Comic Review: Red Hood And The Outlaws (2016-) #30

Red Hood And The Outlaws (2016-) #30

DC Comics

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Artist: Pete Woods

When I first submitted this review it was rejected by the editors as apparently “My favourite C-List Teen Titan is back yeahhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHH BABYYYYYYYYYYYYY 10/10” does not qualify as a legitimate review.

I stand by the sentiment, however.

(I’m sure some of you already know who I mean but for the sake of my supposed journalistic integrity I will avoid spoilers within this article and they shall not be named)

Personally, Red Hood And The Outlaws (currently running under the name of Red Hood: Outlaw) stands as one of my favourite series to come out of DC Rebirth. It’s not necessarily the best book, but I am a big fan of Jason and how Lobdell writes him, and the quality has remained very consistent since the book started back in 2016.  This issue sees Jason trace the criminal activities of the secretive “Underlife” gangster ring back to a seemingly abandoned prison, and a confrontation with the unknown individual who has been following Jason using his old Wingman alias from Batman, Inc. Jason’s exploration of this prison is far from being a mindblowing action thriller or a deep philosophical rumination, however, the encounter with the mysterious Wingman, the final page’s return of my favourite C-List Teen Titan and a couple of other moments serve to create four promising plot threads for Lobdel to pull on later.

The only character who gets significant time here is Jason, this being a somewhat lonely issue. Lobdell has already proven himself more than adept at writing Jason as a character, perfectly capturing his sarcastic demeanour and genuine, if often closed off from others, feelings towards his friends. There are no stunningly revelatory moments for Jason as a character here, but it still contains a little bit of touching internal monologue from him, and his attitude is as consistent as ever.

Pete Woods’ art is a style that is doubtful to appeal to everyone, however, personally, I believe it an enjoyable style. If a face with uncovered eyes is shown outside of the foreground, it can sometimes come across as quite wooden rather than expressive, but otherwise, Woods’ art is well executed. His panel composition is consistently solid and he displays an especial knack for making Jason look particularly threatening in his current hood-and-mask get-up. While the issue in this art is good, it lacks any particularly dynamic moments for Woods to flex his muscles and draw something amazing impactful. The colours, by Rex Lokus, are competent and suit the individual panels well, but there’s no stunning usage of colour here, either. Overall, the art is well drawn, but there’s not too much to use in this book to create any truly excellent imagery.