Red Hood and the Outlaws #1

There must be some sort of random comic title generator over at the DC Comics headquarters. It's sorta like the Fanfic Generator, in that it's complete fan-fiction, except the writer gets paid. Red Hood and the Outlaws (starring ex-Robin Jason Todd, suerpowered alien princess Starfire, and recovering junkie archer Arsenal) was the result. It could've been a worse idea, I suppose. We could've gotten a team-up book with Bouncing Boy, the Red Bee, and Hawkman (Hawkman is the worst, everyone hates Hawkman).

Anyways, out of this random combo of characters, we have a random something resembling a comic. There's some decent action to kick off the series, with Red Hood and Starfire busting Arsenal out of a Middle Eastern prison. That goes smoothly, no issues there. To relax after their little adventure, the trio relax on the beach. Starfire mugs a bit for the camera, but that's okay, right? Then we have this exchange:

Now, I have no problem with Starfire being down with random hook-ups. What I do have a problem with is Arsenal referring to her as "Jason's girl", which is pretty paternalistic. But it gets worse from there. We find out that Starfire's species "have a terribly short attention span about all things Earth." Translation: Starfire has sex with guys and then forgets about it. That's basically the equivalent of having sex with a human who gets blackout drunk. Which is rape. So now that we've established that writer Scott Lobdell views Starfire as a RealDoll (REALLLLLLLY don't click that at work), we can jump back into the rest of the issue. But there's not much that can top that. Jason runs afoul of some warrior monks or something.

Writer Scott Lobdell, except for his bizarre fucking choice to make Starfire into an amnesic fuck machine, turns in an unremarkable but occasionally fun script. Artist Kenneth Rocafort, on the other hand, does some great work. The art is vibrant, detailed, and pleasing to the eye.

Buy again: I'd like to give it another try, especially cause of the art, but the comic just didn't grab me.

New reader friendly: Not really. Starfire, Red Hood and Arsenal are all supporting characters at heart, and without their connections to Batman, Nightwing, and Green Arrow made clear, they are pretty confusing leads.