Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1

By Hervé St-Louis
September 24, 2011 - 14:06

The Red Hood rescues his old pal, Roy Harper who’s put himself in danger again. To help him, the alien princess Starfire comes around to kick some mercenary butts. But while resting after their mission in the Middle East, Red Hood is sent on a crazy mission against a dangerous cult while Starfire and Roy Harper have sex. The more things change, the more they are the same.

This is a stupid comic book. I hate the artwork. It wouldn’t be so bad if the artist, Kenneth Rocafort would not put so many lines all over the place. He draws both the Red Hood and Roy Harper as very young guys, probably not even 18. As for Starfire, she’s sexy as she’s always been but kind of an alien tramp this issue. It feels like this comic book was written for teenage boys with a lot of testosterone and who can’t quite buy themselves a porn magazine or even a copy of Sports Illustrated.

About the characters, there’s little to them. Starfire is a mystery and even more naïve than before. I like how she was first introduced as being naïve about humans and how we saw her way back in New Teen Titans. There was always some innuendo and we saw her cleavage, but she was not trashy. She did things right off the bat that surprised many of us way back, like French-kiss Dick Grayson or ask why she had to wear bras at the pool instead of just being naked. That was innocent but showed the character without making her a tramp. Here, Lobdell left all the multilayered characterization and gave us a tramp. There’s not even an attempt at showing some hints or double entendre about Starfire’s different perception on sexuality. I remember her being the ultimate Brazilian babe way back before I even hit puberty. If anyone reads about her for the first time today, they’ll always see her as a whore and a bubble head.

Roy Harper has a new personality – again. Sometimes, he’s that new age groovy laid-back dude from the West coast who’s slightly incompetent to Dick Grayson’s straight A super sidekick. Sometimes, he’s a dad, a womanizer, a drug addict, and idiot with his arm cut off who hugs dead cats. Today, he’s this pale idealist kid who doesn’t know what he’s doing but is good with a bow and an arrow. There’s little about him revealed this issue except that he’s an idiot.

Red Hood is this guy that thinks he’s good at what he does. He thinks he’s cool and laid back and the middle child of Batman’s Robins. This story read like a stupid comic book from the 1990s with action forced in the first few pages and then some silly break on beach while some of the characters have sex. I do like the pairing of the three characters. Roy Harper has never really interacted much with the Red Hood. The Red Hood has certainly not interacted with Starfire.  Starfire and Roy Harper have been on the same team many times, but I don’t recall anything particular in their friendship. So the premise of paring the three is a good one. But the execution and the actual story are meaningless. There’s no story to read. Well, it’s a buddy comic book, but where is it leading next? I think I know which comic book I can eliminate from my 52 pull list.

Rating: 4 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12