Captain Cold, Red Hood, and Arsenal/Red Arrow recommendations

[Flamazide]

I'm not sure if I am even posting this in the right section, but I've recently taken an interest into these characters and I'd like to read more comics (collected editions, easier for me to find than single issues) involving them but I'm not sure what I should even be buying. For Red Hood all I have read is his brief appearance in Morrison's Batman and Robin. Pretty much the much the only time I've even seen these characters are from their appearances in other media.

[ayanestar]

Well it's difficult with Arsenal, there aren't many good stories with him. But first of all don't read "Justice League: Cry for Justice" and "The Rise of Arsenal". Seriously don't! Stay away from these titles.
It's been a while since I've read my old comics but if I remember right the following titles had some good moments of Roy: Teen Titans: Year One, Outsiders Vol. 3 and The Titans Vol. 1 (also includes his adorable daughter), Titans Vol. 2, JLA/Titans. I also think the Arsenal mini-series in 1998 by Devin Grayson was good.

[Robotman]

Read Geoff Johns' Flash run if you're interested in Captain Cold. He's his favorite character but Johns did great work with all of The Flash's rogues.

[joybeans]

For Red Hood, there's "Batman: Under the Red Hood", which the animated film is based on (and greatly improved on), and a prequel comic "Red Hood: The Lost Days", which is average. Other than that, comcis that star Red Hood tend to be mediocre or terrible.

For Arsenal, there's the Marv Wolfman story "Nightwing: Old Friends and New Enemies", which is really a Roy Harper story. There's also "Green Arrow: Archer's Quest" which looks at the relationship between Oliver and Roy. He also features prominently in a number of team books (many which are not worth reading). Devin Grayson's Titans run was decent, though.

For Captain Cold, he shows up frequently in Flash books, and Geoff Johns is a big fan of the character. There's a good reading list here: https://www.reddit.com/r/theflash/co...ook_to/ctzxc7b

[Flamazide]

Well it's difficult with Arsenal, there aren't many good stories with him. But first of all don't read "Justice League: Cry for Justice" and "The Rise of Arsenal". Seriously don't! Stay away from these titles.
It's been a while since I've read my old comics but if I remember right the following titles had some good moments of Roy: Teen Titans: Year One, Outsiders Vol. 3 and The Titans Vol. 1 (also includes his adorable daughter), Titans Vol. 2, JLA/Titans. I also think the Arsenal mini-series in 1998 by Devin Grayson was good.

Haha, yeah I heard awful things about those two comics in particular. Thank you for confirming that they are terrible though.

For Red Hood, there's "Batman: Under the Red Hood", which the animated film is based on (and greatly improved on), and a prequel comic "Red Hood: The Lost Days", which is average. Other than that, comcis that star Red Hood tend to be mediocre or terrible.

For Arsenal, there's the Marv Wolfman story "Nightwing: Old Friends and New Enemies", which is really a Roy Harper story. There's also "Green Arrow: Archer's Quest" which looks at the relationship between Oliver and Roy. He also features prominently in a number of team books (many which are not worth reading). Devin Grayson's Titans run was decent, though.

For Captain Cold, he shows up frequently in Flash books, and Geoff Johns is a big fan of the character. There's a good reading list here: https://www.reddit.com/r/theflash/co...ook_to/ctzxc7b

Thank you. I bought a TPB of the Geoff Johns omnibus. I'm going to buy volume 2 when it gets released in...April, I think? I read Rogues already and that was pretty good.

[Aahz]

"Green Arrow: Road to Jericho" has also a great Guest appearance of Red Hood.

If you want to read more about Jasons time as Robin check out Batman:Second Chances, Batman: The Cult and of course Death in the Family.

And while "Red Hood and the Outlaws" and "Red Hood/Arsenal" are not the greatest series ever written, they are not as terrible as many people claim, if you like the characters you should give them a chance (even if the new 52 Arsenal is quite different from the old one).

If you like a darker version of Jason the Arkham Knight Comics (especially Arkham Knight Genesis) might also be worth a look.

For the pre new 52 Arsenal "Convergence: Titans" is also a good story, that fixes "Justice League: Cry for Justice" and "The Rise of Arsenal".

[Flamazide]

"Green Arrow: Road to Jericho" has also a great Guest appearance of Red Hood.

If you want to read more about Jasons time as Robin check out Batman:Second Chances, Batman: The Cult and of course Death in the Family.

