Review: Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 1- Open for Business

Quick Summary

Pros: There is plenty of the nonstop action and adventure that Red Hood and Arsenal have become known for. Friendships are written extremely well, allowing for some sincere moments between characters.

Cons: The story jumps around too often, causing the plot lines to feel shallow. Dialogue and narration are clunky and awkward at points.

Overall: This is a story about two friends stomping out crime together. It is not a deep or complex plot that presents a message about society. It is an action packed adventure with a few emotional moments here and there. Readers going into this book expecting a fantastic story may end up leaving disappointed. However, readers going into this book with a genuine interest in the characters and their development may find that this is the book for them.

Story

Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 1: Open for Business is a heavily character driven story headlined by two charming and fun leads. These two characters are the biggest draw to the story. They are fun in action sequences, easy to connect and sympathize with, and great to watch grow. In truth, the parts of this book that focus on how these two interact with those around them are the best parts of the book.

However, the actual plot of this collection prevents it from being as good as it could be. The story’s structure is messy, dialogue is occasionally off, and the arc itself is not nearly as gripping or interesting as other comics out there. If you are going to enjoy something from this book, it is going to be the characters, not the plot.

(spoilers start here)

The story in this collection starts out with Roy and Jason meeting up for the first time since the Outlaws split up in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 7: Last Call (Review). From here, we see them go into the vigilante business together again, but this time they are actually working for a real organization out of Washington.

Problems begin as the entire series changes focus almost immediately after this brief setup. Jason and Roy quit their new “jobs” and become freelance heroes for hire. It is a sudden shakeup as the story seems to be setting things up before turning right around and heading in another direction. While not a huge problem, this is a noteworthy speedbump in the reading process.

After the change, the story now follows Jason and Roy in their attempts to take down the sinister head of a network of organized crime. They are able to do this, yet are instantly targeted by another network of villains. The collection ends as the duo teams up with Joker’s Daughter to take down their enemies, setting up the next collection at the same time.

Overall there isn’t much to say about the plotline to this book that we didn’t say in the introduction to this review. It is straightforward action and fighting with a lackluster story to accompany it.  There isn’t much outstanding about it, though there are few glaring flaws in it either.

Speaking outside of the story itself, one of the biggest negatives about this book is weird dialogue and narration choices. The writing seems to be heavily pandering to a young demographic, but also seems unsure exactly how to go about this. The result is conversations with “bestie,” random hashtags, and other inorganically used “youthful” words and phrases. It makes the dialogue awkward and thus negatively affects the reading experience.

Now on to this book’s biggest positive: Scott Lobdell is fantastic at writing emotions between friends, something he brings back perfectly in this series. When Jason asked Roy if he had been drinking again, I thought that Roy would get defensive and freak out as a response. Instead, he calmly said that he hadn’t but that he understood and appreciated Jason’s concern. Uncalled for emotional freak outs are common in comics as a cheap way of building tension, yet Lobdell chooses to do something better. This is just one of the many examples of well written friendships in this book, as moments with Bruce Wayne or Killer Croc are great as well. As we said earlier, this is a book driven by character moments as these moments are definitely the best part of reading this.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The bulk of this collection is drawn by Denis Medri. Medri’s artwork seems to mirror the tone shift that the story featured, it feels more geared towards a younger demographic than ever before. This feeling is derived from the fact that the artwork is light and not very detailed. This is great in how it matched the story’s tone but not great in terms of how it looks overall.

A small portion of the book is also drawn by Paolo Pantalena. In terms of background details and object art, this issue is fine. However, every character drawn here looks strange. Roy and Jason both look as if they jumped out of the pages of a manga. In some scenes this causes them to look almost Asian. This does not necessarily look bad on its own but feels extremely out of place in context of the rest of this series.

Continuity

Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 1: Open for Business is the first volume of the Red Hood/Arsenal series. This is a brand new series in the DC Universe. It mostly continues the adventures of two characters from the Red Hood and the Outlaws series, which ended right before this series started, though it features a new and separate storyline. Specifically, multiple references are made to the last volume in the Red Hood and the Outlaws series, Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 7: Last Call (Review). The story started here will continue in Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 2: Dancing with the Devil’s Daughter. 

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

• Near the beginning of this book, Roy lists a number of things he helped Jason with. These include:
  • The Untitled, who make their first appearance in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review) and their last appearance in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 5: The Big Picture (Review).
  • S.H.A.D.E, who enter the Outlaws lives in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 5: The Big Picture (Review).
  • The League of Assassins, who the Outlaws face off against in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 4: League of Assassins (Review) and in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 5: The Big Picture (Review).
• Jason’s life as a crime boss is mentioned. This is a reference to the events of Batman: Under the Red Hood.
• Killer Croc being Roy’s sponsor is first mentioned in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review).
• Batman’s “death” is mentioned. This happened in Batman Vol. 7: Endgame.
• The new “Batman” first appeared in Batman Vol. 8: Superheavy.
• Suzie Sue makes an appearance in this book. References are made to her previous encounters with Red Hood. These encounters are collected in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review) and Vol. 2: The Starfire (Review).
  • Suzie Sue presumably died in Vol. 2: The Starfire (Review). How she came back from the dead is not explained.
• The end of this book references the events of Robin War.