Jason
Todd is on a bus headed nowhere in particular when he encounters an injured FBI
agent. Being the anti-hero he is, he chooses to step in and address the
situation, only to have it go sideways. It seems to me I’ve read such scenarios
before, usually in novels with the words, “Jack Reacher” on the cover. And
that’s how Jason comes across: passive but confident in his promises of
retribution.
Jason Todd
is regarded as more villain than hero, and if this is a new direction for the
character, I’d just as soon pass. He’s got a bit of a new look, a new mask
(think Winter Soldier, another sidekick brought back from the dead). As for his
most recent partners, there is as yet no sign of them. I don’t know if that
means they’ve been written out of the book entirely or not.
I found Red Hood and the Outlaws to be
derivative from issue #1, and it’s still derivative, but just in a different
way. I would prefer to see a more original direction for Jason Todd, so
hopefully the whole Jack Reacher stuff is just a phase.
Pete Woods
artwork is well-suited for the crime genre Red
Hood is a part of. Yes, it’s a super-hero concept, but it deals more with
criminal biker gangs and modern era gangsters, rather than maniacal
super-villains. As part of the Batman family of titles, it could round out the
many different iterations of what it means to be a part of that.
Rating:
6/10