Jason Todd: Robin, Arkham Knight, Red Hood Appreciation 2018

[G-Potion]

I'm sick of Jason's signature trait being "he was bad/corrupted/insane" though.

For this instance I don't think it quite goes that way. I mean, it might be implied to a degree but this is from the family's point of view, so Jason is always going to be viewed as a black sheep. But nothing he did in there was OOC for him. I'd be more worried about where they take it from here, if Jason is to pop up later.

[Zaresh]

I'd settle for the "eccentric uncle that swears too much, but looks after the street rats" though. Would be different, but suiting.

Funny thing is, I think Jason doesn't swear in the comics. At all. Not even midly. He can be harsh to the bone, but he doesn't swear. Not as far as I remember, and it's not just because no one swears in G rated comics. With Lobdel, one could even say he is funny purposedly using very unswearing words (at this point I think he's even making a point of making Jason being the most harsh posible but with a clean mouthed).

I do remember Tim almost swearing once or twice, though. But that could be becaue certain writer's personal touch.

[Zaresh]

For this instance I don't think it quite goes that way. I mean, it might be implied to a degree but this is from the family's point of view, so Jason is always going to be viewed as a black sheep. But nothing he did in there was OOC for him. I'd be more worried about where they take it from here, if Jason is to pop up later.

I agree. Also, it seems like he did suffer later on even worse that what he had to deal with when he died and come back? Or am I reading too much into those wing dialogue boxes?

[RedBird]

For this instance I don't think it quite goes that way. I mean, it might be implied to a degree but this is from the family's point of view, so Jason is always going to be viewed as a black sheep. But nothing he did in there was OOC for him. I'd be more worried about where they take it from here, if Jason is to pop up later.

Yeah Jason, isn't actually OOC here, I'd dare say it's an acceptable portrayal, however the lens in which characters are viewed makes all the difference imo. Even if it wasn't for the comics story forcing another, 'Jason is just unhinged and violent narrative', isn't it kinda sad that even after like what, 20? 30 years? The rest of the family and the storylines for him are STILL only being used to finger wag at the character and look down on him. After death, after rebirth, after apparently years of development, it's still at the tsk tsk 'whatever you do, don't be like Jason' stage, either that's all he is remembered for and/or something tells me Jason 'got worse' as time went on in this universe.

I bought the issue for Major Dick, but now I'm just put off by how and where this story is going. Since Jason has been brought to attention and focused on for the first time in this series and coincidentally within the same issue, its revealed the 'Joker' is still alive and well, I'm kinda expecting it to be a twisted version of Jason for whatever reason. :/

[Aahz]

Btw. didn't Jason do the thing with putting a Bomb on Mr. Freezes helmet in UTRH?

[Aahz]

I bought the issue for Major Dick, but now I'm just put off by how and where this story is going. Since Jason has been brought to attention and focused on for the first time in this series and coincidentally within the same issue, its revealed the 'Joker' is still alive and well, I'm kinda expecting it to be a twisted version of Jason for whatever reason. :/

Wouldn't that be kind of a rip-off of Return of the Joker (and The Dark Knight Strikes Again)?

[RedBird]

Wouldn't that be kind of a rip-off of Return of the Joker (and The Dark Knight Strikes Again)?

Are you saying the comics are above ripping off even some of the worst stories

[Zaresh]

Are you saying the comics are above ripping off even some of the worst stories

Hey, Return of the Joker was nice. I mean, it was awful for BTNA's Tim (who, yeah, was very, very Jason-ish), but it was entertaining.

[Rise]

I'm sick of Jason's signature trait being "he was bad/corrupted/insane" though.

I don't get this impression at all. Jason is violent and the narrative in that issue is giving a sympathetic approach about why he is the way he is because of the tragedies he faced in his life compared to how it was years ago where they used to blame it on him being troubled and how anything bad happened to him is because of him.

I'm glad that DC is stopping the victim blaming they used to do and wish Lobdell would stop it too.

[Rise]

I bought the issue for Major Dick, but now I'm just put off by how and where this story is going. Since Jason has been brought to attention and focused on for the first time in this series and coincidentally within the same issue, its revealed the 'Joker' is still alive and well, I'm kinda expecting it to be a twisted version of Jason for whatever reason. :/

Redbird, what happened to you? You become so pessimistic lately whenever Jason appeared in anything and always expect the worst scenario possible. Let's wait for the story to end and then judge.

