Scott Lobdell's Rebirth Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2: Who Is Artemis? returns to the DC Universe a viable, reborn Artemis, a fine mix of the old and the new. As well, Lobdell makes good use of Red Hood Jason Todd's long history for a particularly notable sequence. Lobdell sets most of the book's action in the DC Universe's fictional Middle Eastern country Qurac, also the site of where the Joker killed Jason Todd. That's a blast from the past, no pun intended — but more than just some evocative scenery, Lobdell has Jason acknowledge his own role in the events that killed him, disregarding Batman and running off without him. That's been such a long time coming that I don't think anyone ever expected Jason would admit such, and it's another in a long line of interesting moments that Lobdell's written for Jason. Series artist Dexter Soy does just fine in this book, drawing something not far off DC's house style but with a nice amount of power and expression in the scenes.

ARC from Netgalley.
In the Rebirth version of the Outlaws, we find two teammates, Bizarro and Artemis, who we don't know as much about as we do about Jason Todd (Red Hood). This Volume seeks to remedy that by linking Artemis to the Amazon nation.
In the country of Qurac, the exiled nation of Amazons known as Bana-Mighdall exists behind a impenetrable curtain of dust and sand. Artemis grew up there, along with her friend Akila, both of whom were training to become the city's protector, known as Shim'tar (in Themyscira, the protector is Diana, more known as Wonder Woman). When Akila is chosen to be Shim'tar, she is given the Bow of Ra, which she uses wrongly, killing and gaining power, and Artemis and Diana are forced to stop her. Though Akila is dead, the Bow of Ra has gone missing and Artemis would like Jason's help to find it.
Suspecting that the new tyrannical leader of Qurac has it, they head off to the country to search.... but the country also has issues for Red Hood himself. It was here, many years back, that Joker killed young Jason while he was Robin.
...but the leader of Qurac doesn't have the Bow of Ra..... and Akila is not dead.
Battle breaks out and a regime topples.... but what happened to Bizarro? Perhaps the next Volume will dive into this?
The Rebirth version of Red Hood and the Outlaws has been much deeper and darker than before, and I really enjoy it. High Recommend.

Who Is Artemis tackles more than just the question of Artemis. Touching on things like Red Hood's past, and Bizarro's decline it's a full and exciting story. This is a great second addition to Red Hood and the Outlaws Rebirth run, still as fun and funny as the first installment. With that, it also knows when to be serious and take time out of the humor to wrestle with issues like the people trapped in the war and with Jason dealing with returning to the place where he died.

The art is amazing. It's clean, easy to read, and dynamic, never making the eye wander or wonder what's going on. The coloring is wonderful too, perfectly fitting the tone of the book.

This is a great read, and a must for anyone enjoying Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria. What is happening? Scott Lobdell wrote the entire run of Red Hood and the Outlaws and it was awful. Now we've gotten our second great arc with Rebirth.

In the first issue Jason is troubled by if he's doing the right thing with Bizarro, and struggles with what to do reminiscent of "Of Mice and Men". Then we move into Artemis's new origin and we head to Qurac. Lobdell splits up the team and they all get moments to shine. Even Bizarro, whose every appearance has annoyed the crap out of me for the last 40 years, is likable. In fact, he might be my favorite character.

Well done, Scott Lobdell. It's taken 20+ years, but you've finally written a comic I enjoy.

What happens when Bizarro, Red Hood and Artemis work on tracking down the Bow of Ra? Problems, destruction, and mysteries, of course! Plus Red Hood gets to confront his past and the reader learns a bit of the backstory of Artemis. Just remember to fly Bizarro Airlines!

Who's Artemis? Who's anyone in this dross? Certainly, Bizarro is not the real Bizarro (as in, Bizarro is the real Bizarro), and as DC didn't deign to let me read the first book I don't know anything about the Rebirthed dead Robin (truly the best kind) and the third-rate WonderWoman. It might be OK if you did jump on at the beginning, otherwise it's just a waste of time.

