REVIEW: ‘Red Hood: Outlaw,’ Issue #30

Red Hood: Outlaw continues to tell this deviated story that revolves around Jason Todd finishing off one of the late Roy Harper’s missions. Red Hood: Outlaw is published by DC Comics, written by Scott Lobdell, illustrated by Pete Woods, colored by Rex Lokus, and letters by Troy Peteri.

Issue #30 starts off by showing Jason continue on his lonesome in order to avenge his friend’s death, and Woods does a great job at portraying this through the artwork by constantly visualizing Jason traveling by himself and only briefly talking to minor characters in the story. The colors in the story are absolutely perfect, with red being such a strong central color to Jason and this book, it’s not surprising we see it in just about every panel. This use of red helps Jason stand out in both day and night sequences and emphasize his nature as a lone outlaw.

This break-away storyline which sees repercussions from both the Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth and Heroes in Crisis books mean that Jason has a darker edge, perfectly reflected in his outfit and buzz-cut hairstyle, but not always in the actual dialogue. Lobdell continues to keep making jokes when he can, which for Red Hood previously kinda made sense. It was a wacky book, but as the arc demands a more serious tone it becomes a kind of awkward seeing Jason continue to snark. Although, I suppose when you’ve been bludgeoned, exploded, resurrected, and lost your friends perhaps humour is one way to deal with it? Either way, it’s off-putting.

Thankfully, the story itself is much more intriguing and starts to bring elements of previous arcs into the big picture again. A lot of criticism about the current trajectory of the book is that many readers loved the ‘messed-up’ Trinity of Red Hood, Artemis and Bizarro and the stories being told with them.

In fact, I’d argue that the previous Rebirth arc may have been Lobdell’s finest hour because giving Jason a positive, almost stable environment and family was both rewarding to the reader and felt right for the character. Can we give him a break for just five minutes, please? Well, after this issue there are some reassuring hints to suggest the story may be bringing us closer to the team we all know and love.

While the last few issues have been a bit of a drag to get through,  particularly like in this book where we have to constantly flashback and reference other storylines, it’s clear Lobdell certainly seems to care about Jason as a character. It’s this focus on Red Hood and expanding his story which really is the key selling point for the book, even though this arc may not be the best that this book has to offer, we can’t help but be drawn into Jason’s ongoing story. In fact, I will say that the ending of the issue had me extremely pumped and excited to see what happens in Issue #31 and how Jason will react.

So, overall Red Hood: Outlaw #30 has decent art, but a slow-paced story. However, that story is starting to really kick off and makes you want to come back for more.

Red Hood: Outlaw #30 is available now.