Red Hood and The Outlaws #40 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Scott Lobdell
Art By: Tom Derenick, Sean Parsons, The Hories
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 18, 2015

Trio No More

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Well, it's finally here all you Outlaw fans............ The final issue of our trio kicking ass and taking names...... Well, taking them when they leave their enemy's jaw intact.  Seriously though, this is a sad day for me because while this series has had it's ups and downs, it has been a source of constant joy for me where I could just sit back and see badassery take place with a few quips thrown in for good measure and even though Red Hood will be returning with Arsenal in June, I just don't know if it will be the same........... Okay, enough sad sacking around.  In the last issue, we had Red Hood, Arsenal and Crux searching the Brazilian Rain Forest for Starfire and when they finally found their friend, they also found Rose Wilson and even though there were some stressed feelings between these characters, everyone had to put their drama on hold because Helpont has come to Earth and plans on making it his own.  Let's check out this final issue and see if our Outlaws can save the world one more time.

Explain It!:

Our story begins with our heroes coming face to face with Helspont and making some pretty rash decisions about shooting at him and poking fun while they were at it.  Yeah, this is a big bad Daemonite warlord and simple Earth weapons don't really come off as being powerful enough to stop him and you know what?  They don't.  Pretty much all of their efforts come down to them getting spanked by Helspont pretty hard and everything coming to a halt when our heroes find out that Blackfire is working for the monster.......... But we already knew that didn't we?  Yeah, because we were good fans and read the Christmas Special.

Even though Blackfire has pledged her allegiance to Helspont in order for her to save Tamaran, when Helspont says that he may or may not spare the life of Starfire, well I guess the moral of the story is..... Always give a Tamaranean woman what she asks for because man does she blast the hell out of this intergalactic villain.  It would have been better if she actually caused some real damage but I understand.  It was the thought that counted.  Well, after Helspont goes and chucks the hell out of Blackfire, Starfire has had enough and all our heroes get back into action.............. Oh, and when I say he chucks her, I really mean it!  About a few football fields worth.  Thanks to Crux being a genius it looks like these heroes might make it out of here in one piece and our Outlaws keep Helspont and his soldiers busy while Crux goes and reprograms all the soldiers to........... well, I guess die.  It's a hive mind type armor and shut one down, you shut them all down.

In the end, Arsenal saves Red Hood from Helspont by taking over an alien walker cannon and blasting Helspont to what looks like his death......... I'm not positive but Helspont isn't in the issue anymore......... I just find it odd that this would end the big bad Lord of the Daemonites.  So the day is saved and Starfire decides that she's going to take her sister back home so that she can heal and it looks like Crux is going along for the ride.  It's at this point that I think that things are all set up for Red Hood/Arsenal in June but then the book continues and Arsenal says he's going to stay behind and steal some tech and destroy the rest and our issue ends with Red Hood and Rose Wilson walking off and Jason talking about how they were never a team, they were friends.

That's it for this series of Red Hood and The Outlaws and even though the battle with Helspont came off a little anticlimactic, I did enjoy the book overall, especially the ending where Jason describes what the Outlaws were.  It just seemed kind of fitting and I appreciated it.  I've really dug the art for this last story arc and this issue doesn't disappoint either.  Every character is spot on and the colors jump off the page and bring each character to life........... Yeah, that's a little over the top but the colors really add to the book.  Like most of us, the draw of the book for me is some bad ass action and some great humor and like the art that too is spot on.  I hate that this book is ending but at least we'll have Jason and Roy continuing their adventures in June.

Bits and Pieces:

Even though this book has had some problems throughout it's run, it remained one of my favorites for it's over the top action and it's inappropriate humor and I'll be sad to see this trio go.  As for this issue, the story didn't really feel like a real finale and maybe that's because all the characters will be returning elsewhere in June.  I just wish that the finale to the story arc didn't come off as rushed and anticlimactic as it did........ but even with that, I still enjoyed it.  It's a mix bag, if you've enjoyed the series so far, then you should enjoy this as well........ It doesn't hurt that the book looks amazing either.

7.5/10