11 comments

1. 

   Sara

   April 3, 2024

   It's almost strange to find myself interested in something DC is doing in a non-hostile way.

   Not that I can't find things to be cranky about. It gets me pretty bad that they would release this, knowing there's an audience for Jason Todd stories because Red Hood is popular, but they won't do anything good with Red Hood. Their heastly treatment of Red Hood and the way they've been forcing the multiverse into everything puts me on defensive.

   And the cover implying this could be a Joker story is making me grit my teeth...

   So, I always harbor doubts and suspicions. But I am interested and want this to be good. And I like J.M DeMatteis. His Two-Face story Crime and Punishment (a one-shot) is wonderful. Awful, awful art in that one, though. God, it's one of the ugliest comics I've ever made myself finish reading. It is so worth reading. But that art made my eyes bleed. It's one of the only classic comics I believe needs to be completely redrawn. It's a *great* story about Harvey Dent's tortured relationship with his own father, which is why I think DeMatteis is a good choice for a Jason Todd story. Whether Jason lives or dies, his relationship with Bruce is tense.

   On that note, I hope it keeps to the classic canon that Two-Face killed Jason's father. Everything was better then.

   PLEASE DO NOT BE A JOKER STORY. (Or kill him right away, then move on to something better.)

   1. 

      Sara

      April 3, 2024

      *beastly

      My laptop has the worst keyboard. When I typed "laptop" just now, the P didn't want to cooperate. "Latop."

      Planning to replace this HP with a Dell or Lenovo. (The space bar was fighting with me in that sentence.) I am a fast typist cursed with a keyboard fit only for hunt-and-peck typists who slam their index fingers down in targeted strikes.

   2. 

      Chip

      April 4, 2024

      I'm in agreement with you there. I've been sick of seeing the joker for a while now, so I hope his dealt with quickly so the comic can move onto something better. Looking at some of the pages on the news post, I'm allowing myself to be a little more optimistic, because there's a bunch of different villains. That being said, you never know.

      I'll be sure to give crime and punishment a read though, even if the art is bad!

      1. 

         Sara

         April 4, 2024

         The other rogues might just be flashbacks... There's an old story where Scarecrow shoots Jason, nearly killing him. It should be important, but his lethal run-in with the Joker overshadows every other thing that's happened to Jason. His whole life has been rewritten to make that incident more important. Honestly, if I didn't happen to like the creative team, from the official description I'd be wholly inclined to think they were doing what Miguel suggested and just greenlighting a story about Jason so they could shove more Joker at us. It wouldn't be the first time Jason was used to sell somebody else's book.

2. 

   Robin

   April 3, 2024

   I do be living

3. 

   Sara

   April 3, 2024

   Yeah, a story witih Joker's death as a fait accompli would be a good way to deal with questions that DC is too chickenshit and stupid to tackle in the main continuity.

   I am hoping for all I'm worth that DeMatteis will be allowed, and able, to use these four issues to put Jason Todd back together after all the years DC's spent busting him up and demeaning him as a footnote to the Joker's story. I just about choked with rage when Zdarsky retconned Jason's death to be a ploy by the Joker to draw out Zur-en-Arrh.

   I want to say that nothing could be worse than what they've been doing, but: *knocks on wood*.

4. 

   Papa Grande ( formerly deevo)

   April 4, 2024

   DC is on such poor footing with me that it is so hard to care about these little side-story/alt-reality stories that don't have an impact. I would much rather they work on fewer empty mini-series and more classic-feeling streamlined stories in-continuity.

   Plus, NO MORE JOKER. I want a year long Joker embargo.

   Rick Leonardi is a master artist and should be used better.

   1. 

      Sara

      April 4, 2024

      "What if Jason had lived?" has been a question shadowing every single discussion of Jason since he died. I don't think this can be lumped in with all the other alternate timelines and elseworlds that exist for the sheer hell of it. It's not "empty" to people who care about Jason Todd.

      I'll agree with you about a Joker embargo, but I'd like it to last a whole lot longer than a year.

   2. 

      Chip

      April 4, 2024

      I've found recently that the Elseworlds stories like First Knight and Gargoyle of Gotham have been much stronger and impactful than almost all of the current in continuity Batman stories. Except from maybe Detective and Worlds Finest. Plus, they haven't had any Joker appearances. Yet.

5. 

   Robin MB

   April 4, 2024

   I'm conflicted. I like DeMatteis but I don't want another Joker story. Depending on what I hear about it maybe I'll get it in trade, I've no major opinion on Jason I just want a decent Batman story

6. 

   Madeleine

   April 4, 2024

   They had me at "Robin Lives!" but they lost me at "Now, for the first time, readers will witness his plans for revenge against the Clown Prince of Crime."

   Are there not enough stories about Jason plotting revenge on the Joker?

   I have doubts about DC being willing to kill the Joker off in any continuity. Martha Wayne had to be resurrected in the Flashpoint timeline because DC hasn't the strength or imagination to resist the pull of a Batman/Joker dualism that like a black hole absorbs all that passes before it...