Red Hood and the Outlaws #21 Review and *SPOILERS*

First Steps

Written By: Scott Lobdell

Art By: Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, Taylor Esposito

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 11, 2018

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

While I initially was all about this Smarty-Pants Bizarro story, I have to say that its gone on way too long at this point and it seems that Scott Lobdell at this point is just using it as a way to pad out the series and that's a shame for all the cool adventures we could be having with our trio of anti-heroes.  Instead though, it seems that we only move a couple of minutes with each installment that we get and it's just getting really old now.  Previously, we saw Artemis discover Bizarro's hidden Kryptonite room and our big cloned lug showed up and didn't seem too happy about her discovery.  Let's jump into this issue and see how that plays out.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with Bizarro seeming very ominous now that he's found Artemis in his secret kryptonite bath house, but tensions quickly disappear when Bizarro falls to his knees and asks our Amazon for help.  For the rest of the issue we go back and forth between Artemis and Bizarro talking about him retrogressing back to what he used to be and being terrified about it and Jason in disguise at the Iceberg Casino, using all of Penguin's stolen money to win more money from the diminutive delinquent.  

Really though, the issue boils down to Bizarro and Artemis talking to the point where she assures him that she'll always be there for him and then Bizarro going in for an awkward kiss with Artemis, where she immediately shuts him down and makes me feel so uncomfortably bad for the big lug.  This leads to Bizarro destroying his Kryptonite supply............ even though he's still lying and has more stored away.  As for Jason......... Well, Penguin's on to his game and knows that he's Red Hood just screwing with him, but nothing really comes from this except for Jason getting another win over Penguin and our issue finally ending with Ma Gunn's granddaughter searching Jason out so that she can give him the letters that Ma Gunn had for him from his father.  

That's it for this issue of Red Hood and while we're getting to someplace where we might have resolution to what's been going on in this book, like before, it's just an inch at a time and getting these small moments doesn't add to the enjoyment of this book any because it's becoming the same thing every issue.  Yeah, there's some emotional bits and some fun bits, but overall, there isn't much to this issue and at this point it's getting hard to recommend this series for more than just it's exquisite art.......... and believe me, it's goddamn beautiful.  Besides that though, it's more of the same on the Red Hood front and I'm getting bored.

Bits and Pieces:

The art in this issue is as amazing as always, but the story has gone on way too long and is getting boring.  The small bits that we get each issue that point to getting some kind of resolution at some point can only take this series so far and besides for some fun dialog here and there, this issue is just treading water and it's really starting to get on my nerves for how much fun we should be having from a title like this.

6/10