Unfortunately, this decade has not been kind to Wally in general.
Filler aside though, it's still disappointing none the less. As a fan, you should be looking forward to these kinds of events, it's a new and exciting setting to see fan favourite characters tackle.
From the images and new character designs, there's almost a slight cyberpunk dystopian feel to everything, it's a cool new Gotham, with themes of pushing back against a big bad authority figure, and all the Bats are rising up and fighting back against an evil regime, Huzza...................Except of course the one bat you'd 100% expect to fight back against an unjust system.
Short as this event is, problem is, it seems like every other Bat character is still, in-character. From solicitations, they still seem to be heroes and fighting for what is right. So far, this doesn't appear to be a 'bad' future in the sense that it has 'bad' or 'evil' versions of the characters, it's more so that the environment has just gone awry. Which means these versions of the character don't stray from their mainline counterparts.
So if DC are this tone deaf with Jasons characterisation and appeal as Red Hood, then it leaves me sceptical for whatever direction they may have planned for him in the future, if there even is one.
Exactly. A world where Jason could unleash his brand of justice against an powerful regime, but instead he's working for them. Talk about a missed opportunity.
Okay, I just read all the info released about this Future State event. Twice because the press releases aren't very clear.
First things first, is painfully obvious this is DC reworking the concept of 5G from the new status quo into a filler event ala Convergence. Abernathy's words are a bit ambiguous at times but is stated no less than three times this is just a possible future. so for the time being we can rest easy a bit since this won't be Jason's status quo beyond those two months.
Second, other than utterly awful costume, I don't thing the whole thing paints Jason in a very bad light. The solicits make clear he's a bounty hunter against his will, and given how evil the Magistrate is painted in the other books, it stands to reason that there's more than meets the eye. I don't like Williamson's writing that much but if there's something I can praise him for, is his commitment to keep things in continuity since it was a huge deal during his Flash run. So I very much doubt that all the hard work Lobdell did will be thrown away.
That said, I don't find this whole event really appealing but I'll pick up Dark Detective to see where this whole thing leads. It can't be worse than Three Jokers.
Regardless if it's actually against his will or not, (the solicit only states that he takes contracts and that he hates his job, not that it's necessarily against his will), this story for Red Hood just doesn't sound exciting in general.
This would have been a neat world to unleash a more tactical version of Red Hood. Committing to his brand of justice whilst dodging an evil regime.
Instead we're getting, this. Red Hood as a regimes lackey. From solicitations, it sounds kind of boring at best, and possibly OOC at worst.
Oh well, let us know if it turns out to be good.
On a plus side, I'm already seeing fanart for Jasons future state look. Wow! Fans are quick.
When you get down to the basics, Jason has never been anti-regime. He was only against Batman's approach to fighting crime since he believed Bruce failed to fully commit and that led to villains perpetuating their reign of terror over the innocent. From that angle, the idea of Jason working alongside a totalitarian regime that has pretty much a kill on sight order against anyone breaking the law isn't too far fetched. We also don't know the exact events that led to Bruce's disappearance and the Regime taking over, nor the exact circumstances that led to Jason working with the Magistrate in the first place. If the magistrate captured someone Jason holds dear, everything falls into place neatly since under Lobdell, Jason has always been one to risk everything for his friends and family.
I don't see how doing a job your hate can mean you're making it willingly. Since the normal response to that is simply find a job you enjoy, unless circumstances force you to remain there, in real life that usually means good pay but in a bad future there must be more dramatic factors at play.
You guys are going to read it, right? I'll wait here with Red. See your opinions once it's released.
But to be honest, it could be worse than OOC: it could be actually against character.
I don't want to sound whinny, and I know I do sound whinny, but I also know that the track record isn't good and it's a very short event and his story is highly secondary. My hopes are dark, low and dirty, and my current mod mirrors it.
Last edited by Zaresh; 10-15-2020 at 10:50 AM.
Do you really see Jason hunting down people trying to fight injustice? For real? Because that's what the others are going to do in their fight: fight against the regime because they fight against injustice. And I bet the regime is going to be corrupt. Because they always are (especially in cyberpunk settings). The good guys are going to fight bad guys, and Jason is the one who's going to go after the good guys. That's what it's going to be, it's what's implied.
(Oh, god, I'm so pissed)
Last edited by Zaresh; 10-15-2020 at 10:53 AM.
On the other hand that's Tim first solo comics since flashpoint.
I think we have to wait for the march solits, but since they just did the Death in the Family movie, he is going to be in Gotham Knight, and he was in 3 pretty high profile out of continuity books this year, I think there is a good chance that he will be used in some capacity post future state.
I mean, Red Hood started becoming a crime lord to keep all the criminals under control and he had no qualms about taking down Bruce and Nightwing if needed. That particular version of Red Hood would completely be down to work with a regime like this, and we even saw it once before, in Injustice where Jason willingly worked with Superman's regime until they went on a genocide rampage and Damian talked him out of it.
That said I'm not particularly upset about this because is just an elseworld and the solicit paints, Jason, in a sympathetic light thanks to the whole "haunted man doing a job he hates" and the promise of his investigation into the Red Hood gang playing a crucial part into bringing down the Magistrate. If this were the main line, then I would be beyond pissed but is not, and honestly, is a lot better than Lord Robin from Mother Panic or the Nick Fury ripoff that Tynion used in Detective Comics during Rebirth.