Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood by Tony Lee

Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood Reviews

• 
  Jonathan Maas

  Incredible. I've read and seen many adaptations of Robin Hood, and this might be the best of them all. Lee, Hart and Fujita prove themselves worthy of a legend, and go a little beyond that.
• 
  Harold Ogle

  This is a tidily concise version of the varied elements of the Robin Hood legend, incorporating most of the traditional elements (Maid Marian, Much the Miller's son, Little John, the archery contest) and most of the modern revisions as well (Robin was a noble knight who fought in the Crusades, fighting the corruption of Prince John and the blackguard Sir Guy until King Richard could return). Lee even incorporates the "bury me where the arrow lands" legend in a humorously original way. But the artwork is weird. Critics have lambasted Keith Giffen's work on the "Five Years Later" storyline of "The Legion of Super Heroes," largely because his characters' faces were often partially obscured by shadow. It never bothered me there (in fact, that "Legion" storyline is still one of my lifetime favorites), but the same critique could be made - more justifiably in my opinion - with Sam Hart's artwork in "Outlaw." Most characters don't have eyes, but rather deep pools of shadow that connect to networks of criss-crossing lines to imply faces, rather than depict them. It means that the identity of characters has to be largely inferred from dialogue, rather than from being able to recognize them as people with distinct appearances. This wasn't so difficult with Marian and Robin, but characters like the Sheriff and Sir Guy are completely indistinguishable. The Middle Ages here had no torches, braziers or firepits to provide horizontal illumination. The coloring is not quite so one-note as "Solomon's Thieves," but three color schemes isn't much better than two. So: good story, artwork and color leaving a fair amount to be desired.
• 
  Bry

  I love the tale of Robin Hood. It's adventurous, romantic, thrilling, and this adaptation did not disappoint. The story was great, the action fast paced, but the romance a bit rushed.
  
  The art was lovely, a bit less distinctive than I prefer with the characters, and very rarely had back grounds making the action what you really focused on. The coloring used a great pallet of jewel tone colors, matching wonderfully with the forest setting, but the intense shading obscured the characters features even further. Most of the time I couldn't even tell which character was Gisburn and which was the Sheriff.
  
  All in all a great graphic novel based on a well known story that is definitely enjoyable.
• 
  Abigail

  This actually was a really cool comic book. I loved how it had the true story of Robin Hood not the *cough disney *cough* version. As much as I love that version this was just a really cool comic book. I usaully don't read comic books but when I do, I generally enjoy them. I would recomened this book for teens, there was a few d-words and I think one or two a-words and maybe a b-word (but I'm not sure). Other then that it was a little violent but hey it's Robin Hood, what do you expect??
  
  Overall this was a really cool comic book about Robin Hood!
• 
  Deborah

  The tale of the generous Robin the Hood, the murderous Sheriff of Nottingham Murdach, the good King Richard and his brother, the devious Prince John, the lovely Lady Marian, and all the rest of the merry men of Sherwood Forrest come to life in this well illustrated novel. I particularly enjoyed the ending describing a Robin Hood that has evolved and mutated from the ballads of the second half the 1400s to its modern version.
• 
  Georgie

  What a good book and film. The one thing that I cant believe is that it all happened very close to where I live. I often go and visit sherwood forest and its a beautiful place. The part I like the most in sherwood forest is the big tree where Robin Hood lived. There is normally a show about robin hood at the big tree when you go and visit it. Also sometimes there are special festivals that happen there and they are great!! :) :)
• 
  Kat!e Larson

  This was fun. It was pretty silly and tried way too hard to be "edgy", and some of the writing is straight-up terrible, but there were some unique elements and it was entertaining. The art is dark and, with a few exceptions, not particularly attractive, but it conveyed the story.
• 
  Daniel

  Good story, decent art. If you've seen the Disney version, though, you won't have too many surprises.
• 
  Tara Sydney

  I mean, this is Robin Hood, so it's hard for it not to be a good time. It was a fun read, definitely paying homage to a lot of other Robin Hood retellings, which I enjoyed.
• 
  Angel Clare

  Takes itself very seriously without adding anything to the mythos. Very little characterization, a cheap and easy origin concept, and such dramatic high-contrast that I don’t think we ever see Robin Hood’s eyes. Entirely underwhelming.
• 
  Rebecca

  This one didn't really work for me, unfortunately. I've adored Robin Hood since I was young, growing up with the Howard Pyle version, then graduating to the BBC series 'Robin Hood' starring Michael Praed. This graphic novel takes several traditional Robin Hood stories and weaves them into a contiguous plot, but while it tries to utilize the dash of the Howard Pyle and Errol Flynn version combined with the mysticism of the BBC version and the stark historical reality of the Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe versions (okay, I haven't seen the latter, but that's the impression I get), it should really have picked one and stuck with it.
  
