Book Review: Red Hood and the Outlaws vol #1 (New 52)

Book: Red Hood and the Outlaws volume #1: Redemption (issues #1-7) by Scott Lobdell with illustrations by Kenneth Rocafort

Edition: I'm reading the single issues

Rating: 1 star

Review:

What was this crap? I felt like I missed something when I was reading this. The writing was atrocious, the artwork wasn't good, the characters were awful and it was sexist. The story made no sense, Red Hood (Jason Todd) was supposed to be avenging the death of his mentor, who was this being who taught him how to be an assassin. The characters were all out of character. So, in the New 52 the characters are either dreary and angry or stupid and the three in these seven issues fall into the stupid category. I had read the first issue a while back but I was so annoyed by the way Starfire was portrayed I didn't feel like reading anymore. So, now I decide to give it another read and boy the first issue and the other six issues are some of the worst I have read in a while in the New 52.

Poor Starfire, she's nothing more than a warrior sex toy for Jason and Roy (and apparently any other guy) to pass around. Scott Lobdell had mentioned in a interview that he wrote Starfire as being sexually liberated. Her sexuality isn't even her own, it's used as fan service. It's really disgusting because both Jason and Roy know that she is suffering from some type of memory loss but that doesn't stop them from treating her like their personal toy. Is that how you treat a member of the team? DC Comics seems to have it in their heads that Starfire's only real purpose is to be eye candy for this book. Just look at that poor excuse for a costume that Rocafort designed for her.

When she wasn't posing in that skimpy costume she was posing in skimpy bikinis. There was an awful scene where the artist had her posing on the beach while a little boy took pictures of her so he could post them online. That's really disgusting.

I guess Lobdell didn't think Starfire needed a personality (since she didn't have one), she was written as an emotionless pin-up girl. He had the opportunity to showcase her as a smart, tough, kick-butt girl who is not only a Princess but also a hero. What was presented was nothing short of lazy writing and poor illustrations.

The guys were not written any better. The Jason in this book was like a weird amalgamation of pre-New 52 Jason and Dick Grayson personalities and characteristics. It's like he had a split personality sometimes he act like crazy old Jason and other times he was shown as a poorly written Dick Grayson wannabe. Pre-New 52, Jason may have been a little crazy but he was more interesting and smarter than this watered down poorly written version could ever be. So now Jason is some kind of hero and why does it seem like everyone knows who he is.

Now for Roy, what happened to him? He was turned into an idiotic jerk (Jason as well), even at his lowest during the pre-New 52 he was never this stupid and annoying. For instance in Titans vol #6: Broken Promises written by Eric Wallace, Roy was at his best especially with how low his life had become following the death of his daughter but in the end he had transformed into this amazing character who was ready to take on the world. Roy had always been one of my favorite characters but this version is awful.

The reboot has ruined each of these characters because they are not shown at their best. I found myself wondering how am I supposed to root for these unlikeable characters.

I have to admit there was one scene that I really liked, in issue #3 there was a scene that showed Jason's memories. A memory that he didn't want returned to him it was when he was still Robin. He was sick with a cold and Alfred was trying to get him to stay in for the night, but what made the moment was Bruce deciding to take a night off to stay home with Jason. That's the only scene out of all the seven issues that had remotely any heart and was well written.

Before I end my review there were two things that annoyed me (besides the whole book in general) the first was white-washing Talia al Ghul (see picture).

Yes, that's supposed to be Talia. She always had a more multiracial/multicultural appearance. Lately Talia seems to be getting whitewashed (see The Dark Knight Rises for another example).

The second thing that annoyed me, was Jason's helmet. Not only was it ugly (why would you put lips on a helmet) but it was always breaking. Was it supposed to be made out of plastic or some other low quality material for it to break so easily.

Anyway, this is probably me just nick picking but they just added to my annoyance toward this awful book.

Unfortunately, I will be reading the second volume, mainly because I already have those issues (I bought them before I dropped the series from my list), so I'm going to at least read them. Here's hoping the writing will have improved with those issues. I still think Scott Lobdell is an awful writer and it makes me wonder why he was given so many different series to write.