Written by Scott Lobdell
Art by Kenneth Rocafort
So both the main villains seem to have this deal where they need to explain themselves to the "heroes" about their motivations for fighting them. Seems rather cliched, but I'm willing to overlook that.
This book continues to surprise me in some good ways and in some bad ways.
Let's start with the artwork. There seems to be this need for the artist to present us with some weirdly shaped panels. I can go with it as long as the panels do what they are supposed to do when guiding a reader's eyes and focus on the page. There is a good example of this in the beginning where three hits are made by Red Hood against a couple of people in a bar fight that guide the eyes well and lead you to follow the story. There is another example where Starfire is floating along and gets attacked out of nowhere. The panels when she gets hit really jars the eyes and gives you the feel for how the character didn't expect that to happen as well. These are two excellent examples that I can go with.
The last few pages is where things get difficult. They are a couple of action sequences that have tilted panels, lots of use of white space on the page, panels bleeding into each other, and other minor ticks of mine that take away from the use of the panels from earlier in the book. This all leads up to the final one page spread teaser for the next issue that serves well. I think where part of this fails for me is that the artist could have used a couple of two page spreads with a little finesse that would have pulled off the scene they were creating. I think the ads that broke the pages up really held back some good opportunities for the art to show off more of a storytelling technique.
What I am continuing to enjoy out of this series is the same that I enjoy out of the Teen Titans comic that Lobdell is writing: characterization. Each character gets name checked through the issue, various clues and moments are given to help you understand their motivation. These characters continue to learn about each other in the same way that we are learning about them: slowly but surely.
We get some advancement on the main story, get a big leap forward for Starfire's side story and the issue with the cop from issue #1 gets put into the story. I'm still being surprised by how much I am enjoying this series.
Cover Art
Good: Artwork done by the same people who do the interiors - gives you a sample of what's inside.
Bad: This is tries to take a scene from the interior, but neither Red Hood nor Arsenal are involved with the fight with Crux. Typical female pose that would be difficult for a female to pull off in the middle of a fight. Have an almost weird monster butt shot in it but gets cut off. Red Hood almost looks like he would get hit by the energy circles/lines/whatever but is actually in front of them? Would have sworn he looks like he should be behind them.
Grade
Words: 9/10
Pictures: 7/10 - An improvement for me in using the tilted paneling to your advantage, but then not continuing through with it. Baby Steps to better art, Baby Steps to better art.
Recommend: Yes. If this was your first time reading it, you might have to read it twice to see what is going on with this Untitled thing, but you can still work well with it.
Buy Next Issue: Sold!
Previous Issues
Three Issue Trial
Red Hood and the Outlaws #3
Red Hood and the Outlaws #2
Red Hood and the Outlaws #1
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