Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Red Hood and the Outlaws # 2

By Koppy McFad
October 29, 2011 - 02:05

The Red Hood journeys to a secret sanctuary to learn who murdered the fighting monks who trained him and then turned them all into zombies.

Jason Todd, the hero of this series, seems incredibly inconsistent. Previously, he killed without hesitation but now, his loyalty to this secret society is so great, he won't even fight back when they try to kill him. Lucky for him, he has Starfire and Roy Harper to save his butt.

We learn how Todd trained with this group but not why they would train him. It is all mystic hoopla that comes out of nowhere, especially for a character like the Red Hood who has been established as having been trained by hired killers, not Shaolin monks. It is clear that the character of Todd is being re-written to suit the new writer, much like Harper and Starfire have been re-written. For older readers, it makes all the characters seem even more distant and different from their previous versions.

Speaking of Starfire, the first issue of this series triggered a firestorm of anger over how she engaged in meaningless sex, had little memory or regard of her old team-mates and appeared to have a child-like intellect. This issue tries to turn this all around by establishing that Starfire is intelligent, has the brains and maturity to enjoy fine clothes and luxuries and is not a mindless sex doll. But that doesn't change the fact that she still comes off as shallow and unlikeable... just like most of the characters in this comic.

Now, the stage is set for the hunt of the mysterious villain who killed the monks but the creative team has failed to make this mystery interesting. We are given too little to go on and not enough to care about. Why the reader should be drawn into this whole dilemma is never established. The characters in this story all seem insular and self-absorbed, making it harder to care about them. We never even get to see the weird, pale eyeless girl who set off the search in the first place.

The art is very pretty but is also overly-complex, to the point that it distracts the reader and prevents him from knowing what is going on. All those unnecessary lines look like an artist who is showing off instead of showing us what is happening.

Rating: 4 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12