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Robin II |
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| Alias: Jason Todd, The Red Hood |
| Titans Ally |
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| Robin II Quick Bio: After attempting to steal the wheels off the Batmobile, brash street urchin Jason Todd met the Batman. Becoming the second Robin, Jason's fiery temperament led to his apparent death at the hands of the Joker. But Jason has returned from death to wage a violent war on crime on his own terms. |
BOTTOM: Jason Todd aids the Titans in NEW TEEN TITANS (second series) #28-31 [1987].
LEFT: Jason returns as the Red Hood in BATMAN #638 [2005]. |
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Jason Todd's Origin
as recounted in
BATMAN #416 [1988]. |
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Batman Needs A Robin
Jason Todd grew up in crime-ridden Gotham City. After his father left Jason and his mother, Catherine Todd became ill. Jason took care of Catherine until she died, and remained in the same rundown apartment, living off his wits and knowledge of the streets. One day while in Crime Alley, Jason literally ran into the Batman. He was caught in the act of stealing the Batmobile's wheels, which the Caped Crusader found amusing but not beyond reprimand. Batman had Jason put into what he thought was a school for wayward boys. In reality, Ma Gunn's School for Boys taught boys how to be criminals. With Jason's help, Batman brought Gunn and her students to justice.
Batman had become acutely aware of the void created in his life since Dick Grayson had moved out. He was so impressed with Jason's performance that he offered to let Jason move into Wayne Manor and become the new Robin. Jason eagerly accepted. After six months of physical and mental training, the second Robin was born.
Later, Jason discovered that Two-Face had killed his father, Willis Todd, who was in the villain's employ. The Dynamic Duo eventually captured Two-Face and put him back in Arkham. Jason worked with the Teen Titans a couple of times, once in order to rescue Nightwing from Zandia. He was also involved in the Crisis, on Infinite Earths.
While Jason soon proved to be one of Batman's most enthusiastic students, he was also the most troubled. Brash and impulsive, Jason's former life on the streets had left him with an ambiguous sense of right and wrong. This often placed Jason in opposition to the values his mentor was trying to teach him. The most dramatic of these moral clashes happened when Jason tracked down Felipe Garzonasa, a foreign national who had raped a young woman and later drove her to suicide. Moments after Jason arrived, Garzonasa plunged to his death from his apartment balcony. While the truth is still unknown, there is a distinct possibility that Jason pushed Felipe off the balcony, thereby breaking Batman's strict code against ever taking a life.
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| Jason Todd meets Nightwing in BATMAN #416 [1988]. |
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A Death In The Family
Although an effective hero, the second Robin became increasingly moody, reckless and even violent. After consulting with Alfred, Batman decided to pull Jason off active duty. While kicking around his old stomping grounds, Jason discovered that Catherine Todd was not his real mother. He went in search of his true heritage and found it in Sheila Haywood.
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| Jason Todd meets his end in BATMAN #426-428 [1988-1989]. |
Using the extensive resources of the Batcave, Jason was able to track his mother to Ethiopia. But shortly after their reunion, he was surprised by and savagely beaten almost to death by Batman's arch-foe the Joker, who had been blackmailing Jason's mother. The Joker then left Jason and his mother bound inside a warehouse filled with explosives. Though Jason tried to disable the bomb, mother and son seemingly perished together in the blast.
Finding Jason's body, Batman was overcome with grief and thoughts of vengeance. He was eventually able to get past this with the aid of Superman, Nightwing, and the newest Robin, Tim Drake.
Hoodwinked
Apparently, the cosmic phenomenon known as the Crisis on Infinite Earths had long-reaching consequences. The Superboy from Earth Prime survived the cosmic cataclysm and found a new home in a pocket dimension. But when Superboy-Prime grew restless and pounded on the vibrational barrier that once separated the multiverse, reality fractured and splintered. From its wake, Jason Todd awoke in his coffin, now buried alive.
Crawling from his own grave, Jason wandered the streets and eventually found himself at the doorstep of criminal mastermind Ras Al Ghul. While Ras was fascinated at his find, his daughter Talia felt sorry for the amnesiac young man. Once bathed in the rejuvenating Lazarus Pit, Jason Todd's memories returned in a blazing instant. Overwhelmed with these new memories, Jason began to research the events since his death. He was enraged to learn that his "death" was unavenged - that Batman had not rid the world of the Joker through lethal force.