And while "Red Hood and the Outlaws" and "Red Hood/Arsenal" are not the greatest series ever written, they are not as terrible as many people claim, if you like the characters you should give them a chance (even if the new 52 Arsenal is quite different from the old one).

If you like a darker version of Jason the Arkham Knight Comics (especially Arkham Knight Genesis) might also be worth a look.

For the pre new 52 Arsenal "Convergence: Titans" is also a good story, that fixes "Justice League: Cry for Justice" and "The Rise of Arsenal".

What exactly is Arkham Knight? I've never really heard of it. I'll google it too, but I also want your opinion on it since you seem to have read it.

I suppose I'll check out the first TPB of Red Hood and the Outlaws and Red Hood/Arsenal. I didn't even know they had a duo together. That's interesting in itself. I won't make that a priority so I'll check out the other stuff first, but I imagine they shouldn't be too hard to find or expensive so I won't be losing that much if I dislike it.

I'll see if I can even find those comics with his time as Robin. I remember looking for things in that period from DC before and it became a bit difficult.

I don't like a lot of the Nu52 comics. A lot of the changes they made just seem silly to me and I dislike them resetting the entire universe. To me it seems like when they do that everything I read with the characters prior just doesn't matter anymore and I feel that it is more detrimental to potential stories than anything. I would read The Question (Charlie Sage) since he never really appeared that often to begin with, but I think they even did anything with him in the Nu52.

[Aahz]

What exactly is Arkham Knight? I've never really heard of it. I'll google it too, but I also want your opinion on it since you seem to have read it.

Batman:Arkham Knight is a computer game that is (very loosely) based on under the Red Hood. And DC published some tie in comics for that game, including a mini series about Jasons Origin story in that universe (BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT – GENESIS).

I'll see if I can even find those comics with his time as Robin. I remember looking for things in that period from DC before and it became a bit difficult.

Batman:Second Chances, Batman: The Cult and Death in the Family should be available. Second Chances is a collection of the first half of Jasons Run as Robin (I hope they collect the rest at some point to), Batman: The Cult is a lesser known Batman event that features Jason as Robin, and Death in the Family is about Jasons Death.

Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade might also be of interest for you. That is the version of Death in the Family for Frank Millers Batman verse. It will be published in April.

[Starchild]

Eh, keep in mind. Cry For Justice and Rise of Arsenal aren't really bad. Most fans on here gravitate towards the happy go-lucky type stories. They aren't the best, but not as bad as people say they are. Just see for yourself, that's the important thing. For Roy, I also recommend Brad Meltzer's JLA, Judd Winick's Outsider & Titans Hunt.

[Flamazide]

Batman:Arkham Knight is a computer game that is (very loosely) based on under the Red Hood. And DC published some tie in comics for that game, including a mini series about Jasons Origin story in that universe (BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT – GENESIS).

Batman:Second Chances, Batman: The Cult and Death in the Family should be available. Second Chances is a collection of the first half of Jasons Run as Robin (I hope they collect the rest at some point to), Batman: The Cult is a lesser known Batman event that features Jason as Robin, and Death in the Family is about Jasons Death.

Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade might also be of interest for you. That is the version of Death in the Family for Frank Millers Batman verse. It will be published in April.

Oh Arkham Knight like the video game? Okay, I know about that. I thought you meant some unrelated comic or something. I may check that out. I didn't know that they had any comics for it. I haven't played that game yet, but I played the previous ones in the series.

Eh, keep in mind. Cry For Justice and Rise of Arsenal aren't really bad. Most fans on here gravitate towards the happy go-lucky type stories. They aren't the best, but not as bad as people say they are. Just see for yourself, that's the important thing. For Roy, I also recommend Brad Meltzer's JLA, Judd Winick's Outsider & Titans Hunt.

Nah for CFJ and RoA I've heard far too many terrible things about it. Bad reviews, videos of why they are terrible, fans opinions. There is just no way I am putting money into that. If I saw it free at a library or something then sure, I'd check it out, but I'm not risking any of amount of $ into something that everyone else has warned me about.

