Red Hood and the Outlaws, Volume 2: The Starfire

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011)

by Scott Lobdell (Writer), Kenneth Rocafort (Illustrator)

As if Batman's former sidekick Jason Todd, now known as the Red Hood, didn't have enough problems leading the team of outlaws such as Arsenal and Starfire, now his "estranged" brother Red Robin is knocking on his door because The Night of Owls is here! With Batman in dire need of help, will Red Hood answer the call?

And when Jason and the team find out that Starfire is one of the most feared (and dangerous) commanders in all of space, the team will find their adventures taken to the stars and beyond to help decide the fate of the throne of Tamaran. Witness the galactic struggle between Starfire and her sister Blackfire as Red Hood and the Outlaws are caught in the middle of an interstellar war!

Collecting: Red Hood and the Outlaws 8-14

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Batman, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 2013

About the author

Scott Lobdell (born 1960) is an American comic book writer.

He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B+) 76% | Good
Notes: It lives off dialogue, art and irreverent charm: a watery brew, all sugars and creams, with no body or kick to its plots.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

"You were good once, Red Hood. It's a shame you've made such a mess of your [life]." -- Superman

"Work in progress, Super-Dude. Now, if you've said everything you need to say - why don't you take your ass up, up and away from here . . . before I do it for you." -- Red Hood with the burn

Two months I gave a rather lukewarm review to the debut of DC's Red Hood and the Outlaws, but I suppose due to some eternal optimism I ended my assessment with "But I'll still tune in for the next volume." Well, thank goodness for a bit of sheer luck - after a couple of wobbly initial chapters (wrapping up a few loose ends from the first volume) Vol. 2: The Starfire literally blasts off - courtesy of an intergalactic adventure - and gets down to business. This was just a fun, action-packed and quip-laden storyline that was a actually a joy to read. The oddball antiheroic trio of Red Hood, Arsenal, and Starfire (accompanied the lingerie-clad Isabel the flight attendant . . . don't ask, but it's not quite the easy joke you might expect it to be) take to the stars to prevent a hostile takeover on Starfire's besieged home planet of Tamaran. The teamwork was now gelling to pleasing levels, and Red Hood and Arsenal can continually and snarkily crack wise to the villains and/or each other like nobody's business amidst saving the ****ing day. Now, I know I'm not talking about some classic of American literature here and it's far from perfect, but damned if this graphic novel's main narrative didn't strike good alternating tones of humor and drama. What a pleasant and unexpected surprise!

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott Lobdell’s writing here isn’t as strong as it was in Volume One, but the blatant Starfire fan service has been minimized, so that’s positive. Right?!? You have two and a half plotlines that DC throws out there. Does anything stick?

The Night of the Owls tie in – For the love of Alfred Pennyworth’s waffles, I get that Jason Todd (aka the titular Red Hood) is conflicted, but does Lobdell have to make the character’s actions so transparently black and white. One extreme - Rescue hostage kids at a children’s hospital – aw, puppies, kitties and unicorns. The other – shoots the ringleader in the face with a gun – (insert creepy, psycho GIF here). Oh, and the Outsiders get to chase a Talon assassin and battle Mr. Freeze. Next:

Starfire kicks some ass – Starfire’s planet world of (whatever) is under attack by some guy named Blight, who wants to use the inhabitants for incubators to create super-powerful creepy alien spawns. Starfire is conflicted (*sigh* that word again). It seems that Starfire’s sister had her dumped in some sort of gulag. Starfire broke out with the help her homies: some big enormous alien, an alien whose teeth make up half of his face and K’tten, who used to appear in Whitesnake videos. She feels she doesn’t owe her home planet of (whatever) any help. Jason Todd’s flight attendant date get transported to planet (whatever) along with Speedy Arsenal and Mr. Todd. Fish out of water, bad date jokes ensue. Next, last and least:

Half a plotline is better than no plotline? – Essence, who channels darkness, Superman/boy, who comes off as a demanding ass and the return of the Joker and his gold, diamond encrusted crow bar. One would hope there will be plenty of fireworks for Volume the third.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so good!

It starts with Jason dealing with the untitled and all and then a tie into court of the owls event as he fights a talon to save Mr Feeze and fun things with the outlaws there and then an inter-galactic battle with Starfire leading the fight to the Blight to rescue her homeworld Tamaran and I loved that one, its short and sweet story and also does well to focus on these characters and give a closure to Kory and well Roy gets a sweet monolgue and then a confrontation with Superman which ties into his book and sets the stage for the harvest story and also multiple stories with Jason and then "Essence"!

