Dark Reign: The Hood #3 *Spoilers*

[The Phoenix King]

Let me start off by saying that I'm a big fan of the Hood, and overexposed as the character might be, there's still a lot to like about him. Jeff Parker's Dark Reign: The Hood series definitely shows us why the Hood is one of the most interesting characters Marvel has produced within the last decade, and while not the strongest book on the shelves, there's still much to enjoy.

Anyway, a summary:

spoilers:

* John King and a bunch of the Syndicate are out drinking when they are jumped by Force and the NYPD, who promptly beat their asses and take them into custody. * Parker meets with Satana and learns more about Dormammu and the Nisanti demon who originally owned the hood. Satana offers to teach Parker about the ways of magic (for a hefty fee of course) in order to stop Dormammu from taking over, but in the meantime, she suggests abandoning the gear. Robbins tells her he'll think about it. * Robbins, Sara and their daughter hang out for a while when he gets the call from John, who tells him that he's been busted. Robbins essentially tells him to %$*@ off and die, and goes to have breakfast with his family. Later on in the day, Parker eventually uses his connection to Osborn to have the captured villains "transferred" out of NYPD custody and released. The Griffen attacks him for leaving them in the choky all day, but even wearing the Crimson Cowl's, eh, cowl instead of his magic one, Parker kicks his ass. * Getting a call from the old-folks home, Parker goes to find his mother lucid and coherent, a seeming miracle. Inviting the family over for a visit (a very happy moment), Parker is contacted by Dormammu, who arranged this little "miracle" as a means of ensuring his loyalty. * Finally, the White Fang is met by the Controller, who offers her some better armour, as well as the location of the Hood's family, if she'll finish the job she started and kill him...

end of spoilers

Interviews with Jeff Parker, as well as solicit information, suggest that the Hood is going to start crumbling under all the pressures of these various demands placed upon him; the demands of family, his organized crime syndicate, the Cabal, Dormammu, etc. While this element has certainly been present in previous issues, here we really see these competing forces begin to clash. Dormammu begins to affect his personal life, elements within and without the Syndicate are targeting his family, his hold over the criminals is starting to slip...Here, we get the impression that a change has occurred, that these pebbles in his life are beginning to form an avalance, and it's definitely one of the issue's strongest points.

The character study and development on the Hood is really good, and by and large, it's a lot better than the stuff that's been occurring in the pages of New Avengers or the other Dark Reign titles. If NA and other books are focusing more on the Hood as a villain, here we see the character is someone a bit more sympathetic, uncertain. It certainly doesn't erase the stain of his crimes, and there's still plenty of anger and darkness to be had in Parker Robbins, but his portrayal here is a lot more rounded and in-depth, another major positive of the book.

The art here is pretty good. Kyle Hotz is able to capture a lot of grit in his images, but at the same point, he's able to shift his style a bit to fit the situation presented. The mystic stuff is portrayed with a bit of a psychadelic tone to it, while family life is a bit cleaner and brighter than stuff involving the Hood's gang. Overall, I'd give this issue a 8 out of 10. A great issue overall, and even those not fans of the Hood should get some enjoyment out of it.

[RunningWithJuanPablo]

Well said. I really enjoy how Parker Robbins has been portrayed so far in this series, which has revealed that he doesn't have EVERYTHING under control even when it appears that he's clearly in charge. Three huge things make me wonder about the Hood's future.

First, what will be the result of Satana helping him? Because this series took place before New Avengers, it looks as if Satana may not have been able to help Parker with his "occult" problems since we know what happened to him in the Louisiana showdown.

Second, I was really surprised that he was wearing a false robe. That creates nothing but more vulnerability for Parker, especially amongst his group of criminals, many of whom are now secretly plotting against him.

And third, what will be the aftermath now that White-Fang, the Controller, and possibly others know about Parker's family? This definitely isn't good for him and he is surely to ensure his daughter's safety by any means necessary.

All I can say is that whether you're a fan of the Hood or not, this is shaping up to be awesome, imo.

[XPac]

Originally Posted by RunningWithJuanPablo

Well said. I really enjoy how Parker Robbins has been portrayed so far in this series, which has revealed that he doesn't have EVERYTHING under control even when it appears that he's clearly in charge. Three huge things make me wonder about the Hood's future.

