Red Hood/Arsenal #3 Preview/Discussion

[AJpyro]

You know the whole "RENT-A-BAT" ad here also strongly reminded me of the commercial from the first Ghostbusters movie. Talk about a trip down memory lane.

And just like that, i remember that i wanted to watch extreme ghostbusters.

[RobinFan4880]

I really enjoyed this issue. Lobdell really has the voice of the characters and the tone of the book down.

I love the scene where Jason just unloads into Underbelly. Sweet, sweet vigilante justice.

I wonder how Jason and Roy are going to get back on Battleworth's good side.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Okay, I finally sorted my thoughts into a coherent manner

I really enojoyed this issue, in fact I beleive is the best issue of the series so far. There were a LOT of plot advancement and development for the boys and Medri totally killed on the art.

I loved how Lobdell wasted no time on pointing the flaws on Roy's plan, Jason's attitude on telling Roy that enough was enough (until the circumstances changed of course); all of this while introducing new plots and giving the book a long term goal.

Speaking of, I loved how Lobdell tackled the issue of the series having a recurrent enemy. While Underbelly as concept might be a little too into the nose, it fits neatly as a long term enemy and despite being a though made physical, it doesn't feel too out of place and actually works with the series' tone (unlike Tynion's Untitled)

We got our first glimpse of Sera Phina, clearing also that the woman saving the mimes on the past issue wasn't Tara (although their design is still very similar so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a deeper connection between them)

Having said that, Roy's attitude is the weakest aspect of the story. His total disregard for Jason's opinion and selfishness is starting to get irritating. It does makes sense in the context of the story but I think is time for him to start thinking before act.

I guess that Tara being able to find them so easily should be enough confirmation that she was bluffing when she said she didn't know the boys' identity nor their past. A shame Roy messed up their relationship with her but with any luck she will remain relevant on the book.

The callbacks to UtRH were fantastic and I loved Jason's characterization here, he's come a long way since the start of RHATO.

Still, Medri's art stole the show completely (and this was also thanks to Horie's on point coloring), the action was fluid and properly conveyed on every turn, despite the boys having their masks most of the time you could still read their emotions via the art and every panel showed a lot of detail and care (I got a chuckle at the panels where the boys were casually strolling in the middle of Detroit in full costume)

While I'm starting to hate what Snyder's doing on Batman, the presence of GordoBats should offer Lobdell the perfect oportunity to finally tackle the issue of Jason's current standing with the public. So I'm really looking forward for next issue.

[byrd156]

Gah this series is awful. Lobdell, why did you have to ruin Roy?

I just caught up on the new series and its even worse than RHaTO.

This review sums up my feelings - http://batman-news.com/2015/08/14/re...enal-3-review/

[JasonTodd428]

Gah this series is awful. Lobdell, why did you have to ruin Roy?

I just caught up on the new series and its even worse than RHaTO.

This review sums up my feelings - http://batman-news.com/2015/08/14/re...enal-3-review/

It's all opinions of course but I like this much better than RHatO myself. As for Roy, I certainly prefer Lobdell's "lighter" version of him without all the baggage from his daughter's death to the version of him we had after his daughter was killed. I consider that version of Roy Harper to be the "ruined" one and frankly I'm glad it's gone.

[ayanestar]

I've read it today and yeah no I'll give it up, it's just horrible - just as horrible as RHaTO.
I guess I need to hope for a writer who knows what to do with Roy, that boy had never a lot of luck, he was written well in Outsiders but the mess with his daughter ruined everything again.
Looks like the most writers seriously don't know what to do with Donna or Roy or even Garth, it's such a shame.
But hey at least Lobdell is not that horrible at writing Jason.

[byrd156]

It's all opinions of course but I like this much better than RHatO myself. As for Roy, I certainly prefer Lobdell's "lighter" version of him without all the baggage from his daughter's death to the version of him we had after his daughter was killed. I consider that version of Roy Harper to be the "ruined" one and frankly I'm glad it's gone.

Yeah Roy was ruined when Lian died but he never stopped sucking since then. I'm hoping Titan's Hunt will make Roy likable again.

[JasonTodd428]

Yeah Roy was ruined when Lian died but he never stopped sucking since then. I'm hoping Titan's Hunt will make Roy likable again.

I'm hoping Titan's Hunt will portray Starfire as a more balanced character myself. Thus far we've mostly had two extremes with her and I prefer a more middle of the road portrayal that's not to sexualized but not to naïve either. I can't even stomach her solo because there's no depth to her character and I feel the whole "fish out of water" aspect of it is overblown. It's pretty cringe inducing to me, which is sad since the art is great and I really was looking forward to it.