Jason Todd: Robin → Red Hood Appreciation 2023

[Jackalope89]

Not really a feat when you're writing explicitly to please the Tumblr crowd

Compared to how 1 or 2 writers try and distance Jason from the crowbar and Joker, only to be dragged back by everyone else in the main comics and have that be his sole character identity? I'll take it.

[RedBird]

Compared to how 1 or 2 writers try and distance Jason from the crowbar and Joker, only to be dragged back by everyone else in the main comics and have that be his sole character identity? I'll take it.

Exactly.
This should be less of an admonishment against the webtoon and more just evidence of how uninspired the main books are and how egregiously low the bar truly is, that simply not having mischaracterisations of the character are a net positive. So yeah, tumblr, twitter whatever pandering or not, it's still a step up from the mainline books. But then again, sometimes mainline comics also pander to that exact same crowd, (see Nightwing by Tom Taylor), so I'm not really seeing this as an issue in and of itself.

[Aahz]

Latest issue of webcomic had Jason and Dick being on good terms, talked how Dick was the angry Robin, and how the endless cycle of "Jason too violent!" keeps repeating.

I don't really remember Dick being violent as Robin, but especially if you look at modern comics he was definitely pretty reckless and disobedient at times.

Btw. when you go back to the 90s comics, Tim an occasion pretty reckless and disobedient and had occasional anger issues.

[RedBird]

I don't really remember Dick being violent as Robin, but especially if you look at modern comics he was definitely pretty reckless and disobedient at times.

Btw. when you go back to the 90s comics, Tim an occasion pretty reckless and disobedient and had occasional anger issues.

Being somewhat reckless and disobedient is basically part of the Robin playbook, but only Jason seems to get 'punished' for it.
Steph too I guess.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Compared to how 1 or 2 writers try and distance Jason from the crowbar and Joker, only to be dragged back by everyone else in the main comics and have that be his sole character identity? I'll take it.

The problem is that is a meaningless gesture because it completely ignores characterization and consistency within itself just to deliver a shallow and ultimately meaningless moment other than being reposted on Twitter/Tumblr. That is what happened with Jason killing a Joker in 3 Jokers, you got it reposted with people claiming that Jason finally was allowed to get closure, just to be dragged back into the same old dance as soon as the mini wrapped up. And is even more infuriating with the Webtoon because despite being "relatively" free from having to follow the canon, the writer is only doing the bare minimum to flesh out Jason as a character so instead he can focus on Artemis.

Anyway, Jorge Jimenez posted a sketch of Jason (in his outlaw outfit much to my disappointment) that I imagine means he will show up soon on Batman.



Amusingly, no streak.

I keep track of Martinbrough's Twitter for any possible news about the mini and is curious how Red Hood is being highlighted in his career as a comic creator when the only thing to his name are two filler issues and a mini that has been delayed for more than a year by now.

https://twitter.com/SVA_News/status/1647994350138212352

[CorDaytona]

Jiménez is probably my favourite artist right now, but I never liked his old Jason. Loving how he looks now that he's got longer hair. Not using the hood, the domino mask and the muzzle does wonders too, even if he still keeps his sleeveless jacket.

I'm a white streak enjoyer, so I like when it makes an appearance, but it's funny how indecisive DC is about that. I guess there's no editorial mandate and each artist does whatever they like.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Solicits are out, Jason is only on the Knight Terrors tie-in, and as expected, every tie-in replaces a regular series through July and August.

The Anniversary edition of UTRH was finally solicited and as people guessed, it includes Lost Days plus "never seen before behind the scenes material" and a new foreword from Winnick.

BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD THE DELUXE EDITION

Written by JUDD WINICK

Art by DOUG MAHNKE, SHANE DAVIS, JEREMY HAUN, ERIC BATTLE, and others

Cover by JOCK

$49.99 US | 544 pages | 7 1/16" x 10 7/8" | Hardcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-314-3

ON SALE 9/5/23



For the first time ever, Under the Red Hood and The Lost Days are collected together to tell the complete story of Red Hood’s origin. Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Jason Todd with this brand-new oversize hardcover featuring his infamous return to Gotham City as Red Hood and his long journey back from death. Collecting Batman #635-641, Batman #645-650, Batman Annual #25, Red Hood: The Lost Days #1-6, and pages from Batman #617-618, along with a brand-new introduction by Judd Winick and never-before-seen behind-the-scenes material.

Honestly, Winnick's introduction is the only thing I want to see from this edition.

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Oh man, I'm so glad that Williamson has Jason and Roy still in touch.

[Jackalope89]

Oh man, I'm so glad that Williamson has Jason and Roy still in touch.

Yeah, its little moments like these than can truly make a shared universe, sometimes even better than an actual crossover.

[K7P5V]

Oh man, I'm so glad that Williamson has Jason and Roy still in touch.


https://aiptcomics.com/wp-content/up...-min.jpg?ssl=1

Yeah! Definitely brings back memories. Only thing missing is Jade crashing the party (LOL):

[RedBird]

Jason drawn by Jimenez,
but that means he'll be written by Zdarsky again

(I thought even after the unpleasant Jason representation in Cheers that Zdarsky would at least turn in a decent Batman, but after reading Last ride, The Knight and Batman series....Well, I've never had my opinion of a writers work sour so quickly for me.)