Last time I read Red Hood and the Outlaws (New 52 vol. 1), the book was... problematic. Mostly incoherent, it was a Starfire T&A vehicle at best. The Rebirth version of the Outlaws has replaced Roy Harper and Starfire with Bizarro, now taking lessons from the Red Hood on not killing people, and Artemis, an Amazon warrior, not a sex kitten (again, sex kitten is a best-case scenario for Starfire's portrayal the first time around). I missed vol. 1, so I don't know how this team was put together, but the important thing is that the book goes back to the basics of superhero storytelling without being misogynistic. Artemis is confronted by her past (and so is Jason) as the team tries to defend a Middle-Eastern country from a dictator. It's a bit reliant on cliches and knowing your Jason Todd history, but a big step forward for this book into the realm of readability.

This was another fantastic comic with great art and plot but somehow it just didn't live up to the first volume!

Yeesh, that's how they end the TPB? The curse of the insanely cliffhanger endings in Rebirth TPBs strike again.

So, Red Hood, Artemis, and Bizzaro are still the Outlaws. Still skirting the edge of good and bad. And trying to take over some of the Gotham underworld. And while that was interesting, the main thrust of the book was about Artemis trying to find the bow of her Egyptian Amazon tribe (why are some of them, like her, really, really white again?). She also finds that she has to go up against her childhood friend to save the day. (Or were they more? That still drives me crazier than the Harley/Ivy stuff, just admit that there are women loving women Amazons or say there aren’t, ugh…)

Still, it’s a fun TPB, with a definitely different sorta cast.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of DC Entertainment.

I love the rebirth series and this is just another thrilling volume. I look forward to future volumes

Story: Before it gets into Artemis' story the first issues explains a little bit more about Bizzaro and where he came from. It also explains that at some point in time they may be forced to deal with him, permanently but this is not that time.
Artemis is looking for a weapon that was gifted to her people from the Gods, and if the right person uses it it is a weapon of mass destruction. It was in Gotham at one point but now it's back to where it all started, and not just for Artemis but for Jason too. They find out it is back in Quarac, the place where Artemis' home is hidden from the world and the place where The Joker killed Jason. Their plane is shot down by the Quarac military and the three of them are separated. Jason is taken by the military, Bizzarro lands in a civilian area and they ask him for help; while Artemis lands at home and is faced with the embodiment of her guilt. Jason hears one story and Artemis hears another which side is right and will Artemis be able to stand up and do the right thing?

Art: Mirko Colak does issue 7 and I really like it except for the eyes, the eyes all look small and beady. Kenneth Rocafort draws the prologue wonderfully, great action and attention to detail. Dexter Soy takes over for the rest of the volume and does a fantastic job at it. Some brilliant coloring by Veronica Gandini and Dan Brown.

Characters: Red Hood and the Outlaws consist of Jason Todd who was once a Robin, but was brutally murdered by The Joker and brought back to life by the Lazarus Pit and is now Red Hood. Artemis is an Amazon much like Wonder Woman except years ago a small fraction of the Amazons left Themyscira and found another pantheon to shelter them. And Bizarro a Superman clone gone wrong, the only surviving clone from that failed experiment.

Review: It's Jason Todd so I'm pretty much going to love it. He is one of my favorite characters from the Batman series, I love guys with tortured pasts and who are kinda assholes. The overall story was downright good. It was captivating and entertaining. It shows real character development for Jason and Artemis. It was a great story I couldn't put it down.

