Written by: Scott Lobdell
Art by: Dexter Soy & Veronica Gandini
Publisher: DC Comics
When Red Hood and the Outlaws was announced as part of DC’s lineup of books, I wrote it off pretty much immediately. I hadn’t really liked The New 52 incarnation of the book, or anything writer Scott Lobdell wrote during that time period. But, considering that I told myself I would at least give every Rebirth book a try, I picked up the Rebirth issue and actually really enjoyed it. It was a really solid Jason Todd story that left me wanting more.
In that sense, this issue delivers. There’s more Red Hood, and Lobdell writes Jason really well. It’s the first time since I was thirteen that I’ve been interested in reading an ongoing about that particular character. The rest of the Outlaws don’t have much of a role to play in this issue, and that’s my concern about the book. I don’t care for Bizzarro, and Lobdell doesn’t have the strongest track record when it comes to writing female characters. So if two thirds of the team aren’t great, writing Jason well likely won’t be enough.
Even in this issue, it borders on not quite being enough. This issue finishes setting up the first arc of the story, introducing Black Mask as the main villain. Black Mask is a character that, like Jason, I haven’t been interested in reading in a while. Also like Jason, Lobdell writes him pretty well. So when those two get to interact, it’s mostly pretty good. There are a few missteps in terms of the dialogue, but nothing egregious.
“So what was up with the introductory sentence to the last paragraph?”, you might be asking. Well… I’m getting to that. The problems with this issue are twofold. First, about half the issue is overwritten. There are too many words on some of these pages, and it gets in the way of the book being engaging. The second problem is perhaps even worse – RHatO takes itself way too seriously. This issue is so over the top and silly, but it never leans into that, instead opting to be as edgy as possible. It gets on my nerves a little bit.
Jumping back to more positive territory, I do really like the art. Veronica Gandini’s colors are perhaps a little too muted – again, this is likely because the book is going for a darker feel. Even then, muting the colors seems a little too on the nose and even unnecessary. But they do the job they’re there to do, which is the most important part. As for the pencils and inks, Dexter Soy does a pretty good job with both. His style is unremarkable, but like Gandini’s colors, it gets the job done.
Overall, I think RHatO #1 was Ok, which is more than I thought I would be able to say about it. That said, based on the way it ended, what I know is coming in the future, and how much I enjoyed the Rebirth issue; I really wish this was a Jason Todd solo book. And maybe a Jason Todd solo book that wasn’t just doing the plot from Grayson, but with Jason instead of Dick, as if it wasn’t bad enough that they’re doing the Grayson plot again in Nightwing anyways. Just my two cents.
