Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1- REDemption

Quick Summary

Pros: Action and adventure are king in this collection and are shown off very well. In addition, the art is fantastic, making this one of the best looking books from the New 52’s start.

Cons: There is not a whole lot of depth to the storytelling here and the sexist portrayal of women definitely worsens the experience.

Overall: Reading this book is an often fun and entertaining ride that unfortunately has some rather deep potholes along the way. However, if you go into the book not expecting to receive a thought provoking or insightful message, then you’ll end up enjoying yourself.

Story

Reading Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption is like watching a decent big action or Michael Bay movie. It is fun, exciting, and full of action, but past that not much else can be found. However, just like a summer action movie, there is also a somewhat convoluted plot and misogynistic treatment of women. This does not mean that this is a bad read. In fact it almost feels like a nice little reprieve from some deeper and more intense series. One must just keep these negatives in mind while reading it.

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The best part of this story is the action and adventure that it is packed with. Prison guards, giant monsters, zombies, angry bar patrons, giant aliens, and ancient demons all manage to be packed into this book to fill up its enemies list and fill up its quota for action. The outlaws take on each of these villains in stride and always manage to defeat them in entertaining ways.

Alongside the action, the adventure comes up as it’s closest equal. Once again, this book is not going to break new grounds with the story and adventure found in it. Other works like Snyder’s Batman or Azarello’s Wonder Woman will offer a much deeper and more insightful story than this one will. However, sometimes people are not looking for a deep or insightful story; they just want something full of action and explosions . To further the movie metaphor, no one wants to watch Citizen Kane or Schindler’s List every time they sit down for a movie, sometimes people just want to watch something fun and full of action like Armageddon or Pacific Rim.

The absolute worst aspect of this book is Starfire’s depiction, and the blatant sexism that goes along with it. Starfire’s is shown in her tightest and most revealing costume as of yet, ready to sleep with basically anyone who is interested. On top of this, every other woman is portrayed awfully as well. Both the plane’s flight attendant and the bartender provide nothing to the story besides looking pretty and asking out our heroes. Basically in Lobdell’s writing, as long as you are violent to other men and withdrawn from your feelings then you can get any woman you want, not the best moral.

On the other hand, Starfire’s depiction is also, in some places, somewhat commendable. Starfire is portrayed as a woman who feels no shame or stigma with sex and expresses herself thusly. After all, men in fiction like James Bond and Tony Stark have nearly the same view of sex yet actually receive praise for it. Perhaps if this story was written a little better this could have been a much more liberating story. Unfortunately this perhaps well intentioned message fails at making Starfire a strong character and ends up making her a sex object instead.

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Art

No matter if you liked the story or not, the art in this book is something that should absolutely be commended. Kenneth Rocafort’s work is really amazing as both his character depictions and scenery look absolutely stunning. Every character looks great but the new ones, like Essence and Ducra, are especially well done. On top of that, the scenery is absolutely amazing; Starfire’s island looks even better than most travel advertisements and the All Caste’s hideout manages to look mysterious and psychedelic while also looking picturesque and beautiful. The art in this book is really on point and may be one of the best out of the New 52’s initial offerings.

Unfortunately, the art has its drawback in that it helps support the over sexualization of the women in the book. Coming back to our Michael Bay analogy, if you hated how Megan Fox was portrayed in Transformers then you will hate how Starfire is portrayed in this. Nearly every woman in the book, main character or otherwise, wears a skin tight and rather revealing outfit. While I’m sure some people will be more than ok with this, it is pretty disappointing to see the powerful and strong character that is Starfire reduced to a sex symbol.

As a small additional note here, I hate when Jason’s Red Hood mask is portrayed as having a face on it. Not a big deal but something I personally find annoying.

Continuity

Since this starts at the beginning of Red Hood and the Outlaw’s New 52 journey, there are not a ton of connections to other works. This collection will lead directly into the next collection, Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: The Starfire (Review), since it continues the same story.

• Much of this story relies on Jason’s death as Robin and his return as the Red Hood. His death can be found in Batman: A Death in the Family and his return can be found in Batman: Under the Red Hood.
  • On the plane ride, the flight attendant asks Jason what his reason for traveling is. Jason replies that it is “a death in the family”. This is almost definitely a small literary allusion to this famous story.
• Starfire’s prior romance with Nightwing is also mentioned, especially since Nightwing and Red Hood used to know each other from their time working under Batman. This romance can be found throughout most of The New Teen Titans series from the 80s, specifically New Teen Titans Vol. 3.
• The first meeting between Jason Todd and Dick Grayson is depicted at the beginning of this story. A different version of this events is depicted prior to the New 52 and can be found in Batman: Second Chances. This collection also features the original, and still in continuity, version of Jason Todd becoming Robin.