Review: Red Hood- Outlaw Vol. 2- Prince of Gotham

Quick Summary

Pros: The volume offers up plenty of energetic action. Some of the storylines work out great and add to the overall narrative of the series.

Cons: Some of the storylines are disappointing or underwhelming. The artwork is not the greatest.

Overall: This volume is generally average all around. On the plus side, it contains some solid action and a narrative that highlights some great moments from Red Hood. On the negative side, it contains just as many disappointing storylines as positive ones and also contains some lackluster artwork. Overall, this is a volume for fans who simply want to see more of Red Hood’s story from this era, not those looking for his greatest hits.

Story

Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 2: Prince of Gotham, by Scott Lobdell, is a step up from the previous Red Hood: Outlaw volume but is not quite at the same level as the Red Hood and the Outlaws volumes preceding it. This collection has all the action and flash that Red Hood has become infamous for. It also has a few great moments as it moves into its final few chapters. However, there are multiple underwhelming storylines that undercut many of the narrative successes. In the end, this volume is just average, as it manages to avoid seriously impressing or disappointing.

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Prince of Gotham continues the previous volume’s energetic approach to action and antiheroic theatrics. An all-out assault on Red Hood’s base is repelled by his allies, Red Hood dramatically threatens international criminals, and Red Hood is forced to fight a supernatural former-friend. These conflicts are intense and add plenty of excitement to the volume as a whole.

When it comes to the actual narrative, Prince of Gotham also has some highpoints. Red Hood’s reunion with Isabel and seemingly successful job in rehabilitating Suzie Sue gives his personal life some successes, which are great to see considering his recent losses. Meanwhile, his confrontation with Essence adds some emotion into the mix. On top of that, the volume also concludes by continuing Artemis and Bizarro’s story, which is awesome all around.

Unfortunately, there ends up being about as many lowpoints to the narrative as there are highpoints. Red Hood’s entire conflict with Penguin ends up being pretty disappointing. It doesn’t have nearly the level of emotion as his previous faceoff with Penguin and feels generally convoluted, as it requires Red Hood to have known that shooting Penguin in the head would not kill him. Plus, Bunker departs from the series before he was able to do much in it, which makes his character feel wasted here.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Prince of Gotham is alright but is lackluster in several places. Pete Woods does a solid job when it comes to larger panels that highlight a character or characters in a unique environment. This helps in scenes set in the Iceberg Lounge, Paris, or a flashback from Red Hood’s past. However, some of the action scenes feel cluttered and chaotic, which prevents them from flowing as well as action scenes from previous volumes. Plus, there are places where the physical proportions of characters feel off or where the shading on faces looks weird. The artwork here is passable but not quite where one would want it to be.

Continuity

Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 2: Prince of Gotham directly continues the story from Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 1: Requiem for an Archer (Review).

The story here continues in Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 3: Generation Outlaw (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Red Hood’s (Reading Order) death at the hands of the Joker, from Batman: A Death in the Family, is brought up several times.
• Many of Red Hood’s New 52 adventures are mentioned throughout this volume.
  • He fought Suzie Sue in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1 #8, collected in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: The Starfire (Review).
  • He dated Isabel starting in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1 #11, collected in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: The Starfire (Review). The two broke up in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1 #28, collected in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 5: The Big Picture (Review).
  • Red Hood and Arsenal (Reading Order) fought Mimes in Paris back in Red Hood/Arsenal #2, collected in Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 1: Open for Business (Review). 
  • Red Hood left a memory in the Thousand Acres of All back in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol 1 #3, collected in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: REDemption (Review).
• Bunker was a member of the New 52 Teen Titans (Reading Order) lineup.
• Red Hood made a deal with Batman to pretend to be a villain back in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1: Dark Trinity (Review) but went back on his deal in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 4: Good Night Gotham (Review).
• Red Hood mentions that something recently happened to Arsenal (Reading Order). This is a reference to what happened in the Heroes in Crisis (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• Lex Luthor’s (Reading Order) appearance at the volume’s conclusion is a tie-in to the Year of the Villain event.