Consumed with anger, Todd assumed the Joker's original identity as the costumed Red Hood. As a result of a Gang War, Gotham's underworld was thrown in turmoil. Using brutal tactics, The Red Hood planned to take control of Gotham's organized crime. Batman and Nightwing tracked the Red Hood - leading to a rooftop battle with an unmasked Batman. The Red Hood revealed his identity to the shocked Caped Crusader: None other than long-thought-dead Jason Todd! Batman tried to reason with his former protege, but Jason resolved to fight crime on his own terms - lethal terms, if necessary.
Can Jason tame his ruthless side and become a hero once again? Only time will tell.
In combat, Jason uses his knowledge of acrobatics to keep himself out of trouble; much like Dick Grayson had as Robin. But this second Robin has proven himself much more ruthless.
DC Universe Role-Playing Games: Sourcebooks and Manuals [ West End Games], supplemented by titanstower.com
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The so-called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" caused time blips that retroactively changed reality. To clarify, below is an entry that tells the original origin story of Jason Todd as Robin.
Jason Todd's Original Origin
First Appearance: (as Jason) BATMAN #357
First Appearance: (as Robin) DETECTIVE COMICS #526
History: Jason Todd was the son of Joseph and Trina Todd, star acrobats of the Hill Circus. When Killer Croc extorted circus for "protection" money, Batman investigated the situation and was wounded in the process. Trina accidentally discovered Batman's identity while a guest at Wayne Manor. She and her husband offered their aid in capturing Croc, ending his threat to the circus. Batman reluctantly agreed and the duo joined the Caped Crusader and Robin (Dick Grayson) on the case. Catastrophe soon followed when the Todds gave their lives in the battle against Croc at the Gotham Zoo Reptile House. Their young son, Jason, upon seeing their bodies, told Batman he wanted to avenge them.
In recent times, Batman was encouraged by Robin to open himself up to the needs of people, so he agreed to take Jason in as he new ward. Shortly thereafter. Robin became Nightwing and turned the mantle of Boy Wonder over to Jason.
Jason has trained extensively with Batman, but still grieves for his parents. For a time he saw Nocturna as a mother figure, but with her apparently dead, Jason has accepted Bruce Wayne as his true parent.
A first-class athlete, having been trained by his parents. He is a good hand-to-hand combatant and is constantly learning under the Batman's tutelage. His reasoning and detective skills are weak and are being concentrated upon, but he shows extreme promise.
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Jason Todd Chronology
The Idea
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| A 2004 convention sketch of Robin by James Francisco. |
As an executive, Dick Giordano continued to tended to adopt a laissez-faire attitude. "I worked contribute to the comics, but primarily by "getting with really talented people," he said. "They made people to work for DC who could do the work a my job easy and they made me look good." The little better." In this capacity, he did his bit for Bat-most significant event of his administration was the man by arranging for writer-artist Frank Miller to introduction of a new Robin, Jason Todd, in Batman #357(March 1983). Dick Grayson was pretty much out of the picture by then, working under the name Nightwing as leader of the Teen Titans. Once he was gone for good, however, the disadvantages of having Batman operate without a sidekick to talk to became apparent again. Enter Jason Todd, whose circus performer parents were killed by criminals in a bit of exposition shamelessly reminiscent of 1940.
George Pérez recalls: "It wasn't until Gerry Conway said that he had no intentions of using Robin that we were given carte blanche. Then, there was talk that they wanted to give Batman a new kid sidekick, in order to bring back the father image of the character. I was called into a meeting, Doug Moench, Marv Wolfman, Len Web, myself, and Dick Giordano all sat down and talked about the new sidekick.
The one thing we suggested, but never thought we'd get, was to simply make Jason Todd become Robin. Give him the costume, make him the new Robin and just let Dick Grayson become someone else. We didn't think they would really accept that; [laughs] at least, not readily, because Dick Grayson had been Robin for almost 43 years! Dick Giordano said 'Let's go with it!' Since Dick Grayson has been established as being 19, and Batman has been established as 29 (the way Superman and all the other male characters are). suddenly the man-boy relationships between men 29 and 19 did not work; they were two men.
"They wanted to bring back the old formula. Doug was anxious to try the idea of the original Batman and Robin team again. The only suggestion I had was to establish Jason Todd as a blonde or a redhead; obviously, they've written their way around that [laughs]! But they gave up, they said okay."