  Overall it's a noir version, drawn in a sort of 1950s soap opera comic strip style, in a very dark palette. I found it impossible to distinguish a lot of the characters, so I was often confused about what was going on. It touched on mysticism a little--Sherwood Forest is supposedly haunted by spirits--but overall that was a wasted opportunity because they just dropped it. When they tried to introduce the insouciance of the Flynn and Pyle versions, it just felt awkward and out of place. (And, hint? If you're going for historical reality, Maid Marian should never say "Ok.")
  
  So...a dark Robin Hood with all the joy and magic surgically removed, alas. I really wanted to love it!
• 
  Christopher

  A very clever retelling of the Robin Hood tale with a hint of fantasy! :D The characterisation of the characters being spot on with even some grey characters being featured which is a clever take on some of the well known characters and ones introduced in the graphic novel! :D Not to mention that Marion is a tease in a lot of scenes which adds a lot humour that is also present in the book! :D
  
  The art style really captures the style and tone of the story really well adding to the overall style and feel of the book! :D
  
  Fast paced, an original take on an old story and relentless action scenes and a lot of humour and daring do! :D Highly recommended! :D
• 
  Ivan Garcia

  The book I'm reading is Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood I liked it was good.It was about a guy who was always on trees waiting for someone to pass and one day another guy came in a wagon and there was a little kid sitting down with him.The guy who always hidden told the guy to stop and give him any stuff they had and a group of guys came and said they cant be there and the guy told them that it was his property.And all the group of guys left them and they told the guy to come with them and didn't want to go.
  
  The group of guys had to force him and they locked him up and the little kid who was in the wagon visited him and they were talking.And the guy who got locked up he told them to leave and dont come back.In the morning they were going to execute him and the executioner pulled the lever and hanged him in the rope.The guy who visited him he pulled out his bow and shot him in the heart and the guy who was hanged said thank you and died.The guards of the place told him to stop and the guy said he was the right to kill him and let him go.
  
  The son told the dad that he was supposed to save him not kill him and the son told the dad your not my dad.The son tried to be the most best person to use a sword and a bow and arrow and wanted to become like him. The kid practiced and became like him and he was the son of the dad that killed the guy he passed away and wanted to claim his land.HE want back and the guards told him he cant be in this kingdom and it was his dad and they did not want him to rule it and the guy wanted the guy who killed his dad.He wanted to find him and the guy who was claiming his land told him that a guy killed him and they were going to kill him and the guy said he did not kill his father.
  
  He went back and lied to them he killed them and they wanted to kill the son who wanted to be the king who owned the land and the guy wanted to kill who tried to rule and they caught him and stab him and fell through the window and a group of guys said that they were trying to find him.They took him to a camping spot and tried to help him recover and he said he was going to get vengeance and he healed and got a sword and wanted to fight him because what he has done. They were going to fight and they were going to do it to battle and he lost and needed to escape and save his love one.He got out and saved her and claimed his land and he was the new king.
  
  I liked the book because it was a graphic novel and I liked reading them.I do not recommend if you don't like these type of books.It was good and i would rate this book a 4 because I liked but not that much as other books.
• 
  Shazza Maddog

  Will Stutley was an outlaw who challenged the Earl of Huntington, out in the woods with his son, Robin. It turns out Will and the Earl are old friends - but the Sheriff of Nottingham has been watching and nabs Will.
  
  Will is tried for being an outlaw and is blinded and to be hanged. Robin wants his father to rescue Will and set him free but the Earl shoots him dead with an arrow prior to the hanging. Robin vows a revenge - and the Earl says he will teach him to shoot.
  
  Fast-forward some years and to Jerusalem. Robin of Huntington and Black Hugo are having an archery tournament but Hugo attempts to cheat and have Robin killed. Instead, Robin and his friend, Will Scathlock, manage to stop the arrow and Robin wins the match - only to find out that his father is dead and someone was trying to kill him, too.
  
  He hurries home only to find Nottingham is in flux - Guy of Gisbourne is working for Sheriff Murdoch - who in turns works for John, prince of England.
  
