Jason Todd: Robin, Red Hood, Arkham Knight Appreciation 2021

[Zaresh]

Red Hood Outlaw 52 would of been a perfectly fine place to leave the MK outfit and move onto to something new (or old depending on their choice). With his FS suit being what it is and FS apparently being a thing that won’t end this month it seems like it’s not going anywhere any time soon.

I guess we're stuck with this costume until he gets a new ongoing.

[Rich Johnston]

Is a bit depressing that what can possibly be the best take of Jason in the foreseeable future comes from a videogame and not from one of the comics he'll be in.

Speaking of, from Bleeding Cool



https://bleedingcool.com/comics/jaso...nite-frontier/

Is obviously Urban Legends but still, meh.

Urban Legends is like a Bat Infinite Frontier #0 - the first issue spins off into other Bat titles and storylines

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Urban Legends is like a Bat Infinite Frontier #0 - the first issue spins off into other Bat titles and storylines

Well, if nothing else, more credence to the idea the Red Hood book is coming back at some point.

[RedBird]

FUTURE STATE: GOTHAM – RED HOOD HUNTS THE BAT-FAMILY FOR THE MAGISTRATE IN THIS ALL-NEW ONGOING SERIES!

Presumably this is an anthology type series with Jason only starring in the first arc.

Another six additional issues of Jason working for the evil regime....Still hoping to see that this is all some kind of subversion.
The covers are really nice, but so far this is still an easy pass.

If editorial will only double on putting Jason on the role of antagonist-but-not-really of the Batfamily and refusing to give him his Rebirth look back, I think I would rather them shelve Jason for a while.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind him being shelved for a bit. Would much rather wait for a creator that gets the character and actually has a passion for them to take over, than to see Jason aimlessly tossed around.

Regardless of how I might feel with Jason's treatment in Zdarksy's limited series when it launches (I think I'll like it even if the premise is a bit worrisome and tired), at least it'll be a quality title, I'm sure. So I'm really excited.

Zdarsky is definitely an outlier for me, since I don't think I would have bothered with Urban Legends if it weren't for his name on the book. Like you said, there's a good chance it will at least turn out to be a quality story, even if it doesn't specifically turn out to be a quality 'Red Hood' story.

Stephen Oyoung talks about portraying Jason in the Gotham Knights video game.

"The team at WB Montreal is doing everything they can to make Red Hood as dynamic a character as possible. He's not a one note guy," Stephen explained before teasing a deep dive into Jason Todd. "We all know Jason's backstory, his anger, his disappointments, his pain. So the temptation is just to lean super heavy into that. But there's more to him. That's been super fun to play with."

"As far as Arkham Knight, that portrayal is iconic. I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm not influenced by it. I think about it a lot. But at the end of the day I don't think anyone wants a copy of someone else's performance, no matter how close it is. I think I have a realistic base in my action-performing/ stunt background, so I try to bring that kind of energy to the scenarios. Basically this is just a long way of saying I'm trying to steal what's great from Arkham Knight and bring some of my own flavor to it!"

"Without getting into too much trouble I can say the writing team is phenomenal! They're finding ways to surprise you. Again, we're all hyper aware of bringing out the humanity in our Jason and making him as emotionally nuanced and dynamic as possible while still honoring his painful past." However, that doesn't mean we won't get some action! "And yes, he's handy with guns!"

No idea if this game or it's characters are going to be good or not, but man, I'm liking everything I'm reading here. The emphasis on Jasons humanity and goal of making him emotionally nuanced and dynamic is very good to see. Also Oyoung mentioned his stunt work background in this interview, I wonder if he is perhaps also performing the mocap for Red Hood? That ought to be neat

[Sergard]

Well, if nothing else, more credence to the idea the Red Hood book is coming back at some point.

Written by whom?
Zdarsky is interested in Batman, not Red Hood. He's not going to stay.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Written by whom?
Zdarsky is interested in Batman, not Red Hood. He's not going to stay.