First, what will be the result of Satana helping him? Because this series took place before New Avengers, it looks as if Satana may not have been able to help Parker with his "occult" problems since we know what happened to him in the Louisiana showdown.

Second, I was really surprised that he was wearing a false robe. That creates nothing but more vulnerability for Parker, especially amongst his group of criminals, many of whom are now secretly plotting against him.

And third, what will be the aftermath now that White-Fang, the Controller, and possibly others know about Parker's family? This definitely isn't good for him and he is surely to ensure his daughter's safety by any means necessary.

All I can say is that whether you're a fan of the Hood or not, this is shaping up to be awesome, imo.

Yeah, the story does seem to be doing a descent job of making you sympathetic towards the Hood regardless of his actions. That's not the easiest thing to do in a villain piece, but I think this book is hitting it's target.

It is kind of unfortumate that we already sort of know how this story will end because of what we see in NA... it would have been nice if this had come out a bit earlier.

[bad trotsky]

What powers do the Crimson Cowl give him?

[RunningWithJuanPablo]

Originally Posted by bad trotsky

What powers do the Crimson Cowl give him?

That is something i'm eager to find out. I briefly searched Marvel and found this on the character called the Crimson Cowl.

- The Crimson Cowl's main power is her prehensile cloak-- its many billows seem capable of elongating, strangling and grappling, and pummeling (and even forming sharp edges with its corners.) The cloak also contains devices enabling her to levitate and to teleport herself and her teammates away from the scene, with a brilliant, debilitating flash of light just prior to the effect. --

I have no idea if this cloak is what the Hood was wearing.

[Sunspot9224]

You mean the Crimson Cowl from the Thunderbolts series? Justine Hammer?

wow. been a long time...

[XPac]

Hood and Crimson Cowl should for a team with Cloak and Shroud.

They can battle the Cape Killers from Civil War.

[Karthak]

Controller giving White fang a picture of Hood's family= really dumb move. If there's ANYTHING that would make Parker accept what Dormammu has to offer it's his family being hurt.

[XPac]

Originally Posted by Karthak

Controller giving White fang a picture of Hood's family= really dumb move. If there's ANYTHING that would make Parker accept what Dormammu has to offer it's his family being hurt.

Yeah... I think that's ultimately what makes Hood cross that line he drew in the sand.

[Majinoaw]

I don't think the Hood is over exposed -i think he's overused in the New Avengers. Series like this show that this is a character with lots of life and if used in the propper setting - the story can be explosive!!!!

[The Master Meglomaniac]

Originally Posted by Karthak

Controller giving White fang a picture of Hood's family= really dumb move. If there's ANYTHING that would make Parker accept what Dormammu has to offer it's his family being hurt.

Why would Controller care about that?

[XPac]

Originally Posted by The Master Meglomaniac

Why would Controller care about that?

It's the difference between fighting Hood, and fighitng a Dormammu powered Hood. I would imagine Controller would prefer the former... though his plan is obviously for Hood to kill him anyways. But obviously that backfires.

[Will.S]

This was another very good issue. I particularly liked the bathroom mirror scene between Parker and Dormammu, very creepy.

So far I've really been digging how the book covers the other facets of Parker Robbins as the Hood as well as seeing his family life again since that's rarely touched upon in New Avengers. I also liked seeing the other villains challenge Hood's authority and other totally scheme against him such as the Controller so it's nice to see these guys getting more play.

Cool cameo by Satana, I hope to see more of her in the future in some form or another. The origin of how Dormammu came to Parker wasn't quite what I expected though since it seems that the Nisanti demon wasn't what it was cracked up to be. It seemed like Jeff was saying that it was just some random monster that this cult was using to host Dormammu instead of an actual demon from the netherworld but perhaps I'm getting the details wrong.

Anyway the art by Kyle Hotz is great as always and Frank Martin does a really nice job with the muted colors. The next few issues are definitely going to be interesting to see play out with regards to the White Fang, Controller, Hood's family, and Dormammu but the fact that this is before the New Avengers Sorceror Supreme arc does make it feel less unpredictable.

Still, Jeff Parker is writing this book amazingly well and consistent with BKV's first mini series as well as with his appearances in New Avengers.

8.5/10

[preppistonpav]

Originally Posted by Will.S

This was another very good issue. I particularly liked the bathroom mirror scene between Parker and Dormammu, very creepy.