I love how this book deals with so many elements and multiple plot threads and does it so well and keeps it coherent and easy to follow while also giving character their own arcs and solid moments and bringing the well together! Plus the art was insanely good and starfire looked so hot here (yes the one you're thinking of) just loved it! :)

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly good. Suffered a bit in translation to the Hoopla app for reading comics.
Art suffered in the last issue when the artist changed but didn't keep the body and face sketches the same. At one point, I swear Superman was not getting enough sleep...

[Elinor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mouais. Autant j'avais beaucoup apprécié ma lecture du premier volume, autant là moins. C'est pas mauvais. Mais ce n'est pas vraiment bon non plus. Moyen, donc.

[Eli · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been years since I read the first volume, but I'm seriously still trying to get through the New 52 so I can finally move on to (hopefully) greener pastures. But this was just okay. Didn't love the space plotline in this one for some reason. A little boring.

I think I'm only going to read the Death of the Family volume next, since it's the next volume, and then I'll probably be done with this series.

[Joshua Adam Bain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read!

I don't know what it is about this series I love so much. The art is absolutely amazing and I think the team dynamic is great. I might go as far to say this might be one of my favourite new 52 titles so far!

Volume 2 picks up running and gets straight into the action. I'm loving Jason's character so much in this and with his small interactions with members in the bat family it made me dig him even more. He's a complete bad ass with a huge stubborn streak, but deep down he has a good heart. I had no idea this had a small crossover with the 'Court of Owls' storyline so that was a nice surprise. It's always a good time seeing Mr Freeze in action! But for the most part the story is set in space (yep you read it correctly Red Hood in space). As weird as it sounds I thought it worked well. And would you believe it Starfire actually put on an outfit that covered her skin up, unreal I know! Speaking of Starfire she really came into her element in this volume and it was good to see some depth added to her character. Roy as always keeps the mood light with his humorous banter throughout. I'm looking forward to delving into his history more, as we've yet to establish much about him so far. The end of the book builds up for the 'Death of the Family' crossover. So I'm looking forward to seeing Joker in all his glory!

Overall it was another great read and I can't wait to pick up volume 3!!

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a significant drop in quality between the first volume and, this, the second volume of Red Hood and the Outlaws.

The bulk of this collection follows the exploits of the trio as the embark on some half baked mission to add depth to Starfire's character (she's not just a space-bikini, you know). But the narrative is so sped up by Arsenal's "Then this happened" and "Then we did this" approach to storytelling that there is barely anything left to the script other than forwarding devices. By the end, there is no doubt that Starfire is simply a bikini in space.

The only chapter that I felt was worth reading was the Night of the Owls tie-in, and even it didn't provide any added substance to the main story it ties into.

What's worse is the silly, random mini story about Essence that was stretched out over two issues.

This was a total mess with none of the sharp humour and meta-awareness of the first volume. Where the first volume was laced with sexual tension and genuinely funny jokes, I found this volume to rely mostly on crude, even sexist, humour. To me, they sacrificed all of the team's dysfunctional dynamic to try to establish stable relationships instead. Such a shame. It was better when everyone was at each others throats and not trusting one another.

2/5

[Roman Colombo · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars (one day, Goodreads will let us give half stars). The main story, Starfire going home to save her planet, was a lot of fun, and the Night of the Owls tie-in was okay too. It's always good to see Red Hood torn between helping Gotham or not. But aside from a lot of fun, there isn't much in the way of character development. Arsenal and Starfire get some good moments, but it's not quite clear yet how the events of the Tamaran War will change them, or if it has at all. I hope so because Starfire went through a lot in that story. But by the next issue, it was like it was all back to nomal...so, we'll see.

[Penguins · Rating 2 out of 5]

slightly less Starfire tits and ass so... yay, I guess. still way too much oversexualisation of Starfire (and not enough of Jason and Roy). Starfire could be such a badass role model to young girls if just given the chance. sigh.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ahaha

Can Jason Todd have a moment of peace for one goddamn second I am literally begging-

[Ricky Ganci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have a wide range of critical observations to make about Red Hood and the Outlaws, Vol. 2: The Starfire , but I will say this, and encourage you to check it out: this book distinguishes itself from the other Bat-books as it is the only doesn't take itself too seriously. Or seriously at all--it would get in the way of the fun.

