Red Hood and The Outlaws #1
Sep. 21st, 2011 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
whitesycamore posting in ![[community profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_dailySo, the first issue of Red Hood and The Outlaws was... surprising.
So much so that I'm not sure what I thought of it. At all. It was very much an introductory issue, and as such it focuses mainly on who the three main characters are, and how they relate to each other. What is clear is that Roy, Jason and Kory have all had extensive changes and/or additions made to their back stories. I've posted three pages that I think illustrate this below the cut.
Some of it is good - like Roy and Jason apparently having something like a friendship...
...And some is bad. Kory now cares very little for individual humans, to the extent that she finds them completely forgettable. Seriously, she doesn't remember any of the Titans, even *Dick,* although her relationship with him is still canon. She has also seems to have lost the 'y' from the end of her name and is now called Kori. The writing and art are both extremely male gaze-y when it comes to Kory. She is depicted with a great deal of sexual agency, but the book drips with the assumption that the only people reading this are the 18-35 male bracket. I found it quite insulting.
Ok, so people who were wondering/worrying whether she might 'get with' Roy or Jason?
The obvious is somewhat subverted by the fact that she's done 'em both. Ordinarily I'd have thought that makes her a lucky lady who gets what she wants, but the rest of the book is so objectifying of her that I feel weird about it. There is potentially some interesting points to be made about her attitude to sexuality, but I think they got lost in her primary portrayal as a male fantasy-style 'nymphomaniac' - people spend an awful lot of time leering at, discussing and photographing Kory, managing to make themselves look like enormous douches in the process. Still, at least she's not being held to the usual comic book heroine standard of being sexy but not actually sexual, I guess? :/
As for the main plot (or what's foreshadowed to become the main plot), it's still very mysterious. It relates to Jason's hitherto unmentioned ties to an organisation called the All Caste. A creepy former member named Essence has come to ask for Jason's help with a string of murders connected to stolen organs, and to tell him that a female mentor of his named Ducra has been murdered. No, I have no idea what any of that means yet either.
So much so that I'm not sure what I thought of it. At all. It was very much an introductory issue, and as such it focuses mainly on who the three main characters are, and how they relate to each other. What is clear is that Roy, Jason and Kory have all had extensive changes and/or additions made to their back stories. I've posted three pages that I think illustrate this below the cut.
Some of it is good - like Roy and Jason apparently having something like a friendship...
...And some is bad. Kory now cares very little for individual humans, to the extent that she finds them completely forgettable. Seriously, she doesn't remember any of the Titans, even *Dick,* although her relationship with him is still canon. She has also seems to have lost the 'y' from the end of her name and is now called Kori. The writing and art are both extremely male gaze-y when it comes to Kory. She is depicted with a great deal of sexual agency, but the book drips with the assumption that the only people reading this are the 18-35 male bracket. I found it quite insulting.
Ok, so people who were wondering/worrying whether she might 'get with' Roy or Jason?
The obvious is somewhat subverted by the fact that she's done 'em both. Ordinarily I'd have thought that makes her a lucky lady who gets what she wants, but the rest of the book is so objectifying of her that I feel weird about it. There is potentially some interesting points to be made about her attitude to sexuality, but I think they got lost in her primary portrayal as a male fantasy-style 'nymphomaniac' - people spend an awful lot of time leering at, discussing and photographing Kory, managing to make themselves look like enormous douches in the process. Still, at least she's not being held to the usual comic book heroine standard of being sexy but not actually sexual, I guess? :/
As for the main plot (or what's foreshadowed to become the main plot), it's still very mysterious. It relates to Jason's hitherto unmentioned ties to an organisation called the All Caste. A creepy former member named Essence has come to ask for Jason's help with a string of murders connected to stolen organs, and to tell him that a female mentor of his named Ducra has been murdered. No, I have no idea what any of that means yet either.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 04:26 pm (UTC)its a little bothersome the Cheese cakey ness of the Kori art... but at the same time... Kory has never been a shy one (but at the same time again, this is from mostly male writers....so im... confused as to how i should feel) I would feel a lot more comfortable if there was more male semmi nudity (at least that way it would feel more balanced, i mean there was roy... but why not jason too he's a pasty Gotham boy, he needs sun)
i don't really have an issue with her sexuality. i don't see her as a nymphomaniac at all here. i see her as a woman who knows what she wants and goes for it. i don't see her CRAVING sex i see her saying "You are attractive, I am attractive, we are on a tropical island. what more do you need? If you want to, fine if not, its your loss"
like you said, she keeps her sexual agency.
