Red Hood and the Outlaws #21, written by James Tynion with art by Julius Gopez, gives us more character development for Arsenal and Starfire than we’ve had so far. The issue opens with a downtrodden Roy Harper as he pours his heart out to a duplicitous Huge Strange. Meanwhile, Lady Shiva puts in an appearance alongside Cheshire, as an amnesiac Jason Todd struggles to fend off the assassins hot on his heels. A few other morally ambiguous baddies pop up over the course of the issue, like Bronze Tiger and December Greystone (the erstwhile Blood Mage). Jason learns that as much as he tries, he won’t ever be able to outrun his past.
So far, Kori remains woefully underutilized, as Roy’s and Jason’s individual character arcs dominate the bulk of the issue. She has a few decent moments where she’s given the opportunity to actually have a personality – a rarity in Red Hood and the Outlaws – but it’s short-lived.
Julius Gopez’s art shows a marked improvement in Red Hood and the Outlaws #21, compared to his first few rough issues of his run. Some of the more kinetic action sequences suffer from awkward body language, but Gopez’s quieter scenes – like Roy’s conversation with Strange – are where he really shines.
The drama with the All-Caste and the Untitled shows no sign of slowing down, and the story suffers for it overall. As with previous installments of Red Hood and the Outlaws, the narrative is burdened with a bit too much of everything. The issue is a jumble of disjointed elements that don’t really come together – the series could use a fresh serving of focus but whether or not it’ll get it from Tynion and company remains to be seen.
Melissa Grey is a lover of all things cats, comics, and outer space. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.
Source : ign[dot]com
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