Red Hood and the Outlaws #18 Requiem

Red Hood and the Outlaws #18 Requiem actually has nothing to do with the Death of Robin.  Robin is not mentioned or his passing is not noticeably mentioned.    This is Jason Todd recovering from the acid attack left by the Joker for after the Joker was “defeated”.   Basically this is a post Death of the Family story and not actually a Requiem story.  The Red Hood has a bad dream telling a version of a re-birth story or possibly an introduction for those people whom had avoided this comic book until feeling forced to buy copies because of the Death of the Family mega story.  It feels as if the creative team is hoping that with a cool re-birth story readers will forgive them for the terribly sexists treatment of Starfire.  Unfortunately the only time we see Starfire she is dead and still nearly naked so no I’m not really interested in buying more of these comics.  Frankly this fake Requiem tie in makes it even less likely that I would ever buy a comic book in this series ever again (so lucky for the DC comics I might have bought the next issue because I am still a few weeks behind reading comic books as they come out). 

Red Hood and the Outlaws! #17

Red Hood and the Outlaws #17 was more Death of the Family aftermath.  It was a very interesting recap and review of the Red Hoods life.  It was interesting to the interaction of the different characters, Arsenal, Starfire, Robin (ah Ghul), Alfred, Nightwing and Batman.  I was kind of surprised at the ending I did not expect a cliffhanger.  This makes me grateful I was not paying attention to the list of Death of the Family comics coming out next or the plot summaries.  This is first time in a number of issues of this mega story that I have been surprised.  Good comic.

Batman!!

Batman #17 Death of the Family and the big climax which to this old reviewer  is just another letdown as there was nothing really new in the end.  While the characters might or might not change really this Super Mega Story was just another piece of good publicity.  The story could have been grand and it would have been amazing if the Family had actually been harmed.  I thought maybe Batman’s solution to the Joker problem was going to work.  But it was a bluff at least when we see the aftermath.  This was the chance for the New52 the Batman writers to do something new and special and instead they just reset the story which is just a typical copout that chased me away from comic books in the first place.  I am very disappointed in this story, very disappointed. 

Teen Titans - Death of the Family!

Teen Titans #16 Death of the Family!  Yeah this was another issue of blah blah blah filler.  At the very least I was hoping for something interesting.  But instead we hear the self monolog while the two Robins fight.  Then oh surprise they were just trying to trick the Joker.   Only to be foiled in the end by the Joker.  I’m not even sure why the flash back to the other Titans or Raven.  I’m just glad to know this will be over soon once I am caught up

Red Hood The Lost Days!

I just finished reading the Red Hood: the Lost Days compilation of the six issue mini-series. This is the story of the dead Robin - Jason Todd who dug his way out of his grave, was a fighting zombie for a while and then was actually brought back to life by Talia Al Ghul.  She helps Jason recover and train all the while stalling and hoping he would not actually try and kill Batman.  Jason’s training is often done by very bad men and woman.  People he eventually turns on in a non-Batman like way.  There are a number of very well written adventures and all the while Jason is slowly becoming less angry with being dead.  The final confrontation with the Joker was very interesting.  In the end the Jason settles for punishing Batman for not avenging his death.  The last scene shows his discovery of the Red Hood. This was a really good read.

It is a shame that with the new 52 reboot the Red Hood character was not allowed to keep the good parts of this story.  Red Hood and the Outlaws was just such a disappointment.

Red Hood and the Outlaws!

Red Hood and the Outlaws #16 another Death of the Family Story but unlike the Nightwing story Red Hood and the Outlaws had a nice flowing story from start to end.  There was a little foreshadowing of future stories beyond the Death of the Family mega story, those one page breaks were a little jarring to the main story.  But I am sure not everyone is happy when slaved to some other story you have no control over.  The creative team still did a good story that did not feel like total filler while being filler or a set up story.

Teen titans & Red Hood and the Outlaws!

The Teen Titans #15: Another Death of the Family Story.  While entertaining and interesting to see the mess from a new point of view I do not think this story was really necessary.  It just seems like a new story in a new comic in order to sell more comics.

Then there is more Death of the Family in Red Hood and the Outlaws number 15: The story ends at the same place as the Teen Titans 15 which was kind of amusing.  I do not know much about this comic as I have avoided it on principle because of what the writers did to Starfire (so sad).  Anyway, this issue was good and entertaining.  The story flowed well from one section to the next.  The Joker had some good lines and when put together with the Teen Titans issue makes for some interesting story building on the Joker’s part.  Though at this point I’m starting to wonder how the Joker can spend so much time with each Hero / Villain in all these books.  I ask because he sure is talking a lot and while traps could have been set up over the last year it seems like more work and planning than is the norm for the Joker.