Plot: Scott Lobdell
Dialogue: Josh Williamson
Art: Kenneth Rocafort
The Solicitation
How did Jason Todd and Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran meet – and what has bonded them together in a way that neither could have imagined? At long last the story can be told! It's a scorcher!
Preview
The Story
Holy flash to the hero's first meeting story, Batman!
I'm going to speculate that this was the first issue that Lobdell wanted to put out, but decided to save it for a rainy day. Too bad he only got to plot it and not write it. Funny, that's the second title this month that uses someone else for the dialogue and Lobdell for the plot. This issue serves as the first meeting of Jason Todd and Starfire in the new DC universe. Let's see how it goes.
We start off with Red Hood in his old clothes with a broken helmet as he tries to stop a guy with a metal jaw from smuggling in nuclear weapons into Miami. So, not much of a difference from what else we've had from previous issues. The sub explodes as Jason tries to escape from it, and he wakes up a bit later on an island attached to some medical devices that are healing him. (Minor suggestion - Don't have an editor's note state that the events of this comic take place a month before issue #1, just have a dialogue box that says "One month ago" or whatever you need.)
Todd is drifting in and out of consciousness as Starfire debates whether or not he looks familiar. Jason then goes through a flashback of when Nightwing was first teaching him the ropes about being Robin. There is some tension there as Jason tells Nightwing that Bruce chose Jason to replace him as Robin and that he can shove off.
Flash to Jason walking around butt naked searching for Kori. The island that they are on is the home of Starfire's ship, which has obviously crashed on earth. They exchange pleasantries and introductions before Kori decides that Jason could use some clothes. She takes him to a closet that has all of Nightwing's old uniforms in it. This is the part where you realize that Kori really doesn't remember much of the past and tends to live in the present.
We get a flashback to Jason in Red Hood garb pointing a gun at Batman. Jason blames Batman for leaving him with the Joker in what must have been the moment that Joker killed Jason when he was Robin. Before Jason can pull the trigger, Nightwing comes in and interrupts him.
Starfire then gets some time to her own memories. She doesn't live in the past, but she will remember the name of the person who left the clothes behind when she sees him next. (Him being Nightwing). She tells Jason a version of "the clothes don't define the man" and offers him one of Nightwing's old uniforms which Jason wears in present day.
Days pass and Jason is healing. Jason is admiring the weaponry that Kori has and thinks how it could help him with his own war on crime. Jason goes to talk to Kori and she kisses him. Apparently this is how Tamarans assimilate language and knowledge. Fancy that. Instead of taking advantage, Jason talks to her all night long where they share a bonding moment and hug at the end. The next day Jason sees an article about how Roy Harper is going to be executed and Jason decides to go bust him out, thus tying this into the events of the first issue.
I almost laughed at the ending. They stayed up all night talking? Ha! I hope that Jason is supposed to be about 16/17 years old in this comic, otherwise that is one of the most teenage type of ideas for a story I could ever read. I was into the story and was wanting more out of the flashbacks, but then when that twist to the story came it just made me laugh so much. They even hugged it out at the end.
You know a better way to end that part of the story? Have them be attacked by something. Let their fighting and instant ability to work as a team together bring them closer to each other than that teenage B.S. at the end. The characterisation here was just so far off from what we have seen and learned from the characters. There were two writers for this book between the plot that Lobdell had, which missed the point, and the dialogue that Williamson wrote, which bordered on cheesy at points. It just missed what I expected out of this book.
The Art
You know what creative paneling choices do for you? Leaves a bunch of background spaces. This issue had a lot of them. Trying to cover them up with red colored boxes don't exactly help. The only time you don't see a white background on any page is the very first one and one page when they are talking at night. That is a lot of unfinished and unused space for art that could be used.
The Cover
If you haven't read the story, the cover doesn't look too bad. After you read the story, you can tell how far off the cover is. First off, Jason Todd is in the wrong costume. The events that are depicted on the cover should have taken place before he got that costume. Second, if those people are supposed to be some sort of army, why are they all in different costumes? Oh wait, in the story they are just smugglers, so I guess it makes sense.
Grades
Words: 5/10
Pictures: 5/10
Recommend: Very skippable. I really don't even see the need to have this place here for issue #6. It isn't like the story is told with the backdrop of present day events happening that could make it all tie in together. This was done in previous issues, I wonder why it didn't happen with this story.
Buy Next Issue: This is the second issue in a row that has been skippable. Let's hope there isn't a third, this book had such good promise.
Previous Issues
Red Hood and the Outlaws #5
Red Hood and the Outlaws #4
Three Issue Trial
No comments:
Post a Comment