[Aahz]

I nstead pf reading CFJ and RoA i would suggest you to just watch the reviews on atopthefourthwall, that is more entertaining

[Flamazide]

I nstead pf reading CFJ and RoA i would suggest you to just watch the reviews on atopthefourthwall, that is more entertaining

Lol, that's actually one of the reviews I was talking about. I don't go to that website very often but I really enjoyed the videos about All-Star Batman and Robin

[Fuzzy Barbarian]

For Captain Cold, I really recommend Geoff Johns' Flash run. You kinda need to read the entire thing for it to read at its best, but it really does hold up, and is easily the second-best Flash run of all time (keep in mind that it stars Wally West, not Barry Allen) behind Mark Waid's. It shows Cold as a bad person, yes, but one who kinda longs for family. Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge is nice as well. While Johns kinda messed with characters and made some weird changes, his Flash stuff is still really good. While Johns has kinda gotten worse in recent years for me, the guy is usually great at writing really good villains.

For Red Hood... yeah. As someone said, a lot of his recent stuff is mediocre or terrible. Avoid everything in the New 52 that has Red Hood in the title, it's all awful. His important character stuff comes more from other Bat-books. So I'd give Batman Eternal a try, but it's really long, the entire middle act is boring and the overall story is mediocre (but again, decent Jason character stuff). Batman and Robin #20 is a good little character piece. Grayson #12 did a good job of spotlighting all of the main Bat-family's relationships with Dick Grayson, and Jason got a nice character moment. It's a really good issue, easily my favourite from last year of any comic, but like I said, it's more about Dick's relationship with the entire family, not just Jason. Obviously, Under the Hood, but the animated movie IS better than the comic, and I think the New 52 treats IT as mroe canon than the comic as well.

Arsenal... well, Titans is apparently good. I think he was alright in Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America run, but that thing overall was kinda weak. Still, it had decent character growth for him. Avoid Cry for Justice and Rise of Arsenal. It's not that we need happy go-lucky stories (heck, look at the Daredevil fanbase, and you see that people really prefer him having a miserable life), it's just those two stories are crap. CFJ is a random story that doesn't know what it wants to be, and RoA tried so hard to do the "beaten hero rises from the ashes" thing, but instead had Roy develop into a 'so edgy' character. Avoid his appearances in the New 52 Red Hood titles as well. Honestly, you're better off waiting for Rebirth when it comes to Roy. He's probably gonna be in the Titans series along with Dick, Donna Troy, Wally West and Tempest. His New 52 incarnation isn't really likeable, and all the things people liked him for; being a single father, his relationship with the Titans, etc. is just... gone.

[Aahz]

For Red Hood... yeah. As someone said, a lot of his recent stuff is mediocre or terrible. Avoid everything in the New 52 that has Red Hood in the title, it's all awful. His important character stuff comes more from other Bat-books. So I'd give Batman Eternal a try, but it's really long, the entire middle act is boring and the overall story is mediocre (but again, decent Jason character stuff). Batman and Robin #20 is a good little character piece. Grayson #12 did a good job of spotlighting all of the main Bat-family's relationships with Dick Grayson, and Jason got a nice character moment.

For me Jason feels mostly out of character, gets hardly anything to do that is relevant for the plot and is mainly used to push other characters at his expense or as comic relief in these titles.
Many of this books feel for me like the authors had to include him (and Tim), and not like they actually wanted or had an idea what to do with them.


In his appearances in the Supeman related books, the writers do a better job in writing him.
For his own titles, I think Lobdells characterisation of Jason is quite good, the problem is that the plots are not that great (and many people don't like writing style).

[Flamazide]

For Red Hood, there's "Batman: Under the Red Hood", which the animated film is based on (and greatly improved on), and a prequel comic "Red Hood: The Lost Days", which is average. Other than that, comcis that star Red Hood tend to be mediocre or terrible.

For Arsenal, there's the Marv Wolfman story "Nightwing: Old Friends and New Enemies", which is really a Roy Harper story. There's also "Green Arrow: Archer's Quest" which looks at the relationship between Oliver and Roy. He also features prominently in a number of team books (many which are not worth reading). Devin Grayson's Titans run was decent, though.

For Captain Cold, he shows up frequently in Flash books, and Geoff Johns is a big fan of the character. There's a good reading list here: https://www.reddit.com/r/theflash/co...ook_to/ctzxc7b

I just finished the part I bolded. Great recommendation. I generally don't like comics this old because often I feel that the dialogue is a bit dated and sometimes I'm not too fond of the artwork, but this is a surprisingly good comic. Aside from the Young Justice cartoon I had never even heard of this Jade/Cheshire character and I kind if assumed she was just made up for the sake of the show like Artemis and Aqualad (that version). I really like the idea of Red Arrow being so devoted to his daughter. He just seems like such a human character to me instead of some larger-than-life ideal in a cape like I get with most heroes- even the ones without powers.