Red Hood and the Outlaws Gets a New Creative Team

Since the New 52 reboot thing, Scott Lobdell has been writing Red Hood and the Outlaws. The book follows Jason Todd, Roy Harper, and Starfire as they do shit. The book has had its pretty good moments and stories as well as some stupid ones (Why did they have to go to space?). And I guess with all the space shit and Death of the Family, Lobdell thought it was time to step down and pass the book off to someone else. Enter James Tynion IV.

It was announced last week that Tynion will be replacing Lobdell as head writer for Red Hood with issue 19. The book will also be getting a new artist, as Mico Suayan, who did the covers for the book from issue 17 and up, will be taking over the art duties.

Newsarama spoke with Tynion about what we could expect when he takes over. The final issue of Red Hood written by Lobdell will give Tynion a new direction to take the book. But not in a darker, moodier direction. He believes that this book is more light-hearted than that. As he puts it…

… at its essence, this is a fun, adventure book with three friends that are doing these insane things all over the world. And that’s not going to changes.

I’m not looking to take this book in a grim and gritty, dark direction. It’s not going to be a moody, dark book.

It’s going to be high action, high concepts, lots of new villains, threats lurking in the darkness.

Tynion also said that he will be writing more long-form storylines for book. While the book will still focus on the same team, the first arc will focus more on Roy. Roy will be meeting characters from the current continuity who are connected to him but in ways we don’t know yet. He will also be meeting up with people from his pre-52 life and interacting with them. I’ve heard some people are not liking the new Roy Harper that much, so maybe this will warm those people up to him.

The book will be picking up right after Lobdell’s run, with his final two issues being the fallout of Death of the Family. Some shit is going to go down (obviously) and Tynion will be there to pick up the pieces and take the characters from there.

Basically, the last two issues of Scott’s run are dealing with repercussions of Death of the Family, and there are going to be some major, major repercussions that will impact this book.

So I’m going to be picking up the series after some fairly major events that will set the stage for some new stories and an exciting new direction for the book overall.

I’m looking forward to Tynion’s run with the book. He has professed his love for these characters and it will be interesting seeing where he takes them. And from what I’ve seen of Suayan’s covers, the art is going to be fantastic.

James Tynion IV and Mico Suayan’s run on Red Hood and the Outlaws begins in issue 19, hitting shelves this April.