Art by: Nikola Čižmešija
Colors by: Rex Lokus
Letters by: Troy Peteri
Cover art by: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: October 24, 2023
Batman / Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #2 sends Jason Todd careening down a dark path when his quest to find Joker is sidelined by a quest to find Scarecrow after the fear villain killed one of his former henchmen.
Is Batman / Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #2 Good?
Batman / Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #2 is, in a word, pointless. Truly, there's no reason for this two-part spinoff to exist other than to perhaps drive readers to read Matthew Rosenberg's other title - The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing. SPOILER: Don't do it. It's terrible.
When last we left Jason Todd, he was struggling with Batman's brainwashing which caused adrenaline spikes to be immediately followed by debilitating fear...
But, wait! That was in Catwoman #57.
When last we left Jason Todd, he ran into a burning building to save a child, in spite of the crippling fear that activates whenever he gets into a dangerous situation...
But, wait! That was in Batman #138.
Okay, somewhere before all of that, but after Batman / Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #1, Jason Todd learned one of the henchmen he trained was killed by the Scarecrow in retaliation for Selina snatching up all the available hired help. Now, Jason turns his rampage to find the Joker in a rampage to find the Scarecrow, culminating in a three-way fight between Jason, Scarecrow, and (a) Joker in the burning building that happens AFTER all the previously mentioned issues above.
What a mess. This two-parter doesn't fit within the timeline of the Gotham War. Nothing that happens in this story has any relevance to Selina's plan, Vandal Savage's new plan, or the outcome of the event. Technically speaking, this two-parter doesn't even qualify as a complete story. It's simply a collection of scenes stitched together from different parts of the Gotham War timeline, leading readers to go read other things. If you skipped this tie-in completely, you will have lost nothing.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:
Batman / Catwoman: The Gotham War: Red Hood #2 is a pointless mess and a waste of time. There is no story here, the timeline doesn't fit within Gotham War, and the outcome is just a cheap excuse to read other titles. In the strongest possible terms, this comic is a hard pass.
3/10
Don't know if it was on purpose or not but just wanted to mention in case, the burning building was actually the Catwoman issue and the fear serum bit was Batman 138, otherwise this review was completely spot on. The end of Catwoman issue wanted us to believe Jason was as much a player as the other two so now three of them are going to work together despite their differences but this series does absolutely nothing with that concept. It's a shame since there were a ton it could have explored but it's just the most random unnecessary storyline which is a baffling decision on the writer's part for me. Redhood is an afterthough in this whole event.
ReplyDeleteThank God you are on the podcast Jim! I don't think Jason is going to die but you were very on point otherwise in your review wih Eric. He lets the idea of what could have been dictate how he reviews the issue a lot. Just because there is a smidgen of what it could possibly have been, it doesn't mean how it was written or even what it ended up, is good! A useless non issue to make others read the man who stopped laughing is exactly what it is. Look, I too like the character and want him to have a solo series but that actually makes me angrier when I see how he gets handled recently especially since dawn of dc started.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, Eric reviews other issues well, so i know it just is a case of being a bit soft because of Jason.
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DeleteWow!!!! Your prediction came so close! How did you guess????
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