i guess the real issue i have is her... flippancy towards her past human relationships... however, even there, i feel like it could be her "lying to her self" Kory has had a hard life, but she knows things in life are only temporary. maybe when she split with the Titans she didn't WANT to remember them. if that makes any sense. I think in reality she does remember them and does care for them, but won't allow herself to think about things that are in the past....
i didn't dislike this enough to not read it... it seems to have more potential than faults... so i will give it another issue or two....
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 04:33 pm (UTC)It's the blatant objectification that I found disturbing, not the sex itself. I was also really creeped out by the memory loss, and the way that Roy didn't seem at all bothered by that even though he (presumably?) used to work with her.
i guess the real issue i have is her... flippancy towards her past human relationships... however, even there, i feel like it could be her "lying to her self" Kory has had a hard life, but she knows things in life are only temporary. maybe when she split with the Titans she didn't WANT to remember them. if that makes any sense. I think in reality she does remember them and does care for them, but won't allow herself to think about things that are in the past....
I am actually beginning to wonder if Kory's mind has been 'tampered' with by some outside force, and whether this will become a plot point soon. Her disconnectedness is quite disturbing,and doesn't hold true to what Lobdell said about her being a fundamentally joyous person, imo.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 04:40 pm (UTC)exactly.
also as far as the objectification.. some how (and i know its gonna sound like i am making excuses for the writer, maybe its because so far this seems very unllike what i know of him) maybe its SUPPOSED to bother us... i mean Kory has never been shy about showing her body, but those weren't just "Funny remarks" they were, jarring and troublesome....
again it feels like Lobdell is trying to show us that there is something very off and wrong with the situation, not just Kory.
again maybe i am reaching, but as a writer... i tend to look beneath what is written on the page to what is trying to be conveyed.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 04:49 pm (UTC)Then again I've not read this book yet and I've never read anything with Kory in before, so I'll post a more informed opinion once I've read this.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 05:00 pm (UTC)the second one is that if she decides that it might be problematic to thier working relationship, and she see's that Roy is attracted to her, she might think, "Look, you think i'm hot, you're not too bad yourself, lets get this out of the way before we get back to work and this becomes an issue"
also yeah i think she finds them both attractive (they are both lithe sexy red heads, who would NOT be attracted to that:)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 05:43 pm (UTC)Well, Jason's dyed his hair back to black again, which I think kinda blows. I think Morrison said it best--gingers need their heroes too. Ron Weasley isn't enough. XD
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 05:00 pm (UTC)Understandably, Roy and Jason are both attractive guys, they're comic book characters, they have perfect physiques, but they're not nearly sexually objectified as Kori is being made out to be.
I was just throwing the idea out there that Kori's approach to this might be something akin to "There, it happened, now you don't have to waste time on distractions like fantasising about me." Like I said, I've not read this book yet and I'll come back with a more informed decision once I have.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 05:03 pm (UTC)Yes, I noticed. >:(
You're getting it all backwards, comic - all backwards! *shakes fist*
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Date: 2011-09-21 05:41 pm (UTC)The way the dialogue reads, it makes me think that Roy knew a lot of the Titans, but wasn't a big member of the group. He may have met Starfire in passing, or more likely heard about her.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-22 12:10 am (UTC)But they certainly did meet, and Roy even made a light hearted pass at her before going too far with his comments, and she basically threw him out the door and into a wall.
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Date: 2011-09-22 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-22 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-22 12:28 am (UTC)"Red Hood, Arsenal and Starfire enter the Chamber of All to discover what the Untitled wanted – but they’ll need to leave their most cherished memories as collateral! And when you’re a reincarnated sidekick who lets your madon get the better of you, a former addict turned soldier of fortune, and an intergalactic princess who never quite recovered from a childhood spent as a prisoner of war…? Well, there aren’t a lot of cherished memories to choose from! All this as the trio draws ever closer to dealing with a threat that’s already killed the ancient caste of assassins who taught Jason Todd everything he knows about the art of killing!"
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Date: 2011-09-22 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-22 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-22 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-22 03:07 am (UTC)