I received a copy of Red Hood and the Outlaws, Vol. 2: Who Is Artemis? from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Red Hood and the Outlaws is a very unique and interesting hero team-up (though they wouldn’t appreciate you calling them heroes, maybe anti-hero is a better fit). Together Red Hood (obviously) Artemis, and Bizarro take on missions that matter to each of them. Volume two is focused more heavily on Artemis and the Bow of Ra that she is hunting down. Though there is an issue focused more on Bizarro, for all the fans of him that are out there.
Scott Lobdell (Daredevil, Teen Titans Rebirth, Uncanny X-Men, etc) continues writing for the series, which is fantastic because I don’t know if anybody else could set the tone the way he does. The artwork is done by Dexter Soy (known for Batman Beyond, Batman: Arkham Knight – Genesis, but is best known for his work with Red Hood and the Outlaws), and I just love what he creates for us to enjoy.

Issue number seven, as mentioned above, is more focused on Bizarro. In it we see Red Hood (AKA Jason Todd) is having a moral dilemma about Bizarro’s existence. The man really does seem to want to do good, he just doesn’t really know what good is. Jason is unsure if he can control Bizarro and keep him from hurting people, so he has to make a decision. Trust his gut and let Bizarro continue to learn, or take Bizarro out. It’s an oddly endearing scene, in the end. One I certainly appreciated.
Issues eight through twelve focus on Artemis and the Bow of Ra. It was nice getting to learn more about Artemis and her backstory. Apparently she has a team-up past with Wonder Woman (even if there was some animosity involved), so there’s a new fun fact for you. Her story is actually pretty heart breaking, though I wish they had shown us more of her home before they dug into the introduction of her best friend/possible lover, Akilla. I just feel like there’s so much more to learn about Bana-Mighdall and it was just glossed over so quickly (but then again, I’m greedy for information like that).
All three of our heroes have to face their past in this volume. Bizarro remembers not being treated human by anybody but Red Hood and Artemis (or as he calls them, Red Him and Red Her). Jason has it pretty rough too – he ends up in the building that’s literally adjacent to the one he died in. Needless to say that brings all those awful memories back up to the surface for him. Artemis has to see her best friend, alive and corrupt again. Needless to say this volume gets a little heavy at time; though I greatly appreciate all the character development.
I’m curious to see where volume three will lead, now that all the loose ends have been tied up. It’ll be starting off with all the characters having received a decent amount of growth and development, so there’s a lot of potential going forward. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I must say that I'm certainly enjoying the Rebirth Red Hood and the Outlaws so much more than the snippets I read of the New 52 run. I'm very surprised about this seeing that it's still under the same writer, but hey, I'll take it.
There were two main sections in this volume: a couple issues dealing with Red Hood wondering what to do with Bizarro (particularly around whether Bizarro is safe to allow to live), and then the Who Is Artemis? arc. The Bizarro story was interesting and had some decent emotional appeal, but the Artemis story was just so-so. It seems to be written to help flesh out the character more fully and give us more of her backstory, but it was just a fairly average story and failed to really draw me in. My favorite parts involved Bizarro, which is probably going to be a consistent trend in this series. I find its approach to the character charming, and he does a great deal to humanize Jason as well.

All I can say is more Artemis please! I love Wonder Woman, and I'm so glad a fellow islander is getting her own fantastic story arcs.

I was cautious going into this one, but came out surprised at how much I enjoyed it. New 52 Red Hood and the Outlaws was dozens of issues of disappointment, but this was well done.

Lobdell's writing and story kept me engaged throughout. In particular Artemis' backstory and look into a different kind of Amazonian lifestyle and viewpoint was interesting and fresh. The art was well done and I enjoyed Bizzaro whom I haven’t read much about. All in all, I look forward to the next volume.

Disclosure: I read this online through NetGalley, which has not affected my review.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I read Red Hood and the Outlaws back when the series was first released - back when they did some real disservice to the character of Starfire. Hadn't felt compelled to read it since then.

But I really enjoyed this book, and am interested in reading more! I liked the new version of Artemis, and this version of Bana Mighdall. I also enjoyed the character of Bizzaro, and this version of Jason Todd - which was also definitely a surprise!

Recommended - and if you're skeptical, try it.