Review: Red Hood and the Outlaws #5
By Philip Schweier
December 14, 2016 - 14:13
DC Comics
Writer(s): Scott Lobdell
Penciller(s): Dexter Soy
Inker(s): Dexter Soy
Colourist(s): Veronica Gandini
Letterer(s): Taylor Esposito
Cover Artist(s): Giuseppe Camuncoli, with Cam Smith and Dean White; variant by Matteo Scalera and Moreno Dinisio
It’s
a showdown, between Red Hood and Bizarro. And Black Mask and Red Hood. And
Artemis and Bizarro. Who will win? Well, the odds of choosing a winner are
about 1/8. But (not-so-spoiler alert) the winner won’t be announced this issue.
Besides, think about the title and draw your own conclusions. And given the
minor tease at the end, it appears the genuine conclusion will come next issue.
As Black Mask, Red Hood, Artemis and Bizarro trade dance partners in a never-ending rondelé of combat, Black Mask is the typical boastful villain, monologing and posturing as only comic book villains can. If he believes his nonsense, well, that ridiculous, so take whatever he says with a grain of salt, dear reader.
I’m eager to see how Lobdell concludes the first arc in this latest Red Hood series, and perhaps a glimpse of the adventures that follow. Not that I’m bored. I’m just anxious to see how this new team of Outlaws functions; to see if it’s one of the more original ideas to come out of DC in a while, or if it’s simply more of the same, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Dexter Soy’s artwork remains pleasantly consistent. Too often, artists will weary of a project too quickly, but I don’t see any of that here. I’m optimistic he will remain on the title logn enough to establish the standard for those who follow him. He certainly seems on the right track.