No idea. Honestly, there's no one in DC's current stable of writers that I would trust make Jason justice, and I'm completely indifferent towards Zdarsky since the only comic from Marvel I read is Venom. But the solicits doesn't give me a lot of hope either.

[CorDaytona]

Even if the premise might not excite or might even worry people (I'm not super enthused either), at the very least it'll be a well written story, so that's a nice reassurance for me after so many years without a consistently good RH story.

Urban Legends spinning off into new stuff I think was known, but glad to see some reaffirmation. I just don't know if RH will be among those.

Like, he'll be in a weird position come Infinite Frontier, "only" starring in minis that kick off anthologies (so he won't be the kind of character relegated to cameos/back-ups) and showing up relatively prominently in that Infinite Frontier cover. Regardless of what I think of his time writing Jason, the fact that Tynion did so and is the one crafting the overall Gotham side of DC makes me think Red Hood won't be forgotten. Whether it's an ongoing or not, I can't see DC abandoning the character.

In any case, since it's 6 issues, a potenwouldn't come until later in the year, so I guess DC has time to plan this. I don't know of any DC writer who'd be both up to the challenge/good at it.

[Korath]

I'm actually really happy for Jason's start of the Infinite Frontier era : I feel that both in Urban Legends and FS:Gotham, there will be opportunities to really explore who he is and why he does what he does, without always retreading the same old traumas and behavior.

I know that Urban Legends has some people worried because he'll kill someone who's just a scumbag and not a monster like Joker and whatnot, but the fact that he'll immediately have to deal with the consequences of his actions, not regarding Batman but the child of the man he killed makes it quite interesting. Jason's a good man at heart but he veers toward the extreme when he acts (which I like him for). Him having to have a child on his hands is a great continuation of his growth during RHatO IMO.

Also, in FS I can't help but wonder why, of all the Batfam show the ones who kills usually is actually with the Magistrate and doing his best to not kill anybody. He doesn't even seem to carry his guns anymore. What happened to Jason and why he's acting as he does, those are super interesting questions, and his FS costume is definitively my fav so far (and I happen to like the MK suit, it grew on me). With or without the hood on, it gives him an incredible appearance.

[Sergard]

Even if the premise might not excite or might even worry people (I'm not super enthused either), at the very least it'll be a well written story, so that's a nice reassurance for me after so many years without a consistently good RH story.

How do you know that it will be well written?

Last year, a lot of people told me, that Jason would have a good appearance in Batman: The Adventures Continue because writers originally wanted to use him in the cartoon instead of Tim Drake. But in the end, the story concluded with Jason being the big loser who just wasn't good enough to be part of the batfamily while Tim Drake was "perfect".

People told me, that Geoff Johns' Three Jokers would be good, but in the end, he abused the whole aspect of trauma to showcase how perfect Barbara was compared to loser Jason.

People told me, that Joshua Williamson is a good writer - but then I read the Titans story in Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories of the DC Universe and it was straight out bad.

People told me, that Tom Taylor is a good writer - but he's only good at randomly killing a lot of characters, writing his favorites as one-dimensional power fantasies and using other characters as props.



Judging by DC's track record, Urban Legends will go like this: Jason will be "the angry one" who thoughtlessly kills somebody, he'll have some scenes with a kid who's scared of the evil murderer of their parent and at the end of the day, Batman will make an appearance, save the poor innocent kid from the villain/Batman's biggest failure and find them a new and loving home so that said kid doesn't turn into an evil seed like Jason did. Brownie points for a little bit of victim-blaming here and there and some cringe moments emphasizing that killing is always bad.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Yeah, DC's track record isn't particularly good when it comes to Jason. And the fact that the first thing they did was dive straight into another "Jason and Bruce fight over their methods" story doesn't give me a lot of hope no matter how much pedigree the writer has.

