Red Hood: Outlaw #35 Preview and discussion thread

[RedBird]

Red Hood: Outlaw #35

[RedBird]

[Sergard]

I love the reference to RHatO #23.
That are some great pages - although they give no clue how the story will progress. But I don't care. Wednesday isn't that far away.
Another beautiful variant by Yasmine Putri, of course.
And I'll definitely miss the way how Woods draws women. He knows how to draw them pretty but not sexualized.

[Restingvoice]

I haven't been keeping up so I forgot Rebirth Willis is nicer than New 52 Willis. He also took Jason to see Flying Graysons.

[Sergard]

Rebirth Willis is also nicer than Arkham Knight Genesis Willis. But that's not difficult. Arkham Knight Genesis Willis sets the bar pretty low.

[Zaresh]

Rebirth Willis is also nicer than Arkham Knight Genesis Willis. But that's not difficult. Arkham Knight Genesis Willis sets the bar pretty low.

Anything is nicer than the AK Gen parents of Jason. Literally a brick to the face would be nicer in macroscopic measuring, heh.

I totally love the covers, both of them. But this time I think I like the regular one more; by a hair, but.

I ship hard Jason with the three piece suit. Ship of the Year. Of the Century. Past and present Century. Not even the Millennium Falcom.

And I love Isabel getting how much of a (rightful) drama queen Jason is. And he's going psychotic again. He's in that angry psychotic phase again, confirmed. Yaaaay. It will be like watching a giant lego mecha fall. Or something. Fun, but painful.

[Restingvoice]

AK Genesis Willis is worse than New 52 Willis? New 52 Willis was pretty bad.

[Sergard]

AK Genesis Willis is worse than New 52 Willis? New 52 Willis was pretty bad.

Arkham Knight Genesis Willis and Catherine had debts to a crime family. So Willis took baby Jason right after his birth and wanted to repay his debts by giving the baby to the crime family.
Seeing the panels it feels kind of obvious to me what Willis thought they'd to with the baby.

Arkham Knight Genesis #1 Willis Todd.jpg

[Restingvoice]

Arkham Knight Genesis Willis and Catherine had debts to a crime family. So Willis took baby Jason right after his birth and wanted to repay his debts by giving the baby to the crime family.
Seeing the panels it feels kind of obvious to me what Willis thought they'd to with the baby.

Arkham Knight Genesis #1 Willis Todd.jpg

...They're gonna eat him? Not that obvious to me I guess.

[RedBird]

...They're gonna eat him? Not that obvious to me I guess.

Human trafficking. Slave trades of sorts. It's kind of up to interpretation just how wicked of a trade Willis was willing to submit Jason to.

[Sergard]

...They're gonna eat him? Not that obvious to me I guess.

I immediately thought of child pornography. Or some other kind of child trafficking.

[Jackalope89]

...They're gonna eat him? Not that obvious to me I guess.

They were bad enough that, if memory serves correct, he had a hit put out on them. He was literally born on a rooftop in the middle of used needles and other junk, and, yeah. Catherine and Willis Todd in AK were freakin' awful.

[Sergard]

The characterization of Jason's parents seems to change with each continuity.
Originally pre-crisis, Jason's parents are acrobats named Trina and Joseph Todd. There is more spotlight on Trina than Joseph, but it was shown that they are truly in love with each other and are both loved by their son. Although I also noticed that Jason mentions his father more than his mother in his thoughts (before he learns that both have been killed by Killer Croc). It at least shows that Joseph had some involvement in raising Jason.

Post-crisis, names are changed to Catherine and Willis Todd. Willis Todd is a petty criminal working for Two-Face and the batcomputer states him "presumed dead" and "Two-Face believed responsible". So it is never clearly stated that Willis is in fact dead. Catherine on the other hand dies of illness. According to her wiki page it was never officially said that she died because of a drug overdose. But as it turns out later anyway, she wasn't Jason's birth mother. That's actually a woman named Sheila Haywood. It's shown that Jason isn't very fond of his father but he still tries to choke Two-Face after learning that he probably killed his dad.

Then New52 happens. We still have Catherine and Willis Todd. But this time Catherine is Jason's birth mother - and Willis is an awful dad who flirts with a nurse while Catherine gives birth to Jason. Catherine's parents seem to have enough money to lead a comfortable life while Willis has a big but poor family. Catherine and Willis quarrel a lot. Willis dies in prison and Catherine dies because of a drug overdose. Apparently. But as it turns out Catherine is still alive and Joker uses her to decoy Jason into a deadly trap. Right?

And I think we all know how Rebirth sheds a new light on the dynamics of the Todd household.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

I really love Isabel's interactions with Jason. Artemis was nice but as romantic interests, Isabel has her beat.

Also, man, Woods work looks pretty sloppy on those preview pages. Here's hoping the new artist is better.

[K. Jones]

The characterization of Jason's parents seems to change with each continuity.
Originally pre-crisis, Jason's parents are acrobats named Trina and Joseph Todd. There is more spotlight on Trina than Joseph, but it was shown that they are truly in love with each other and are both loved by their son. Although I also noticed that Jason mentions his father more than his mother in his thoughts (before he learns that both have been killed by Killer Croc). It at least shows that Joseph had some involvement in raising Jason.

Post-crisis, names are changed to Catherine and Willis Todd. Willis Todd is a petty criminal working for Two-Face and the batcomputer states him "presumed dead" and "Two-Face believed responsible". So it is never clearly stated that Willis is in fact dead. Catherine on the other hand dies of illness. According to her wiki page it was never officially said that she died because of a drug overdose. But as it turns out later anyway, she wasn't Jason's birth mother. That's actually a woman named Sheila Haywood. It's shown that Jason isn't very fond of his father but he still tries to choke Two-Face after learning that he probably killed his dad.

Then New52 happens. We still have Catherine and Willis Todd. But this time Catherine is Jason's birth mother - and Willis is an awful dad who flirts with a nurse while Catherine gives birth to Jason. Catherine's parents seem to have enough money to lead a comfortable life while Willis has a big but poor family. Catherine and Willis quarrel a lot. Willis dies in prison and Catherine dies because of a drug overdose. Apparently. But as it turns out Catherine is still alive and Joker uses her to decoy Jason into a deadly trap. Right?

And I think we all know how Rebirth sheds a new light on the dynamics of the Todd household.

Jason continuity shifts are hilarious.

Pre-Crisis he's a ginger who dies his hair, natch. And a nice boy. Post-Crisis they revamp him with the Crime Alley origin - the new parents go with that, but so does jacking the wheels off the Batmobile, so that's noteworthy. All leading into the soap opera "WHO IS THE MOTHER" moment. Can we give props to clandestine types like Lady Shiva and that Mossad agent for even appearing in that storyline?

But anyway, moreover I'm just train-of-thought thinking into the continuity shifts surrounding his Red Hoodification, of which there have been like four or five already in the last decade. The first tease in Hush. Winick's initial explanation, which amounted to "LAZARUS PITS DUH". But which turned into "SUPERBOY PUNCHES DUH" shortly after. But like ... Jason had virtually nothing to do with the big Al Ghul storylines (with the exception of what, Resurrection Night?) ... so it seems kind of narratively out of left field when it should have been like ... NOCTURNA or the KGBeast or Deacon Blackfire that restored him somehow. But hey.

I do love that he also has an ever-growing, ever-shifting series of "The Lost Years" storylines.