Review: Red Hood Outlaw #43
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Christopher Williams
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colors: Arif Prianto
Letters: ALW’s Troy Peteri
Reviewer: Tony Farina
Summary
The gang is back together in Red Hood Outlaw #43. The band of other outlaws is gone and Jason, Bizarro and Artemis are chasing down a hot tip. They fight sorority girls. Bizarro makes jokes about language. It’s a whole thing. Meanwhile, Ma Gunn is hiring. That is insane.
Jason’s sort of girlfriend get possessed. So, you know, it’s Wednesday.
Positives
Red Hood Outlaw #43 brings the team together on a new mission. Bizarro is cracking jokes. Artemis is punching faces. Jason is unsure of himself. Being dead for so long will do that to a guy. The new art team’s take on Bizarro is really great. I liked Beardzarro (I just coined that term here) and they make him seem even more lovable than he already is. A new mystery is unfolding and there is a good chance that Jason will get to use some of his handy detective skills he picked up from the big guy. Fingers crossed.
Negatives
It always feels crappy to crap on someone’s art who is clearly better at this than I will ever be, but, I have to say that the I am not a huge fan of what Christopher Williams and Scott Hanna are doing here with Jason. There is a close up of his face and it just looks like a random 50 year old dude. It just doesn’t work. It really takes me out of the book.
Also, this is what happens when you beg for something. You sometimes get it. I have wanted the team back together for a while, but this is kind of a mess. We are thrown into a story midway, which would be fine if we looped back around, but we don’t.
Verdict
Red Hood Outlaw #43 is the clear beginning of a new arc that focuses on the original dark Trinity, but it comes out stumbling. The covers are beautiful and the colors pop off the page, but I am just not sure where this is going. I am willing to give Lobdell a mulligan. This could really be the start of something amazing. He does like a good cliff hanger and these issues seem to be getting shorter and shorter, so he can only get in so much drama before he runs out of space.
