Review: REDemption (Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1)

REDemption

S. Lobdell, K. Rocafort, J. Williamson

(Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1)

Publication Date: November 13, 2012

Paperback, 160 pages, DC Comics

Genres: Comic, Superheroes

Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

No sooner has Batman's former sidekick, Jason Todd, put his past as the Red Hood behind him than he finds himself cornered by a pair of modern day outlaws: Green Arrow's rejected sidekick Arsenal, the damaged soldier of fortune, and the alien Starfire, a former prisoner of intergalactic war who won't be chained again. As a loner, Jason has absolutely no interest in this motley crew of outlaws. So what's he going to do when they choose the Red Hood as their leader?

Collects Red Hood and the Outlaws #1-7.

My Review

So I’ve been really into the Batman Family lately. More specifically, I’ve been really interested in Jason Todd. Now, I’ve never read a DC comic before, but I’ve watched some of the cartoon movies and TV shows, the live-action movies, etc. I’ve also been reading fanfiction. (I know, it’s not the most accurate source of comic book information. I just like reading stories versus having to look at illustrations.) My family is also pretty big on superheroes, so we talk about them constantly.

The reason I’m sharing all of this is because I thought I would be somewhat prepared to just jump right in and read REDemption—my first DC, and pretty much my first comic book read, ever. I guess I was. There were a few parts I had trouble with, like some of the villainous characters, but they weren’t some of the more well-known ones, so I feel justified not recognizing them.

As for the main cast of characters, I think there were just too many for me. I wanted to really get to know Jason, Starfire, and Roy since this was my first comic experience with them. I just wanted some personality or development. I read a Nightwing comic (which I’ll review sometime soon), and it managed to give me some character development. One character in a comic is good. More than that is bad. For me, anyway.

The plot of this volume is kind of weird too. It had a pretty connected storyline and I adored the flashbacks, but I just thought it was kind of “eh” until the last issue when things started to pick up a little bit. However, I do have to mention that Starfire’s attitude and outfit do bother me. While I like her attitude towards sex and her body, I think it was overplayed too much to make her appear as nothing more than a sexual object with powers. Maybe reading another issue would help with this…?

All in all, I’m not sure if I’ll continue with this series. I love the Batman Family, and I want to get to know Jason, Dick, Tim, Damian, Barbara, Stephanie, and the entire gang, but I didn’t want to have to start at the very beginning. It looks like I might have to in order to get the connection with the characters that I want though. *sigh*

*Note: I purchased a copy of this comic for myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.