RHATO #17
Don't Let the Door Hit You on Your Way Out!
Nightwing's follow up issue to Death of the Family was quite satisfying, so now I am curious if Red Hood and the Outlaws will get a similarly great story. I was not particularly impressed with RHATO's crossover with Death of the Family though it had some moments. It will be nice to see this trio of antiheroes reunited since Roy and Jason have been on separate adventures and Kory barely received any face time in the past couple issues. Does RHATO #17 bring the team together for a moving follow up to Death of the Family, or does it play the easy route and just leap back in to the regular flow of things without any sort of emotional resolution?
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In this issue, Jason invites the Outlaws to Wayne Manor as he prepares to head out, Damian makes friends in his own unique way, Starfire and Nightwing avoid each other, Arsenal runs his mouth, and Batman acts fatherly.
Okay, Wow
After a bunch of Death of the Family tie ins which were mostly fun but largely irrelevant, it seems the aftermath of these events, at least in the case of Nightwing and RHATO, are actually really awesome. Honestly, I believed Death of the Family could be used to move characters forward, but I didn't really expect it to happen, but holy crap, we have an entire issue which is ninety-five percent character development. Once more allow me to say, “Holy crap!”
I'm not going to accuse many of interaction in this book of being extremely profound, but they are all sincere and moving. Lobdell does a great job of capturing the essence of each of these characters, zooming in on their best parts, and giving them the chance to shine. We get to see Roy be his goofy, good natured self. Damian is a little snot who is all jaded on the outside but just a kid at heart. We get to see a different side of Nightwing though his role in this issue is brief. Alfred is portrayed excellently, and as always, Lobdell does Jason justice. Even Kory seems she might be moving in a positive direction. Earlier in the series, Lobdell wrote her as if she was incapable of remembering her past, yet she clearly remembers Nightwing in this issue which means this is either a minor retcon, or my understanding of Kory's mental abilities has become incorrectly skewed at some point.
The emotional centerpiece of the issue is a brief conversation between Jason and Bruce, and this scene actually took me by surprise. I suppose I figured we would not get some revelation of the current partnership between Bruce and Jason until after Morrison's Batman, Incorporated concludes, but we actually find out in this issue why Bruce vouched for the Outlaws legitimacy despite their lethal force methods. I and many others suspected that Death of the Family would be used as a springboard for Batman to push people away and disband the team, but it seems things are moving in just the opposite direction at least in Bruce's heart. Bruce actually acts fatherly in this issue and extends the olive branch to Jason. His explanation for why he vouched for Jason's team was so simple that I initially felt that more of an explanation was needed, but after thinking on it for a few seconds, I think the simplicity of Bruce's reasoning is perfect, and it shows some major growth for Bruce. Also, Jason's lack of antagonism towards Bruce, the way he passed by the opportunity to kick mud in Bruce's eye, speaks volumes for him as well.
The Problems
All is not sunshine and roses with this issue. First, where the heck is the Bat Family's security protocols? Roy clearly does not know Bruce is Batman since he did not realize Wayne Manor was not a rented property, yet Jason invited Roy and Kory to the Manor? Perhaps Bruce had cleared the Outlaws for knowledge of the family secret, but this plot point really needs some clarification. In fact, the number of people that know Batman's identity is ridiculous. Somebody, either friend or foe, would spill such a juicy secret, but that is a discussion for another day.
You can also make a case that Jason was going a bit far in reaching out to Damian. Personally, I can see Jason feeling some commiseration with Damian and a desire to help him, but I'm not sure I buy that Jason has the emotional maturity or integrity to reach out across that divide. I can almost see it, but it felt a little off to me. More odd is the panel where Jason thought, “Funny. The only time we were ever able to really be ourselves...? Is when we were other people entirely,” which refers to their time as Wingman and Redbird in Batman, Incorporated. The problem with this is that they worked together as Wingman and Redbird for all of about five minutes in that scene at which point they pretty much just kicked in skulls together and bantered, so I have a hard time seeing that as their “true selves.” That is pretty much their standard selves actually.
Oh, there was also the screwup at the beginning of the issue. Jason is shown talking to the Outlaws over hologram wearing his hood, yet when we see him on the other end of the communication, he is not wearing a hood, and he very clearly does not don it until later in the story.
The Surprise
(Spoiler) Just when you thought your heroes' faces were safe, Joker strikes! The end of the issue, for those of you who have not read it, takes a surprising turn as Joker leaves a hologram projector, speaker system, and some sort of gas in Jason's mask. It's a bit difficult to tell by this issue, but it does seem that Jason's face was damaged, and this would be reinforced by the solicitations for April's RHATO which features a faceless Jason. Still, he most definitely had skin left on his face at the end of this issue, and it did not even look that bad, but burns take some time to fully develop, and we all know that comic art can only be trusted so far. (see the hood mistake above) In case anybody missed it, I did do a post about Jason's facial reconstruction options Here which might be of interest.
(Spoiler) I'm not sure how I feel about this. It definitely surprised me despite the fact we saw Joker toying with the mask in issue #16, and I thought it was a nice little twist. I'll wait to see how things develop before I make a judgment call on whether or not this is a good move. It does occur to me though that Jason might no longer deserve his slot on the list of The Fifty Sexiest Men of Comics.
Conclusion 9/10
An issue of RHATO with fun, heart-felt character interactions which shows development among key members of the Bat Family and holds a major twist at the end of the issue? Sign me up! All RHATO fans should buy this issue, and I'd suggest Death of the Family fans pick it up as well.
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