Red Hood and the Outlaws #5:
What Happened: Arsenal arrives on the scene to assist Starfire against Crux, and the two of them manage to take the mutated freak down. Meanwhile, Red Hood kills the member of the Untitled he'd been battling for the past issue or so, but doing so causes the Untitled to revert back to human form(why?). Naturally the townspeople see the aftermath of the battle and chase after Hood with pitchforks and rifles... Yes, really. Hood rendezvous with Starfire and Arsenal with a mess of angry yokels hot on his heels.
Thoughts: Yep, we hit rock bottom here. This was definitely the worst issue of this series thus far. Five issues in and we still don't know what the deal is between the Untitled and the All-Caste, or who broke the truce between the two groups. Hell, the bad guys here, the Untitled, don't even seem to know who broke the truce! This comic is a confusing mess, plain and simple. Really, since you have two street-level heroes, why are we dealing with monsters, magic swords and immortal old women? On the plus side, as usual, the artwork was very good.
Score: 3 out of 10.
Don't ask me. I have NO clue what's happening here!
How the hell did he pull swords out of himself? Or did he use his own blood to... Whatever. Who gives a damn. This book sucks, and that's sad to say because I'm as big of a Jason Todd fan that you'll ever meet, and I'm a huge fan of Arsenal and I'm even a bit of a Starfire fan.
ReplyDeleteThis needs a new writer ASAP, because all the great work Judd has done with Jason is gonna be destroyed, and when this book starts selling barely any copies, they're gonna try to say Jason can't carry a book, which is the exact opposite of what's happening here...
JT, I have NO idea what the hell was up with those swords, nor where Jason had them hidden... "Is that TWO swords in your pocket or are you just REALLY happy to see me?!?"
ReplyDeleteWell, as you know, I am a TOTAL numbers nerd, so here are the sales #'s for the first 4 Red Hood issues...
#1 ranked 39 and sold app. 50,501
#2 ranked 35 and sold app. 53,444
#3 ranked 44 and sold app. 45,126
#4 ranked 41 and sold app. 39,850
So from it's peak, issue #2, this series dropped 13,000+ fans. Even though that's a hell of a lot of drops, it had to be expected, and honestly, as long as this series stays out of the mid 20,000's it should be fine. Those are pretty strong numbers for what is basically a 3rd string Bat-book, and shows that even with bad writing, Jason's fans WILL support a series. But yeah, Lobdell may be doing some good work on Teen Titans, but damn, he's sinking on Superboy and this series... But another 13,000+ drops and yeah, then this series could be in danger...
"Is that TWO swords in your pocket or are you just REALLY happy to see me?!?" Lmao, that was priceless.
ReplyDeleteHm.. well at least Jason fans are still supporting him (including us) but hopefully they realize that between this and SB Lobdell is fucking up and it's best to replace him and not can the whole thing. And don't give us Tony Daniel or fucking Liefield. We Want Winick or Bryan Q. Miller.
HA @ "fucking Liefield"! Just cap that "f" and that can be his new name! :D I STILL don't get why Miller doesn't have a book. Seriously, can you IMAGINE the awesome he'd bring to THIS series with THESE characters?! I get that Winick wanted to get away from Jason a bit, but can he please come back to him now? We need him!! I mean hell, DC has changed the writers in like half their books, why not THIS title?
ReplyDeleteRob F. Liefield, writing books near you.
ReplyDeleteExactly, I mean Winick KNOWS Jason, he KNOWS Roy, He KNOWS Starfire, he's written them all and he could make this great. And With what Miller did with Stephanie you cam imagine what he can do with a team like Red Hood and The Outlaws... I just don't get it. I like Kenneth Rocafort's art though, but even if they changed the team I'd be all for Miller/Winick and Nicola Scott.
Love the writing, love the art, love this book.
ReplyDelete...Uh I enjoyed this one way more than the previous issues at least some of the plot are developing and now I understand way Jason doesn't feel related to Bruce anymore he is a member of The All Castle now, for good or bad and is living for THAT legacy, he is not Bruce baby anymore
ReplyDeleteLike Alien, I enjoyed this issue more than the last three, if only because it actually seemed to have a plot that I could follow. But, I totally agree that this All Caste/Untitled business is bizarre. It's just not what I expected from this title. I expected a lot more one-and-done stories about the group righting wrongs and taking out bad guys that the good guys were afraid to handle. Instead, we've got, as you said, two street-level heroes fighting demons and monks. Jason pulling two swords from his ho-ha? Bizarre. I feel the same way about this plot as I do the Nobody plot in "Batman and Robin." Both Lobdell and Tomasi are treating them as if they're interesting enough to justify spending 5+ issues on them. (I'm a little more kind to Higgins and the Saiko plot in "Nightwing," but only slightly.) So far (and not surprisingly), only Snyder's Court of Owls in "Batman" has justified 5+ issues. It seems to have been a Bat-book mandate that the authors create a multiple-issue arc, but everyone other than Snyder needs to wrap up his/her arcs and get their stories moving again. This book is probably the best example of that.
ReplyDeleteYeah JW, I think my biggest problem with this series is what we're getting... I mean, going in, with the three heroes starring in this one, you'd think that they'd be fighting street-level threats, or somebody like Crux, who has something personal against Starfire. Instead we get the All-Caste/Untitled stuff, which I STILL don't fully get, 5 issues in! I just wish we were getting Jason and company fighting... I don't know, Killer Croc or something, as opposed to possessed... Whatever the hell that thing he was fighting in this issue was! Plus if the team DID fight Croc, Roy would have a big moral dilemma as to who to assist! :D
ReplyDelete