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

[Restingvoice]

Bruce is in full "Jason is bad" mode

That's what I meant. In a Bruce vs Jason story it can go either Jason is written badly or Bruce. This one is Bruce for me.

[Zaresh]

Read it. Liked it a lot.
spoilers:

For me, Jason doesn't come across as much angry as he seems frustrated, with himself and with the world. The Bowery is falling down and it affects him. It feels like he's angry at Bruce, but more ike annoyed by him. Like he was about when the penguin storyline happened. I guess something else happened in between the end of RHATO and here. I'm guessingnthey will amend the relationship in following issues, issue 4 or 5 is my guess. He still retains some self-esteem issues from Lobdell's take of Jason. I think most of the angry feel comes from the art, which is grim. I think Jason feels easy to symphatise with. Bruce, though, comes across as a prick, arrogant, idiot. Bassically current Bruce. I don't know about their status just about pre IF, but it aligns with Bruce under King. Isn't Johns status either. Bruce feel less arrogant and righteous there. Damn, I loved Jason with the kid. A pitty about how the story with the dad was resolved. But, human scum made Jason definitely angry there. Btw, that flashback from Under the Hood is more of less aligned with how both Bruce and Alfred thought back them, in the post-crissis middle 00's years as far as I recall them. Knowing how Chip writes, it's intentional.

end of spoilers

Well, just my opinion.

[Drako]

I liked a lot actually, by far the best story of the bunch. And the art of Eddy Barrows and Marcus To are always top notch.

Looks like a solid new beginning for the character.

[Sergard]

From a different thread:

Batman: Urban Legends page numbers, thought they might be more consistent

Red Hood 24
Harley Quinn 8
Outsiders 10
Grifter 22

I thought that the page numbers would be equally - fairly - distributed. So in the end, it's just more Batman.
...
...
...
...
Joy.

[Jackalope89]

From a different thread:



I thought that the page numbers would be equally - fairly - distributed. So in the end, it's just more Batman.
...
...
...
...
Joy.

Bats was more of a guest in the Grifter story, and completely absent in the Harley Quinn and the Outsiders stories.

[Sergard]

Bats was more of a guest in the Grifter story, and completely absent in the Harley Quinn and the Outsiders stories.

I just wanted to point out that the stories including Batman are longer than the stories without him. It's not fair to Harley Quinn or Outsiders fans. They have to pay the same price but get less.

And good for Grifter and Grifter fans.

[Frontier]

Read it. Liked it a lot.
spoilers:

For me, Jason doesn't come across as much angry as he seems frustrated, with himself and with the world. The Bowery is falling down and it affects him. It feels like he's angry at Bruce, but more ike annoyed by him. Like he was about when the penguin storyline happened. I guess something else happened in between the end of RHATO and here. I'm guessingnthey will amend the relationship in following issues, issue 4 or 5 is my guess. He still retains some self-esteem issues from Lobdell's take of Jason. I think most of the angry feel comes from the art, which is grim. I think Jason feels easy to symphatise with. Bruce, though, comes across as a prick, arrogant, idiot. Bassically current Bruce. I don't know about their status just about pre IF, but it aligns with Bruce under King. Isn't Johns status either. Bruce feel less arrogant and righteous there. Damn, I loved Jason with the kid. A pitty about how the story with the dad was resolved. But, human scum made Jason definitely angry there. Btw, that flashback from Under the Hood is more of less aligned with how both Bruce and Alfred thought back them, in the post-crissis middle 00's years as far as I recall them. Knowing how Chip writes, it's intentional.

end of spoilers

Well, just my opinion.

spoilers:

Doesn't really make sense with Tynion's Bruce either when he's palling around with Ghost-Maker and Harley Quinn.

end of spoilers

[Zaresh]

spoilers:

Doesn't really make sense with Tynion's Bruce either when he's palling around with Ghost-Maker and Harley Quinn.

end of spoilers

Yeah, that's true. spoilers:

I guess it's because it's Jason, and that's a special trigger for Bruce and he has some specific obsession with Jason killing/having killed anyone. My best guess is that this story is set after the current Batman story, and something else happened that we didn't saw. I don't know. Could be bad communication between writers and editorial; wouldn't be even news if that's what's happened.

end of spoilers

Edited:
Someone in some review I read has pointed out spoilers:

the similarities that this drug and the Black Mercy share. I wonder if it's intentional or just a coincidence. I'm counting on either Jason or Bruce dosed at some point, btw. It's sooo useful for a familial-drama story, using the drug effects like a tool for conflict and resolution, that I would find it weird if Chip doesn't use it that way in the end

end of spoilers

[Sergard]

From Chip Zdarsky's newsletter:

[...]
This is my first full-length DC project and I’m pretty jazzed about it! Our story in this anthology is a BATMAN / RED HOOD one where I get to delve into the fractured history of Bruce and Jason with some long-lasting consequences. Along the way we have some fun Bat-characters showing up and some new faces as well. Eddy Barrows, Marcus To, Eber & Julio Ferreira, and Adriano Lucas deliver gritty and touching art and make me look like I know what I’m doing. I hope you all like it!

