Red Hood and the Outlaws #29

Will Pfeifers' first issue of his three parter, I don't know if he'll do more or if Lobdell is returning but let's see how Pfeifer does in the meantime.

SPOILERS AHEAD



The aliens talk about how out-of-date a human science book from 1954 is and you know what? I haven't been so impressed with the writing in this book since #18. I know it's a small thing and I'm still jaded but I can't express how thrilled it makes me to have this series have some actual fun in it again. However I'm a little confused with the non-narrative text boxes explaining the trio since that's not how this book flowed before. Kori enjoys her time flying freely above dolphins and wonders why Jason can't enjoy it. Jason meanwhile is working out in the holo-deck like training room saying it's not that he doesn't notice the world around him, they've just been busy. I do like that he's shown honing in on his skills while Roy is trying to get a device he made to work. It crawls away which isn't great since he kind of build it as a  nuclear device.

Since the trio are all busy none of them realize what the aliens are doing. Roy was chasing his creation through the vents when the ship. I'm not sure how or why Jason gets dropped off as this happens. It looks like he just falls out with large chunks of the ship. Granted it was damaged and has been used as a home since then. The dialogue confuses me a little but isn't as odd as it was in previous issues. Jason asks Kori what's up with her ship and she asks why it's her ship? Because it's from her planet? Was that explaining where it came from? Because the aliens already mentioned her and we'd assume it was hers' over the two humans. While Kori does turn this around to point out Jason should be asking Roy--who's still in the ship--it still feels like a weird thing to say. It's more hers than theirs after all. Plus it sounds a little defensive. Jason says he already tried different methods of reaching Roy only to get no answer. Uh, when did Jason have time to do that? There's literally a panel between his fall and his call to Kori. They sum up why their screwed but did they both forget they had another ship? The one they stole from Crux? Unless that was docked on Koris' it should be available.

Roys' bot catches one of the aliens' attention and blows up. Just when Roys' about to attack the others to the one that blew up puts himself back together. Back on the island Jason and Kori talk about their options on finding Roy. A lizard alien (with wine?) attacks making them attack in kind. It reforms and Kori can understand it meaning they can interrogate him. This appears to be the buddy of the other three aliens that got hungover and arrived late to the fight. The aliens use the ship to send out a nano-bot loaded probe to wipe out life on a planet then put their logo on it to sell to potential buyers. Back with Kori and Jason they can get the information they need but still require a ship to get to Roy. Jason plans on getting one from S.H.A.D.E.


Overall: This was kind of a meh issue for me. Not much seemed to happen, only Roy seems to feel totally in character and this doesn't grab my attention that much. That said it's still a HUGE improvement over the last run. The only time I got annoyed in this was linking this story to that one. The villains are interesting, have personality and are doing something unusual. I'm still not sure why they HAD to go out of their way to use Koris' ship. In #6 it was heavily damaged to the point it looked like it was impossible to fly. It felt a little too forced in places like with the ship and the alien just so happening to speak a lingo Kori knew. Which shouldn't be a problem since she can literally touch someone to get that kind of information. As for art it's good although it doesn't feel like the right fit for this book. I didn't like Jasons' helmet design and seeing his eyes through it was pretty distracting. Hopefully the next two issues will be an improvement but if not then I hope Lobdell is returning for more than a one shot. But still to be fair at least the heroes are actually doing something  instead of stalling.


Did You Notice?: What is up with Jasons' helmet? It annoys me when the artists can't keep the designs the same issue to issue. This has to be my least favorite take on the hood, it just looks weird.

On the other hand Roy has short hair like last issue.

The rubber band likely wouldn't have done anything to the drone Roy built but it's nice to see the use of the name Arsenal having meaning. The only time in the new 52 Roy Harper has really used that well was in DC Presents. While this was shown a little under Tynion it was overblown to the point he was better than Batman.

Questions Raised?: Kori can create forcefields with her powers now?

Say What?: Roys' narrative says Ollie pulled him out of the "drunk tank." Green Arrow #0 showed him bailing Roy out of jail a.k.a. "the fish tank" and in RHATO it's been said/implied that Roy became a drinker after joining up with him. Which was one of the reasons they fell apart.

Interestingly Pfeifer writes something Lobdell has said in a interview about Roy having the potential of being something big before things ended badly. This wasn't previously said in the comic so either their on the same wavelength or they discussed this.

Ugh, did you REALLY have to mention the LOA storyline? Doing that and mentioning Jason randomly creating some backdoor physic connection between them OFF PANEL?! You didn't have to mention any of that, sales went down during that plot for a couple of reasons. *sigh* ...Also why wouldn't that work? Because of the distance?

Why not call Koris' friends in space to help them?