So far I've really been digging how the book covers the other facets of Parker Robbins as the Hood as well as seeing his family life again since that's rarely touched upon in New Avengers. I also liked seeing the other villains challenge Hood's authority and other totally scheme against him such as the Controller so it's nice to see these guys getting more play.

Cool cameo by Satana, I hope to see more of her in the future in some form or another. The origin of how Dormammu came to Parker wasn't quite what I expected though since it seems that the Nisanti demon wasn't what it was cracked up to be. It seemed like Jeff was saying that it was just some random monster that this cult was using to host Dormammu instead of an actual demon from the netherworld but perhaps I'm getting the details wrong.

8.5/10

I agree with what a lot of you are saying: Jeff Parker is doing a fantastic job of linking BKV-style Hood with Bendis-style Hood. It's really making me enjoy the New Avengers issues more because this "behind the scenes" look at Parker Robbins is showing us that for all his power and bluster, he's basically still the same guy who doesn't always know what he's doing - although obviously he's gotten a little better at that. It's also nice to see Jeff showing us that the Hood is NOT evil, which sometimes Bendis seems to forget. In his mini, BKV did a great job of making Parker an insanely complex character - yeah, he does bad stuff but he's not necessarily doing bad stuff for evil reasons. Him wanting to "stop" Dormammu is perfectly in-character. (And to be fair, Robbins wanting to stop the Skrulls was a good character moment by Bendis, too.)

The one thing that really does bother me is that way their treating the demonic origin undertones that BKV set up in the mini. It was obvious that the Hood was to be linked with all the other Nisanti stuff set up in The Oath and Runaways, and it's really being kind of pushed away in favor of Dormammu. Of course, as far as I'm concerned, this type of scenario is a "reader makes his own decisions about what happened" sort of thing. Parker's demon form may well still be the Nisanti, being manipulated or outright controlled by Domammu. It's never really explained all that well, and mystical magic stuff is notorious for being changed easily and ill-defined in the first place.

Basically, I try not to let that bother me.

All in all, another great Hood issue. I look forward to seeing what happens next to Parker. My guess? We're going to see a slightly more heroic side of Parker Robbins pretty soon...

-Pav, who also wants to see the Hood and Gravity get to spend more time together, as they're perfect foils and have a history....

[XPac]

Originally Posted by preppistonpav

I agree with what a lot of you are saying: Jeff Parker is doing a fantastic job of linking BKV-style Hood with Bendis-style Hood. It's really making me enjoy the New Avengers issues more because this "behind the scenes" look at Parker Robbins is showing us that for all his power and bluster, he's basically still the same guy who doesn't always know what he's doing - although obviously he's gotten a little better at that. It's also nice to see Jeff showing us that the Hood is NOT evil, which sometimes Bendis seems to forget. In his mini, BKV did a great job of making Parker an insanely complex character - yeah, he does bad stuff but he's not necessarily doing bad stuff for evil reasons. Him wanting to "stop" Dormammu is perfectly in-character. (And to be fair, Robbins wanting to stop the Skrulls was a good character moment by Bendis, too.)

The one thing that really does bother me is that way their treating the demonic origin undertones that BKV set up in the mini. It was obvious that the Hood was to be linked with all the other Nisanti stuff set up in The Oath and Runaways, and it's really being kind of pushed away in favor of Dormammu. Of course, as far as I'm concerned, this type of scenario is a "reader makes his own decisions about what happened" sort of thing. Parker's demon form may well still be the Nisanti, being manipulated or outright controlled by Domammu. It's never really explained all that well, and mystical magic stuff is notorious for being changed easily and ill-defined in the first place.

Basically, I try not to let that bother me.

All in all, another great Hood issue. I look forward to seeing what happens next to Parker. My guess? We're going to see a slightly more heroic side of Parker Robbins pretty soon...

-Pav, who also wants to see the Hood and Gravity get to spend more time together, as they're perfect foils and have a history....

I think in general comics should do this sort of thing more.

I think we'd REALLY appreciate villains more if we got a few mini's showcasing their side of things. They've done it with Doom a few times, and I think that's part of the reason why he's arguably the most liked villain in marvel.

Fleshing out the villains makes everything we see so much more meaningful, because we start seeing that there are 2 sides to every story. And that's kinda cool.