The family that kicks arse together…

Red Hood: Outlaw #29
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Pete Woods
Inks: Rex Lokus
Letters: ALW’s Troy Peteri
Covers: Yasmine Putri; Pete Woods
Editor: Marie Javins; Rob Levin
DC Comics

Let me preface this by saying I’m a huge fan of Kate Kane. As a rule, she’s one of my favorite characters and while I don’t like how things went down with Clayface, I understand why she did it. What I don’t like is the hypocrisy of the Batfam as a whole, and Bruce in particular, in how Kate was treated versus how Jason was treated under similar circumstances (especially since Jason stood up for Kate when almost no one else did). This coupled with her last appearance in Red Hood has done the character no favors with me and many other fans…

So, imagine my surprise, when this issue gives us not only one of the best team-ups of the series, but several genuine familial moment between Kate and Jason. The duo come together to figure out what in the hairy hell is going on in Appleton. What’s fantastic is the groundwork for this issue is done several issues back and a huge clue has been laid out throughout them that, only on going back and re-reading, did I notice. Lobdell pulls off a wonderful twist while giving us, and others, even more breadcrumbs about what the hell is going on with Underlife and their possible connection (obsession?) with Jason.

Pete Woods gives us more fantastic fight scenes in this issue with special attention being paid to Kate and Jason’s more brutal style of fighting. Kate’s ex-military and Jason’s a former street rat trained by the League of Shadows and the All-Caste, in other words their particular brand of justice doesn’t hold back, and it shows.

While one more Underlife flunky has been put down, even more are popping up, so Jason continues on his road trip with some unexpected company. It’ll be interesting to see how the family dynamics between Jason and his aunt play out as things take a international turn.

Five C4s out of Five