Written by Kyle Higgins
Illustrated by Eddy BarrowsWhen a mysterious assassin targets Dick Grayson, Nightwing must work fast to uncover the killer’s plot before he strikes again. But as Haley’s Circus continues to perform in Gotham City, Dick finds himself torn between two lives: His old one as a circus performer and his new one as a Super Hero. And they may be more connected than he ever realized!
Written by Scott Lobdell
Illustrated by Kenneth RocafortRed Hood is already globe-trotting in an effort to find the ancient assassins behind the slaughter of those who taught him some of his darkest skills… and if Roy and Kori are going to be of any help, well, they’ll just have to tag along — whether Jason wants them to or not!
In the battle of the former Robin books released this week, we have Nightwing #2 and Red Hood and the Outlaws #2. Nightwing was well received (according to our own DCnU statistical analyst David Harper, it received an overall 7.2 out of 10 rating across the interwebs), where Red Hood and the Outlaws was judged by a mixed bag of people who were wrong and those who hate sexism (Harper averaged the reviews to a 5.6).
So, would the trend continue, and Nightwing reign supreme, or would throwing Red Hood and the Outlaws into a Lazarus Pit resurrect the sad book into something better? Find out after the jump!
Comparing these two books is a really interesting exercise in how the DCnU is approaching things. Nightwing could, without the timeline condensing, be a book in the old DCU, as all the classic Dick Grayson elements are at play: he is still a borderline lady killer, still has the sunniest outlook of anyone in the Bat family, and still has a sentimental streak. The book references his time under the cowl, and seems to be interested in telling a continuation of all of the solo Dick Grayson stories that have been told over the course of the last 30 years.
DC decided that, on the other hand, Red Hood and the Outlawsneeded to take its three principle characters in totally new directions. All of the character development done with Roy Harper since kicking heroin in the 70s is tossed out the window, Jason Todd has (apparently) been cured of his insanity and Starfire is now a sexed up blank slate. Two of the three characters have relatively messy backstories, so from DC’s standpoint I can see why they would want to shake things up and streamline them into something manageable.
First, let’s focus on Nightwing. This book continues to impress, as both writer Kyle Higgins and artist Eddy Barrows are on the top of their game here. Barrows in particular is impressing with his crisp pencils that, more than almost any other artist’s work has, suggests the acrobatic background of Grayson. Every time he kicks, jumps, or even takes a fall, he does so gracefully. Bringing Haly’s Circus to the forefront of this book was a wise move, as it gives Nightwing a mythology completely of his own, outside of the Bat universe.
What I didn’t love about this book was a plot point that only makes sense in the DCnU. If Dick became Robin approximately 5 years ago (which seems to be the standard idea), then he would have left Haly’s Circus around the same time. Then, it makes sense that Dick would still have relationships with the people at the circus, and that Mr. Haly could truly have wanted to give the Graysons the circus as their own. If it has been more than 5 years, I don’t see why Haly would still want to bequeath his circus to someone he hasn’t seen in such a long time. It still seems like a relatively random act of kindness, and a pretty forced plot point.
Continued belowGiving Dick Grayson this responsibility, however temporary it may be, could either be a great tool for the story or a total flop. If Dick travels with the circus, that makes him a hero without a home, something we don’t see too often in comics, and would still have the benefit of the circus performers as a supporting cast, with the interesting twist of having each arc take place somewhere else. However, this also pulls him out of Gotham, and out of the Bat family as an active participant, which would not be so good. Seeing the three generations of adoptive sons (Dick, Tim Drake and Damien Wayne) interact with Bruce has been one of the best developments of the last year in the Bat books. Perhaps there is a way to split the difference here, and have Dick be based out of Gotham, but travel with the circus some of the time. We’ll see.
Saiko, Grayson’s new foe, seems to be one of the umpteen new villains in the New 52, but unlike so many former Nightwing foes, he’s not a recycled Bat villain. It is nice to see Dick’s rouges gallery being build up a bit, and Saiko, silly name and all, seems to be a pretty real threat to Nightwing, both psychologically and physically. This book is one of my favorites of the relaunch, and has a place in my buy pile for the foreseeable future.
Red Hood and the Outlaws, on the other hand, continues to be a mess. Starfire is the least of the concerns this month, as she appears to be an afterthought to the action here. We get to see Jason Todd outside of the Red Hood’s, well, hood for the first extended period, and what we find is … a normal guy?