The Anniversary edition of UTRH was finally solicited and as people guessed, it includes Lost Days plus "never seen before behind the scenes material" and a new foreword from Winnick.

Honestly, Winnick's introduction is the only thing I want to see from this edition.

I knew it, also, yeah I'm kind of wondering what Winick has to say now that there's been over 15 years of reflection. (give or take a few additions here and there of course.)

Oh man, I'm so glad that Williamson has Jason and Roy still in touch.

I've been waiting for ages for Green Arrow and proper Arrowfam content, so I'm already excited for this series, but this is certainly a nice little addition.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

Jason drawn by Jimenez,
but that means he'll be written by Zdarsky again

(I thought even after the unpleasant Jason representation in Cheers that Zdarsky would at least turn in a decent Batman, but after reading Last ride, The Knight and Batman series....Well, I've never had my opinion of a writers work sour so quickly for me.)



I knew it, also, yeah I'm kind of wondering what Winick has to say now that there's been over 15 years of reflection. (give or take a few additions here and there of course.)




I've been waiting for ages for Green Arrow and proper Arrowfam content, so I'm already excited for this series, but this is certainly a nice little addition.

I read Cheers but what didn't you like about how he wrote Jason?

[RedBird]

I read Cheers but what didn't you like about how he wrote Jason?

Short Answer: My main issue is that I find Zdarsky's take on Jason to be solely based on Jason being the failed Robin/Bat.
And that's it, that seems to be the only aspect to the character both in Cheers and even in the Batman series.


Long Answer: Jasons characterization is my main issue, but even the story fails for me, the whole concept of cheers starts with Jason making a mistake and shooting someone to then feel regret, not for the persons death but regret from the fact that he took away a child's father, even if he was monstrous. Whilst interesting at first as a dramatic way to push the character, as a whole it doesn't hold up under any scrutiny and ends up making no sense by the end.

Jason in Cheers acts irrationally unprofessionally and incompetently through out the entire book, until the very final confrontation which even then is him calling and relying on everyone else to help. A far cry from the OG red hood days, as a master tactician. It feels like the series does nothing but discredit Jasons character. The book even goes further back into his Robin days to paint him as irresponsible and hypocritical, pushing the narrative that he and Bruce never meshed which is frankly more revisionist BS that once again undermines Jasons transformation into Red Hood. The whole concept of a fall from grace is to, you know, have grace in the first place. Constantly chipping away at Jason with revisionism to paint his time as Robin and as a child in general, as some kind of bad egg that always 'had it coming' is such a disservice to both his character and to the strength of his story/transformation.

Jason makes a mistake and all that happens is daddy comes by to clean up his mess, cause his failure of a son can't do anything right, we're all apparently lucky Jason is able to tie his shoes in the morning with how incompetent irrational and pathetic Zdarsky writes him. Jason shoots a man and then just panics like a child about it the whole time till Dad comes to tell him off and then try to fix things for him. Jason apparently doesn't believe in taking any careful measures to plan anything out as he and Bruce argue about it. (Again where did my intelligent strategist go DC?) He doesn't prepare for an obvious trap and then gets caught immediately leading to Bruce having to save his ass again, the book is just Jason as a major screw up that Bruce has to deal with. It's one thing for the fandom to makes jokes about this sort of thing, it's another for DC to actually turn an interesting conflict of morals between two characters and an emotional wedge between a father and son into petty teenage rebellion. And then by the end Jason comes to the conclusion that the problem the whole time were his guns, and that he doesn't want what happened with Tylers father to happen again. A pretty stupid ending when you consider Jason could just as easily kill a man with a crowbar, you know, that weapon that infamously killed a certain someone. Um hello DC.

Personally what confuses me more, is how on Earth does Jason even come to the conclusion that he should give up his guns anyway? Jason killed Tylers dad who was supplying Tylers mum with drugs that nearly killed her and was drugging his son, Tyler, hoping to be rid of him. A pretty monstrous father if you ask me, but even so, what awful consequences were suffered by Tyler and his mother thanks to Jasons horrible mistake?

They end up drug free, and move into a nicer home with a new lease on life.......

Maybe it's just me but it seems like killing off the abusive father was a net positive for Tyler. Even in the book Tyler doesn't seem one bit upset about the fact that his father is not around anymore. If anything, this situation just inadvertently proved that Jason lethal method works, that the world and it's people are in fact better off with some monsters gone. This conclusion probably should have emboldened Jason more to his methods, so the fact that the ending twists itself into a pretzel to justify having Jason think using guns was always the problem, (again, another way to discredit a character by discrediting their methods.) is another layer of wtf.

For me, whatever 'good' or 'nice' aspects about the book are both way too little and far overshadowed by how messy it is and how insulting it is towards Jason's character.

[RedBird]

Another Jason preview from Jimenez

https://twitter.com/JorgeJimenezArt/...57075436814338

[Dark_Tzitzimine]

Huh, so Jason will be on Batman #900. Good to know.

Also, Williamson finally made good on the promise from Dark Crisis...kind of

spoilers:

The lead Roy got from Jason was about Lian's whereabouts in Gotham, where he finally meet her in the opening pages of GA. So Jason fulfilled his promise to Roy and helped him to find Lian. I think is rushed and it would've given enough material for a whole mini on its own but I guess it was the only way Williamson could address that plot point. I wonder how many people online will take offense at Jason being the one who brought Lian and Roy together and not Dick

end of spoilers