Red Hood and the Outlaws #8

Why does this fight take place in the hospital? Did Red Hood accept her invitation to come die?

I probably come across as an arrogant asshole in some of my commentaries. Well, it's true. I am an arrogant asshole. This is part memoir, is it not? But is it really arrogance to know you're a genius and a savant?

Oh! Here's a good story to show how much of a genius I am! I don't consistently watch Survivor but I got pulled in this season. I also don't have cable but I have a Channel Master (TM) which is basically the TiVo of the masses not enslaved by the cable companies. So before going to work last night, I went into the program guide and set it to record the final episode. I also set it to record Celebrity Apprentice because how can you not watch a slow motion train wreck when it's delivered right into your living room! Anyway, I got home last night and began watching it and realized I'd made a critical error when I saw that it was only going to run 2 hours and 3 minutes. Yes, I forgot to set it to record the reunion show. Which means I watched just enough of the entire season to see Jeff Probst walk away with the final jar of votes, never to return.

Well, somewhere in that story it shows I'm a genius! Maybe it shows that I'm more a savant! Or perhaps it just shows that I don't mind watching reality television shows. It's like watching psychological and social experiments broadcast to the entire populace. You can learn a lot while watching a bunch of assholes argue about who ate more rice than anyone else. Although Big Brother is even better. My favorite part is how everyone instantly tries to make some kind of alliance and then the mere fact that other people they don't know any better than anyone else are in their alliance makes those people the "good" people and the other people conniving bitches trying to fuck their shit up. People are so easily swayed into beliefs that help them achieve their wants and desires. It's like that Indigo Girls song, Deconstruction of Love: "We're sculpted from youth but the chipping away makes me weary. And as for the truth, it seems like we just pick a theory. It's the one that justifies our daily lives and backs us with quiver and arrows...."

At this point, I'm probably just typing to see myself type since everyone else probably stopped reading at "But is it really arrogance to know you're a genius and a savant?"

As far as this comic goes, it begins with Jason Todd explaining his past. Kind of the way I started this commentary explaining about how I watched nearly an entire season of Survivor only to miss the money shot! That Jeff Probst is a coy bitch. Jason explains how he had just come back to life and killed all of one crime family so that the other six Hong Kong crime families would pay him 10% of everything they made. And of course he's such a super human having been trained by Batman and defeated death, he can kill dozens of people at once while not getting shot by them.

Here is Roy's reaction to this story:

I believe I pointed out somewhere else (Birds of Prey or Captain Atom) how any title with a writer that has used the phrase "mad-on" is near the bottom of the list. Not because I'm punishing it! But because it takes that level of bad writer to use that phrase and think he's being cool.

Todd had to kill a number of other crime families since none of them seemed want to take the deal. Until Suzie Su and The Familia de Flores rose up to take the place of one of the families he killed. It's probably not as odd as I think it is that a Hong Kong crime family decided to use an Italian name. Although maybe it's Spanish. Or perhaps Portuguese. But by then, Jason Todd had the money he wanted and was leaving Hong Kong. But first he killed everyone in Suzie Su's organization except her and her father.

This Jason Todd is really turning out to be such a lovely guy.

I guessed it because it makes a sick kind of sense, doesn't it?

It looks like maybe Jason Todd is heading to the hospital to apologize!

Or maybe not!

The fight goes smoothly. The kids are saved. Jason Todd executes Suzie Su after giving her a chance to change her mind about the vendetta. She declares she'll never stop and he puts a bullet in her head and tells her, "I respect your decision."

More so than any other Red Hood story, this one makes sense. Jason Todd's morality might be a little off-kilter but this story defines it better than many of the others. He was killed by the Joker whom Batman would never kill. If Batman did believe in killing those society might think are not capable of redemption, many lives would ultimately have been saved, Jason's included. So Jason sees the murder of people that have caused harm as acceptable. In this case, Suzie Su threatens children and would go through with it if she could. And she declares she'll do that and worse in the future simply to seek revenge on Jason Todd. Jason even gives her a chance to declare she would change and she basically spits on his offer. So he kills her.

In Jason Todd's world and experience, that's the only decision that makes sense. So there. I found something good to say about one of Lobdell's stories!

After this is over, Jason Todd's new super spaceship intercepts Alfred's message about the Talons. And it seems Tim Drake has access to technology even more advanced than Crux's! So, you know, Waynetech?

You know, I'm not even going to speculate on how Tim Drake knew the message was being picked up by just one more receiver and then to know it was Jason Todd who was picking it up. FLACCID SCI-FI!

Red Robin asking Red Hood for help sends Jason Todd into a flashback just prior to Teen Titans #1. He's meeting with Tim Drake at Drake's apartment in New York. They exchange information. And they bond like the near brothers they kind of are.

This is the best page Lobdell has written. He lets the dialogue speak for itself and doesn't plague the reader with Narration Boxes telling us how Jason Todd feels about Tim Drake. The successful comics are doing this on a regular basis. This is good writing. Stop with the Narration Boxing, lazy writers!

Because Tim Drake has reached out, treating Jason with respect and care, Jason decides to stay over and help fight in the Night of the Owls. The person they're going to save? Victor Fries. Mister Fries. No, not like french fries! Like Freeze! Mister Freeze!

Red Hood and the Outlaws Issue #8 Rating: No change. This issue shows a trend for the better but I won't be giving this comic a rise in the ranks based on 1 comic out of 8 being done well. If #9 continues to show improvement (taking into account that it's a Night of Owls crossover so it might be a little bit slipshod), I'll give it a +1 next month.