Jason and the Outlaws have been captured by Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins (which includes Jason's former friend Benjamin a full on Tiger person ala Thundercats). Jason forces himself to unlock his memories and his past comes flooding back to him in a double splash page that features a crucified Jason at the bottom and random images from his past floating in the background in a bluish tint. With his memories reintact Jason is able to slip his chains and with the help of Cheshire, Roy and Starfire breakfree as well and face off with the league. Jason apologizes to his friends and reveals that this was part of the plan all along, The issue ends with Ducra and Essence watching through a mystic window as Jason prepares to face Ra's Al Ghul. Ducra reveals that this is not going as planned, Jason recovered his memories too soon, he is not yet pure and now he will die.
Jason getting his memories back should have been a big deal, instead it was him yelling "I want to remember" then a double splash page montage scene that carried no real weight. So his amnesia, joining the Outlaws, being captured by Ra's al Ghul and all the other stuff that happened in the past 24 issues was all to plan, But what is the plan? How has it been ruined? I don't know, I guess we'll find out next issue which brings me to one of the problems with this issue, nothing actually happens, Most of the issue is dedicated to Ra's gloating manically about having the power of the untitled flowing through him, he is suppose to feel more dangerous than ever but his dialoge makes him feel like a cheesy Bond villian, especially when he is "eager to test the true killing power of my new abilities" it is hard to take him seriously, also with all this magic power flying from his hands he looks more like Dr. Strange than the dreaded Ra's Al Ghul. Ultimately the issue is just bad. The plot is simple and dragged out to appear complicated and epic when it is mostly filler. The dialoge is just awful, it feels unnatural when read queitly and laughable if read aloud. On the plus side the art is pretty darn good, the characters show more emotion than the writing delivers and the action has a kinetic energy that I appreciated, I look forward to more art from Julius Gopez but it's not enough to save this book. Overall the issue isn't worth your time or your three dollars.
Red Hood and the Outlaws #26:
Reviewed by Adam Martin
