Brawl For All
Written By: Scott Lobdell
Art By: Paolo Pantalena, Arif Prianto, Troy Peteri
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 28, 2020
Who knew that in a simple title like Red Hood: Outlaw that the world could suddenly be totally screwed and the only ones who have the power to stand in the way of the entire planet being overrun by the Demon Lord Trigon is the screw-up Robin with authority problems and his not-so-merry band of misfits. That's the score though and somehow I guess we all have to think happy thoughts as the Outlaws fight out of their weight class to do the job that only they can do. Let's jump into this issue and check it out.
For this issue of Red Hood, we see Bizarro duking it out with Trigon, mano e mano and this is really the most important and most interesting part of the book because it's up to Bizarro to keep one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe busy while the rest of the Outlaw team, including Essence, S'aru and General Glory try to shut down the Dark Obelisks that opened up the Chamber of All in the first place....... even though by the end they just seem to be struggling to close a door. The problem with all that is........ the Bizarro part is barely anything in this book and we spend our time dealing with closing the door, which while you get all those characters I previously mentioned doing stuff, which come on......... if you like them and you like stuff, how can you go wrong? Personally, I was all about the fight, but there weren't enough pages for the fight to truly shine.
Now, I'm not going to say that by the end the small bits of the fight that we did get didn't leave my jaw on the floor as Trigon became Biff Tannen and Bizarro was like George McFly protecting not only his lady-love, but also his density, but here in lies another problem with this issue, even if it shocked me good......... Trigon was a bit of a pushover here and for someone who has threatened all we know and love in comic book form, this while cool, made Trigon come off like a chump. Hopefully, we see more of that in the next issue, but with the Joker War coming up, I don't know how we will. Beyond my interest in the fight though, we also have a weird magical time shift within the Chamber of All that brings the original Outlaws to our current day ones and it's one of those weird things that I hope becomes cool with an explanation about how Jason has no memory of this happening.
All in all, the art is okay, it's not something I really gravitate towards, but it does its job and I can make out what's going on. The story on the other hand continues to be something that just doesn't do it for me. We've spent too long on this Dark Obelisk story and turning it into a Trigon story, while making it that much more interesting, does feel like desperation at this point, especially for how Trigon is used here. Not only that but when the New 52 Outlaws show up in this book all it ends up doing is making me wish we still had that team, with that look......... even though I am a fan of Artemis and Bizarro. I don't know how this story can end in a satisfying way at this point, but I do hope that it gets the chance to try and just isn't swept under the rug so that we can move on to the Joker War unceremoniously.
Bits and Pieces:
There are at least two really cool moments in this book that may make a die-hard Red Hood and the Outlaws fan squeal and while I sort of let out a half squeal myself, that doesn't make up for the rest of the book that while looks alright, doesn't do enough in the story department to make this issue continuously entertaining, while also taking the wind out of the big bad of this arc's sails.
Now, I'm not going to say that by the end the small bits of the fight that we did get didn't leave my jaw on the floor as Trigon became Biff Tannen and Bizarro was like George McFly protecting not only his lady-love, but also his density, but here in lies another problem with this issue, even if it shocked me good......... Trigon was a bit of a pushover here and for someone who has threatened all we know and love in comic book form, this while cool, made Trigon come off like a chump. Hopefully, we see more of that in the next issue, but with the Joker War coming up, I don't know how we will. Beyond my interest in the fight though, we also have a weird magical time shift within the Chamber of All that brings the original Outlaws to our current day ones and it's one of those weird things that I hope becomes cool with an explanation about how Jason has no memory of this happening.
All in all, the art is okay, it's not something I really gravitate towards, but it does its job and I can make out what's going on. The story on the other hand continues to be something that just doesn't do it for me. We've spent too long on this Dark Obelisk story and turning it into a Trigon story, while making it that much more interesting, does feel like desperation at this point, especially for how Trigon is used here. Not only that but when the New 52 Outlaws show up in this book all it ends up doing is making me wish we still had that team, with that look......... even though I am a fan of Artemis and Bizarro. I don't know how this story can end in a satisfying way at this point, but I do hope that it gets the chance to try and just isn't swept under the rug so that we can move on to the Joker War unceremoniously.
Bits and Pieces:
There are at least two really cool moments in this book that may make a die-hard Red Hood and the Outlaws fan squeal and while I sort of let out a half squeal myself, that doesn't make up for the rest of the book that while looks alright, doesn't do enough in the story department to make this issue continuously entertaining, while also taking the wind out of the big bad of this arc's sails.
5.5/10
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