Review: Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 3- Generation Outlaw

Quick Summary

Pros: The volume takes some cool, new concepts and executes them well. The entire book is a wonderful mix of intense action and wholesome character development. The artworks is great in most chapters and matches the creativity of the storytelling.

Cons: The secondary characters aren’t always written well. The artwork drops in quality in some chapters.

Overall: This is a book with everything necessary to tell a good Red Hood story. It has exciting action, creative concepts, equally creative artwork, and characters that make you genuinely care what is happening. Not every feature of the storytelling works perfectly but, as a whole, the volume is highly enjoyable. Anyone who was a fan of the Rebirth Red Hood and the Outlaws Trinity or who is looking for a good Red Hood book should look no further.

Story

After a few mediocre volumes, the Red Hood: Outlaw series seems to have finally hit its mark. Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 3: Generation Outlaw, by Scott Lobdell, is a great mix of the qualities that have made Lobdell’s work on Red Hood enjoyable in the past. The volume takes imaginative concepts, uses them to launch some blistering action sequences, and pairs all of this with a wholesome sense of humanity. There are places where the character development is a little unfocused but this is mainly confined to the volume’s secondary characters, as the main cast is written well the whole way through. All in all, this is a great entry in this series and a real treat for longtime fans.

(spoilers start here)

The majority of Generation Outlaw follows Red Hood as the new teacher of a group of potential supervillains. This starts the volume out with a pretty unique concept that comes with the introduction of a very unique cast of supporting characters. All of this leads to some intense bursts of action, as the new supporting cast fights villains and each other, while also leaving room for some pure and simply fun, as the new supporting cast develops and expresses a love/hate relationship with their new teacher.

The rest of Generation Outlaw involves the reintroduction of Artemis and Bizarro into Red Hood’s life. This starts with a burst of action, as the duo is initially being mind-controlled, before playing out through a seriously wholesome reunion. Seeing the band back together again would be great on its own but the little moments sprinkled in make it even better. Jason’s joy at their return, Artemis consoling Jason over the loss of Roy, and Bizarro’s addictive approach to meditation are all moments where these characters are allowed to shine. Plus, I was also more than happy to see that Pup Pup is now officially a real character, which was an unexpected but very welcome development.

The biggest downside here is that the writing behind this supporting cast is a bit messy. The number of characters introduced here is pretty high so, by the end of the volume, the time spent developing each of them as individuals is significantly split. I really liked some of these characters too so I would have like to see more focus placed on a few, rather than completely split between all of them.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Generation Outlaw is mostly positive, outside of a few chapters. The book’s artwork looks best when it comes from Kenneth Rocafort. These chapters are packed with dynamic scenes that emphasize the book’s approach to action. The full-page spreads and atypical page structures found in these chapters are probably the most striking moments in this book. These chapters also feature the book’s most creative visuals, giving readers their initial glimpses of the unique, new characters while ensuring that the environments are every bit as creative as these characters. All of this helps set the book apart as something special while also pairing well with the writing. Unfortunately, in the few chapters not drawn by Rocafort, the quality of the visuals drops significantly and ends up looking pretty mediocre. Fortunately, the book’s visual positives outweigh its visual negatives and produce a mostly enjoyable reading experience.

Continuity

Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 3: Generation Outlaw directly continues the story from Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 2: Prince of Gotham (Review).

The story here continues in Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 4: Unspoken Truths (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• This entire volume frequently mentions the disappearance of Artemis and Bizarro from the conclusion of Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 4: Good Night, Gotham (Review). 
• Lex Luthor’s role in this collection is a tie-in to the Year of the Villain (Review) event.
• Dr. Veritas mentions being saved by Superman (Reading Order) from an interdimensional maelstrom. This is initially explained in Supergirl Vol. 6 #27, collected in Supergirl Vol. 5: Red Daughter of Krypton (Review).
• The symbol seen in the sky is part of the Justice League: Justice/Doom War (Review) story arc.
• Doomed’s backstory was originally detailed across Doomed.
• Red Hood (Reading Order) mentions that something recently happened to Arsenal (Reading Order). This is a reference to what occurred in Heroes in Crisis (Review) (Reading Order).