Review: Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2- The Starfire

Quick Summary

Pros: Starfire’s character is excellent and shows her at most fierce and compassionate. The antihero action and plotline here is just as fun as last volume. Kenneth Rocafort’s art is, once again, amazing.

Cons: The last issue of this collection is a poor setup for the lackluster Helspont storyline from Superman. Unnatural dialogue and narration feels a little awkward at times.

Overall: This is another out-of-control, action-movie type adventure like the first volume. However, this time, the central character of the story is Starfire, who is even more developed and cool than before. Though awkward dialogue and a poor final issue bring this book down, it is overall a very enjoyable ride. If you are looking for a comic book that feels like a summer blockbuster, look no further.

Story

There are two stories within Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: The Starfire. The first is of the gang’s adventures in Gotham and is an average tale of superhero action. The second kicks it up a notch, as it is an intergalactic adventure with tons of action and character development for Starfire. Together these make for a fun story with enough action and adventure to fill your average summer blockbuster.

(spoilers start here)

This book starts out with a quick issue to wrap up a plotline from Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review). It is alright overall but seems to be mostly aimed at new readers, as it gives a quick rundown on what each member of the Outlaws contributes to the team. The best part about this issue is probably the ending, where a heartfelt moment between the “brothers” Jason and Tim gives Jason a ton of character development.

From here, the storyline moves to a somewhat interesting “Night of the Owls” crossover issue. Not particularly good but not particularly bad, this issue does little to enhance the overall quality of the series as a whole. However, it is some fun, antihero action which is enjoyable in its own lighthearted way.

The book gets more serious and more intense from here, as the Outlaws are transported into space to help save Starfire’s homeworld. This part of the story is great and feels like one of the newer Star Trek movies in how it portrays itself as an action based space epic. Though the villain isn’t the most interesting or formidable, it is barely an issue as the real conflict of this arc is within Starfire.

Starfire is really the best part of this entire space storyline. We learn a lot about her character here, including more about her past and her troubled relationship with her homeworld. This explains why she is on Earth and adds more significance to her relationships with Roy and Jason. It also makes her a more complex and rounded character in general. Plus, in addition to all of this, moments throughout this arc also show exactly how cool and powerful she can be, even in moments where she doesn’t use her powers.

The final issue of this collection is probably one of the worst parts of the book. In it, Superman meets with the Outlaws as they return to Earth in order to talk to them about the Helspont problem. However, the Outlaws think he is there to take them all to prison and a battle erupts. This cheap excuse for some heroes fighting heroes is boring and pointless, so much so that one of the side characters even points out how ridiculous it is. Not only that, but this issue is also almost entirely just setup for the Helspont storyline in the Superman series, something which ended up being terrible anyway (for more information about this see our review of Superman Vol. 2: Secrets and Lies here).

In addition, another negative for the series comes in the form of dialogue. While the fun and occasionally silly dialogue of this series is something which typically helps in setting the lighthearted and crazy tone, there are moments where it becomes too much. These moments crop up throughout this collection but the most prominent is when Starfire’s sister makes a pun using the phrase “nothing but trouble.” It feels inauthentic and incredibly awkward for a royal alien to do something as strange as this. Besides this, the most notable example of cringeworthy dialogue comes from the minor character Isable, as the majority of her dialogue involves her finding ways to compliment Starfire’s body.

Speaking of Isable, it is also rather sad and unfortunate that she is killed off at the end of this collection. Her character was just starting to become interesting yet she was “put in a refrigerator” just as she started to get some character development.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Once again, Kenneth Rocafort’s artwork is simply phenomenal. It is extremely detailed and hyper creative in a way that makes reading this volume even more enjoyable. In particular, scenes with abstract concepts and weird physics allow him to show off his creativity in an amazing way.

Besides Rocafort, this collection also features two issues of art by Timothy Green II. Overall these two issues are alright but pale in comparison to Rocafort’s work. Though they use the same level of creativity which is found in the rest of the collection, they lack the elegance and attention to detail. In another book these might have been two alright issues but here they feel just a little underwhelming.

The last issue of this collection also features a different artist, Pascal Alixe. Alixe’s work is very different from the rest of the art in this collection, and not in a good way. There is even less detail here than in Green’s art and the quality is far worse. In particular, faces look misshapen and throw off the visual style of the book’s finale. Luckily, this final issue is more of an epilogue/Superman Vol. 2 (Review) tie-in than anything else so the book as a whole does not suffer.

Continuity

Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: The Starfire flows directly out of the events of Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review).

The story here continues in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).

This volume also references and continues the stories from many other comic book, all of which are detailed below:

• Jason’s meeting with Tim appears to have happened directly before Teen Titans Vol. 1: It’s Our Right to Fight. This is because the information they discuss has direct ramifications on the plot of that book.
• The second issue of this collection is a tie-in to the “Night of the Owls” event occurring in the Batman series
  • This crossover stems from Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls (Review).
  • At the end of this crossover issue Batgirl makes a quick reference to things that just happened in Batgirl Vol. 2: Knightfall Descends (Review).
  • Batgirl’s comments also reference her upcoming actions in Birds of Prey Vol. 2: Your Kiss Might Kill.
• Superman references Helspont visiting Starfire. This happened in Superman Vol. 2: Secrets and Lies (Review).
• Jason Todd’s death at the hands of the Joker and his mother’s drug problem are brought up a few times in this collection. Batman: A Death in the Family explains these things.
• Joker’s appearance at the end of this book is a set up for Batman Vol. 3: Death of the Family (Review).
  • Joker also goes by the pseudonym “Jack Napier.” This is a reference to his name in the 1966 Batman movie