Red Hood and the Outlaws #6 is almost a tale of two comics, that’s how different the two halves of this book are. The first half deals with the battle against Black Mask and the 2nd half is a character scene where the relationship between Red Hood and Batman is fleshed out.
The Black Mask half is a little confusing and a little disappointing. The very first panel is an exposition dump that I had to re-read a few times to understand what was happneing (which was frustrating because I’ve read every issue in this run). The battle ends up pretty predictable and really just wraps everything up. I was hoping for something a little different with all of the build up, but none of it is really bad, just not special
The 2nd half is the half where Batman and Red Hood have a real conversation and it is awesome. The relationship between Batman and Red Hood is an odd one. When Red Hood was Robin, he was murdered in Batman’s care. Now, he is alive again and he is officially the “failed” Robin. There are a lot of different ways to write this relationship (i.e. Batman is guilty over Jason Todd’s fate, Jason Todd no longer believes in Bruce), but writer, Scott Lobdell takes a very nuanced look at the character.
Jason Todd doesn’t fully trust in Batman’s teachings, but he desperately wishes that he could. He knows that Batman doesn’t know everything and that some of the things that Batman teaches could lead to his death (again), but the world would be better if Batman was right. In the second half of this issue, we get a conversation between Jason and Bruce where Bruce basically tells Jason that he doesn’t know everything and that Jason is his own man who is doing the right things. Bruce approaches Jason with grace and the two seem poised to embark on a new direction in their relationship with each other. And I, for one, am excited to see it.
Rating: 8 out of 10