  The story progresses from there, introducing many familiar characters - Will Scathlock and Friar Tuck came from the Crusades to protect Robin; John Little is the leader of an outlaw band; Marion of Ley is in the Nottingham castle with Guy attempting to woo her.
  
  A very nice retelling with some familiar scenes, this is an enjoyable graphic novel. The art was scritchy and dark which dropped my rating.
• 
  MK

  I decided not to give this a rating. I could decide what it would be.
  I don’t know if I enjoyed it as much as I could have but I’m not really one to enjoy graphic novels. Sometimes I genuinely forget to examine the art and I was getting confused on remembering what each character looked like.
  It was also so short. I wish it was one of many because Robin Hood has such a number of stories.
  
  But, that being said, it was a very successful graphic novel and it showed the Robin Hood legends in a very artistic way. They also didn’t just copy the stories. Yes it was obviously generated from some of the famous tales, but they wanted to tell the stories different. There is something about the epicness of the Robin Hood legends that begs to be shown and therefore, this book was a success. The end was engaging and enjoyable in every way. I loved the artwork with the arrows.
  Maybe not my cup of tea, but definitely had the spirit of Robin Hood.
  
• 
  Beth

  The story is very super-hero-y, with lots of guys striding around and being manly. Women are a distant afterthought, and the presence of Maid Marion does more to underline that than to ameliorate it. She's there so Robin has someone to strut before and have a love interest with; there's not connection between them that I can see but she's basically the only woman on the planet so he falls in love. Meanwhile King Richard needs a ransome and Loxley gets himself outlawed.
  
  My favorite part was when Richard shows up to save everyone and Robin's all "we just sent your ransome" and he explains that he was ransomed ages ago because the rest of England paid up and only this corner welshed. I guess Nottingham is not the center of the world, which makes me wonder why John was lurking her so assiduously!
  
  Silly carping aside, it's a swash=buckling tale that I could follow even with my normal inability to tell anyone apart.
• 
  Hannah

  I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a great take on the classic story of Robin Hood, a favourite of mine already. The illustrations and speech bubbles did a fantastic job of retelling the story.
  
  This was my first experience of a graphic novel. At first I struggled to recognise some of the characters and match the text to the character speaking. Once I had figured this out, it became a page turner and I had to finish it in one sitting.
  
  I would definitely recommend this book. I think it could be really beneficial for children who find difficulty in reading for pleasure as it could be the type of text that they fall in love with or help build up their reading stamina to books with lengthier text.
• 
  Amber

  (4.5 stars)
  Weren't enough words for me... there could have been some words for sounds...
  The illustrations were great, loved those. Loved the cover.
  The dialogue was comedic, very amusing...
  I've always enjoyed the Robin Hood legend... It was nice to see the origin talked about in the back of the book. Didn't know the more Modern version kind of takes after Ivanhoe... That was interesting.
• 
  Laura Witzke

  While it wasn't my favourite adaption of Robin Hood, it was decent. I found it entertaining and a fun read. I would have liked it to be a little longer to allow for a little more depth in the characters and like all adaptions of Robin Hood, I felt like they really underused the character of Marian (gotta fix that one of these days). Considering I picked this book up at random from the library, this was a decent read.
• 
  LeeAnn

  I enjoy graphic novels especially for the artwork. My favorite kind are when authors put their own spin on classic tales. This one is particularly full of gorgeous color and witty banter.
  
  Of note: the dominant color of each full-page spread changes each time you turn the page. It's subtle at first, but the artist has definite intent for each color. Exceptional artwork.
• 
  Lauren

  An excellent retelling, in the form of a graphic novel, of the legend of Robin Hood. This would be an excellent read for anyone learning about Robin Hood at school, as it gives a good outline of the legend.
• 
  Christina Reid

  A good summary of the many different legends about Robin Hood, with an interested historical afternoon. While I could appreciate the artistry of the drawings and colouring, I wasn't a massive fan of the style.
• 
  Nate

  Tonally off and strangely edited this Robin Hood retelling never landed for me. The language in the collection is off, like Lee occassionally forgot this story was set in 1192 and seems to jump the story forward at odd times.
• 
  Dominique

  It took me a lot longer than expected to read this. Probably shouldn't have started it during finals week. It was a perfect look at Robin Hood I loved it so much.
• 
  Kayla

  I enjoyed this one better than the King Arthur one. I loved the humour 😂
• 
  Ashley Moore

  I enjoyed the story, but graphic novels are not my thing. I find it takes away from the story. If you like graphic novels and the format, this will be entertaining.