By
Elizabeth Airelle
Our story opens up in Hong Kong a
few years ago when Jason just left the All-Caste. He crashes the funeral of a Chinese
mafia boss, demanding 10% of the illegal income from the seven crime families
in attendance so he could finance his revenge on Joker and Batman. This was an “or else” ultimatum by Jason that
he made good on, killing everyone at the funeral. The scene also reminds of a
similar one from “Under The Hood” in which Jason demands 40% of revenue from
Black Mask’s drug trade. By that point though, Jason knew to come with heads in
a bad to show he meant business and get his take.
Several different families took
over until Suzie Su and her father came to town. A few issues ago when Jason
stopped in Hong Kong before going to avenge the All-Caste, he killed Suzie’s men and left her for dead
in an ambush on Jason that went the other way on Ms. Su. Turns out, she was
shipped to Gotham because unsurprisingly they have the best hospitals for
dealing with gunshot wounds. She awoke from her coma and now has taken the
entire children’s ward hostage. So the Outlaws find themselves turning around
their craft yet again toward Gotham.
The hostages being another form of
captivity that strikes a chord with former slave Kori, she wastes several of
Suzie’s mercs with one starblast, after a set-up by Arsenal who waltzes right into
the hospital as a distraction. The two make a great team and Roy says to remind
him when it’s over to ask her out on a real date, to which she says she’d like
that. The relationship develops and develops further.
Jason heads off to find Suzie but
she finds him first and lands on top of him hoping to crush him to death in the
elevator in what is one of Rocafort’s cooler panel set-ups this issue. Luckily
Kori stops it from falling to the bottom. Suzie tries to run for it but Jason
catches her easily. He gives he a chance by saying she should try to get a new
perspective[the kinder, gentler Red Hood] but she refuses and he kills her[there’s the Jason I know!]. The
Outlaws start to leave when they intercept Alfred’s call to all Bat allies, stating
that the Talons (The Court of Owls assassins) are on their way to kill over 40 people
of interest I Gotham. He lists the targets names and warns that the Talons are
highly trained killers with extraordinary healing powers. Red Robin aka Tim
Drake pops in the transmission stating he has detected Jason eavesdropping and
asks that he helps. Starfire asks if he
knows this boy to which Jason says yes.
We then flashback to a scene a month
or two before Outlaws and Teen Titans #1 at Lex Towers in New York City, where
Red Hood and Red Robin make a intel deal that explains how Jason found his nuclear
weapons smugglers in Red Hood #6’s flashback and how Red Robin found Cassie
Sandsmark’s Wondergirl; they helped each other out. Jason is about to leave
when Tim asks him to stay and join him for breakfast. Jason is skeptical
considering he “wasn’t the nicest guy” to him. Tim is very understanding
stating that Jason came back to life after being brutally murdered. He
understands that would be a lot for someone and hopes on day the whole bat-family
can be understanding about what Jason went through. So we see the beginnings of
a reconciliation between the second and third Robin. Back to the present, Jason
decides to help the Bat-Family out and asks Roy for a person on the hit list
who is not being helped by anyone else. They find Victor Fries aka Mr. Freeze
is a Talon target...
So while Susie deserved to die for
threatening children, I’m still sad to see her go. She would have been a fun
villain but I guess we can just wait until “Daddy” makes a debut. Finally Kori and Roy will go out. I knew it, ever one freaked out in the first
issue for nothing. I loved seeing Kori show no mercy to the would-be children
Killers. The interaction with Tim and Jason I know has made some mixed feelings
for people. I like that one of the Robins
are being understanding to Jason. Before Tim was Robin he was a fan of not only
Dick Grayson but Jason too. He is one of the more logical ones so I can believe
that in this reboot he feels for Jason. I hope we can see more interactions
from them. Enough cannot be said about the combination of Kenneth Rocafort’s
art and panel design, Blond’s coloring, and Lobdell’s words on this title.
Great Book!
