about how the worst part about being sent on the other ship was the needle the meds used to be able to track him once he was on the ship, which alludes to his heroin addiction. He then mentions how waking up next to your partner beaten and bloodied, covered in your own vommit, seeing the damage you have caused, kind of makes you not get bothered by things ever again.
Wow. Lobdell has mentioned this before. This is why Roy acts the way he does, and i am so glad we see this development from him.
The last scene we see is Starfire and Blackfire gearing up to take the fight to The Blight.
Now i am going to harp on the art, but i do feel like Green has the space ships way under control. There are several shots of Kori that look gorgeous but only "several". I do like his rendition on Jason's hood, but i am already missing Rocafort.
THE BAD:
Here comes the obvious.............i dont like the art. There are several scenes i somewhat like or can tolerate, but dont get me started on Kori looking like a creepy doll in the beginning of the issue. Now i heard he did have two weeks to come up with this, and honestly it shows. So for that i will give the scoring some slack. But this guy has some problems drawing faces, and his inconsistency is killing me. For some reason, Isabel is starting to irritate me. First she has her tongue down Jason's throat, but says shes ok with everything, then says it was the most boring date of her life. Now she is like i wouldnt mind dying here with you. Something seems fishy, and in a hopefully there is something to this character, not this is writing issues. I did mention there was something up with Blackfire, and im hoping that she will end up betraying Kori, because honestly that would be more fulfilling and make sense after her behavior last issue. She is dressed like a demon, for pity sake. I understand that she is mournful for what she did, but something isnt right. She could still care for Kori and still end up betraying her. Also, where does that human come into this. You know the "Colonel". This better be explained later on. My last complaint is the ending. Really, Blackfire and Starfire need guns?
OVERALL:
I am torn. Overall, i did enjoy the issue, and the huge development for Roy, but the art carries a huge amount of weight as well. Green has had about 2 weeks to come up with this and as i said, it shows, but that is a tall order for short notice. I dont trust Blackfire, and I am worried about the art direction. Dont get me wrong, i am so glad for Rocafort, but i really do miss him. I probably said that already, but i am hoping Green will step it up, especially now that he has some time since Dwayne Turner is drawing the 0 issue. There were a lot of nitpicks in this issue story wise, but I really dont see anything else holding this down besides the art. If Green had time, this would be a 3 at its worst or 3.5 at its best. But since he had little time, it is between a 3.5 and a 4. This is really hard to decide, and i have to try and stay impartial as possible. So if the scores seem to favor 4 and above, i will change my score to a 4, if not this will stay a 3.5
UPDATE!
Now, i posted that I would change my score if I felt that more people felt that this issue was above par. This story has alot of nitpicks, but rises above and delivers. Hopefully Green can warm up to me and fellow hoodies, but i feel that because of this really good story and low average art (which i am giving the benefit of the doubt), this issue deserves a 4.
Now i am excited for this 0 issue, Lobdell has put alot of hype around it, and am looking forward to it. I might pick up some other 0 issues, but to a series that i havent pulled from. Green Arrow i hear has Mr. Harper in it, so i will definitely check that out, but until then hoodies happy reading :p
1 Comments