The Hood: The Saga Of Parker Robbins

by Brian K. Vaughan, Jeff Parker, Rick Remender

Collects THE HOOD #1-6, DARK THE HOOD #1-5 and material from DARK THE CABAL.

With great power ...comes great opportunity. With a pregnant girlfriend, a demanding mistress and an institutionalized mother to care for, Parker Robbins can barely make ends meet. So when the smalltime crook finds mystical apparel that grants him strange powers, he decides to forgo organized crime for the more prestigious and financially rewarding world of costumed villainy. Is the Marvel Universe ready to meet…the Hood?! Norman Osborn sure is - and when his Dark Reign begins, Parker has a major role to play as a tough-talking crime boss organizing NYC's super villains - while wheeling and dealing with the likes of Loki and Doctor Doom! But what price is Parker paying for his rapid climb up the ladder of infamy? And what terrible secret lies behind the source of his powers?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 7, 2023

About the author

Brian K. Vaughan is the writer and co-creator of comic-book series including SAGA, PAPER GIRLS, Y THE LAST MAN, RUNAWAYS, and most recently, BARRIER, a digital comic with artist Marcos Martin about immigration, available from their pay-what-you-want site www.PanelSyndicate.com

BKV's work has been recognized at the Eisner, Harvey, Hugo, Shuster, Eagle, and British Fantasy Awards. He sometimes writes for film and television in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family and their dogs Hamburger and Milkshake.

Reviews

[Daryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this trade thinking it was a Brian K. Vaughan book I hadn't read, but only the first half is. That mini-series reprinted here is pretty good, the tale of a small-time hood who finds a cloak and boots that give him superpowers (the boots enable him to fly, and the cloak lets him turn invisible for as long as he can hold his breath - not the greatest of abilities). It's a great look at a small corner of the Marvel Universe, and the character, as others have pointed out, is intentionally unlikable. However, the trade really stumbles in the second half, a reprint of a second Hood mini-series, written by Jeff Parker. The art retains its weird style (both were drawn by Kyle Hotz), but the story is pretty meh. The Hood has somehow gained some additional powers and has become the leader of a good portion of the Marvel Universe villains. So more Marvel (this came out around the time I quit reading most Marvel comics), and a more generic story than the original. I imagine Marvel published this to draw on Vaughan's name (and using "Saga" in the subtitle), but I remain unimpressed.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not entirely sure what possessed me to grab this from the library other than it was a new acquisition and written by Bryan K Vaughan (at least for the first half). I think if the writing had been consistent and not rebooted midway through, the origins of a villainous anti-hero like Parker would have been more viable. The idea of his being manipulated by a demonic entity is also pretty interesting, though it being Dormammu feels a bit silly and in many ways, this feels so weirdly parallel to other Marvel characters, namely Moon Knight. Parker has to be interesting as a character though since his powers and story aren’t all that compelling, and coupled with the early aught’s need to be provocative via what I’ll reductively term “shitty language” just leaves me pretty lukewarm at best for this whole volume.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ableist language from a 2000’s era attempt to be edgy makes this book harder to recommend, but Brian K. Vaughn manages to write a formidable anti-villain who is clearly not heroic in anyway but possesses motivations that make the Hood feel far more grounded than one would expect from a criminal with demonic clothes. The book is implicitly a counterpoint to Spider-Man’s early stories, showing what happens when great power comes without responsibility.

[Kelly K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get that Parker was supposed to be unlikable (and he very much was, along with pretty much everyone else in this book) but yeesh. I liked the gritty nature of this comic compendium but it was just meh for me.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hood's an interesting, though not particularly compelling, character. I liked the Vaughan story, though the other material here, written by Rick Remender and Jeff Parker, isn't that great. Two fairly-long miniseries both illustrated by Kyle Hotz? Count me in for that.

[Blaine McGaffigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This definitely feels like an early 2000s comic. I like the concept or Parker Robbins as a criminal family man who stumbles on superheroics, but it doesn't feel like a satisfying arc. There is more meat on this bone.