Red Hood: Outlaw #27 Preview / Discussion

[G-Potion]

The way Bruce look at Jason from the car though. He looks like he's suspecting something. Maybe he's not buying Jason's claim to stay away from the investigation?

[Arsenal]

Solid issue, although I was expecting Jason being more emotional over both the news and meeting with Bruce again.

Speaking of Bruce, this just highlights how the brawl in #25 was a means to an end, probably asked by editorial that required Lobdell to write both Jason and Bruce slightly out of character to allow the event to happen. Right now Lobdell is seemingly the only writer that remembers that Bruce is actually human, and thus, he makes sure to depict that human side that allows for more meaningful interactions with the rest of the bat family.

That said, this is definitely an issue I'll need to think about for a while to properly express my feelings of it.

I don’t think we’ll get to see how much this is truely effecting Jason until after the underlife thing is over and he has no new mission to throw himself into. I’m assuming the arc that eventually reunites his group will partially be about that.

[Zaresh]

I don't know either one. I was just reminded of that opening musical sequence in Beauty and the Beast animated film. Seriously though I find Appleton pretty disturbing so far, and it really feels that Jason's gonna be in real danger soon.

By the way, does anyone feel that Jason look younger here than in the last issue? He looks pretty good in the last page. And there's some of that Soy's body shape in there too.

Yep, but to be fair, we didn't get to see his whole face a lot last issue, did we? I think it helps that in this one, Woods' traces are... cleaner, or less elaborated. Look at the shadows and highlights: they're less complex, the wonderful contrast from issue #26 is a bit absent. In part it's because the actual lighting; in one hand you have an interior that's well illuminated by tubes everywhere; on the other, you have an exterior that lacks any light focus, like a moon or street lights, because it's raining. Low contrast environment both. But even so, I notice the lack of a strong suitable use of shadows and highlights (I mean, it doesn't need to be Mignola-like, or even last issue, but I feel the lack of it, somehow).

I notices that he's trying to go for the same shape than Soy, even if he kind of draws his face more... long, I guess. Same jawline, same mouth. Eyes, nose and hairline are different, but I feel some intention. It amuses me that he's colouring Jason's eyes a really light shade of blue-gray, the same colour he had in AK. So maybe that's what he's using as a base (Gandini's colour choice was a middle tone blue-gray); but I'm a colour freak so, errrr... It's that kind of details, I just cannot not comment them.

I'll post my many thoughts in the issue in another post. Soon.

[Rise]

The way Bruce look at Jason from the car though. He looks like he's suspecting something. Maybe he's not buying Jason's claim to stay away from the investigation?

I think he was just simply worried about him and how he is handling all of this.

It's his well being he is worried about, not him getting involved in the investigation or not.

[G-Potion]

I just read a very thoughtful comment on Batman-News's review of the issue.

https://batman-news.com/2018/10/10/r...ent-4138550129

[Vordan]

Good issue. A bit weird to see Bruce and Jason make up so soon but whatever. Lobdell ties up most of the old plot threads pretty well before moving on to this new arc.

[G-Potion]

I think he was just simply worried about him and how he is handling all of this.

It's his well being he is worried about, not him getting involved in the investigation or not.

Yeah I hope so. Some of what Jason said, about the life he has left, and not trying to get his head together, is really worrying.

[G-Potion]

Good issue. A bit weird to see Bruce and Jason make up so soon but whatever. Lobdell ties up most of the old plot threads pretty well before moving on to this new arc.

I don't think they made up in the sense of what happened in #25 is now fine. Jason's still exiled after all. But they can be kind to each other in this grieving moment, and to me it's pretty realistic because I've been in situations where I reconnected with people I previously had a fallout with by meeting through circumstances and not by bringing old issues back up (that's for way later!). And even if Bruce can't accept Jason back, he's clearly worried about him now, after seeing Jason's reaction and hearing his somewhat haunting words.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Something I must say is that is irritating to see so many people take Jason's digs at Roy in his message completely serious and getting upset in consequence. That's just how the boys rolled.

