Batman: Under The Hood
There is a new threat for the gangs of Gotham. A new gun toting Red Hood has shown up to take over the criminal business from Black Mask. Batman lets Red Hood take out his competition because he fears who the Red Hood may be.
Black Mask resorts to using villains like Mr. Freeze and siding with Deathstroke to try and defeat Red Hood when his casual thugs turn up with only their heads. So who is the Red Hood?
SPOILERS AHEAD
If you no even a little about the D.C. or Batman universe, then there shouldn't be any spoilers for you whether you've read this or not. If you read 'Hush,' then it was teased that the deceased second Robin, Jason Todd was alive, but it proved to be Clayface in disguise, though as a cliffhanger, there was no body found in Jason Todd's grave.
Jason is alive and is the Red Hood by means Batman cannot explain, but accepts due being around the supernatural with the Justice League and enemies like Ra's Al Ghul.
Where this succeeds is in Jason's reason for returning. It's not to kill the Joker as revenge for killing him, but to make things right and have himself avenged by Batman. He is furious as to why Batman never killed the Joker after he was murdered. The downsides: This was my first time reading a Black Mask story and as villain, I never found him a threat for Batman, that if given the opportunity, Batman would have easily found a way to put him behind bars. Also the art wasn't that great. It's quality, but Doug Mahnke's art style just doesn't do it for me though that's just taste. He did 'The Man Who Laughs' too.
The major negative to this is reviving Jason Todd. Firstly, he came back to life because during the 'Infinite Crisis,' Super Boy Prime punches reality and something ridiculous, which changes events in history, allowing Jason Todd to come back to life. Honestly, we didn't need Jason to come back. It makes for a comic cliche as well as making significant events in Batman's history worthless, no matter how enjoyably this read is. It was best summed up in an IGN review; "It's a well told story, problem is I don't like the story being told."
RATING:
Batman Story - 7/10
Continuity - 10/10
Art - 8/10
Badassness - 6/10
OVERALL - 7.7/10
Black Mask resorts to using villains like Mr. Freeze and siding with Deathstroke to try and defeat Red Hood when his casual thugs turn up with only their heads. So who is the Red Hood?
SPOILERS AHEAD
If you no even a little about the D.C. or Batman universe, then there shouldn't be any spoilers for you whether you've read this or not. If you read 'Hush,' then it was teased that the deceased second Robin, Jason Todd was alive, but it proved to be Clayface in disguise, though as a cliffhanger, there was no body found in Jason Todd's grave.
Jason is alive and is the Red Hood by means Batman cannot explain, but accepts due being around the supernatural with the Justice League and enemies like Ra's Al Ghul.
Where this succeeds is in Jason's reason for returning. It's not to kill the Joker as revenge for killing him, but to make things right and have himself avenged by Batman. He is furious as to why Batman never killed the Joker after he was murdered. The downsides: This was my first time reading a Black Mask story and as villain, I never found him a threat for Batman, that if given the opportunity, Batman would have easily found a way to put him behind bars. Also the art wasn't that great. It's quality, but Doug Mahnke's art style just doesn't do it for me though that's just taste. He did 'The Man Who Laughs' too.
The major negative to this is reviving Jason Todd. Firstly, he came back to life because during the 'Infinite Crisis,' Super Boy Prime punches reality and something ridiculous, which changes events in history, allowing Jason Todd to come back to life. Honestly, we didn't need Jason to come back. It makes for a comic cliche as well as making significant events in Batman's history worthless, no matter how enjoyably this read is. It was best summed up in an IGN review; "It's a well told story, problem is I don't like the story being told."
RATING:
Batman Story - 7/10
Continuity - 10/10
Art - 8/10
Badassness - 6/10
OVERALL - 7.7/10