Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Red Hood: Outlaw #36 Review



That's The End Of That Chapter


Written By: Scott Lobdell
Art By: Pete Woods, Rex Lokus, Troy Peteri
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 10, 2019


What's the casino driven life of Jason Todd going to look like now that Bunker went and let Penguin out of his cage?  Well, that's what we're going to find out in this issue that is not only an ending to this chapter in Red Hood's life, but possibly a new beginning with the Offer aspect to this story.  Will Jason Todd take up Lex Luthor on what he's offering?  I'm not telling, but let's check out this issue.

While I can't say that I've been fully invested in this chapter of Jason Todd's life, what with the new crew that felt out of nowhere, the going into the Casino business, the return of the All-Caste, not to mention the costume change, it was at least a change in a book that kept things interesting....... but it seems with what's going on in Event Leviathan possibly, but definitely from what's going on in Justice League, it's time for Jason Todd to move on and that means it's time to rush to the finish here and tie up all the loose ends whether it feels forced or not.


Mostly though, this issue does an okay job in making everything we've dealt with in this title since Jason was forced out of Gotham by Batman for shooting the Penguin in the face........ that whole thing is explained here and is done in a way that feels like a clever flashback of how all of this was part of our main characters plan.......... and while it's cool, it doesn't really jive with what Batman's problems were with Jason Todd and the outcome to all of this feels a bit forced.  Something else that feels forced is the identity of Wingman this issue that while some saw it coming, doesn't really jive with what we saw out of the Solitary arc or how the character was hunting down Jason to catch up with him and sadly, besides for having a name of the character, we really don't know what it means to the rest of the story.  The best part of the issue is seeing how Jason treats Suzie Su and her sisters here and how they do all feel like some sort of dysfunctional family for all these gone through together, but all in all, we're rushing to a conclusion here so that Jason Todd can be given the offer by Lex Luthor.


All in all, the art in this issue is strong and I like where we're possibly heading in this series, but this quick lets wrap things up style of story isn't something I'm fond of when it's done great and this issue while it has its fun moments doesn't really add up with everything that came before it and feels like a bit of a letdown in my mind to end this chapter of Jason's life, whether I was a fan of it or not.  Hopefully this new direction we have going is the thing to really keep the character fresh more than this status quo change did.

Bits and Pieces:

While the future looks bright for where this series is going, the way we'll get there was done in a rushed and forced manner to finalize this part of Jason Todd's life.  The art was really great and there were some fun moments that showed you that Jason always had a plan for this part of his life, but it doesn't all jive in my mind and just comes to a close to fast to really feel important.

6.9/10

2 comments:

  1. I loved the issue. And not because I saw the twist coming with Wingman Eric, it’s because everyone who Jason didn’t care and was going down a darker path was wrong. Did Jason actually care about the su sisters, did he care in his own way about Isabel yes, did he regret that Bunker didn’t stay and give a real chance to let Jason explain before trusting an Evil monocled fatso yes. Hell, even those who where on Batman’s side of the argument where proven wrong, right along with the worlds so called Greatest Detective and Worst Father. To me what feels rushed about this was how Jason Just let’s Penguin runaway. I know that he now has Mobsters Looking for him and he’s strapped for cash currently but it feels like Lobdell took the stakes out of the situation from last issue. The Wingman story believe or not has still not played out to its fullest yet, Willis and 2 other people where experimented on by Luther to try and gain psionic abilities. Solitary thought he was Willis Todd because the psychic powers he gained from the experiment(he even formed a psychic connection with Ma Gunn Willis real mom), Wingman is actually Willis Todd but last time I checked Willis wasn’t a technical genius, so I’m assuming intelligence was what he gained from Luther’s experiment, and there’s still one other person out there that was experimented on. Maybe with the offer Jason will find leads to either Artemis and Bizzaro, or leads to the Experiment on his father.

    This issue is great and can’t wait for more.
    7.5/10

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  2. Red hood is Lobdell's best work at DC. Come on, this is a 8 year storyline, and still entertaining.

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