The New Robin
When Jason Todd, introduced some months before, found his own circus-acrobat parents murdered by the freakish Killer Croc in 1983's Detective Comics #526, Dick spoke to his mentor of adopting the boy; Bruce Wayne instead took Jason in himself and trained him as a new crime-fighting partner. The dilemma of what to call him in costume was solved when, visiting the Batcave in Batman #368, Dick told Bruce of his decision to finally relinquish his youthful identity and bequeath it to Jason. It was a move carefully orchestrated by Doug Moench, writer of both Batman & Detective, and Marv Wolfman & George Pérez, the writer/artist pair who had revived the Teen Titans in 1980 to great success and sought to literally bring Dick Grayson out from the shadow of his mentor.
The Teen Titans. In 1983, it was decreed that Robin should grow up and assume a crime-fighting identity of his own - become his own man, as befitted the leader of the mighty Titans. He left Batman's world to assume the name, costume, and persona of Nightwing. Gerry Conway and Don Newton replaced him with a second Robin, Jason Todd, whose biography was virtually identical to that of Dick Grayson. Why not? Gerry and Don were not trying to innovate, they were simply filling a void. The assignment they were given was simple: Provide another Robin. Quickly and with as little fuss as possible.
"Jason is seeing the things that Batman sees through fresh eyes, so I can use that point-of-view to give everything to the readers in a fresh light. For instance, every time Robin fights a classic foe, it's the first time for him, and gives a plausible means of providing a background on the character without the old standby of 'hold on, here's a flashback, now back to our story - I have a natural dramatic way to cover that, having Jason do research in the Batcave and such, It won't work forever, but it's kind of nice. 'I would like him to fill Dick Grayson's function even more than Dick did. Back in the '40s when the sidekick character of Robin was first introduced, the style of the comics did not deal too much with the details of what it's like for a kid doing these kinds of things. I'd like to show in detail his learning process, the normal problems of adolescence that Jason goes through that are compounded by the extraordinary life that he leads."
The New Jason Todd
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| DC House Ad: Will Robin live? |
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Jason Todd's origin was completely revised as of 1987's Batman #408, turning him into a surly street urchin who got himself killed the following year in the infamous Batman #427 thanks to a well-placed bomb and a grisly call-in poll in which readers voted for his demise. Jason's death had been foreshadowed somewhat in Frank Miller's out-of-continuity 1986 miniseries The Dark Knight - which reimagined Robin in the form of Carrie Kelley, a Girl Wonder who helped an aging Batman find his spirit again.
Dennis O'Neil recalls the change: "In 1986, Max Allan Collins inherited the Batman writing assignment and told his editor he had an idea for an improved Jason Todd. Make him a street kid, Collins said. Make his parents criminals. Have him and Batman on opposite sides at first. Sounded fine to the editor and, since DC was in the middle of a vast, company-wide overhaul of storylines anyway, Collins was told to go ahead. I was the editor; I did the telling. And I'd do it again, today. Collins's Robin was dramatic, did have story potential. But readers didn't take to him. I don't know now, and will probably never know why. Jason was accepted as long as he was a Dick Grayson clone, but when he acquired a distinct and, Collins and I still believe, more interesting back story, their affection cooled. Maybe we - me and the writers who followed Collins - should have worked harder at making Jason likeable. Or maybe, I guessed, on some subconscious level our most loyal readers felt Jason was a usurper. For whatever reason, Jason was not the favorite Dick had been. He wasn't hated, exactly, but he wasn't loved, either."
In Comics Scene #1 [1987], Dennis O'Neil explains: "For all practical purposes, the stories we're working on now are present time. Jason Todd is in 1987. In 1987, Jason steals the tires off the Batmobile. And Batman decides, 'This kid is going to end up dead or in prison by the time be's 20 anyhow, I might as well see what I can do with him.' He also likes the kid, he feels a kind of chemistry. "And thank God for people like Jason Todd, because without him and Alfred, Bruce Wayne would be sort of a monster. They're a very humanizing influence."
Death of Robin
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| The unpublished alternate ending to "A Death in the Family". |
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In 1988, the fans were given the chance to influence the outcome of a storyline and voted to kill off a major character. Dennis O'Neil set the wheels in motion when he suggested that an audience might be attracted by an opportunity to participate in the creation of comics. "I saw it as a logical extension of stuff that's been happening in live theater for years and was increasingly happening in the electronic media," he said. "We decided that maybe the best way to do this was with a 900 phone number."
