Red Hood and the Outlaws #20, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld
May 19, 2013 Marc Fishman 0 Comments
Written by James Tynion IV, Art by Julius Gopez
There was an old episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond” where Ray’s brother was enamored by a new “cult” that taught him to be happy about everything. I tried to channel that episode as I read “Red Hood and the Outsiders #20”. It didn’t work. Start to finish, top to bottom, James Tynion IV’s tale of lost memories, mercurial zen monks, and plenty of predictably loud yelling makes for a book that makes me wish I had my own memory-wiping-monk.
For what it’s worth, I am a not a regular reader of the book. I know enough though: The Joker with all his big boffo Scott-Synder-driven plans of villainy left Jason Todd forever angry at his mentor and then memory wiped. Nothing like wiping the slate clean. From what I can glean from the backstory mentioned at the beginning of the book… the rag-tag gang of Starboobs, Not-Robin, and Junkie-Arrow have placed Jason at the hands (and third eye) of a monk who can deus ex machina all the wonky memory issues of the last few issues. We start in on the book with Jason now expunged of all memories pertaining to “the darkness”. Of course that pretty much wipes him back to somewhere shy of 12 by my account. Roy and Kory are less than thrilled. What follows that is 20 or so pages of meaningless yelling, in-fighting, and soap opera glory.
James Tynion IV, protege of Scott Snyder, would be better suited dealing with scripts for Desperate Housewives, the way this issue unfurls. The memory-monk (whatever his name is, I honestly didn’t see, or care to remember) looks all of 15 years old, and speaks somewhere between the teen he looks like, and the sage old force-of-nature I assume he’s supposed to be. But I digress. Tynion delivers dialogue in swatches of melodramatic malaise enough to grind me to a halt several times throughout the issue. The plot-by-numbers is akin to misadventures I feel like I wrote in high school. The holier-than-thou monk makes it his business to mock Kory and Roy as they attempt to threaten him / plead with Jason / and argue amongst themselves.
The problem of course, comes with the omnipowerful sage. With his abilities to unearth secrets, and share memories, we get a tidal wave of woe with every page flip. Marvel at the double page spread that proves Jason’s life is one big wah-wah-wah fest! Gaze at the dirty secret of Starfire fighting Nightwing! Linger on the “Ghost of Christmas Past” presentation of the night Roy met Jason! It’s schlock at it’s best. If I’m to find a shred of good in the script (and trust me, it took some digging) it would be Roy. Jason’s off in lala land for the entire book. Kory is written flatter than the pages she appears on (in defiance of her amply displayed alien mammary glands). Roy seems to be the only one with an ability to sound realistic. This is in-between pointless verbal bouts and grand-standing though, so consider the compliment sandwiched by regret.
Art is delivered by Julius Gopez. It’s sketchy, angular, and oft-putting. His meaty figures float on the page, and never quite feel a part of the sparse environments he renders. His faces tend to blend into one another as well. A mash-up of rough Finch or Ed Benes would be the best description. Luckily in this case, Gopez’s emotive characterizations match Tynion’s scripting. For those who may like the direction here? The visuals match the words well enough. Special consideration should be given to Nei Ruffino and Blond for their coloring credit. The book’s palate is nauseatingly bright from start to finish. No page is without a glut of knockouts, glow effects, and photoshoppery. In other words? They do their best to hide the flaws of Gopez’s renderings. It’s not that effective to me (as I do the same thing for my own art all the time) but I imagine the target demo of this book finds all the pretty effects part of the book’s charms.
Suffice to say: Red Hood and the Outlaws is not for me. Trying to make me care about Jason, Kory, and Roy is immensely hard to do when they bicker, blast, and yell seemingly at every opportunity. Jason’s “mind-wipe” is as likely to stick with the character as Kory deciding to put on a pair of pants. The inclusion of a self-name-dropping Green Arrow in the final pages also did nothing for me. Sorry to be such a stickler for reality in a cape book, but for God’s sake: Who refers to themselves in the 3rd person? All Seinfeld jokes aside… it’s camp, it’s a waste, and it was the icing on a cake made of sadness. Red Hood and the Outlaws can continue to be on the run without me. I’d seen Joker’s plan for amnesia as an opportunity to really start things anew. There are seeds of greatness with all three of these characters. Putting them on the run makes for a kinetic ride. Instead, the book seems stuck in stalemate. It’s a sad state of affairs that seems to bolster the continuing opinion of many people seemingly disparaged by the ‘New52’. James Tynion IV seems to want to take the book forward by way of clinging to the recent past like my son clings to his binky.
It’s time for both of them to grow out of it.