Girl In The Hood- Issue 7

"I Found That Essence Rare-----And Deadly!" 

 By 

 Elizabeth Airelle 

            This month we are back to our story involving Red Hood and the Outlaws in avenging The All-Caste. It opens with Crux being admitted to Arkham by a disguised Jason. Here he will be kept heavily sedated. Rather than let Starfire kill him, Jason reasons that it technically isn’t a crime to kill aliens, so killing a non-criminal would be against his (new?) code. Kori understandably isn’t happy with it but let’s Jason have his way with the promise she can kill who ever she wants if they visit her planet.

 After defeating Crux they commandeer his Inter-orbital transport with plans to steal from his “treasure trove of technology” he’s cobbled together hunting alien artifacts .Essence then appears, still only to Jason, which leads Kory and Roy to think he’s just talking to himself. This is how she appeared in the first issue, informing Jason of the defeat and slaughter of All-Caste by the Untitled.  She attempts to comfort him over the loss but Jason then attacks her. He accuses her of betraying the All-Caste and tricking him into killing a member of the Untitled. She denies it and attacks back becoming visible to everyone.

During the fight Essence reveals some of the Untitled’s past.  They were a clan of nomads that drank from the waters of absolute evil. She claims that Ducra was there and defied her brother but became linked to the Untitled. She also claims Ducra was her mother. Jason doesn’t want to believe her. Essence has the upper hand but vanishes when Jason pulls out some of Crux’s alien tech on her, in the hopes, something, anything can stop Essence. While the group continues out of Gotham, Jason calls the Flight Attendant, Isabel, from an earlier issue. She picks up but he gets cold feet, and hangs up reasoning he’s doing her a favor. Meanwhile in Gotham, Suzie Su has awoken from a coma after surgery for the gunshot wounds from Jason in issue 2, and swears revenge.

I liked this issue for a few reasons. Roy and Jason’s back and forth amuses me. I like the bit about killing anyone Kory wants on her planet seeing how they will be in space soon! Jason reveals that he and Essence were lovers at one point but I wasn’t that surprised by it. Ducra being revealed as her mom did surprise me thoug. There may have been an error because Baby Essence was behind a dark haired woman in one scene, then Ducra was depicted blonde, then back to black.  I was little confused for a second but figured it was a mistake.

 They only thing I didn’t like was the abrupt ending to this story. She just vanishes.  However, it was announced she is getting a backup feature so maybe we can learn more. Hopefully she joins them because I like this character. I heard Crux was supposed to join but considering he hasn’t been mentioned in future solicits and is currently sedated at Arkham I assume he’ll be around later at some point?  I would rather Essence join over Crux because she is more interesting and beautifully drawn. Speaking of the art, next month kicks off the Talon crossover and Red Robin will be guest-starring and I can’t wait for him to be drawn by Kenneth Rocafort.

See you then, hoodies!

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Playing The Long Game

By Mike DePalo

         We come to the conclusion of the first arc of Red Hood And The Outlaws 7 months into the New 52. "Conclusion" might be the wrong word, we may have just completed the first leg of a long journey in a title where nothing has been as it seems. The in-your-face-loud-mouth archer is desperate for friends. The hot alien in a bikini is a Battling Buddha. And the killer vigilante from Gotham might just be a tribal warrior and humanity's last best hope from the forces of darkness. And who really is the big-bad is still up in the air... a lil' bit.

          The other thing we see from Lobdell is a Red Hood who might be growing beyond his hatred of Batman. Or at least a Red Hood that knows the end of the world stuff is more important than schmucking with the Bat-Family. A Red Hood that keeps his eye on the ball. No spoilers but bare in mind, Judd Winick had Jason close that zippo lid instead of igniting a gasoline covered Joker in Lost Days. And that was about highlighting that the character of Jason Todd was not about a better world but about revenge. Fast-forward to this month's issue and it's surprising how good a bad boy can be.

          Would you have believed it if I said this 6 months ago? Me either.

          But that's the thing about this comic, written by Scott Lobdell and pencilled by Kenneth Rocafort,  it requires a bit of faith and keeping the long game in mind. What has begun here was not just the first story arc of Outlaws but rather the end of the beginning of a saga- the story of the millennium old All-Caste and the Untitled, the teacher Ducra and her students, Jason Todd and Essence, and the roles everyone has been set in, because of their own choosing, or otherwise.  It's your good ol' fashioned biblical Doomsday stuff, mixed in with some giant megalomaniac green bat-dude, that steel-jawed James Bond-esque nuclear bomb smuggling submarine commander, Roy's crocodile AA sponsor, and a fat lady Yakuza boss straight out of a Tarantino movie for good measure.

