Sunday, April 29, 2012

ASK LOBDELL- 4/29/2012 Edition


Welcome to our second installment of Ask Lobdell where YOU get to ask Scott Lobdell questions about Red Hood And The Outlaws.

This week's question is from Brad, who asks:
Why did you choose to make Roy more of a fun, talkative guy than he's usually been? I'm not complaining, but this was a real precedent to molding him into the lovable comedic relief with a big heart he is now-from his pre- New 52 days. Will we see more of Roy's past before he became an alcoholic and had a falling-out with Ollie? (This is me assuming there was indeed a "falling out")?

Lobdell answers: 
This might sound strange, but I don't really see him as the comedy relief. Does he have a sense of humor? Certainly, but so do Jason and Kori. I see Roy as just being a passionate guy who says what is on his mind with very little internal editor. He's in recovery because of some of his poor life choices in the past-- and as such he doesn't think to keep anything in. In that way--honestly-- I don't think he is all that different from any of his other previous incarnations: Roy has always been the type of guy who says what is on his mind, only now it isn't as blustery or angry as it has been in the past. I think Roy comes from a place where his darkness is in his past. 

Ann Nocenti is in the process of working on a Roy/Ollie story so I'm not really in a position to talk about that right now but I am sure it will be awesome!

Remember Hoodies, you get to ask Scott a question in our weekly polling over at the Red Hood & The Outlaws Facebook page, so like us and keep an eye out for the invitation to submit next week's questions.

Mike DePalo
Hoodie Admin
https://www.facebook.com/RedHoodOutlaws
@RedHoodOutllaws on Twitter.



Saturday, April 21, 2012

Girl In The Hood- Outlaws #8 Edition


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!  

 Until next time Hoodies !! 

You can find Elizabeth chatting with other Hoodies at:
https://www.facebook.com/RedHoodOutlaws
And follow our Twitter feed: @RedHoodOutlaws

Friday, April 20, 2012

Ask Scott Lobdell: 4/20/12 Edition


Sneak Attack! Today, we are introducing a new weekly feature to The Red Hood's Den, Scott Lobdell has agreed to answer one question from YOU, the Hoodies, each week about your favorite Outlaw topics. So from now on,we will poll for questions on our Red Hood & The Outlaws Facebook page, before submitting them to Scott for an answer and posted here for all to see.

To keep this a surprise, our first question came from Elizabeth Airelle, our "Girl In The Hood" column writer, whose been awesome about meeting deadlines for me, so she gets the inaugural question. Elizabeth's new review of issue 8 will be posted tomorrow, so check back for that.

So without further ado:

Elizabeth asks:
This issue we got to see Tim Drake and Jason sit down together over waffles. What started as an information trade turned into something quite civil and nice for the two "brothers". My question is do you view this as Tim moving beyond two really brutal beat-downs Jason gave him in Teen Titans and Battle for the Cowl, have those events still happened, did he just decide to extend the olive branch in spite of all that or is there more to the story of how they ended up in place of civility you plan to unfold in front of us?

Scott Lobdell: I think of it this way, if you came to my house to beat me up and we fought and threw each other out the window and tried to bloody each other, it would probably be very awkward (least of all because we don't know each other from Adam). But for guys like Jason and Tim who are in knockdown drag out life or death battles every day, it has to mean something completely different: part and parcel of the life they chose.  So to that end, I can see a world where both guys wouldn't be able to see past the events leading up to and the resulting trauma of the moment without coming to the conclusion that in the end all we have is family.    

Check the our Facebook page regularly for your chance to ask Scott Lobdell a question!
-Mike DePalo
Hoodie Admin
@RedHoodOutlaws on Twitter