Written by: Scott Lobdell
Art by: Dexter Soy
Publisher: DC Comics
Scott Lobdell, noted for his writing of X-men in the 90s as well as Teen Titans and Red Hood in the last DC reboot, has gained quite a mixed reputation and often has not been looked on favorably by the community as of late. Here we see Lobdell’s further exploration of Jason Todd in a series that will eventually see him paired up with Bizarro and Artemis, mirroring the Trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonderwoman.
Having not experienced Lobdell’s writing firsthand before I was cautioned by many fellow comic readers with tales clunky dialogue and trite plot lines. I therefore began reading Red Hood expecting the worst but hoping for the best.
Let’s start with the best thing about this issue- the art. It has a colour palette that’s a bit drab for my taste, only really highlighting bright colours such as red or green. Tie that in with some nice, rough line art (a style I really like) and the overall effect is actually pretty satisfying, it even makes Batman actually look intimidating.
Now onto one of the worst things, the actual plot. Rebirth issues have become pretty infamous in their quality of setting up the plot and Lobdell does earn some points for neatly introducing Red Hood and what the main jist of the overarching plot will be. It’s just so disappointing that neither Jason Todd or what he’s setting out to do seem all that interesting.
The problem with Jason is that he’s very much a cliche, trapped inside that ‘why won’t society respect me and my 2-edgy-4-u style’ archetype that it’s all too easy to write dark heroes as. He has all the hall marks of a lazily written dark character:
- Claims people don’t give him a chance or don’t understand him.
- Vies for father figures approval desperately yet antagonises said figure at every turn.
- Makes jokes which are edgy but in a safe way, S&M and other forms of sex are perfect topics for this.
- Jealous of other people that the father figure may favour.
- Prefers to ‘go it alone’ rather than working with those that are supposed to be on the same side.
Honestly you could replace all images of Red Hood in this with Shadow the Hedgehog and I couldn’t tell the difference if it weren’t for references to Death in the Family.
The issue consists of Red Hood staging an attack on the mayor of Gotham, Batman tries to intervene but he fails and Red Hood succeeds in his plan. Later Bruce confronts Jason in Red Hood’s hideout beneath a police station and it is revealed to us that Jason didn’t kill anyone but only sedated them and that the attack was to administer a cure to the mayor, who was suffering from a techno-virus.
‘Well why didn’t Jason just tell Batman that?’ You’re probably asking. Well Jason is trying to go undercover in the local criminal syndicate and this would open doors for him, at least according to the characters that’s why. If you ask me, it’s so that Lobdell has an excuse to write a fight between Batman and Jason where Jason wins in order to up his character. But maybe I’m just being cynical…
The rest of this issue is just exposition on Red Hood’s character, which I find odd because anyone who’s even remotely into comics knows of the outline of Death in the Family so this would only be useful if you’ve never read anything by DC, in which case why are you starting on Red Hood? Admittedly these flashback moments are my favourite as the dichotomy between a fun-loving Jason Todd and super serious Batman is kind of interesting but not enough to carry an issue.
I honestly see no reason to invest in this comic or series. It centers around a unlikable character that seems more annoying than anything, and a plot premise that’s so worn out I’m pretty sure even the Power Rangers have used it at some point (if not multiple times). I question why this comic had to be made and if someone were to give me the trade for free when it comes out I probably wouldn’t read it.