          Oh yeah, after that: outer space.

          Stayed tuned...




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Girl In The Hood

By 

Elizabeth Airelle

    

Red Hood And The Outlaws #6 [February 2012]  

Red Hood and the Outsiders has been my favorite series since the new 52 relaunch, and issue 6 has been my favorite issue so far. This book has been written by Scott Lobdell who I think has been doing a great job with Jason, as there has been much growth for the character than ever before. The art is by Kenneth Rocafort and it is really beautiful. Between the awesome spread of the spaceship, to the tropical island setting, to Starfire herself (say what you will, Kori looks awesome). The book has been amazing looking since the beginning.

This issue focuses on Jason Todd aka Red Hood and his first meeting with Starfire aka Kori which takes place one month before the series began. Spoiler Warning: The issue opens with Jason stopping a submarine from smuggling nuclear weapons into Miami in which he succeeds but barely escapes with his life. He is saved and nursed back to health by Princess Koriand'ar, who has been in seclusion on an island where her spaceship has been hidden.  There he discovers that Starfire had a relationship with Dick Grayson aka Nightwing who was Robin before Jason. She cannot remember his name but knows when she sees him again; she will. Kori has a few of his costumes which helps her remember him. This is how Jason gets his new costume which was Grayson’s Batman suit but he may or may not have used it [not sure yet].

Jason opens up to Kori telling her everything about him from beginning to end and she does not judge him because she doesn’t believe in living in the past. Their friendship builds from this, he believes that friendship and romance aren’t different just a different variation of love. It ends with Jason finding out online that Roy Harper is a prisoner in Qurac and he and Starfire take off to save him leading into the first issue.

When we first met Starfire in issue one she didn’t really say nor do much. Kori spent most of the issue posing to me. She didn’t acknowledge Roy aka Arsenal when they saved him; nothing until she propositioned him on the beach later. Now I didn’t see what the big whoopla was about. Firstly on her planet they all dress like Kori does, even the men. I always thought they absorbed sun light in as well. As for her fling with Arsenal I think people put too much thought into it. I wasn’t bothered by it at all. I just figured they would have a relationship down the road, if not friendships sometimes start differently than others. This could have been a way for her to get to know him. If not it was a booty call and I thought that everyone overreacted. I really liked getting to know Starfire more in this issue. She is a smart, spirited person who will live her life to her own standards and not judge others which I think most people can’t do.  I believed then and still do now that Scott Lobdell gets these characters right. Roy and Jason’s interactions remind me of my friends and how they talk to each other. Judd Winick may have brought back Jason as Red Hood but Mr. Lobdell is giving life to him.

As any other fangirl will tell you the best part of the issue we got Jason who is naked (except for some well- placed leaves) for almost half this issue.  When the first issue came out Starfire was in some teeny tiny bikini and everyone went off, Jason was naked and this issue has been one of the best. This book is equal opportunity for nudity! Now I don’t think that was the sole reason this issue has been greatly reviewed. It was just really good storytelling and it was really sweet to watch this friendship start. I recommend this book and I think that people who stopped reading after the first issue should pick this one up and give it another chance.

Editor's Note:  Saw this and thought of you Liz

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Red Hood And The Outlaws #6 Review [Smart Space Kitty Edition]

By 

Mike DePalo

Spoilers.

The Internet owes Scott Lobdell an apology.

Because if issue #5 showed us the warrior path of Jason Todd Lobdell is taking us on then issue six is all about just how wrong so many people were in their preconcieved notions about Starfire. It goes without saying the alien princess is hot, she's a walking nuclear reactor, but she's also the wisest member of this team. Todd comes from a world of characters who can't let go of the past, where everything they do is about some scarring event from youth. Batman characters are in many ways some of the most frail, human people of the DCU. So of course it would have to be a girl from the stars to set Jason straight. The past should not be forgotten but it shouldn't be lived in. You cannot define yourself by the people you've known or their trappings. Lobdell delivers everything with a little bit of a wink saying Kory is the "space kitty who is smarter than anyone gives her credit for. Reminds me of me". Out Jason's mouth, but Lobdell's words [with an assist from Josh Williamson on some of the dialogue]. He's right, she is. We come to understand not only how much goes on in that pretty little bean of hers but also how she works physiologically. She explains how Tamaranean memory works off sights and smells [pheromones] and while she's haunted by her time with Dick Grayson, she won't truly remember him until he's right there in front of her. It's by far one of the coolest things I've ever seen done with Starfire.

