Red Hood: Outlaw #42 Review

Feelings

Written By: Scott Lobdell
Art By: Paolo Pantalena, Arif Prianto, Troy Peteri
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 22, 2020


Artemis and Bizarro have made it back from their dimensional jaunt and it looks like we're moving Generation Outlaw to Ma Gunn's Home For Wayward Boys so really..... it kind of feels like a brand new ballgame..... just a brand new ballgame with some weird ass kids that I'm not completely sold on yet.  There's a lot for Jason and his friends to discuss now that they're back and the one thing that I need more than anything (which we won't get here) is how no one is batting an eye at Pup-Pup being a real boy..... stuffed animal thing.  Let's jump into this issue and see how things work with the majority of the Outlaws back in the saddle.  Let's check it out.



Besides for Babe-In-Arms taking a special interest in what she can do with a Bizarro, the majority of this issue puts Generation Outlaw in the backseat and where it comes to Vessel, Devour and Cloud 9, it completely omits them so that we can have an issue where Jason finally confronts Ma Gunn about her keeping his father's letters from him when he was a boy..... which doesn't really go anywhere, but more importantly, gives us an issue where Jason can catch up with Artemis.

It's weird though because while we do have a lot for Artemis and Jason to discuss, we have weird interludes going back to Generation Outlaw that don't do much, while we have a page here and there that is starting up a new story it seems, while also tying into things that came before during Jason's time at the Iceberg Casino, but because the main reason it feels for this issue is for Jason to have someone to confide in about his feelings about Roy's death and Wally West being a killer and how he's taking all this information, this issue comes off really disjointed with its weird cuts to other things that don't really go anywhere this issue or even come off really understandable about what's happening in the scene.  With these complaints though, the parts with Jason and Artemis for the most part come off really hearth-felt and loads on the drama for the book, which I really appreciate, but it doesn't go far enough to really bring either character fully up to speed with what they've been up to.

All in all, I wasn't really a fan of this art style for the most part even though I could appreciate certain panels, but it feels like it you're a fan of Kenneth Rocafort that you'd probably be a fan of this style so it shouldn't be a problem for you.  The biggest problem though is the way that this story is told because it feels all over the place with what it wants to do, but doesn't come up with a compelling or even straight forward way to tell it.  The best parts of the book are quickly thrown aside to shove something else at you that while it may foreshadow things later, just doesn't do anything for this issue at the moment and made this whole thing feel really disjointed.  Hopefully now that we've got a new location and everyone is caught up (for the most part) with what they've been up to we can get into some compelling storytelling, but this issue just didn't do it for me by the end. 

Bits and Pieces:

While I love that Artemis and Bizarro are back in this book and that we got some Jason and Artemis alone time so that they could catch up and discuss what's been going on with each other's lives, I can't say that I loved the way this story was told because the majority of it felt like it didn't really do anything important for this issue and sadly, I wasn't a fan of the art style either.

5/10