Like, just look at the interview with Jason's VA in Gotham Knights, he accurately described the common pitfalls writers fall into when it comes to Jason, even if the end result is still up in the air, I have higher expectations for whatever they will bring to the table since they seems willing to make some effort with Jason.

[Zaresh]

The following is just my opinion.

I've read several of Zdarsky works. He's really, really good. His only "flaw" is that his sense of humour is hit or miss, depending on the reader. I love it, but some other don't. Some passionately dislike it, actually.

This is going to be controversial, but in my opinion, he's a way better writer than Johns, Williamson or Taylor. At worse, he's average, like in Invaders (and I liked it. But it was weak. Also, it has a story centered about very gray zoned character like Namor in an antagonistic role, in case you're curious). Heck, to be honest, I think he's right now one of the best for-real-active cape comic writers that I can think of. He's not Brubaker, but he's probably Remender-tier.

I can be wrong, I can be disappointed in the end. I don't know. But for his story, I'm going to trust and wait.

I am also looking forward to the GKs videogame.

[Rise]

Jason has some issues that might make him a bit undesirable for writers. His whole premises of killing criminals is pointless when DC would never allow him to kill big names and killing nameless fodders has resulted in making him a giant hypocrite and redundant. The only way to solve the issue is either by keep creating new big villains made specifically for him to kill (which frankly is almost an impossible task) or make him stop killing completely (which would make many of his fans unhappy with it).

Jason isn't a character who is difficult to handle his characterization (despite what some of you believe...), but it is a bit of challenge to write a memorable story with him.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Jason has some issues that might make him a bit undesirable for writers. His whole premises of killing criminals is pointless when DC would never allow him to kill big names and killing nameless fodders has resulted in making him a giant hypocrite and redundant. The only way to solve the issue is either by keep creating new big villains made specifically for him to kill (which frankly is almost an impossible task) or make him stop killing completely (which would make many of his fans unhappy with it).

Jason isn't a character who is difficult to handle his characterization (despite what some of you believe...), but it is a bit of challenge to write a memorable story with him.

Nonsense.

That mentality is the problem, not the character. Jason schtick is no longer just being the Batman that kills, but having a different approach to crime than Batman has, and that doesn't necessarily mean killing criminals. Writers getting stuck with the idea that Jaosn¿s only worth is in killing is why we keep retreading the same story beats again, and again, and again.

Writers just need to stop being lazy and move outside their comfort zone, is really baffling how the guys writing the digital first stories have a bigger interest into exploring Jason's multiple facets despite their limited scope than big-name guys with complete access to the toy box.

[Rise]

Nonsense.

That mentality is the problem, not the character. Jason schtick is no longer just being the Batman that kills, but having a different approach to crime than Batman has, and that doesn't necessarily mean killing criminals. Writers getting stuck with the idea that Jaosn¿s only worth is in killing is why we keep retreading the same story beats again, and again, and again.

Writers just need to stop being lazy and move outside their comfort zone, is really baffling how the guys writing the digital first stories have a bigger interest into exploring Jason's multiple facets despite their limited scope than big-name guys with complete access to the toy box.

Do you just see my post and go "I sense bs that I must disagree with" without actually reading what I said? I know that Jason is more than that and you should already know that (and I'm pretty sure many writers realize that about him too).

Red Hood persona and the whole point of him carrying guns is his willingness to cross the line no other heroes are willing to do so. It's an issue every writer who is in charge of him need to address. If you have him killing, you will be forced to make him kill nameless fodders which isn't a good look for him and if you have not killing, you need to give a reasonable explanation about why he doesn't and explain the guns (the rubber bullets explanation is just a bs).

Getting the right voice for Jason isn't a complicated task and many writers are able to do it. Writing a good memorable story starring Jason is the issue and some writers are probably just not in the mood to deal with his baggages.

[Agent Z]

Red Hood by José Ladrönn