This is never explicitly explained, but it is inferred that after his resurrection (here left mysterious, since I guess the whole New 52 wouldn’t be necessary if you could still say shit like “Oh yeah, Superboy Prime punched the walls of the universe and disrupted reality, one of the consequences of which was the resurrection of an amnesiac Jason Todd”), when Talia al Ghul chucked him in the Lazarus Pit, he was “restored” to a normal state. Still violent and unrepentant about using guns, this Jason Todd is not quite the lunatic hero/villain that has been used in the last few years. In fact, this Jason Todd seems a lot like Dick Grayson, and not just in looks (it appears his red hair is out of continuity or is being dyed because, let’s face it, no one loves a ginger); he shows some sentimentality, he feels responsible for others, and he is a bit of a slick ladies’ man when he wants to be — yet despite throwing away years of character development and unique traits, he is still the third-most offensive characterization in this series.
Everyone by now knows how Starfire has been sullied but, overall, I think Roy Harper has come out of this the worst. Lobdell didn’t start this denigration; we can all thank JT Krul and whatever DC brainpower decided that years as a recovering addict wasn’t interesting anymore for that, and so they put him back on the horse. (In fact, I suppose we could even go back further and blame James Robinson for killing Lian Harper/pulling Roy’s arm off).
Some of the best parts of Brad Meltzer’s (and I might be being generous here) uneven Justice League of America run were the parts that focused on Roy Harper becoming Red Arrow, embracing his legacy in the Justice League and being seen as an equal by many of the heroes who mentored him over the years. It was the rare instance of a former sidekick rising up to the major leagues without needing a death to fill shoes. There were some truly tender moments between Roy and Ollie, Hal Jordan and Black Canary, the three adults who shaped Roy the most, beaming with pride over what Harper had become through his hard work and determination.
Continued belowYes, as a continuity geek, a lot of this resetting bothers me on principle, but what is the worst about this is that three unique characters in the DCU have become boring stereotypes in the DCnU — and this is even worse when compared to Dick Grayson, who has been allowed to prosper as a character. This is similar, to a much lesser degree, to the uproar caused by Barbara Gordon regaining the use of her legs. Babs was a character of pride for many people with disabilities, precisely because they don’t see a lot of people with disabilities in comics. Granted, Roy Harper wasn’t the only recovering addict in comics, but he was (along with Wally West, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon and, to some extent, Donna Troy) the rare character that rose from sidekick to actually developed unique character. (I’m sure there are Aqualad/Tempest fans out there, but did he really ever do much? No, he was always a minor player; these other characters all stepped out of that and became something special.) With the exception of Grayson, these characters are all in very different places than they were pre-relaunch, and that says nothing of the years of work done to make Starfire and Jason Todd characters that were somewhat unusual in the comics world. Does the comics world need another sexpot, or another violent antihero, or another dumbass teenager? Lobdell seems to think so.
Now that I’ve gone off on that tangent, how is issue #2 of Red Hood and the Outlaws? Well, it continues to be beautifully drawn by Kenneth Rocafort. The art isn’t very polished, but that ragged style works perfectly in this context. There was significantly less cheesecake and massive action pieces in this issue, so Rocafort was able to show off a little more of his talent for drawing more subdued scenes. This book looks significantly different from most of the other New 51, and that is one of its few strengths.
But as good as Rocafort is, Lobdell brings the book down to sad, sad depths. Lobdell was criticized upon his hiring for being so tied to the 90’s; this issue destroys that theory completely. With the title of the issue being a Bon Jovi reference, and Jason Todd using the Wayne’s World cliché of saying something is “cool… Not!” puts this book firmly in 1989. So, take that, Lobdell apologists!
Beyond the cultural references that were out of date when Bill Clinton was inaugurated, the writing in this book seemingly does one thing to undo it almost instantly. We are supposed to see Jason Todd as a sympathetic character one minute, and bloodthirsty the next, and yet that is not played up as a personality trait. A schizophrenic hero may not be the most original idea, but it could work here. Instead, we just get inconsistency. Ditto for Roy, who is wearing an anti-Superman hat and refers to himself as a “recovering super hero” and yet a minute later bitches about not having the Justice Leaguers returning his phone calls. Starfire, who can’t remember her old lovers and goes to great lengths in issue #1 about being cavalier about her sexual escapades, suddenly is bashful when Roy wants to address the fact that he and Jason passed her around like a bottle of cheap wine?
I have a feeling that this book will be short lived and swept under the rug as a vague reference not too long in the future, because not only is it terribly written and borderline offensive at times, but because it takes the worst of the old DCU and the worst of the DCnU and combines them together for a terrible sandwich: characters with convoluted backstories dumbed down past the point of caring. Where Nightwing shows how to take a former Teen Titan and grow him into a fully developed character, Red Hood and the Outlaws shows us what happens when good stories aren’t the primary goal of a creative team, but “edginess” is: we see a book teetering on the edge of total meltdown.
Final Verdict: Nightwing: 8.3 – Buy / Red Hood and the Outlaws: 3.7 – Pass
