Robins #4 is out in digital and I keep getting impressed by how relatively nuanced Seeley is handling Jason here. The whole thing is simplifying everyone's characters for plot convenience but Jason not being reduced to the emotional hothead that acts before thinking and ends up getting everyone into trouble is depressingly refreshing. I was also pleasantly surprised at Seeley doing his homework about Lonnie and giving him some of the depth that he used to have under Grant's pen and avoiding the pitfall of just turning him into a Joker-lite. The thing with Jenny Wren points at everything being just a very elaborate hoax but it gives Seeley enough wiggle room to play around with the canon without changing it too much and allowing each of the Robins to have their moment in the spotlight.
All in all, while the story is very middle-of-the-road in quality it is a very interesting read and in my opinion, the best mini currently starring Jason. A low bar to cross but what are you going to do?
In another example of DC pushing Jason but not really, he is in one of the variant covers for the upcoming Kill the JL event
Nothing particularly interesting in April
ROBINS #6
Written by TIM SEELEY
Art and cover by BALDEMAR RIVAS
Variant cover by DAVID TALASKI
$3.99 US | 32 pages | 6 of 6 | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/19/22
The games are over and Jenny Wren's traps have finally sprung around the Robins! Can the teen wonders unravel the truth behind Jenny's connections to Batman, or will the true first Robin finally rip apart the Bat-Family once and for all?
FUTURE STATE: GOTHAM #12
Written by DENNIS CULVER
Art by GIANNIS MILONOGIANNIS
Cover by SIMONE DI MEO
Variant cover by MIKE BOWDEN
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Black and White | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/12/22
FINAL SHOWDOWN WITH THE NEXT JOKER! Peacekeeper Red, a.k.a. Jason Todd, and the Next Batman take on the Next Joker, but will their combined abilities be enough? Meanwhile, Hunter Panic and Harley Quinn try to keep Tobias Whale alive against a whole army of Jokerized robots! Plus, Nightwing becomes something…new?
TASK FORCE Z #7
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Art and cover by EDDY BARROWS and EBER FERREIRA
Variant cover by LUCIO PARRILLO
1:25 variant cover by DAN SCHOENING
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/26/22
Solomon Grundy. Victor Zsasz. Madame Crow. Copperhead. No, these are not this year's nominees for sexiest maniac alive…they are the new recruits for Task Force Z! What does this mean for Red Hood and Bane? Will Mr. Bloom's Lazarus Resin heist spell certain doom for the Resurrection Twins? How many rhetorical questions can I possibly squeeze into one paragraph's worth of copy? 1) A lot. 2) Yes. 3) Three.
I just read TFZ, Jason getting played like a fiddle by everyone just because he's still stuck on his "No, screw you dad!" phase is getting incredibly old. Rosenberg intentionally writing Jason and Bruce going at each other's throats through all the prelude just for now to go "not it was totally an act and Jason is undercover" is incredibly poor writing, one thing is to pull that card when it makes within the context of the story, another very differently to do it with the only goal of fooling the reader.
And we got another RHATO reference in Wayne's Family Adventures, seeing Jason talk about Roy as his best friend it warms my heart.
Kind of disappointed at DC vs Vampire, I mean fighting Gorilla-Vampire seem like the opportunity where Jason could bring out the All-Blades, bring out some deadly weapons or blow something up or ... but no
But wasn't Jason's best friend a Gragoyle?
Honestly it think Tim is actually the only Batfamily member with some normal friends in school, I think all of Jason's childhood friends that appeared so far were other street kids, maybe with exception from the Shawn Martinbrough story arc, but I'm not really sure were those fit into the established continuity.
And even Duke and Stephanie don't seem to have friends that aren't vigilantes or Superheros.
Finally this one is out, and yeah, this was a nice call back. This series continues to be consistently fun and adorable, and while it's definitely heavily coloured with fanon, I've got to say, it actually gets a lot of unexpected details about the canon comics more right than not. Sometimes more than even main the continuity comics.
On a slightly sour note though, is anyone else disappointed that after all the brooding, the sad flashbacks and all the moments of mourning and remembrance from Jason in rhato rebirth, that we most likely won't even get to see a reunion between Jason and Roy?