Friday, May 11, 2018

Red Hood and the Outlaws #22 Vol. 2

Will Jason finally read the letters? What will Artemis say to Lex Luthor? What's it like for Ma Gunn living in a bottle? I'd imagine the last is rather restricting.

SPOILERS AHEAD


Jason toying with Penguin is reminding me of how he treated Roman Sionis in UTH. It's just fun to see him completely humiliate someone that has such an ego about themselves. He keeps thinking he has Red Hood beaten only to discover too late that he was fooled again. Last issue Jason questioned whether or not he was making a positive difference or just messing with Penguin because he could. What did he really accomplish?

Creeper mentioned Hierve So Agua issues ago and we have a flashback of Artemis working for Lex Luthor. The assignment was to kill everything involved with a massive experiment with prisoners that abused Luthors' tech. She thinks how she likes to envision herself as someone noble but her past actions working for Lex remind her that she's not. I wondered if the prisoner she apparently killed was Willis since he mentions being a horrible father and husband. His wife is dead and he allowed experiments to be done to get time off. Maybe not because solicits make it sound like Penguin was involved.

Lex says that he hired Artemis instead of an army was because he likes the idea of owning an Amazon. He even calls her a third rate Amazon. He's such a jackass.

Bizzarro helps out a old man while being respectful. He reflects on what he'll miss once his mind has returned to it's previous state. Unfortunately the reversal has already started.

Jason, for reasons that escape me, met with Faye again having apparently not received the letters yet. It's kinda explained but it still makes no sense to me.

Artemis tries to get Lex Luthor to help but he doesn't want do more for Bizarro. He thinks it's hilarious that she believed he cared about Bizarro when he was testing him and using them to contain him. She doesn't believe it for a second telling him that he believes his own lies. He responds with a "like father like son" comment while staring at Bizarro.

Jason finds Bizarro when he's freaking out that he can't remember how to get home. It's an amazingly written, drawn, inked and colored scene.



Overall: I'm a little confused with the storytelling and when that's happened in the past it's usually because of something the editors changed. I don't know if Lobdell was asked to add things or length plots to keep Jason from reading the letters. It does feel that way in sections. In the previous issue Faye (Jr.) told Jason that her grandmother gave her something to deliver to him. The text in this issue implies Jason contacted her or agreed to meet her again at a later point. Why didn't she give the letters to him before? Shouldn't she know how important it is if her grandmother is missing and it might be connected to the package she's delivering? Why isn't Jason more interested? He decided pissing off Penguin was a priority when he questioned doing that last issue?

There's a lot of questions I have about Ma Gunn and her family is a part of it. According to Faye her grandmother kept her criminal business separate from her family. Which I wondered about since one of the things I pondered was how she got involved in crime. In Batman #409 she mentioned dead sons and I questioned if they died due to that life style. Of course Faye could be lying and playing up a facade like her grandmother but I'll assume she isn't unless the plot gives me reason to believe otherwise. I believe Jason was present when Ma Gunn mentioned her family in #409 but he probably wasn't listening anyway. Or he assumed the family was as fake as her personality. Or it's different canon.

I like how Faye plays her grandmother's lifestyle off as something harmless by using the phrase "mischief" while Jason bluntly states what Ma Gunn did. This is the most direct he's ever been about his mistreatment by Gunn. I'm a little disappointed that he's directing this at Faye and not Ma Gunn herself. The two haven't had much interaction and nothing related to where they stand with each other. Faye claims her grandmother said Jason was the only one she trusts and wants to know what's special about him. So she's holding the letters hostage until she sees Jason again to figure it out? I could see that if it was less dangerous but a relative's life could be on the line for all she knows.

I don't get why she seems so nonchalant about it. Faye literally says she doesn't care if he takes the envelope or not. She sounds a little suspicious when he asks if she looked inside. Did she look?

I noticed that Artemis has been rationalizing her behaviour a lot throughout the series. When she broke into Bizarro's room she told herself that she didn't lie about what she was doing, she just hadn't told them. When Jason asks about their date being bogus Artemis replies "mostly" without addressing it head on. If she wasn't interested she'd tell him yet she avoids being direct about it. When the prisoner tells her about his son she puts the blame on him for being in prison in the first place.

It makes sense that she wants to shape herself into a better person but still struggles with being open. She feels she demeaned herself by working for Luthor. If you look back at previous interactions Artemis carefully worded what she said to Jason in regards to Luthor to keep it a secret. This issue gives us insight on why she acts the way she does. She admitted she had no idea what she's do when Akila became the Shim'Tar. From there she was a sword for hire which was actually something the Peréz Bana-Mighdall did. Only the Peréz version were a lot worse.

Then Artemis had her more noble goal of finding the Bow of Ra. Jason helped her find another cause with the Outlaws and Bizarro taught her to discover who she is. Artemis didn't reveal her past with Luthor to them, probably due to her shame. Lex Luthor is a jackass and this has come up under other writers even if his character has shifted some in recent years. His treatment of all of them really makes me wish they could harm him. I know he cared a little for Bizarro as he reminded him briefly of the first but I'm a little disappointed. I kind of wanted his interest in them as a team to be more than what's been shown.

I got choked up by the exchange with Jason and Bizarro at the end. I probably said this a lot but Lobdell has a talent for emotional scenes something I think a lot of other writers could learn from. This issue confused me with the Penguin and Faye bits but I loved this issue. I'm just mad that there's such a long wait until #23 when it all finally hits the fan.



Questions Raised?: Didn't Jason think he'd run into Pengiuns hired men by showing up to mock Penguin? Ice cubes are the logo Penguins' men use? It's cute but I tend to associate ice with Mr. Freeze.

Why did Bizarro change his mind and quit taking kryptonite? And why didn't he tie up loose ends first? Ma Gunn is still in a bottle and their headquarters can't be maintained anymore.

Why is Solatary in Luthors' waiting room? Can Artemis hear/see him? Can Bizarro--who already met him--see him? Or is he just ignoring him? I'm guessing they can't as Jason doesn't turn around to ask if the busy body behind him will kindly mind his own business. I recall Soy posting the image with the "Dick?" caption leading people to believe Nightwing was going to appear.

Did Jason really put Bizarro's number as "Biz'ness"? That's proof he was a Robin. I want a list of nicknames he uses on his phone.



Say What ?: If I'm understanding this right the Grace surname was something Lex gave her like a nod to the ironically named Mercy.

Faye made it sound like she saw her grandmother last issue but says she just received a package and a note. This does make more sense as Bizarro could heard her if she tried to tell anyone.

Ma Gunn said Jason Todd was the one person on Earth that she trusts...I want to see these two have more development. But the note would have said more since Faye previously claimed "nanna" said to wait until Jason was alone before approaching him.

It honestly made me groan and wince to see Artemis say "Sir" and "please" to Lex Luthor. I know it would solve nothing but I want her to punch him.



Did You Notice?: Artemis didn't use her axe in the flashback. Maybe she was too ashamed to do so?

Wait...Lex has cameras inside Bizarro's headquarters...and watched him bathe? I have so many questions but I'm not sure if I want to know the answers.

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