Red Hood / Arsenal #8 review
Written by: Scott Lobdell
Art by: Javier Fernandez
Colors by: Blond
Cat’s TidBits: Yes, Joker’s daughter is still part of the gang and she’s already causing Red Hood and Arsenal more trouble than perhaps they can handle?
Lobdell starts us off in Old City, a city where it was “dammed-off and drowned”, where Red Hood has finally come back from taking care of things (Referring to Robin War) and is back to take care of his partner(s). By this point, you can still see the struggle of the writing that Lobdell gives us; scenes are being rushed as they aren’t well explained, but you can still get the gist of what’s happening. One thing that I will admit that I enjoy is the different personality traits that the comic book gives us. We have Arsenal who’s our comedic relief and then Red Hood, surrounding himself more with Batman’s type of personality– keeping everyone in check.
The main thing that I dislike about this comic book is the art. It’s another struggle between getting all the detail work correctly (which they do), but then we forget about the parts that we’re entirely looking at, the characters! It could just be my taste though, I enjoy reading my comic book and then looking at the facial expressions (and I know there are other comic books that I’m reviewing that do so well on this, i.e. Earth 2: Society). I just want to see that their face matches what is being written and most of the time, it isn’t. The photo above is a perfect example of a one good scene where the art is beautifully done; the detailed-work is outlined with all the cracks and crevices of the room, the air bubbles that surround Arsenal while he’s attempting to survive his “torture”, but if you move on to the rest of the story, it’s not like that.
Ah, Joker’s Daughter. Still not sure why she’s really into this comic book, but it brought back this guy, Charon. He obviously has a reason to be mad, I’d be pissed at her too if she did that to my face. You know, another disappointment in this issue was the fact that we bring Joker’s Daughter in and half the time she’s not even saying much. It’s something that I know I’ve mentioned before with Lobdell’s writing. The scenes move to quickly, but if I have to look the positive in it, I’m sure it was to put the main focus on Charon and his intentions.
Oh and apparently there are new characters who are gonna join this already crowded comic book…
The Good: I guess I would have to say that I’m glad to have Red Hood back; I would love to explore the relationship of Red Hood and Arsenal together more, rather than bringing in Joker’s Daughter. Still waiting on her being useful in the duo’s rendezvous.
The Bad: The art, the writing. I will admit that the art was done perfectly in certain scenes, but at others, it’s not flowing with the writing. A great comic book takes everything into account and this is something that is crucial for readers, like us, to enjoy it.
Recommended If:
- You actually like Joker’s Daughter (even though she really didn’t have any lines in this issue.)
- You like Arsenal talking to himself while he’s being tortured. (ha)
- You want to know where the storyline with Charon is going to give us.
Overall: Overall, I still want to see where the comic book is going to take us. Red Hood and Arsenal are good characters and they’re just struggling to find the balance between the storyline. It’ll get there, I’m hoping.
Score: 5/10
