I have a lot of problems with Jason Todd.
It's never made much sense to me why Batman would ever enlist this kid in his war on crime. The story has always been that Batman found some little boy trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile so he decided "I'll take him in and make him the new Robin!"
I hate that. The whole Robin concept in general only seems to work in three ways:
- Robin's creation is out of Batman's hands. This is the best way. It's the method that the Animated Series used. Dick Grayson was going to seek vengeance and fight crime whether Batman was there or not. Batman simply made sure the kid didn't get himself killed. Tim Drake's origin combined that of Jason Todd and Tim Drake from the comics and although it didn't work quite as well, Tim Drake knowing who Batman is placed Batman in kind of a tough situation. It's not like he can just let the kid go and after all, things worked out alright with Robin and Batgirl so maybe these kid-heroes aren't such a bad idea after all. It starts to move into campy territory.
- Campy territory. Strip out the seriousness of it and just make Batman pure escapism. The tone is lighthearted, the bad guys are bad, the good guys are good, and there's no in between. Think the 60s TV series. There's never really a life or death situation, everything is going to turn out okay every time. If a grown man wants to have a little boy be his crime fighting helper then so be it. I bet they become chums and have fun adventures as they fight villainy. Anyone true of heart can put on a cape and be a hero.
- Batman is ****ing insane. Only one kind of person recruits children to be his soldiers in a war on crime that involves the wearing of tights-- a psycho. Bruce Wayne gazed into the abyss, the abyss gazed into him, and they have become one. Perhaps Batman has been pushed too far? His war on crime seems so hopeless that he snaps and decides that he needs to build an ally to fight alongside him, a boy he can train to be a man just like him, and together they can rid the city of crime! Perhaps he could even build an army?
The only Batman who would accept to train a kid just because he dared try and steel bat-tires is psycho Batman...but the only book that comes to mind where we actually saw Batman depicted this way was not with Jason Todd, but Dick Grayson in Frank Miller's All-Star Batman & Robin and that was terrible. Psycho Batman isn't entertaining to read about because he's a hero you can root for, he's a train wreck and you just can't look away. You don't get invested in that sort of mythology, it doesn't even become mythology. You gawk at it. I'd rather read about a Batman with more redeemable qualities but the redeemable Batman has never made sense with Jason Todd.
Here in Red Hood & The Outlaws, the tire-theft element is dropped but Batman's recruitment of Jason Todd as a Robin still makes no sense under the other 2 concepts I mentioned so Batman would need to be crazy. He's not crazy here though. He seems pretty level headed about the whole thing.
But anyway, issue #0 was alright at first. I liked the dialogue, Lobdell does a good job of capturing Jason's voice and this has been a pretty fun series all year long. He covers Jason's early life from conception (seriously) all the way to the moment he is killed by the Joker. It's paced very well. For so much content to be squeezed in yet not feel like overload should be applauded. Lobdell even managed to add Leslie Thompkins into the story and I love that character. Jason is stealing prescription drugs from her when Batman intervenes. Batman is ready to arrest the boy when Leslie Thompkins steps in and convinces Batman otherwise. It's never made clear what Leslie said, but I'm certain that it wasn't "You should make him a Robin instead."
If she knew that Bruce would make Jason a Robin she would have preferred that he just let the authorities handle the boy. Leslie, like Alfred, has always been Bruce's conscience only unlike Alfred, Leslie isn't just trying to make Bruce a better Batman, she just wants him to be a good man (the Nolan movies did a great job of humanizing Alfred and showing that he wanted Bruce to have a normal life too). Nothing would make her happier than if Bruce retired the cowl and saved the city as a Wayne, not as a caped crusader. There's no way she would support Bruce in pushing another orphan into a life of violence. But other than that section, the main story here was very entertaining and I had no complaints about it. I was thoroughly enjoying it and ready to give an 8/10 or so. There was even a moment with Jason Todd's dad and a camera that made me laugh. But just when I thought it was over, I was surprised by an odd 4-page backup story.
Other than the comic's inconsistent artwork (it took 3 artists to produce this book and none of them are Kenneth Rocafort) its greatest weakness, the thing that totally ruined my enjoyment of it, was the backup. A short story that's sure to cause some controversy. I'm going to put this in spoiler tags.
Show Spoiler
This short story is told by the Joker to you. He breaks the fourth wall and what he has to say...I'm not sure how to feel about it. It turns out that Joker orchestrated Jason Todd's Robin origin. I'm still trying to make sense out of it. Jason Todd was treated at Leslie Thompkins' clinic, he stole some meds but was caught by Batman who was then convinced by Leslie to adopt him instead of arrest him. Batman was indeed convinced and even trained Jason to be the new Robin. Okay. So in order for Joker's plan to work we have to accept that Joker knows who Batman is. I'm fine with that. It adds to the whole Batman/Joker antithesis thing. Batman would love to know who Joker really is, it's a mystery he can't solve. Joker knows who Batman is but he doesn't care at all. It works. I'm fine with it. So if we accept that Joker knows who Batman is and that he knows that Batman and Leslie Thompkins are close then we have a piece of the puzzle right there. So let's lay it all out:
Joker's Plan to Create a Robin
- Fake the death of a little kid's mother, making him an orphan like Batman
- Beat up kid
- Leave kid at the doorstep of Batman's doctor friend
- ?
- Robin
It worked. Somehow...I guess Joker knew exactly how everything would play out. Here's my idea of Joker's more detailed version.