Also, the rest of the stories in the anthology are top-notch! It’s a really spectacular package![...]

[Zaresh]

From Chip Zdarsky's newsletter:

He was asking for feedback today in his twitter. I gave him mine. Also, Rosenberg spamming memes about buying the issue for the grifter was hilarious, btw.

[CorDaytona]

I think Jason's portrayal and voice were quite good and Alfred's conversation with Bruce very in line with what their mindset during UtRH was/should be like. As in, I don't think Bruce is coming out of this issue as the better man. We'll see how the relationship develops and whether Bruce's hypocrisy (and Jason's faults) are called into question.

"Long-lasting consequences" (as per Chip's newsletter)... I hope it's not empty words tbh. I'm not naive enough to think Chip will take over Jason, but hopefully it means the pay-off will have the character get a new status quo and his relationship with Bruce be renewed for the foreseeable future.

[Jackalope89]

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

I think Jason's portrayal and voice were quite good and Alfred's conversation with Bruce very in line with what their mindset during UtRH was/should be like. As in, I don't think Bruce is coming out of this issue as the better man. We'll see how the relationship develops and whether Bruce's hypocrisy (and Jason's faults) are called into question.

"Long-lasting consequences" (as per Chip's newsletter)... I hope it's not empty words tbh. I'm not naive enough to think Chip will take over Jason, but hopefully it means the pay-off will have the character get a new status quo and his relationship with Bruce be renewed for the foreseeable future.

That is precisely the issue I have. The characters feel like a regression from how they were left in RH#52 and put back in the same mindset they were back in 2005. I feel like reducing them to that is making a disservice not only to the writers that have handled the characters in the interim but to the characters themselves. Is the exact same problem that Johns made with Three Jokers but unlike him, Zdarski doesn't have the "is not canon" excuse.

[Zaresh]

That is precisely the issue I have. The characters feel like a regression from how they were left in RH#52 and put back in the same mindset they were back in 2005. I feel like reducing them to that is making a disservice not only to the writers that have handled the characters in the interim but to the characters themselves. Is the exact same problem that Johns made with Three Jokers but unlike him, Zdarski doesn't have the "is not canon" excuse.

But Dark, the talk between Alfred and Bruce @Cor was talking about was a flashback. I may be mistaken, but I understod as it taking place "then", during Under the Hood. The conversation about Jason, I mean, not the one about the drug. It makes sense for Bruce to sound like in 2005 in there because it was a storyline from that year. Edit: not like Bruce isn't being difficult and has no apparent reason to be so, now, it seems, because he is. On the other hand, Jason was emotional too, during Lobdell's run. It's why the stuff with Penguin happened.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

But Dark, the talk between Alfred and Bruce @Cor was talking about was a flashback. I may be mistaken, but I understod as it taking place "then", during Under the Hood. The conversation about Jason, I mean, not the one about the drug. It makes sense for Bruce to sound like in 2005 in there because it was a storyline from that year. Edit: not like Bruce isn't being difficult and has no apparent reason to be so, now, it seems, because he is. On the other hand, Jason was emotional too, during Lobdell's run. It's why the stuff with Penguin happened.

Jason going off the rails with Penguin was editorial coming down over Lobdell to demand Jason getting out of Gotham so King could tell his trainwreck of a story. That's why everything was so sudden and wasn't developed organically. Supposedly creators have more leeway now, so there shouldn't be a reason to rush things out nor to ignore where Martinbrough left the characters at the end of his story (and let's not forget that the editor himself was the one who said Urban Legends would pick up where Red Hood left) and as pointed out above, the way Bruce is being written is inconsistent with the main book already. Jason is being written overtly emotional for no reason other than to create drama and isn't even well handled, a core element of his character for a while now is keeping kids from going through the same things he went through as Robin. spoilers:

So why the hell is he dragging now a freaking kid while going at a drug den? And then just to leave him in an alley with no means to defend himself or anything? That is monumentally stupid and makes absolutely no sense for Jason to make such a mistake. He called Oracle, he should've gotten her to arrange a place to keep the kid safe while he went looking for his father. Or hell, take him to Leslie.

end of spoilers

This is just either Zdarski going with the belief that Jason is so emotional that is prone to make stupid mistakes, or he's intentionally making him act dumb for drama's sake.

Anyways, Toy News International also reported the Unmasked Red Hood leak and they also confirmed that some of the other figures leaked could be seen in the background of one of Todd's videos, legitimating the leak.

https://toynewsi.com/10-38264

They also mention that any figure under the "Gold Label" sub-line are Walmart Exclusives in the US.