Red Hood and The Outlaws

Like last Issue, The reigning consensus I can give Red Hood and The Outlaws as a whole is: emotional, yet dumb. There's no getting around it when Red Hood stops nuclear arms smugglers in a submarine, and blows it up while he's swimming away. That's right, he EXPLODES a sub full of NUCLEAR DEVICES, and all he has is a headache and a busted arm. Wow I think I got stupider just writing that. In fact how could he possibly have gotten out without be crushed by the water pressure? But I digress. The story does have some strong characterization, except for one thing... STARFIRE CANNOT REMEMBER DICK GRAYSON'S NAME. She says it herself. And that angers me to no end, especially since issue 4 looked like they were going to fix that problem brought up in the now infamous issue 1 with Starfires terrible characterization.

I sound like a broken record, but Jason Todd really shines in this one. The issue is mostly a flashback to how he and Kori meet, something that never seemed to make much sense, and besides the raging stupidity, it's done pretty well. The moments of him with Nightwing are very interesting, since that's not something usually touched on when you think of Red Hood, and it's fairly well done, and really show him for what he was: kind of an asshole with a lot to prove. And you see a bit of his struggle, as well as his actions as Red Hood and where he stands with Batman. No problems there. And I'm not going to stress myself with the memory thing, but it's such an elephant in the room that I really don't see how people can ignore it. To be fair, there are a few moments that call back to the original teen titans stories, and Starfire is not nearly as promiscuous as before, and her friendship with Jason feels natural, plus her interactions might explain why Jason is calmer than the batshit insane one we saw in Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin. the dialogue's a bit clunky, a problem in past issues, but really this issue only truly suffers from those 2 moments I keep mentioning, but I think they're big enough to drag this issue down a few notches in my eyes.

The art is fine, I can't really form an opinion about it but it works alright I guess. There's a few scenes that border on cheesecake, and most of the time Starfire is in a Bikini but there's no spine-breaking poses or anything. A bit of skin but not an offensive amount, which is what I prefer.

This issue wasn't bad, and I guess comparing it to that god-awful first issue it's a masterpiece, but still, I think Scott Lobdell really blemished subsequent issues with how he portrays Starfire as not being able to properly remember her friends. I remember in the original teen titans where her boyfriend died and she missed him for months, so the fact that she can't recall the name of someone alive who she clearly still loves is just something I can't get over. Judging this issue on it's own merits though, I guess I'd recommend it, there's still something that makes this issue worth buying, and I hope it sticks around. Just please, come up with a quick retcon to explain this.

The Good: Everything was great. Though the issue spanned entirely of Starfire and Jason interacting, it was done perfectly. I loved how they came to know each other. I loved the revealing of both their pasts and just accepting each other as who they are. Jason was always so down on himself with hate and anger, Starfire has issues with her memory. Her memories are there but certain things she just can't remember. She remembers the adventures and nights with Grayson but can't put a finger on his name. She even notices the similarities Jason shares with him. Jason tells her everything and Starfire forgives him and told him to not let the hate rule his life. It had a great lesson to the story and Lobdell threw in a few touches of his humor that blended so well with the story without taking away from the initial message.

The Bad: Nothing.

Recommended: Yes

Better than the previous: Yes.

First of all, I think this issue should finally put to rest all the doubters from issue #1. Lobdell has finally explained pretty much everything that happened in that issue and it's all had a purpose. I think it was the general cheese-cake-i-ness of the new 52 #1s that put everyone off.

And we FINALLY get the answers that I think have been distracting everyone from the new 52. (At least it's been distracting me and a few of the CV regular podcasters) With a soft-reboot like this one, DC could have just put out a primer on what's changed. Instead we had to wait until month six to find out that:

• Yes, the Teen Titans with Dick Grayson existed
• Yes Kori and Dick were together
• Yes The Red Hood classic story (the one that was made into a direct-to-dvd movie recently) happened

Finally, I LOVE the panel/gutter work on this issue. DC has really been hitting it out of the park with that in the new 52. Other great examples have been Batwoman and Swamp Thing. I hope Lobdell keeps up the good work!

PS - I love the quote about teachers that more or less closes out the issue - reveals a lot about him and his relationship with a certain someone

LOBDELL. STOP IT. JUST. STOP.