Discussions with DC president Jenette Kahn determined that the telephone vote shouldn't be wasted on something insignificant, so O'Neil decided he would use it to solve his "Robin problem." Jason Todd, the second kid to wear the Robin uniform, had been introduced in 1983, but his increasingly brash personality had alienated a lot of readers, and O'Neil knew he would have to alter Jason's attitude or else eliminate him from the series. "I hadn't made up my mind which one," he said, so he decided to let the readers decide. At the end of Batman #427, Robin was caught in an explosion set by the Joker, and the inside back cover displayed a pair of phone numbers that would determine the Boy Wonder's fate.
"Robin will die because the Joker wants revenge, but you can prevent it with a telephone call," the ad read. O'Neil and editorial director Dick Giordano were at odds in anticipating the outcome. "I expected it to be overwhelmingly in favor of letting the kid die," said O'Neil, but the final tally ultimately went against Jason Todd by a margin of only twenty-eight votes.
"I heard it was one guy, who programmed his computer to dial the thumbs down number every ninety seconds for eight hours, who made the difference." Although he would later regret the whole business, O'Neil went ahead and printed the ending the fans had demanded in Batman #428. "We did the deed, and we got a blast of hate mail and a blast of negative commentary in the press," he said. On the bright side, the way was paved for a third and more popular Robin, while the Batman comic books received publicity that would soon be snowballing into the biggest blizzard of Batmania the world had ever known.
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A Foreward to "Lonely Place of Dying" by Dennis O'Neil [April 1990], Batman: The Complete History by Les Daniels [1999]
Judd Winick on Jason Todd's Return
An article from Matt Brady - March 31, 2005
courtesy of http://www.newsarama.com
Before we get to the meat and potatoes, a little history for the younger set. Jason Todd first appeared in Batman #357 in 1983 as the son of circus acrobats who were murdered by Killer Croc.
Wait…Crisis on Infinite Earths…reboot
Jason Todd was a street smart orphan who first encountered Batman when he tried to steal the tires from the Batmobile. At the time, Dick Grayson had moved on to become Nightwing, and Batman was Robin-less. Long story short, Jason proved his worth to Batman, and was offered the gig.
But Jason was a nature versus nurture personified. Despite being treated like a son by Bruce Wayne, Jason never lost his anger. Rageball that he was, Jason had a wicked impulsive streak that even Bruce couldn’t tame. In his short time in the DCU, it was implied that Jason murdered a criminal, or, at the very least, let a criminal die that he could have easily saved.
Batman’s wondering of “What have I done?” was mirrored by both DC editors and readers, something that culminated in 1988’s infamous 1-900 call in to vote if Robin should live or die as a result of the Joker’s attack. Nearly 11,000 people voted, and in the end, 72 more people wanted Jason to die than wanted him to live.
Jason died, and Batman buried his body in a secret location. Since Jason’s death (and Batman’s near wig-out afterwards thanks to him feeling that he hadn’t adequately prepared Jason), Bruce has kept Jason’s costume in the Batcave, a memorial to his fallen soldier. Given recent events, Batman may soon probably redecorate the cave, and move that costume out.
Recently, as shown in the Batman: Hush storyline, the Riddler stole Jason’s corpse…or did he…? Jason rested in peace for over 15 years, but became hot again thanks to his “appearance” in last years’ Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee storyline.
While “Hush” ultimately showed “Jason” to be a construct of Clayface…or was he?...using the character served a larger purpose for Loeb in the story.
“Personally, I felt that the pain that motivates Batman had to move beyond his parent’s death,” Loeb said. “I would start every story with ‘I made a promise on my parents graves that I would rid the city of the evil that took their lives’ but having done this now for ten years - in DCU terms- is that still his motivating factor? As a parent, I can't think of anything more horrific than the death of a child. It's a chord I played in Supergirl as well in terms of how protective Superman would be of her. Bruce was a child when his parents were murdered. That would be maybe 20 years ago. Jason's death is still relatively fresh.”
In “Hush,” “Jason” seemed to be the real deal, essentially psychologically torturing Batman with taunts that Bruce let him die. Even in Batman’s eyes, “Jason” had all the right moves and training.
