Review: Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 4- Unspoken Truths

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline details a tense and exciting narrative. The characters are well-written throughout the read and their interactions give many plotlines a worthwhile conclusion. The artwork mostly works for this type of story.

Cons: The volume contains some weird transitions that make it hard to get on board with the story in a few places. The artwork looks weird in some places.

Overall: This volume is a worthwhile end to this era of the Red Hood and the Outlaws story. The volume has all of the action and heart one would expect from these characters. This gives the story a meaningful end, one that emphasizes the desires of the individual characters. The volume has some problems with transitioning into this story but, if one can look past this, the story itself is solid. Overall, this is for readers who enjoy this iteration of the Outlaws and want to see how their story ends.

Story

Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 4: Unspoken Truths, by Scott Lobdell, is a volume with some problems but that, ultimately, manages to give this era of the series a worthwhile sendoff. The volume details an intense battle with plenty of exciting action. However, it always manages to find time for heartwarming or inspiring character moments, the kind that made this series so fun to read back when it began. These character moments bring the comic to a satisfactory close. The biggest problem here is that the transition points are lackluster, whether they are introducing the volume as a whole or bringing in a Joker War crossover issue. If one can look past these awkward transitions though, this is a book worth reading.

(spoilers start here)

Unspoken Truths starts out a little rough. It essentially moves past the entire supervillain academy concept from the previous volume in order to send Red Hood and the Outlaws into a battle against the Untitled for the fate of the world. The speed with which the previous plotline is ditched and the new one is adopted makes it a little hard to initially appreciate what is going on, especially given the tremendously high stakes of the current plotline.

However, once this transition takes place, the storyline gets a lot better. The battle against the Untitled is intense and is filled with some great action. It also gives Lobdell a chance to do what he does best, character work. The little moments between the main cast are great and the big moments, like Bizarro’s big sacrifice, are even better. This then leads to the volume’s well-executed conclusion, where the Outlaws realize it is time to part ways and they do so with an emotional goodbye.

Unspoken Truths also includes a somewhat random-feeling Joker War crossover. This portion of the read isn’t downright bad, as it contains a great moment from Jason’s past and introduces a solid Joker’s Daughter storyline. However, it does feel a bit out of place within the rest of this book.

(spoilers end here)

Art

For the most part, the artwork in Unspoken Truths suits the story being told. Paolo Pantalena’s visuals are stylized with an exaggerated flair that fits the over-the-top nature of this read. They heavily emphasize action and style in a way that makes the book almost feel like an anime, where characters are jumping around in intense fights while their hair and clothing remains stylish. However, the artwork also has a tendency to look downright strange in some places. Clothes often cling to characters in impossible ways, the linework can make facial expressions come across in contorted ways, and character proportions are sometimes exaggerated too far. This means that, for the most part, the artwork here works but it can be a big hit or miss depending on the reader’s preferences.

Continuity

Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 4: Unspoken Truths directly continues the story from Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 3: Generation Outlaw (Review).

As of now, the next volume in the Red Hood: Outlaw series has not been released.

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Bizarro and Artemis were temporarily lost in another dimension at the conclusion of Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 4: Good Night Gotham (Review).
• Red Hood’s (Reading Order) initial fight against the Untitled is detailed across Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review) and Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 4: League of Assassins (Review).
• 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).
• Red Hood: Outlaw #48 is a tie-in to the Joker War event.
• Red Hood: Outlaw #48 also references something that recently happened to Nightwing (Reading Order). This is explained across the first half of Nightwing: The Joker War (Review).