The book breaks completely free of the All-Caste/Untitled plot to give us that set-up so many clamored about "Why are these people together?". You don't mind that on this book. We bounce all over the world just like in the first issue. But this travel exists on the dream plane, the memory, the flashback. Aboard a nuclear sub vs. a James Bond-esque baddie, on a deserted island with a starship embedded in it, back and forth to Gotham as both Robin and Red Hood with some guy named Nightwing always there. And speaking of Nightwing, we see a group not called the Titans fighting together, and finally, full circle off to Qurac. Nothing with the Untitled, no plot development there but everything is changed in this book. This was the "here's why" moment and it just works so damn well.

You can't credit Lobdell and Williamson alone. Kenneth Rocafort's pencils and layouts make this book uniquely alive in the new 52. Everything jumps out and nothing is conventional. And colorist Blond does everything in his palette's power to make this book *PoP* month after month. We get plenty of unique redesigns by Rocafort this issue. We see Kory's original costume, a new version of the Disco era Nightwing suit, even his Batmaan suit has been redesigned [and uniquely explained], but don't worry there's some green scaled undies around for good measure. My favorite one is Rocafort's redesign of Jason's original Red Hood biker costume in a Under The Hood flashback. Ken absolutely owns the black leather look and his work really does convince me it was the best of Jason's costumes, even outshining Rocafort's new 52 design from issue 1 on.

So next month we advance back to the future, back to the masses in Colorado chasing Jason, Roy and Kory for killing their local space alien sheriff. But we do it with far greater understanding.

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Exclusive: Scott Lobdell Talks "Red Hood And The Outlaws" Post-Craziness

Welcome to Red Hood's Den, the official blog for the Red Hood and the Outlaws facebook page....because I can't figure out how to add a blog there, dammit. Join the other Hoodies for constant updates on Jason Todd and the other Outlaws at:

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For our first official post we've got a big one for ya. Scott Lobdell, writer of Red Hood and the Outlaws, Teen Titans, and Superboy in his first interview since issue #1 hit stands and broke the internet. He talks with Mike about all things Outlawed.

Mike: What's Jason been doing since he last busted out of Gotham, and is he more of a mercenary or vigilante at the moment?

Scott: We learn in issue two that Jason's scope is (and has been) more international than people realize... that he has used all the money he's taken from one crime lord or another to build himself a series of safe houses around the globe. In true Jason fashion, however, that only means he's made a lot of enemies the world over.

Alas, you've only given me a choice between mercenary and vigilante and I don't really see him as either. To be a merc he would have to take money for his exploits -- and while he certainly "takes money" from individual criminals or empires, he only gets it as the spoils of a war on crime.

Being a vigilante would mean that he's going around taking the law into his own hands and I don't see him that way. It is more like he becomes aware of a problem and then finds himself compelled to solve it. (Like when he learned his friend Roy was being held in Qurac.) I think currently he's taking a break from his war on crime (taking a break makes him different from the Batman in yet another way), but when Essence tells him about the slaughter of the All-Caste he once again finds himself putting on the red hood.

Mike: Now with Roy, his history has branched off from the old DCU, did the split with Ollie occur from finding him out about Roy's drug addiction or is there much a bigger story you plan to flesh out?

Scott: Way bigger, and way more fleshed out. What we'll discover, and you can see hints of it in the first and second issues if you read the fine print, is that Roy's relationship with Ollie was more of a partnership through the founding of Q Core, and less that mentor - sidekick relationship than we've seen in the past. But fear not, that onion will be peeled back over the course of the first eight issues.

Roy is a fascinating and complex guy. Anyone dismissing him as "Jason's lackey" does not come close to understanding Roy or his relationship to Jason.

They are equals. Like Butch and Sundance.

Mike: And with Ollie's status as an international "outlaw" hunter now, have you talked about a crossover with the Green Arrow team?

Scott: While there is some cross pollination planned, Ollie isn't the one who instigates their encounter.

Mike: In the first issue we bounced from Qurac to Martinique to Chicago to the Himalayas. Is the globe-trotting going to be a staple of the book?

Scott: Yes! They are, after all, Outlaws... so they don't have the luxury of staying in one place for too long.

That said, wait until you get a look at Kori's home away from Tamaran in issue 6!

Mike: Obviously the big talk for this month has been the stuff with Starfire. Can you tell us a bit about who she is to you, maybe even who she's become to you now in light of the uproar over her characterization?

Scott: Who she is is pretty much who she is in the first issue. She is an alien who doesn't see the world the same way we do. Shocking! LOL!

