If you would've told me at the beginning of this title that the only remotely believable character in this series would be a flight attendant who accidentally wound up traveling to a different galaxy with Jason Todd on their first date, I'm pretty sure I would've just saved my money.
I have no idea why Red Hood and the Outlaws decided to attack Superman rather than listen to him. Starfire seems to dislike him only because Tamarans weren't super fond of Kryptonians, which doesn't really seem like a reason sufficient to attack someone who could easily defeat you. Jason spends the entire issue talking about how powerful Superman is, so it seems to make no sense that he'd actually attack the guy and think that he could somehow win. Roy just sorta stands there. It's not until Isabel tells everyone to stop acting like idiots that we discover why Superman's in the issue, but, by then, I can't say I really cared anymore.
Of course, to make matters worse, we forget the Superman story as quickly as it began, moving straight into the teaser for the upcoming "Death of the Family" cross-over issues. The fact that this issue tries to bridge two other characters' storylines -- Superman's fight with Helspont and Joker's reappearance in Gotham -- shows just how much it lacks any sort of direction of its own. It's been 14 issues and I really have no idea where it's going.
Unfortunately, Lobdell doesn't even manage to make the brief appearance by Joker work. After all, Joker is good, but he's not so good that he would know that Jason had somehow met a flight attendant and taken her on an intergalactic first-date. To be able to poison Isabel in the short time-frame depicted here (Jason's post-coital shower), he would've had to have know who she was, where she lived, and, most importantly, when they were returning from space. Had it been Jason's apartment, it would've made more sense. But, it wasn't. It was Isabel's. So, it made no sense, just like the rest of this series.
Ugh, I totally forgot about this issue...
ReplyDelete"Starfire seems to dislike him only because Tamarans weren't super fond of Kryptonians, which doesn't really seem like a reason sufficient to attack someone who could easily defeat you." This line made me laugh because it's so true! That would be like me deciding to attack a random sports figure on the street because I didn't like the team he played for... I mean I KNOW I'd lose, so why would I bother?! Plus, my reasoning for the attack would be faulty(I don't even know the guy!), much like Starfire's... So her people didn't like Kryptonians a long, long time ago(I mean Krypton's been gone longer than Starfire's been alive, right?) So why attack Superman?! What's he ever done to her personally? Ugh, ugh, ugh...
"After all, Joker is good, but he's not so good that he would know that Jason had somehow met a flight attendant and taken her on an intergalactic first-date." Oh, just you wait, JW... If you think that's bad, just wait until you really get into the meat of the Death of the Family stuff...
Right? "Tom Brady, you're a dick. [bam.] Wait, don't hit me, I didn't mean... [BAM! BAM! BAM!] Ow." No sense.
ReplyDeleteI was worried you were going to say that about "Death of the Family." So far, he's just been a little unbelievably good. I mean, I got chills when he said that he lied under Commissioner Gordon's bed at night while he slept, but do we really think that he did that AND stalked Barbara and Jason sufficient to kidnap/poison people in their lives AND whatever else he's doing? I'm going to keep an open mind, but I'm a little nervous. (Plus, the "Catwoman" issues were just effing atrocious.)
HA!!! I love that... Although I could easily see Tom Brady just sending some burly bodyguards to beat me up instead...
ReplyDeleteOooo, wait until you get caught up with a series like Nightwing, JW... I just finished off issue #16 earlier tonight and yeah... Some of the stuff Joker does in that issue? Kind of unbelievable... I honestly wonder when Joker stole the speed of the Flash and the cunning of the Batman...