Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1

First things first. For those of you who are new around here, I am X, and I have a sidekick fetish... Hey, at least I'm man enough to admit it... Yeah sure, I enjoying reading series's about first-string heroes such as Batman and Spider-Man, but my favorite characters always wind up being secondary characters or sidekicks. That's why THIS is the series I was most looking forward to when the DC reboot was first announced. It stars two of my favorite sidekicks/b-list DC characters, Roy Harper and Jason Todd. So if I enjoy this series, all is right in my world. If I DON'T enjoy it though... Well, let's just hope it doesn't come down to that...

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1:

What Happened: We start things off with the Red Hood or Jason Todd if you prefer, breaking Arsenal(that would be Roy Harper) out of confinement in the Middle Eastern country of Qurac. The two used to be allies, Roy got himself captured and Jason deiced to help his old buddy out. The rescue goes smoothly, until the duo run into a bunch of tanks. Luckily for Roy and Jason, Starfire is on Jason's side(in more ways than one...) and takes the tanks out. From there, the trio head to an island to kick back and relax for a few weeks. Jason is met by some strange woman named Essence and is told all sorts of cryptic stuff about something called the All Caste. Bottom line, somebody was murdered and Essence was asking Jason to avenge the death(or something along those lines). While Roy and Starfire are playing hide the arrow(heh...), Jason heads off to see what had happened to the All Caste. Jason finds a deceased elderly woman and while he is mourning her, he is suddenly confronted by some zombies.

The Good: It's frigging Jason Todd and Roy Harper! There's your good right there!! Scott Lobdell nailed the characterizations here. Roy was Roy again(thank god) and Jason was pretty much himself as well. The breakout portion of the story was well done and a lot of fun. Essence seems like she could be an interesting character. There also seems to be a backstory building with Starfire and some guy from Chicago.

The Bad: The second half of this story was pretty confusing. I didn't like the lips on Jason's helmet.

The Verdict: Hey, Lobdell didn't mess this up! My week is bound to be great now! I am a bit worried about newbies to these characters/this series who may have been turned off by the confusing second part of this issue, but as a fan of both Roy and Jason I'd implore people to stick it out with this series. If the story catches up to the characterizations here, this series should be nearly perfect! Whew... And to think I was worried about the way this issue was gonna turn out...

Score: 9 out of 10.Huh, Starfire is STILL a whore, even after the reboot...

21 comments:

  1. SHE IS NOT A WHORE!!!!!
    first off i know u aways disliked her for her past between her and barbara but dick choose to be with her and not barbara kori didnt steal him away from her
    hate dick not her
    2nd before the reboot there was only 2 characters she was involved with that i can recall
    dick and a man of her own race i beleive that is hardly a whore
    2nd the entire internet exploded today about how she is out of character
    read the newest post i made on my tumbr if u had the time i elaborate more on thease matters
    http://somewhatbadasslol.tumblr.com/
    all that said glad u liked the issue as much as i did
    lol jasons line: the Pcychos in gotham deserve each other...... even the bad ones - was priceless

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  2. Movieartman, my friend? We are gonna have to agree to disagree on THIS one. :P I'm sorry, but once Starfire got married and cheated on Dick, and then came back to earth and kept pestering Dick to hook back up with her, even though she was MARRIED, I lost all respect for her character. Yes, I know she was forced into the marriage, but a)she COULD have said no to her people if Dick was her true love and all and b)she didn't have to consummate the marriage, but she did. So yes, in my ind, Starfire IS a whore, and always will be. I'm just pleased that Scott Lobdell seems to agree with me on that topic!

    I loved that line too, because it is SO true!

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  3. Ahhh. Another 9 from the X-Man on the reboot. Lol @ sidekick fetish.

    This was.....great. I mean...Jason Todd.....Roy......and even Starfire (And we know how much I hated her). Man just looking back on this issue gives me chills.

    And I see the second half confused ya, as I was too. But instead of the typical "To be continued" at the end it said "To be explained" so long story short, I really hope they explain what Mr. JT was doing.

    Ahh this comic was great!! lol. Just the right amount of action and comedy between Jason and Roy. Have these two teamed up before? If not, I'm glad they're teamed up now.

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  4. Goddamn it I loved this issue. Jason's disguise makes Matches Malone look like crap! And I LOVED the banter between Jason and Roy, they came off like friends who take shots at one another, much you and myself.

    As for Kori, I like her character,
    and I mean for anyone who's complaining, she was a freaking slave, of course she's going to do what and who she wants just because she can now. She has freedom and she wants to have fun, simple as that.

