A DEATH OF THE FAMILY tie-in!
Scott Lobdell is one of my favorite writers, so it's a given that I was beyond excited that he was making his return to superhero comics with the launch of the New 52 last year. And the fact that he would be writing two of my favorite characters (Jason Todd and Tim Drake) was just icing on top of the already awesome comic cake. This issue is just as good as anything he wrote over at Marvel back in the day, and that's because (to put it plainly) he's still got it. If you'll excuse a pun, he has an "uncanny" ability to weave high-octane action with realistically compelling drama and spot-on humor. And with this team of lovable losers, most fans would agree that he's got nowhere to go but up. But that doesn't stop him from making a good comic into a superior one. Read Full Review
Scott Lobdell asks a unique question: What would you do if you got a chance to confront the person who killed you? It's something that no murder victim can ever answer. Read Full Review
The Red Hood would have no difficulty in killing the Joker if he could manage to physically take hold of him for more than a second. The Joker, however, has several aces up his sleeves and he is going to drag out this special reunion by involving Red Robin and the Teen Titans. As with Batgirl, the next few issue will tell if the Red Hood will actually find an opportunity to take out the Joker or if the madman will once again have the last laugh. Read Full Review
There were moments the characters looked good and others they felt a little flat. Joker is proving himself to be one of the most elaborate criminal minds in the DC universe as he continues to have plan after plan and is coming up with contingency plans for every event that would impress even Batman. Seeing some follow up on the events in the zero issue is great and crossing over with TEEN TITANS is going to be fun. Read Full Review
A very good issue, and a good start to this part of the Death of the Family crossover, which itself crosses over with Teen Titans. I would highly recommend this issue, and the rest of the series, and am looking forward to what happens to Jason, Roy, Starfire, Tim, and the rest of the Teen Titans in Teen Titans #15. Read Full Review
Definitely an issue worth reading for the madness. If you're into that kind of madness that is. Read Full Review
Unfortunately, the brief scenes focused on Arsenal and Starfire feel pointless and tacked on. Lobdell has done a lot of solid work with Jason over the past 16 months. The problem has often been that this series reads less like a team book and more like a Red Hood solo effort that occasionally branches out. The fact that Lobdell uses these scenes to set up a crossover with Teen Titans only worsens their impact. Teen Titans was among the first New 52 books I dropped, and awkward, unnecessary crossovers won't convince me to second guess that decision. Read Full Review
The comic finally gives us a confrontation between the Joker and the Red Hood. Even if it's not as good as I hoped, at least the crossover feels legitimately underway. For fans. Read Full Review
Red Hood & the Outlaws #15 needed an opening scene that actually had tension and an obstacle that wasn't so easily overcome and thrown away, focus on Jason and the Joker alone with no Outlaws or Teen Titans popping in at random times, and better artwork that fit the tone of a story as important as this should be. It's not a terrible read, but it's one that I think many of us Batman fans expected a lot more from and to me it didn't deliver. I first gave it a 4.5 but then I was like “Maybe I'm being too hard on it. I did give Catwoman #14 like a 6/10 or something and that definitely wasn't worth a re-read. I was probably just eager to give such an awful book a halfway decent score for once.” And perhaps this issue wasn't really that bad and I'm simply getting tired. Fed-up with the Joker. He's everywhere, in every comic, doing almost exactly the same thing. I put this issue beside the likes of the rest of the Read Full Review
The Despite the largest "Bad" section I've ever written... probably... the story is okay. If there was some better art, I'd probably give it a point higher, but the at times interesting story mixed with the bad art creates this weird vibe, where I want to read the book, but it just bums me the hell out. Read Full Review
There's nothing that strikes me as wrong with this book, but there's nothing that makes me feel it's a "must-read" either. Joker's connection to Todd is not resolved in this issue, and Starfire and Roy aren't necessary to this issue's plot. If you've been a fan of Red Hood since the New 52 began, then this book will doubtlessly be more entertaining to you than the casual fan. Without that background knowledge of the characters, it is difficult to become emotionally invested in this issue. Read Full Review
While I definitely support the retcon that Joker manufactured Jason Todd into Robin, Lobdell doesn't give that reveal the oomph that he should. Instead, it's just Red Hood tied up in an undisclosed, booby-trapped dungeon, where Joker can and will do anything he needs to do to keep Jason at bay. Whether it's cleverly placed gas or a trap door in the floor, Joker has access to anything the story requires. So it's just Lobdell's weak attempt to pepper the comic with some hard knocks while Joker achingly tries to tease Jason with the truth about his origins. And Lobdell doesn't come up with anything clever for the reveals. Read Full Review