Or maybe it's Bobbie, I don't know, I don't have something other than Red Hood on hand to compare, but Lobdell seems to be a magnet for this. But I just... UGH. Why the hell would you have an Editor's Note to explain that this issue takes place one month prior to the first issue as opposed to a more natural.... just... freaking normal text box or text that says so? That's how flashbacks are offset, with something in the series as opposed to a god damn Editor's Note that's already stupidly overused in the series as it is. GRAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH.

Ok, enough of that, because this issue manages to avoid them afterwards; again, likely since it is a flashback and thus can't allude to previous events. There's also no Arsenal for Jason Todd to immaturely play off of like a frat boy, thus almost saying this should've been a solo Red Hood series. But this is a very heartwarming tale of a meeting of two complete outsiders. You can clearly see that this was the moment when Jason's heart began to cool, ironically when he met an alien fire princess. He goes through a combination of meetings and hallucinated flashbacks, and he mellows out. He lets go of a lot of his hatred when he's able to just talk it out with a seemingly simple girl. The raw emotional connection of these two that we know ends in carnal congress is as pure as something out of Team Ico.

Speaking of Team Ico, Kenneth Rocafort completely outdoes himself in the art department. The sprawling alien architecture of Kori's ship is utterly phenomenal. It reminds me of a sci-fi version of a Team Ico scenery. Not only that, but his panel layouts get even better than before, reaching levels of pure mastery in transition from dream to reality and back again.

The biggest problem with this issue is the numbering. I'm perfectly fine with this flashback and all, and I'm perfectly fine with this not being the first issue, since we needed to meet all three characters at once; but.... Why is this fashback happening NOW? There's absolutely nothing that prompts this recall, and its taking place right before what seems to be the climax to an arc. Why not have this flashback AFTER this arc? It just... feels kind of wrong because it's out of place.

Also, why the hell is Jason claiming he's never met an alien? That's absolute bull crap to the tenth power. He met freaking Superman didn't he? And I'm sure he met plenty of other aliens. Don't even give me any 'New 52' bullcrap to defend it, this issue very clearly demonstrates that his continuity is fully retained.

In Conclusion: 4/5

It's a great issue. The tale of the first meeting between Red Hood and Starfire is such a touching and tender one, and it actually explains why Red Hood has mellowed out to the degree that he has. It just comes in the wrong place, and when I'm judging things on a monthly basis like this, that's an important thing to consider.

Red Hood and the Outlaws hasn't been one of my favorite series in the New 52. I really liked the first issue, but then things started to go down hill for me. Does this issue bring up the series? 
 
THE GOOD: 
I really like the art in this issue. Kenneth Rocafort has grown into one of my favorite artist from this series and I really like the way the characters look and how sketchy it looks but clean at the same time. The story is actually where I start to like this issue. We get to see Red Hood and Starfire come together as a team and I really like it. I really liked the character interaction and how it kinda officially gave us a hint that things before Flashpoint still happened. I really liked this issue the best out of the series and hope that it continues to be like this. 
 
THE  BAD: 
I really like the two of these characters now. Roy Harper I couldn't careless about. I think that Scott Lobdell should try some issues in the future that let the character grow on you because right now, I don't like him really. 
 
THE VERDICT: 4.5/5 (Amazing) 
I feel that this issue should have been the first of the series because this would've made me interested well into the 3rd issue. I'm glad that they came back to this time period and I really hope that Scott Lobdell can find a way to bring their memories back because I really like seeing their flashbacks the best. This is my favorite issue yet, so I think that the series is improving for me. I would recommend this issue because it is fairly stand alone.

I guess if there can be anything said for my observations thus far about this series, its that this issue proves mostly correct.  This issue is an origin one of sorts, still not fully detailing what Kory and Dick Grayson's past is together, but the way that she and Jason come together as a team here is much more clear.  Kory is displayed as a lot more of a character that can be associated with (especially as she is wearing normal clothes throughout this issue) but the real addition here is actually one by subtraction, namely that Roy Harper shows up only as a sort of cameo.  At this point it is clear that the writer in responding to the criticism of issue 1 was mostly correct in saying that it didn't necessarily reflect the direction of this series.  This issue highlights what the real problem is here, not the depiction of Starfire so much as the depiction of Roy.