Review: RED HOOD: OUTLAW #39
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Kenneth Rocafort
Colors: Steve Firchow
Letters: ALW’s Troy Peteri
Reviewer: Tony Farina
Summary
Red Hood: Outlaw #39 finds the titular anti-hero and his Generation Outlaw students face to face with some odd ball monster squad. There is a lot of fighting.
Meanwhile, in another dimension a bearded Bizarro, Artemis, Ma Gunn and Pup Pup, who has become sentient, (no, really) figure out how to escape from said other dimension.
Meanwhile, Generation Outlaw’s secret hidey hole has been found out. That is bad news right?
Positives
Kenneth Rocafort is unleashed. When I first saw that this book was only 19 digital pages, I was distraught. I was going to email my editor in a panic that I did not get the whole book. Then, I saw why. Red Hood: Outlaw #39 is all about the splash page. There are so many. It is glorious. There is so much going on. There are so many characters. The action is fast and furious. A regular panel can not hold it all. Steve Firchow has so much space to make things bright. It is wonderful. The reader is the winner here.
There are SO MANY characters in this book that Troy Peteri’s hand must be cramped up and ready to fall off. The letters are unique to almost each character. It is small thing, but it really helps keep things straight. I appreciate it so much and you will too.
I have often said that Scott Lobdell is the only person who should ever write Jason Todd dialog in perpetuity and when he decides we wants to stop, that is the time to put Jason back into a hole and keep him here. That is on full display again here.
Negatives
Monster Arm?! Really. Come on. As I have mentioned several times, there are a LOT of characters in this book and it may be a bit of a detriment. This book is always best when it is the Dark Trinity.
Verdict
Hooray! The band is going to get back together soon. Red Hood: Outlaw is way better when it is Red Hood and the Outlaws. The art in this book is always delightful. The jokes still land, but it has been missing the Outlaws and to that end, without Artemis to keep Jason in check, he kind of runs amok in a bad way.