The Starfire picks up where Redemption left off, with these miscreants who only marginally trust each other traveling around on a suborbital spacecraft and getting into trouble. Jason is dealing with the aftermath of his trigger-happiness, Kori and Roy are awkwardly dating, or something, and bad people are doing bad things. The plot of this collection arcs through a series of conflicts, smoothly connects with the Night of the Owls event, does its own thing in outer space, and then dumps Red Hood off in Gotham City for his own Death of the Family horrors and sends Roy and Kori on to something else (perhaps a guest appearance in Superman: H'el on Earth ?). The story is nothing remarkable for comics or for science fiction, looks a lot like Sinestro's arc in Green Lantern regarding the salvation of Korugar, but is considerably more fun than most. Any complaints that I could levy against the story are mitigated by the amount of enjoyment that I took from reading it.

And perhaps that's what makes Red Hood and the Outlaws worth reading, to me; first, it's legitimately funny, and though Scott Lobdell hasn't been the most consistent writer comics has ever seen, he seems to know these characters and how to make them work together--something that almost always creates a story that ends up being more than the sum of its parts. Secondly, it looks great, with Kenneth Rocafort's art and its level of detail standing out as one of the two or three finest among New 52 pencillers at this point. The book has gotten some buzz on this score, with the sexual representation of Starfire (and in this volume, the addition of Isabel) raising some critical eyebrows, but while the princess from Tamaran hasn't historically enjoyed robust layers of clothing, this volume responds to the criticisms of the first volume with a heavily-armored character model in command of a starship on which her command is beyond question. Sexual politics and posturing aside, this book is Starfire's show, and her strength comes as a result of both her decision to rise above her trauma-laden past and her ability to value Red Hood and Arsenal as teammates and individuals. Her sexual identity has no bearing on what this book communicates, as female agency as a theme is assumed in its premise rather than defended in its narration; we see this in Isabel, too, to a lesser extent.

A friend of mine described Red Hood and the Outlaws as the "Firefly" of DC's New 52: it's a fun book that runs concurrent to the big, serious business of the Justice League , but there are mythic stories embedded here that make it worth picking up. After the certain trauma of Red Hood's reintroduction to the Joker, it will be interesting to see what the new creative team will do with the characters and story--we still have the small matter of the Untitled running around, and we still have yet to see what an Arsenal-centered story might look like for the Outlaws.

[Jake Prest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series so far, probably the best teamup in the modern age of comics. The dialogue is great, the action is nonstop, and the art is fantastic. It was great to see Starfire's past come back in order for her to save the planet that once exiled her to prevent war. Arsenal's love for her really showed in this volume. Red Hood, however, had his own problems at the beginning and the end. SPOILER: Hood and the Outlaws head back to Gotham to assist Batman take down the Court of Owls, who have a list of targets, one of them Mr. Freeze. Red Hood deals with an assassin who had also died and brought back to life, so Hood's moral ambiguity towards this assassin fuses with his past. Starfire and Arsenal deal with mr freeze, and in the end, Hood tells Batgirl he's done what he can for the Bat, and takes off. At the end, Hood's newest love interest, a flight attendant by the name of Isabel, who joins the Outlaws in defending Tamaran from the evil known as the BLIGHT. When Hood and the others return home, he and isabel go to her apartment and, for you mature audiences, they make love. Hood exits the shower and sees Isabel overdosed, and at the end, you see Joker, who has tipped GCPD that Hood murdered Isabel. Joker's appearance stole the show, but I was surprised by the return of Essence, who is hunting down her family members in a two-part 'extra issue' of Red Hood. Who knows, maybe Essence will prove to be an important character in vol. 3. ENJOY!

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Nice to see Red Hood, Arsenal, and Starfire again. Glad to see them in Gotham and Tamaran. Fights were cool.

Can't wait to read Red Hood and the Outlaws: Death of the Family!!!

[Damon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not recommended, represents everything that is wrong in comic books today.

[Ian M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hace un mayor esfuerzo por reivindicar a Starfire y darle personalidad

Aún así, no me gusta que el narrador se sienta gracioso haciendo anotaciones "interesantes" para comunicarse con el lector, a menudo solo entorpece la narrativa y ni siquiera hace algo con ello más que "ooo esto es muy meta jaja qué cool" y eso aplica para el tratamiento de Jason y Arsenal, son "tipos cool" escritos de las maneras menos cool posibles

Los "chistes" son cíclicos y sosos. El evento de los búhos está bien y me gustó que esta serie diera más preámbulo al regreso de Joker para DotF

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay to more Starfire! I love seeing her past, and how she got the nickname Starfire is awesome! I love the fact that Komand'r/ Blackfire is actually nice in this one too!
And, we have the setup for Red Hoods part in Death Of The Family at the end here, as well as an extra about Essence, who I really want to learn more about.
All in all, a really solid, action packed story.

