Review: Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 2- Dancing with the Devil’s Daughter
Quick Summary
Pros: The beginning of the story is a great deconstruction of the main characters’ relationships. The Joker’s Daughter story is well done.
Cons: The end of the story is rushed and disappointing. The Iron Rule section of the story is boring.
Overall: This is an alright continuation of the Red Hood/Arsenal series that is fun on its own but not specifically memorable or unique for the most part. It has a standard level of action and adventure and even manages to excel in character-based moments, with Joker’s Daughter being a particularly good example of this. However, a rushed and somewhat boring conclusion cast the overall quality of the book into something just above mediocrity.
Review Notes
Most of this collection includes comic issues from the Red Hood/Arsenal comic book series. However, this collection also includes one issue of the Rebirth Red Hood and the Outlaws series, which is the series that immediately follows Red Hood/Arsenal. For this reason we will not be discussing this one issue of Red Hood and the Outlaws and will be instead discussing it in our review of Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: Dark Trinity (review coming soon).
This review will cover issues #7-13 of Red Hood/Arsenal.
Story
Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 2: Dancing with the Devil’s Daughter, by Scott Lobdell, is an enjoyable collection that continues the plotlines developed in Vol. 1: Open for Business (Review). It has enough action and adventure to keep readers entertained but really shines in how it develops Joker’s Daughter as a character. In fact, this might be one of the best Joker’s Daughter stories out there. A few missteps near the book’s end prevent this from being the quality story that it could be, though it still manages to be an entertaining book overall.
(spoilers start here)
This collection starts out with a Robin War (Review) tie-in issue. However, despite bearing the “Robin War” moniker, this issue has surprisingly little to do with the War itself. Instead it is a heartwarming story focused on relationships, specifically on the brotherhood between Jason and Tim and the bludgeoning respect between Roy and Duela. This is very well done and helps to set the tone for the main cast’s actions throughout this volume.
At this point, the story descends into the sewers as the gang confronts a tyrannical, underground ruler who is trying to destroy Gotham City from below. This arc has the action and fight sequences you would expect from a Red Hood book, but it also has a little extra. The turmoil inside Joker’s Daughter is further explored and we see a little more of the villain who is trying to overcome the evil inside her.
Around this point the book’s big twist happens, Joker’s Daughter was conning Red Hood and Arsenal the whole time and never had any intention on being good. It could be that Lobdell does a great job making villains seem sympathetic or it could be that villain redemption stories are all the rage right now, but either way I did not see this twist coming. It was well executed and effective in a way that serves to better the story significantly.
However, it is also at this point that the quality of the book starts to degrade slightly. The story focuses on a band of criminals named “Iron Rule” whom Roy has a connection to. Maybe if this plotline was built up more or extended it could have had more impact, but in its current state it just feels pointless and rushed. The resolution to the Joker’s Daughter plotline is the only real positive in this part of the book as everything else is average at best.
The book’s ending may be the worst part of the collection. When Scott Lobdell ended Red Hood and the Outlaws, one of the best things he did was end the story with the team breaking up logically and remaining friends despite the split. This was one of our highest praises in our review of Vol. 7: Last Call (Review here). However, in this book, Roy and Jason split ways for the weakest of reasons and are both mad at each other. It is inauthentic to both of their characters and their incredibly long friendship.
(spoilers end here)
Art
Javi Fernandez is responsible for the artwork in the first half of this collection. It is nice looking and well detailed overall in a way that presents very few negatives. It is also vaguely cinematic, with lens flairs and gradient lighting akin to what you would expect from something out of Hollywood rather than a comic book. I thought this worked well with the series’ heavy action approach and helped the book overall. The only negative is that while backgrounds and objects looked great, character’s faces tended to suffer and occasionally look weird.
The issues not done by Javi Fernandez are mostly done by Dexter Soy. This shift in artists also mirrors a point in time where the book takes on a darker tone and starts to deal with themes like betrayal and dishonesty. For this, Soy’s harsher and more noticeable line work lends itself better to the material. He also is able to provide some additional detail to characters specifically, making their faces look a little less weird. This isn’t to say his artwork is significantly better than Fernandez’s; it simply works better for the material which he is depicting.
Continuity
Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 2: Dancing with the Devil’s Daughter flows directly out of the events of Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 1: Open for Business (Review). Though this series ends with this volume, Jason’s story continues in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: Dark Trinity and Roy’s story continues in Titans Vol. 1: The Return of Wally West.
- Jason’s training with the All Caste is mentioned multiple times. This past is told in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review).
- Arsenal says that he recently had an event “with the Titans” that caused him to remember things from the past. This is detailed in Titans Hunt (Review).
- Significant references are made to Joker’s Daughter having a past in the Nethers section of Gotham. This story is told in Batman Arkham: Joker’s Daughter.
- At one point, Jason gives a quick list of the good things Roy has done. These things mostly took place in the Red Hood and the Outlaws series.
- The Untitled were first encountered in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review).
- “Tamaran” was the setting for the adventures in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: The Starfire (Review).
- “The League of Assassins” was dealt with throughout Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 4: League of Assassins (Review) and at the beginning of Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 5: The Big Picture (Review).
- A couple of jokes are made about a fan vote deciding if a character lives or dies. These are a reference to Jason’s death in Batman: A Death in the Family, where Jason’s death was decided by a vote of comic readers.