Red
Hood’s showdown with Black Mask – really, I ask you, were there ever two
opponents better suited for one another based on their names? After an uneasy
partnership and an even more tumultuous exposure, the two come face to face. Or
as much as two people hiding behind facial coverings can manage.
But on the
ex-Robin’s side are two wild cards – a rogue Amazon and an imperfect duplicate
of Superman (VERY imperfect). Once again, Red Hood forms an uneasy partnership,
but given his history with Batman, should we be surprised? (Girls: this is the
guy your dad warned you about.)
But here’s the
thing with these emotional stunt people who jump from one train wreck
relationship to another: it’s FUN to watch. Fun like Buster Keaton in The
General. Until you’re phone rings at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday, and they’re crying
into their Motorola while in the background, a George Jones song wails from
jukebox on the other side of town.
But enough
about my week.
The latest
issue of Red Hood ties off the first story arc of the Rebirth era, and while
the meat wasn’t terribly impressive, the bread was. Beginning with Jason Todd’s
encounter with Batman in issue #1, and ending with a follow-up rendezvous in
issue #6. It reminded me somewhat of the end of The Outsiders (2004) first
story arc.
If
I have a complaint, it’s the multiple final scenes that come about after the
final takedown of Black Mask (C’mon, was the outcome ever in doubt?) I chalk it
up to Scott Lobdell planting seed for upcoming stories. Planting seeds, hell,
he planted an entire farm – and I should know, I grew up in Indiana.