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought, "this is better than volume one," ( which was very good), but at some point, my enthusiasm levelled off.

Still well above average - how much it owes to nineties Marvel like Cable and Guardians of the Galaxy is something I will never know.

[Madison Head · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like this was amazing. It explored all three of them. I got to see some of the Batfam. The first half had the best depictions of all of the characters I have ever seen. The second half looked worse.

[Torono · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the way they dealt with Starfire

[Sydney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really liking the relationships in here and some of the backstory changes we saw.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red Hood has been okay but not great since it began in 2011. Unfortunately, this second volume does little to change that.

The first two issues are a Night of Owls tie-in, and probably the best of the bunch. There's action, some character moments for everyone, and a good conclusion too.

Then we get the main story involving everyone going into space to save Tamaran - which goes on far too long and adds nothing to any of the characters. Blackfire is a pale copy of her pre-New 52 self, and this is just mediocre.

The final issue adds Superman and the Daemonites to the mix, but ultimately goes nowhere, and the Essence back-up story is unnecessary and frankly, boring.

The artwork saves this from being a write-off, because Kenneth Rocafort's visuals are beautiful, if a little cluttered. But even this is short lived as he vanishes about halfway through to be replaced by the less than stellar imitations of Timothy Green II and Pascal Alixe.

Red Hood has the potential to be so much more than this - new writer James Tynion IV is currently proving this, but it'll be a long time till that's in trade. For now, we'll have to make do with this, and hope that Death of the Family gives the title a much needed kick in the pants.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of thought the series lost steam on this one. I enjoyed the foray into Starfire's past, but these issues just felt kind of plunked into the arc of the overall series. There were a lot of things in this volume that felt clunky, up to and including Jason's random civilian romance.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second RHATO volume is still pretty good, in my book. Our intrepid non-team finds itself in Gotham City just at the time of the Night of the Owls, where they must defend Mr Freeze from a Talon, and then it's a trip into outer space as Starfire must do battle against the Blight to save her homeworld. Along the way, she reunites with her sister who may or may not be as she seems.

Lobdell's script is still buddy-movie worthy, with lots of wisecracks and ribbing between the three principals. Although Rocafort only draws half the issues here, those issues are his usual firecracker work. The art in the latter part of the book isn't that great, but is serviceable.

Too bad too many people got turned off by the way Starfire is presented in the first volume. Here, she is smart, tactical, a true warrior. Perhaps instead of being whiny bitches, they should have actually waited to see the entire game plan.

[Danny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is ok. It really only gets three stars because of the Court of Owls tie in. I think that I found the secret to Scott Lobdell's sucess. If he has to work within a framework of an existing story line, he is much better than if he is left to his own devises. He doesn't maintain character and chooses really cheesy and sexually tainted jokes to get a rise out of his readers rather than any kind of story integrity. I also just despise how he writes female characters, they lack depth and it makes me wonder if he has ever had an intelligent conversation with a woman in his life. To me Scott Lobdell books are everything that is wrong with the comic book industry. While it was better than I expected, I would not recommend it.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

hhmm..just okay.
Yeah, I guess that is right.
Just okay.

The "new" Starfire backstory is interesting.
Just not the one I like.
The "new" Starfire isn't really what I like. [Roy is kinda not as much fun as well]

Fun art.
Not sure if I want more of this title.

[Kimberly Pinzon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I dropped a star rating because I'm tired of the stupid way the female characters are drawn. Starfire is in goddamn armor so why are her nipples popping out? All over the place? All the time?

The other star I dropped was because the story line was pretty weak.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Raiting: 8.5/10
General Raiting: 8/10

Much better than the first volume! Also it was way funnier.
I really liked that Kori was portrayed as a super bad ass and hot warrior princess in this volume.
Jason's still bae and Roy is precious
PLEASE CAN IT BE ROCAFORT THE *ONLY* ARTIST??!?!!!!

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first volume, So that's why I give it four stars.
It's probably more of a 3 and a half star book.