And now I've made myself sad

[Rise]

I just read a very thoughtful comment on Batman-News's review of the issue.

https://batman-news.com/2018/10/10/r...ent-4138550129

I don't know about Bruce letting go of him since Bruce declared to him that he will always look out for him and him showing up is a proof of that.

And I don't think Jason is "utterly broken" either. I consider Jason broken the moment he stop having the will to fight and it's clear that he still has it. He is a fighter and no matter how many times life knock him down, he always stand up everytime.

[JasonTodd428]

Holy whiplash Batman! Sorry but the very first thing that should have come out of Bruce's mouth here, regardless of the reason why he tracked Jason, should have been an apology. End. Of. Story. I knew what happened here isn't meant to fix the issues between them that are left over from issue #25 but still there should have been some sort of actual apology because I believe Jason needs to hear the actual words coming from Bruce and not what occurred here with its vague handwavey "well Penguin's not dead so you didn't really break the agreement yet" nonsense. I think there was a real missed opportunity here and I also feel it basically just sweeps the problems between Bruce and Jason that lead to the confrontations in #25 under the rug again like always happens instead of maybe laying a foundation that could be used to deal with them in some sort of meaningful way.

I loved everything else about this issue though and felt right that Bruce was the one to tell Jason what happened to Roy despite my problems with the above mentioned. It's good to know that Jason still can't be IDed using facial recognition and it certainly looks like he's in for a wild time in Appleton. Jason's message to Roy was a really gut punch filled with a lot of emotion. Looking forward to the next issue.

[G-Potion]

Something I must say is that is irritating to see so many people take Jason's digs at Roy in his message completely serious and getting upset in consequence. That's just how the boys rolled.

And now I've made myself sad

I got off tumblr because of meltdowns over there, subtlety lost as usual. And I didn't even get too see any complaints about Jason's message yet.

[G-Potion]

It's good to know that Jason still can't be IDed using facial recognition and it certainly looks like he's in for a wild time in Appleton.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention but I was pleasantly surprised about this.

[K. Jones]

Woof. Pretty brutal issue.

You know I was reading pretty lightly, so even though it was obviously telegraphed page one, I didn't realize why Bruce was turning up, all civilian formal style, like that. Like it clicked pretty instantly but I still wasn't paying quite enough attention to see it coming.

Anyway, this is about as ... woof ... low? desperate? troubled? as Jason has been since ... Morrison's Batman and Robin arc. That was him dealing with Bruce's downfall and Grayson taking over - they hadn't reconciled at all yet. We at last got that reconciliation when Bruce came back - they established boundaries and reconnected and Jason went and smashed those boundaries recently, but like ... woof. Now his best friend dies.

(And Dick Grayson is taken out of the game. It's honestly actually no wonder that NOW is the timing when Jason finally strikes up a friendship with Damian. Which I can't wait for. It's actually the Bat-Family dynamic that makes the most sense for me right now, in this ongoing set of stories, and has me most excited. God knows - Damian couldn't stand and looked down upon Jason, but the Red Hood was a reflection of the fallen Robin, they had the "Dead Robin" parallels, and finally when Bruce reconciled with Jason, Damian couldn't figure it out - but Bruce did say that they'd make effective partners. And god knows Damian is NEVER going to look to Tim for that big brother assistance.)

So yeah. I wonder if at this point Jay is already connected up with Damian or if these issues sort of run right before that, since we're just seeing him throw his new costume into the mix.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Holy whiplash Batman! Sorry but the very first thing that should have come out of Bruce's mouth here, regardless of the reason why he tracked Jason, should have been an apology. End. Of. Story. I knew what happened here isn't meant to fix the issues between them that are left over from issue #25 but still there should have been some sort of actual apology because I believe Jason needs to hear the actual words coming from Bruce and not what occurred here with its vague handwavey "well Penguin's not dead so you didn't really break the agreement yet" nonsense. I think there was a real missed opportunity here and I also feel it basically just sweeps the problems between Bruce and Jason that lead to the confrontations in #25 under the rug again like always happens instead of maybe laying a foundation that could be used to deal with them in some sort of meaningful way.

There would've never been an apology. Both of them are convinced they did what they had to do, and in a twisted way, they understand the other's actions.