Written by Scott Lobdell and Josh Williamson
Illustrated by Kenneth RocafortHow 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!
It’s the story you never knew you needed to be told! This book predates Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 by a month, and tells you exactly how Jason and Kory met! Aren’t you excited! I know you are!
Follow the cut for my thoughts on the pre-origin of the Outlaws featuring Jason Todd!
I initially loved this book. I really did. I thought it read like a silly action book on par with something produced by Jerry Bruckheimer or directed by Michael Bay. It’s told in the same spirit as books like Justice League, but has a sillier component than even that book, which is, as Geoff Johns writes it, pretty freaking silly. This book has perhaps, an even sillier premise to it, so silly it might even reach John Woo levels of sideways gunfire and jumping in between bullets and everything else. The only thing this book need is Nicolas Cage, John Travolta, or Chow Yun Fat jumping between those bullets (that were short in a sideways gun (to make the book perfect. Would those actors portray Jason Todd? Of course! But that wouldn’t ruin this movie; it’s a silly movie by silly people after all!
While it’s not by Bruckheimer, Bay, or Yun Fat, it’s by Lobdell, and it’s doesn’t quite reach the same levels of silly that RHATO reaches, this book is still a lot of fun, and even reaches levels not quite reached by precious issues, because the dialogue is written by Josh Williamson. Because Williamson wrote the dialogue this time, it feels a little less stilted and flows a bit more freely from panel to panel.
The question remains though: this book is a lot of fun, that’s for sure but was it necessary? The first issue of Red Hood, all sexist BS aside, was the perfect jumping on point for the book. Jason, Kory, and Roy come together, and get into all sorts of mischief together. That is the perfect jumping on point for the book. For all intents and purposes, those characters did not exist before that moment. Who cares if they have a backstory together?
To their credit, however, Lobdell and Williamson repair some of the mistakes Lobdell originally made giving Starfire a tabula rasa personality with little to no regard for anyone else when it comes to sex or what have you. It’s refreshing to see a female character not inhibited by puritanical views on sex and intimacy but the way Kory was portrayed initially was exploitative in retrospect and it could stand to be amended a tad to repair any damage done to female readers who looked up to Starfire (why DC didn’t make her more like her animated counterpart is beyond me). At this point, however, it’s too little, too late, and in an unnecessary story at that. It’s a shame.
To the books credit, Rocafort’s astounding pencils make the book worth picking up alone. He’s probably one of the most underappreciated talents on the DC Roster, and he deserves to be on a bigger book than Red Hood and the Outlaws. His character designs are stunning and offputtingly beautiful, with some of the most gorgeous people in comics. What makes the book even more interesting is how Rocafort can simultaneously do the Top Cow “tech” and such character designs, without being disrespectful to either. It’s great stuff.
However, because how unnecessary this book really is, I can’t give it more than a browse. Why wasn’t this told in back-ups? Who knows? Why wasn’t this part of the original storyarc? That’s probably even less known than the previous question.
Final Verdict: 5.0 – Browse
