Cheshire's poison-based powers are a bit undefined, but fun to watch in both their application and the havoc they wreak on others. She's also a bad-ass woman — taking on nearly the whole Outlaw team plus Green Arrow by herself at one point. My only problem? Tynion IV writes her dialogue like a conflation of the horniest highschool cheerleader ever/the Kardashian sisters/and that teen mom who just did a porn. That is to say, 99.5% of her dialogue includes her calling someone "cute, hot," some combination of the two, or making a thinly-veiled, embarrassing sexual euphemism. So basically how every guy that goes to comic book conventions acts when they see a booth babe. Read Full Review

I may not be a fan of the circumstances that have lead to this issue, but I have to judge each issue against only itself to be fair, and given that, I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. Cheshire was entertaining, and I look forward to her's and the rest of the League of Assassins' further appearances in the title, as they could give this book a connection to the greater DCU that it's lacked outside of crossovers. The only thing to take away from this issue is that the namesake character is just being an annoying whiney bastard, which you have to figure will eventually change? Hopefully... please? I don't think I can put up with Jason complaining about himself on a monthly basis. Read Full Review

This was a pretty fun issue, but it felt just a tad scattered and I didn't care for Cheshire's new power. Still, this is a solid purchase for any RHATO fan. Read Full Review

Perhaps due to being nearly 40 pages, this book manages to be both narratively deep and particularly action heavy, superbly balancing itself between being both fun and heavy and ends up coming out as the better of two particularly interesting annuals released this week, the other being Batman: The Dark Knight. If you're a fan of this series or of Arsenal in particular, this ne actually is worth the extra cost. If all you want to do is look at Starfire, you won't be disappointed but you'll do better just using Google. Read Full Review

Aside from a few awkward expressions here and there, Al Barrionuevo's art is a marked improvement.The issue's colors -- provided by Javier Mena and Bit -- are occasionally inconsistent, but when they're good, they're very good. They capture Cheshire's toxicvibrancyand the vivid hues of the Outlaws' island hideout with saturated pastels and a well-defined sense of depth. Overall, the issue provides a few good laughs and some desperately needed character development, but time will tell if it's enough to steer the series towards greater coherence. Read Full Review

So as you can see, there's a lot going on in this issue and that makes it a pretty good annual. I didn't care much for how Jason was used and I thought that the power-up of Cheshire was unnecessary, but the Roy drama was interesting and the fight scenes are terrific. Tynion and Barrionuevo delivered an action packed issue that's sure to entertain Arsenal/Green Lantern fans but the Starfire and Red Hood crowd might get a little impatient. Read Full Review

You can call Red Hood and the Outlaws a comeback, but maybe wait a few months for the victory lap. Read Full Review

I was just thinking the other day of how much potential this team had. Jason Todd is the renegade Robin, Roy Harper is the failed sidekick and Starfire is just plain awesome. They could have made such a sweet team of international vigilantes. Their bonds could have been some of the strongest in the entire New 52. Instead we had all that All Caste nonsense, two trips to that damn bald kid, an adventure in outer space, that whole thing with the Joker; this comic just can't sit still, and it's hurting the overall series. My No. 1 rule in all of fiction is to Keep It Simple, Stupid. A series like this should be incredibly simple, but alas, it is not. And for that I grow bored. Read Full Review

This is an annual that only properly works if you are already invested in the title. As such, it's not a bad issue, just realistically Red Hood and the Outlaws #20.1, with little more revealed than Green Arrow and Roy knew each other once, and they disagreed over some things. It has piqued interest enough to see where this series goes now, and perhaps on that level it has succeeded. Read Full Review

Honestly, I'm straight down the middle on this one. While the art impresses at times, Roy's inventions deliver laughs and Cheshire's involvement is a blast, I thought the focus on important dramatic elements in the book weren't especially moving and, if anything, mainly served as build-up for the bigger picture ahead. Developments are certainly made, but nothing surrounding them was particularly enthralling for me. Read Full Review

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual has as a good plot to it but loses points for the strained and weak alterations to some of the characters. What Jason is putting himself through is out of character, and the New 52 version of Roy really isn't turning out to be an improvement. There's hope for Jason to come out of this intact. However, the fundamental changes to Roy may be too much to ever really fix without another continuity revamp. Read Full Review

A whiny blank slate Jason Todd is about as bland as it sounds, and although Chesire's appearance works the issue has a hard time determining just how many powers this new version of the character actually has (she can phase, now?). Hit-and-Miss. Read Full Review

Instead of creating a new reader who would dig through the back issues in order to catch up and continue to read the series on a monthly basis; Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #1 did the opposite. Now I remember exactly why I didnt read this series past the first issue. For a team book, Red Hood, Arsenal and Starfire are all very similar characters that do not complement one another. The biggest downfall for this Annual was basing it around Arsenal, whose expanded history with Green Arrow makes the character less likable than he was before. If your currently reading Red Hood and the Outlaws maybe youll find something to enjoy from this Annual but for everyone else just stay away. Far, far away. Read Full Review