Dark Reign: The Hood #1

Jeff Parker's work is strong enough to get me to sample the new Hood limited series. I'm not a huge fan of the character, although I did enjoy the original series back in the day. I'm sort of torn on the whole Hood as a Kingpin type. I like the idea of a good super-mob, but I'm not sure Hood is the right guy for the job. It has actually been these oddball stories in the Cabal special and this limited that really sell me on the concept. As long as we are seeing Parker trying to balance his home life, this concept is pretty cool. As a generic villain (as he's usually portrayed in New Avengers) he's kind of a doofus.

Parker writes the Hood as an effective leader who is struggling with the bloodthirsty influence of Dormammu. I loved the opening sequence where Thunderball and Wrecker are shocked that Hood would kill some guys on a simple robbery. When you're too bloodthirsty for the Wrecking Crew, you might have a problem. Immediately after the conflict, Dormammu shows up and takes credit for the violence, and amusingly quotes Footprints saying that he was carrying Hood when he needed it. The other high point of the issue is seeing the villains in the mob actually get the correct characterization. Doctor Demonicus is not a simple thug to join up with a gang like this, nor is the Controller. I'm convinced Bendis just snagged some neat looking villains from his Marvle Universe handbook for the gang, but Jeff Parker actually writes these guys as genius scientists. I was pleased to see them acting like I knew they should be. I am curious about what level of inteligence the Griffin is sporting right now.

I'm not a huge Kyle Hotz fan, but he handles the Hood elements well (not a surprise, since he drew the first book). I'm not as down with his take on the other super-villains, but he's good enough. I'm officially in for the trade!

Good