DC Comics reviews for the week of 5/8/19

Red Hood Outlaw #34

When DC Rebirth kicked off, a lot of writers used that as an opportunity to do a soft reboot on the New 52 titles. That’s never been the case with Red Hood and the Outlaws, as writer Scott Lodbell continued to reference events from the Starfire and Arsenal line-up. It helps that Lobdell was one of the few writers who guided the New 52 version of his Rebirth title and hasn’t missed a beat.

This issue finds Lobdell diving deeper into the New 52 mythology of Jason Todd. The more mythic aspects with The Other Plain of Existence and Thousand Acres of All can be a tougher read when Jason’s most interesting past is his tenure as the second Robin. Still, Lobdell deserves credit for trying to flesh out his backstory beyond Batman’s ward.

Jason is in Paris for multiple reasons, one of which involves honoring Roy Harper. It’s weird how so few books have acknowledged or haven’t been cancelled where Roy’s death would have some lingering impact following the events in Heroes in Crisis. Jason’s also got two dates — one with Isabel and the other with European ganglords. Red Hood’s latest scheme where he’s infiltrating the underworld has made for a solid hook especially as Jason plays outside the normal vigilante rules.

Pete Woods’ artwork remains impressive. He’s been a great choice for the title and has remained consistent with his pencils, layouts and reliability. That’s not as common with DC artists as it probably should these days. Rex Lokus’ colors always seem to convey the right mood whether soft oranges and reds for Jason’s date to bright blues in Thousand Acres.

Lobdell throws a curveball at the end of this issue, which could ruin a lot of Jason’s plans, but has always been the case with Red Hood, the more trouble he’s in the more exciting the story. This was another winning issue from one of the top tier Batman spin-off titles.

Rating: 9 out of 10