Okay, maybe not so shocking.. considering that even on Earth there are many different ways to see the world around us. Heck, people have actually gone to war with each other over their interpretations over who God loves more. I've been to the Middle East where there were three doors to be seen in the entire town, and I've lived in doorman buildings along Central Park -- and trust me when I say that the people who live in each have very different outlooks on things like community and possessions and family.

She is a princess from another world who spent years as a slave in some of the harshest death camps in the universe. To think that we have any idea how her unique world view has been forged by these experiences feels otherworldly to me.

And while I know this is going to make some people angry, the constant wailing and gashing of teeth and tearing of clothing and the shouts of "Unclean! Unclean!" that have made their way across the internet have not altered the pending storyline at all.

How could it? Imagine you are watching a movie and some people in the audience start shouting at the screen... so one character on the screen starts doing what the audience tells her to do. Then another group starts shouting, no, she should do this instead! It would be chaos! LOL!

The story that was pitched is the story that is being written and we'll see how people feel about it when the story is read in its entirety.

Mike: You're no stranger to controversy, having officially outed Northstar as a gay man in Alpha Flight #106 back in the early 90s, a milestone breaking from Shooter's policy of "No openly gay characters" at Marvel. What's controversy in the age of 'round the clock internet comic book journalism feel like?

Scott: What is that curse "May you live in interesting times"? LOL! It kind of reminds of that Twilight Zone episode where there is this wonderful small town that is suddenly disrupted by aliens conducting an experiment in fear and paranoia. It takes a few switches of lights being turned on and off on one side of the block or the other before people are shouting and screaming at one another. I'll read these message boards and one person will put forth an ill-informed interpretation of something I've written... and before you know it people are shouting and screaming over the interpretation and not what was written.

Probably the best example is a line that Kori doesn't have much of an attention span where humans are concerned has somehow become she is Dori from "Finding Nemo" -- within the hour you have people typing in all caps about how she was never like Dori and I must have never read Starfire before or I would never dare think that way about her! (Um... she is nothing like Dori. If that is the starting point in the conversation I'm not even sure where we find common ground to move the dialogue forward.)

Mike: It has seemed to help orders for future issues though huh?

Scott: Apparently. But I have no idea what the actual numbers are.

Mike: Have you been meeting with the fan base, the Hoodies, at relaunch events, and how's that been?

Scott: So far my experiences have only been positive. But then I would imagine if you are standing on line to have your book signed it is because you ARE a Hoodie and the book means something to you and so our dialogue is going to be about how we both enjoyed the book. I suspect that the people who are out there burning their copies of Red Hood And The Outlaws aren't running out to the comic book stores to get their ashes signed. LOL!

I am purty sure I'll get an earful at the conventions.

Mike: Has DC been supportive?

Scott: Nothing but!

Mike: I know you'd mentioned collaborating with your artists to work out costume designs over in Teen Titans---have you been working with Ken Rocafort on the any of the Outlaw costumes, or design for Crux?

Scott: There is very little collaborating with Kenneth. It is more like I write "We see Jason dressed as Robin but it shouldn't be the green bikini bottom Robin we're used to seeing" -- then a few hours later he sends a single color sketch that makes me want to spend the next ten years writing the adventures of Jason Todd "The Robin Years" because he just looks so damned awesome! LOL! So most of the time I just wait for my mailbox to be filled with the wonder that is Kenneth Rocafort.

Mike: Speaking of Crux, we haven't met him just yet but you've spoken pretty openly with regards to back story about the character who will be the 4th Outlaw, how would you describe his personality?

Scott: Let's wait and meet him together, shall we?

Mike: Can we expect another woman to be joining the Outlaws anytime soon?

Scott: Nope. At the risk of sounding sexist (Who, me?!)... Princess Koriand'r is proving to be more than woman enough for the series!

Mike: When the book was announced you said it was really about redemption and the power of friendship. Are you going to go deep and really flesh out Jason's life before Batman as a way to reflect on him now? I mean he grew up and lived on the streets for years, had a dad who worked for Two-Face and got killed, a step mom who shot junk and died, and a mother who sold him out to the joker and got them both killed. That's a lot of baggage to play with.

Scott: There was a comedian who used to do a joke "I lost my emotional baggage at the airport. So that means someone somewhere is walking around wondering why they suddenly hate their father."

I don't see Jason as someone who walks around with his emotional baggage. Yeah, he's clearly been a bit obsessed about Batman and the Joker for a while now... but we'll see over the next few months that he has a lot more going on in his head and his heart than that.

Without trying to sound sappy, redemption is more about how to move forward than about dwelling on the past.

So, Hoodies... To the future!