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  5. think you jason todd (comment poster not the character lol)
    on your opinion of starfire i agree 100%

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  6. i haven't read that issue but that page you have previewed was a great read and pretty much every guy's fantasy. an exotic chick asking you if you want to have sex with her with out any emotional attachments what more could a guy want right?
    wanted to let you know i just read H4H #12 (i skipped 10&11) and i'm looking forward to your review. also, last weekend i found #2 in a 3 for a $1 bin. i remember what you said about it but i figured for that kinda deal how could i go wrong.

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  7. I am surprised you didn't mention that they didn't make Jason Todd a redhead. I know he is suppose to have black hair but I kind of liked the idea of Team Ginger. Anyways, I like that he is sleeping with Dick's old girlfriend. That ought to be interesting later on.

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  8. You know Movieartman is right. Besides Alien customs are alien customs , the tamarenean were always ... hedonistic. They are badass hippies that's how they roll

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  9. Okay, let me just put this out there one last time and be done with it, 'cause I'm not gonna comment on it again. I don't know if you guys read the New Teen Titans series from the 80's-90's, but Starfire got married, had sex with her husband, and then came back to Earth wanting to have sex with Nightwing, who, to his credit, DIDN'T want to do it because she was MARRIED!! Tamarian or not, she was a married woman, which means that even Tamarians HAVE marriage and I'd think some form of monogamy, or there'd be no need for marriage. Her pestering/flirting/begging Dick for sex, while married? That makes her a whore to me. You Starfire fans, I get that you don't want to think badly of the character you like, I'd be defensive if somebody was bashing one of my favorite characters, but there's NO way I'll ever go back on this. If you want me to list the issues where she got married, and had sex with her Tamarian husband, I'll dig them out and list them for any doubters. But to me, Starfire is a whore, alien or not. Sorry.

    I've got to ask, Dave, was H4H #12 the last issue of the series? I was kind of getting that feeling after issue #11, but wasn't sure...

    HA! Jermox, it seems that DC has finally decided that Jason has, and always has had black hair. I don't recall where I read that, but I did, and I couldn't be happier! :D

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  10. Uh oh, now ya guys got X on the defensive. Lol, for the record I meant THIS Starfire, not the pre-reboot Starfire. I'm not advocating her cheating on Dick, as for that stuff I don't have a comment on, I just meant her easily banging Roy after being "involved with Jason."

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  11. Meh, I could care less one way or the other, JT. I know Starfire has a massive fan following from the comics and cartoon, I'm just not one of them. And I'll agree with you on that, JT. THIS Starfire, post-reboot has every right to sleep with Jason, Roy, and anybody else. Jason made it clear they weren't in a relationship, so I have no problem with her sleeping with Roy AND Jason. But pre-reboot Starfire, cheating on her husband and stuff? Whore and a half! She messed poor Dick up with all that shit she pulled back in the day!

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  12. funny i was gonna ask you that! it certainly appears to be the end based on that last scene and what they were advertising for afterwards.

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  13. mmm somebody correct me if I´m wrong, but does not Kori sleep with the friend of Adam Strange in R.B.E.L.S.?

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  14. Dammit! I thought so, Dave... Issue #11 was talking about the final hire or something along those lines, so I was worried that issue #12 was the end... Oh well. With the way Marvel runs through series 12 issues is almost an accomplishment.

    Yep, except it was Capt. Comet, Alien. She only wanted to have sex with him free of any obligations, although Comet, the poor sap, was from the 1950's(he was lost in time or something) and wanted to have a real relationship with her. Basically Starfire was using Comet as a substitute for Dick, who she still missed(if I remember correctly).

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  15. Lol, a substitute for Dick. God... the puns I could make.

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  16. I can't help it that I picked up on your (Hank voice) Vulgarity!

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  17. I loved this issue because, as you know, I totally have a sidekick fetish as well. I was so freaking worried about Jason and his portrayal, but I don't know if anyone's gotten it more right than Lobdell. He managed to make him badass without making him a sociopath. Awesome. Of course the first thing I thought when I saw that Jason had dark hair again was, "X-Man is going to be pleased."

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  18. HA! There's yet another thing we have in common, the sidekick fetish! I'll take b and c-list characters over the superstar characters ANY day! There's so much more freedom a writer has when he's given a lesser known character as opposed to a character everybody knows, and that freedom often leads to better stories.

    You know, you're right, JW. Lobdell HAS managed to write a really good Jason. There's some stuff I didn't like in the second issue(which I won't mention for fear of spoiling things for you), but once again Jason's characterization was spot on.

    HA!!! I used to go on such rants about Jason's hair color... The best thing about the DC reboot for me? It was confirmed that Jason's natural hair color IS black! :P

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