Girl In The Hood: Outlaws #16 Edition

By

Elizabeth Airelle

 "Family Matters"

The issue picks up where we left off, the Teen Titans find themselves overrun by a jokerized group of homeless people. Roy and Kori arrive on the scene and help them. Starfire wonders why they do not simply incinerate them, but Kid Flash states that they are innocent victims that hopefully can be cured. Arsenal orders Kid Flash to corral the group, Wondergirl tells him to ignore the order. She is able to force them into the building herself. Kid Flash attempts to seal up the doors but it’s obvious it won’t last long.

Arsenal tries again saying they are all trying to find their members they should work together,  to which Bunker and Solstice agree. After taking a blood sample from one of the victims Arsenal comes up with an antidote to cure them, he sends everyone but Bunker to gather the supplies while the two remain to hold off the group.

As Bunker and Roy try to push the group back, Roy reflects back to when Killer Croc took him to his lair which he stole from Toyman.  Croc says he can stay there as long as he stays in the program, Alcoholics anonymous.

Kori and the Titans fly to the warehouse as she and Solstice talk. Starfire asks Solstice if she has told them. She states she will but not until she chooses to. When they arrive they find boxes with “Joker’s cure, do not touch” written on it. The warehouse is booby trapped and explodes. Kid Flash is able to get the girls away safe as well as the boxes with the cure!

Meanwhile Bunker and Roy are struggling to push back the Jokerized group. Following Roy’s advice Bunker creates a wall from his power to hold them back. Roy thinks that Bunker will be in the Justice League before he is twenty. Meanwhile in Missouri a woman is getting her book signed and the author is Hugo Strange! “Strange” things to come?

When they open the boxes they discover that the cure is ready to be administered. Kid Flash notes he hates needles and they make him queasy. Wondergirl orders him not to pass out until he has stuck every one of the victims.  It takes a moment but they all return to normal. Roys tells Kori that they should all stay together and now they can resume their search.

Meanwhile Deathstroke the assassin is warming up, he’s taken a new contract, to kill the Outlaws! And elsewhere Joker is putting together one of Jason’s helmets…

In this issue we got a glimpse of villains who are sure to make appearances very soon: Killer Croc, Deathstroke and Hugo Strange. We’ve had mentions of Killer Croc before, so for Hugo Strange and Deathstroke to be appearing soon should be interesting. Red Hood vs Deathstroke should be awesome. What kind of mind games can Hugo Strange be up too? It was great to see some of Roy’s past, it’s still unclear what happened and why he became an alcoholic. Hopefully with DC presents Arsenal we will get more details very soon, especially with Croc’s involvement. It was good to see him take the reins this time. It’s one thing if you’re a princess commanding your fleet or a trained warrior who worked with the world’s greatest detective giving orders, but for Roy he had a little trouble being taken serious as a leader. Red Robin had trouble at first too leading the Titans. Hopefully he will keep them together so they can find the former Robins. The story continues next week in Teen Titans which should shift the story back to Jason and Tim. Death of the Family is coming to an end as is Scott Lobdell’s time on the book. The next few issues promise to be big and I can’t wait to see what happens next! 

Until next time Hoodies !! 

You can find Elizabeth chatting with other Hoodies at:

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Girl In The Hood: Outlaws 15 Edition

By

Elizabeth Airelle

                 

                                           "It Only Hurts When You Laugh"

Continuing from last issue Jason is in Isabel’s apartment; she was drugged and forcibly overdosed. Jason is surrounded by Gotham SWAT and Detective Bullock. He tells Bullock he is going after whoever did this to her, Bullock doubts an “ordinary citizen” dressed only in a towel is getting past Gotham’s Finest. Jason takes them out fast with a shower rail and takes Bullock’s keys. He mentions he can trust Bullock and calls him a good cop. He makes off with the police cruiser to warn the other Batfam but Joker ambushes him with knock out gas.

When Jason comes to he is unable to move and is alone with the Joker. The Joker got his hands on one of Jason’s helmets and drove a crowbar through it. The Joker wants to try “new material” on Jason. When Jason doesn’t laugh Joker states that the two of them were quite the team back in the day.  Joker wrote the material and Jason read the lines, until he improvised the ending. Jason has no clue what Joker is talking about but can’t let it get to him. Joker is about to strike him with a crowbar until Jason kicks him off. Under Ducra, he learned how to overcome toxins in his body, Jason gets the upper hand until he grabs the crowbar which electrocutes him and knocks him out.

At the hospital Bullock gets Isabel’s phone. He thinks it’s suspicious that a girl with no drugs in her house, no track marks and no priors would have an overdose. He calls “J-first class” and states he wants to get to the bottom of this as well. Meanwhile Kori and Roy are off on her island.  After Roy made some improvements to Crux’s cruiser they intercept Bullock’s call to Jason and hurry off to Gotham.

When Jason wakes up this time he is wearing a helmet and is somewhere else. Jason runs off to find Joker who is speaking over an intercom.  As he races forward he notices the bullet fragment that was pulled from his Father. Joker hits a nerve and Jason keeps moving and stops when he comes across a couple manikins displaying the scene when he found his mother “dead” from an overdose on the street. Jason doesn’t understand how Joker knows all this and he trips over a medical box he tried stealing from Doctor Leslie years ago. Jason doesn’t believe Joker was there throughout his life, that’s he is “punch line to some stale joke”. Joker says that he kind of his and would he lie to family? Joker then releases a trap door which Jason falls down and he is again rendered unconscious next to Tim Drake aka Red Robin!

Kori and Roy have arrived in Gotham. She states that Gotham city feels less safe than the prison camps she grew up in. She is surprised that someone as warm as Jason came from here. They have no leads on Jason other than a call from Wondergirl to Batgirl. Kori asks what it has to do with them. Roy states maybe nothing, maybe everything but for sure it was Joker related. The issues ends with Roy and Kori come upon the Teen Titans being attacked by Jokerized thugs…..

This issue was a good showdown between Joker and Jason.  Todd holding his own and doing a good job of not letting the Joker get to him was great to see. He doesn’t let himself get too emotional while fighting which had to take a lot. Joker brings up events from issue 0, in which Joker manipulated Jason into becoming Robin, which now Jason finally knows.  He does not seem to believe Joker but this is far from over between them. I can’t wait to see it play out more between them.   I was happy to see Bullock in this as he is one of my favorite of Gotham’s finest. Jason has known him since he was a kid so it makes sense that he would trust him.  Also anyone who reads Teen Titans will know that Tim Drake was kidnapped last issue and this reveals briefly what happened to him.  It’s going to be awesome to see Roy and Kori fighting along the Teen Titans. Speaking of Teen Titans the story should continue in next week’s issue!

Until Next Time Hoodies!

You can find Elizabeth chatting with other Hoodies at:

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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

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

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