Grand Evil Scheme
- Fake the death of a little kid's mother, making him an orphan like Batman
- Beat up kid
- Leave kid at the doorstep of Batman's doctor friend
- Hope doctor friend treats him differently than any other patient and decides to introduce him to Batman
- Batman thinks kid will make a good Robin
- Show kid that his mom is actually still alive so he will come visit me in a warehouse in another country
- Blow up warehouse
- Batman cries
- I laugh
- (Repeat?)
Red Hood & the Outlaws #0 is a good read. I think Jason's miserable upbringing makes him stand out from many other heroic characters and diving into his past in such great detail was interesting. The problem is with the inconsistent artwork and terrible backup story which really takes the wind out of an otherwise solid comic book.
SCORE: 6/10
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10 comments
The backup is the most preposterous thing ever put into a Batman comic (and that's saying something). I'm already tired of the New 52 and all of its changes for the sake of changes.
A few random thoughts...
1 - I never understood the hate for Robin in general and the hate for Todd in particular. I am proud to say I voted for him to live several times. Though, in hindsight, that was a mistake as his death turned out to be one of the most important elements in the entire history of Batman for many years.
I never had a problem with his origin. It was better than the Pre-Crisis one at the very least. It made sense to me. Bruce is missing Dick and angry at him and at himself at how their relationship deteriorated, then along comes another orphan. Jason is like a rebound girlfriend.
And I like that it's not just another kid saying my parents got killed, now I'm a superhero. They tried something new. Batman finding a kid on the path to being evil and trying his best to help set him on the straight and narrow. And for me, that is why Todd's death had such impact on Bruce. Even if they killed Dick or Tim, I don't think it would've meant as much as Todd because Todd dying is completely Bruce's fault. Like you said, the others seemed to be on their way to crime fighting anyway, Todd wasn't. Bruce pushed him into the life and it got him killed. If Dick or Tim died I'd imagine Bruce would be devastated but he wouldn't blame himself and go so dark the way he did after Todd's death because the weight of those deaths would not be as heavy on his shoulders. He picked up some random kid in an alley, put him in a costume, got him beaten up with a crowbar and blown up. That's some regrets right there. You say that the redeemable Batman doesn't make sense with Todd. I think that's the point. The whole thing is Batman's biggest failure and Bruce's biggest mistake. It's the thing he will never get over and never forgive himself for. That's why Jason Todd being alive is such idiocy.
I'm a few issues away from re-reading the Jason Todd origin. Maybe I'll change my mind. haha
2. I know All Star Batman and Robin is a love it or hate it....well, mostly hate it...but I didn't mind it. There are some great moments in there mixed in with all the weird. The Batman vs Green Lantern scene is a favorite of mine.I just wish they would've finished it because I think a lot...well, some...of what people hated would've made sense in the end. I just recently re-read the whole run and yes, Batman starts out nuts. But slowly over the course of the last few books you see that it's all just a ruse. He's not a psycho, he's just putting on an act because he wants to scare the piss out of Dick to see what he's made of. He's trying to be the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. I think if the series had continued that would've been fully shown and we would've settled into a bit more "normal" Batman and Robin.
3. I don't think there is a non-psycho Batman. Even when he's not the Frank Miller GOD DAMN BATMAN, he's still pretty crazy and paranoid. He's dressed like a bat.
Very well said. And after reading your comment I totally see a good story being there in Jason Todd being Batman's greatest mistake, I just haven't seen it executed that well yet.
If he snatches up Jason because he's lost without his old partner it makes him pretty mad (as you said, Bats is always a bit crazy but signing up kids for this is a whole extra level of crazy). He's farther gone than ever before. And in THAT situation I think that Alfred would walk out. He wouldn't stand for what Bruce was doing and there would've been a schism. He likely wouldn't return until after Jason died. Not to say "I told you so" but to help pick up the pieces. Now Alfred has just as much regret over Jason because he didn't stay behind to help Bruce with the boy or try harder to convince him to let Jason go (even though he knows he'd never have been able to convince Bruce otherwise).
I'm just rambling here of course about how I would see it playing out in the mistake scenario. I also don't think that there would ever be a Tim Drake Robin following something that monumental. The death of Jason Todd may have been just the thing to shock Bruce (and Alfred) into seeing how far they've gone and that it's time to plan for an endgame to the war on crime and get out of all this. Which now that I think about it, that was a big catalyst for Bruce retiring in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.
I actually liked the back up, And the logic gaps while there, ignore the idea that joker is more than aware of who batman is. If he knows that Bats is Bruce, then he would know of the connection to Dr.Tompkins.
As to whether or not Bats is Crazy and that being the only logical conclusion, Bruce Adopts him, much as he did grayson, just in this case it was because Leslie told him to help him, probably some crap about how he could still be saved. Thats understandable. As to letting him become robin, Its the same concept as sending a kid to military school, but we don't call that insane. The choices Bruce had were train him and direct his inherent anger with the world or do nothing and let him become just another criminal. Of course these both ignore that he could have and should have sought psychiatric help for the kid. He saw a drive in the kid and wanted to direct his anger into something constructive, later to realize that there was just to much pain within jason to direct.
Bruce is an adoption-addict. Dick. Jason. Tim. Cassandra Cain. Throw in Damian for kicks and you've got someone who needs help with this problem.
[just read this issue, 6 months late]
third reason for robin. first sentance. HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!
im kinda new to Batman and ive been wondering, why did so many people hate Jason Todd as Robin? He seems kinda bad-ass to me
He has been hated more as Red hood, But in general he had a generally worse attitude people still loved dick. There is a general belief that someone rigged an auto call system to kill off todd as there was quite a bit of hate mail sent to DC for having killed him to begin with.
right so, thanks
The whole think with the Joker being involved in him becoming Robin really ruined it.