[Sergard]

Newsarama has an interview with Dan Jurgens about the current story arc in Batman Beyond:
https://www.newsarama.com/42450-dan-...an-beyond.html

[...]We pay some attention to Jason Todd here as well.[...]

In my eyes, that sounds more like Jason will only appear in flashbacks. But I could be totally wrong.
How old would Jason be if he is/was still alive in Batman Beyond? The interview says Bruce is around 75-80. But Dick looks like 60 at most and Damian like around 30.
That's a little confusing. But I'm more curious to see if Jason has kids in that universe.

[Rise]

Who knows, the random flashback does seem like a set up for him to appear especially with the Joker showing up.

[Aahz]

Newsarama has an interview with Dan Jurgens about the current story arc in Batman Beyond:
https://www.newsarama.com/42450-dan-...an-beyond.html



In my eyes, that sounds more like Jason will only appear in flashbacks. But I could be totally wrong.
How old would Jason be if he is/was still alive in Batman Beyond? The interview says Bruce is around 75-80. But Dick looks like 60 at most and Damian like around 30.
That's a little confusing. But I'm more curious to see if Jason has kids in that universe.

Futures End was set 35 year in the Future (and Terrys Father is currently a student at Gotham Academy and at least close to Damians age).

Based on this Jason should be in his early to mid 50s, Dick in his mid to late 50s (or early 60s) and Damian in his mid to late 40s.

[RedBird]

Hey, Return of the Joker was nice. I mean, it was awful for BTNA's Tim (who, yeah, was very, very Jason-ish), but it was entertaining.

To be fair, I was referring to TDKSA when I was referring to the 'worst' stories. I liked ROTJ too, that was a pretty dark storyline.

Redbird, what happened to you? You become so pessimistic lately whenever Jason appeared in anything and always expect the worst scenario possible. Let's wait for the story to end and then judge.

To be fair, I was less going with general pessimism towards Jason appearances and more the fact that I was looking at the storytelling and putting two and two together. First time Jason is mentioned. Okay cool, why mention him, he is almost always been ignored, so why do characters suddenly give a damn? But then oh, Joker once thought dead, suddenly returns, suspiciously contacting Babs and acting like he knows her, looking at general storytelling, it's a possible outcome. I didn't say this was 100% I just said I don't like the clues I'm reading, I don't think it's that out of the realm of possibility that a chekhovs gun (Jason) was being planted in this story for the payoff (reveal).

But okay, if we are going by history, well. History tends to repeat itself?
If Jason is going to be a major element to the BB story, to be fair, besides maybe Bombshells, I can't actually think of any major appearance where Jason was either not OOC, hampered by another UTRH-like story line or in general had a 'bad ending' negative alternate scenario. No these aren't the worst things in the world, but they just serve to make me less than thrilled about any appearances, with past examples in mind, I just don't have any expectations for something 'good', why would I? I should note, any appearance not major (or important to the story) and he (and others too) are otherwise just underutilized, which to be fair is fine and my preferred outcome to be honest as well as the most logical. It's the one that usually leads to more interesting and fun concepts that can be fleshed out by fans, like Father Todd.

Like I said I bought this issue for Major Dick, because I just like the fact that the comic was presenting Dick outside of vigilantism as having a positive future where he builds something for himself, same with Commissioner (Barbara) Gordon and Damian who uses his position in BB to control and right the world. That's refreshing. But, (and granted this extends to a lot of characters in general) I just can't recall Jason having any luck in specifically these future scenarios either. I'm pretty sure in the few futures we've seen, he was a child killer in Kings Batman, he was crippled and thus lost his will to live and took drugs in Batwoman, he was a child manipulating psychopath in Mother Panic AD (granted I liked the end of that book but that's not to say I liked how it got there).

But, you know what Rise, I'll admit BB has surprised me with it's presentation thus far for the batfam, cause future scenarios usually don't work out for them, so we'll see, in Jasons case, hopefully this story also sets up a nice or interesting future for him.

[RedBird]

Who knows, the random flashback does seem like a set up for him to appear especially with the Joker showing up.

You know what, if he gets to kill the Joker, I'll rate this comic 10/10.

EDIT: You know what? There's also a suspicious timing to Matt becoming Robin in this issue and an emphasis placed on that.
If this comic ends with Jason writing the wrongs of the past and saving Matt from the Joker. 10/10.