Artist: Brett Booth
I have enjoyed this series since it started over a year ago, and although it's had a few bumps along the way, it's still been a very fun series. I was looking forward to this part in the Death of the Family crossover, as it also has this series crossing over with Red Hood and the Outlaws, something I wanted to see, especially considering Scott Lobdell writes both.
Plot
This issue sees Red Robin (Tim Drake) facing of against Red Hood (Jason Todd) in a fight to the death, with their fathers on the line.
Review
This was a brilliant issue, and probably the best in the series so far. Scott Lobdell, and Fabian Nicieza have done a terrific job on this issue, and after Red Hood and the Outlaws #16 being terrible, I was dreading that this issue would follow suit. Gladly it didn't and it was truly a marvelous issue. Lobdell produced a brilliant plot for this issue, with Nicieza doing a phenomenal script. All the characters were handled brilliantly in this issue, something that's not always happened in the past, and it also didn't entirely focus on the Red's, which I liked.
Brett Booth once again did a truly phenomenal job on the artwork, and I will be sad to see him leave this series. I will however gladly greet him on Nightwing, as well as former Nightwing artist Eddy Barrows joining this series, and I think the swap in artists will make the series' more fresh, and dynamic, as sometimes having the same artist for a long time can make a series stale (although it's not happened with Booth or Barrows so far). Booth did however finish with a bang, as he did nothing short of perfection on this issue. I've always loved his art, and if you see his art in this issue you can see why. His style is very unique, whilst fitting in with the series' he works on, and I think he could do a brilliant job on any series. He draws all the characters perfectly, but I mostly enjoy how he draws Joker, and the Red's. I also have to give a lot of credit to Andrew Dalhouse, as his colours in this issue are phenomenal, and really give the tone, and feeling this series needs.
Brotherly love. To older readers it may be strange seeing Tim and Jason having a brotherly bond, but I for one have enjoyed it. There will be a lot of people who will dislike this as Tim and Jason actually kind of hated each other prior to the New 52, and it was Nightwing (Dick Grayson) that Tim had a brotherly bond with. It made a lot of sense then because Jason was out of the picture for so long, but now I actually think it's better having Tim and Jason have the bond, as Jason really needs someone from the Bat-Family that he can connect with, and Tim is the best candidate, as he still doesn't forgive Batman (Bruce Wayne), he's never really liked Dick, and Robin's (Damian Wayne) characteristics would clash with Jason. Plus also Bruce has Damian as a partner, and although Dick mainly works solo he still has a close connection with Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), so having Tim and Jason having a brotherly bond pairs them of nicely. Plus Tim wanted to be Red Robin, and not Robin to respect Jason's memory, which has to count for something. Anyway I was always looking forward to this as they'd already acknowledged that they were friends, and with Lobdell writing both series' there wasn't any reason not to have them crossover. I also hope that they have some involvement with each other in the future, whether in a crossover or not, as despite this being good it wasn't necessarily the best circumstances.
The fight itself was amazing, and I loved how shocked Tim was when Jason pulled his gun on him. What I really liked about this fight was that both characteristics were shown perfectly, as you could see the reluctance in both of them, whilst seeing their individual characteristics. You see Jason jumping in feet first, not wanting to take anything for granted, whilst Tim was only fighting to survive, giving himself time to figure everything out, both of which I liked. Booth also did an amazing job of the art in this sequence as it was very dynamic, and showed the emotions between both characters perfectly. I also loved Joker's involvement in this sequence, and liked that he was goading them on, taking nothing but amusement from the Red's predicament.
The only thing I disliked in this issue was that there was a point in the middle that was focused on setting up future events. Don't get me wrong I'm interested in these events, and if done properly they could produce some fabulous stories, but there is a time and a place for things like this, and this wasn't the time. A similar thing happened in RHATO #16, and to me they just feel forced, and could easily wait till the next issues.
Final Verdict
This issue was phenomenal, and the best in the series so far. The fight between the Red's doesn't disappoint, and it's a fitting conclusion to what's been a sketchy crossover (the Teen Titans and RHATO crossover, not Death of the Family). I would highly recommend this issue, and hope that the series continues to be as good.
Rating: 4.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment