Red Hood and the Outlaws #22 Review

I want to love Red Hood and the Outlaws. I really do. The series brings together an unexpected group of misfits, who are all lost until they find each other. It's a great premise, but unfortunately, no matter what writer has been at the reins, it has sadly failed to live up to its potential (with a few bright moments during the previous writer Scott Lobdell's run). James Tynion IV has been in the unfortunate position of inheriting the problems born during Lobdell's time on the title, but he's yet to find a way out of it. Red Hood and the Outlaws #22 is mired in the same overblown, burdensome mythology that has tortured the title since its first issues.

This time around, the Outlaws find themselves trapped firmly in the middle of the ongoing war between the Untitled and the League of Assassins. Tynion turns his protagonists into puppets, with external forces pulling their strings. Jason Todd is playing house with the League of Assassins, who are operating under Talia al Ghul's proclamation that he would be their savior. Not everyone -- namely Cheshire and Shiva -- are on board with this plan. Meanwhile, Roy is building a weapon at the behest of the Untitled so that they can break into the League's stronghold and rescue Jason (who isn't sure he wants to be rescued). Kori is pitted against Essence, whose role seems to be that of a deliverer of exposition.

Though some of the dialogue felt a bit forced, it was hardly the biggest problem plaguing the issue. The series is buckling under the weight of its own increasingly complex mythology that's becoming more and more removed from the core of these three characters' stories. Visually, the book is slightly less inconsistent than it has been, with artist Julius Gopez stepping up his game. Hopefully, Tynion and company will move past the cumbersome mythos that's been holding this title back, because we see promise there, even if they haven't quite reached it yet.

Melissa Grey is a lover of all things cats, comics, and outer space. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.

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