But – in the end…or was it?... “Jason” literally fell apart under Batman’s fists, reverting back into the clay of Clayface. The danger was still coming hot and heavy, so Batman only had a few minutes to analyze “Jason’s” return and convince himself that it wasn’t…or was it?...the real, resurrected deal.
Word of Jason’s “return” had leaked out prior to the release of Batman #617, and as a result, many fans figured for sure that Jason Todd was the mysterious “Hush” character who both knew Batman inside and out, and had been torturing him with violent acts designed to hit close to home and rattle the master detective – which they did.
But then…the pullback of sorts, and the revelation that Hush wasn’t Jason.
Again, Loeb. “I always liked Jason, liked the idea that Batman had a Robin who died in the line of duty and how that would motivate anyone to continue their quest. It would also be the most recent, most painful thing he had to endure. That's why Hush played the card -- to get inside Batman's head.
”But ‘Hush’ wasn't about Jason -- Jason was a pawn to be moved around the table. Yes, it shook a lot of people and I can't deny that Jim's depiction of him was friggin' cool -- but ‘Hush’ was about Hush. If someone else wanted to tell another Jason story or bring him back and we at least opened the door, that's great! For a lot of readers they didn't know who Jason was -- and to me, it was more important what he meant to Batman rather than the character himself. Now, if he's back, he has to stand on his own, have his own merits. We'll see where that takes him and Batman...”
With this week’s issue of Batman, Loeb’s “if” has become more certain. Since coming on to Batman as its regular writer with issue #626, Judd Winick has been playing the Jason card as well – showing his face in issue #629 as part of a Scarecrow-induced hallucination…or was it? While Bruce convinced himself that it was, Winick left a major clue to what he was planning at the end of issue #630, when Alfred called Robin to see if he had left as mask in the Batcave, as he had found one on the Batmobile – where Batman had fought with “Jason.”
The mask in question, of course, was a match for the one Jason wore in his previous return appearances.
And then…the Red Hood. Winick’s post-Scarecrow storyline began in #635 with a battle between Batman and the Red Hood, a new face with an unknown identity in Gotham. The story began with a fight and unmasking, but then immediately jumped to “five weeks earlier” for #636-#637, and then, this week, the reveal.
So – long story longer, yes, Jason Todd has returned, and yes, Winick has been planning it all along.
“It was one of the things that myself, Bob Schreck, and Dan Didio talked about from the start,” Winick told Newsarama. “When I was taking over Batman, and after the initial arc, I said I wanted to do something big, and this is what I wanted to do. We fought about it, discussed it – both the reasons for and against it, and in one conversation we settled it all. What it finally came down to – beyond the argument, which will be a reader argument about should any character return from the dead, and should this character come back from the dead? – was that I was less interested in the how and the why and the what of Jason Todd returning from the dead than I am about what Jason’s return will do to Batman. Now.”
And what will it do?
“Jason is, honest to God, Batman’s worst nightmare. The worst thing that could happen to Batman is this, right here. It’s horrible. And that makes it interesting for the character.”
Winick knows Lincoln’s adage well, and isn’t even pretending that he thinks everyone will love the idea of Jason returning for real. “There are readers who are upset about this – I know it,” the writer said. “A lot of readers fall into the category of wanting a story, but hating conflict. They love the characters, but hate when things happen to them. But that’s what these stories are about – we create these obstacles and put them through these terrible things, and they’re supposed to survive. It’s never about ‘Batman would never allow this to happen.’ Things happen, and that’s what this is about. Jason’s return is one of the best impediments that we could come up with. It’s one of Batman’s living nightmares.”
The reason for it being Batman’s worst nightmare? As Loeb mentioned earlier, this is the more recent pain, coupled with extreme guilt. “Through the years, Batman has somewhat gotten past Jason being murdered by the Joker, but it’s always there,” Winick said. “Go to the Batcave, and the most iconic thing that’s there at the moment is the glass tube that contains his costume, and serves as both a memorial and reminder of Batman’s greatest failure, as he sees it. It’s there every day to remind him that he failed Jason. And now, for that to come back as a living, breathing man…
“And that’s part of it – he’s not a kid. What does that mean to Batman, too? That’s what I was interested in – this is what Jason Todd is going to do to Batman, and this is what Jason Todd is about.”
Though “what Jason Todd is about” is probably not what readers think it is. “The first thing I put to readers here, the first time I’m commenting on this publicly – the first question I have to ask to anyone is that, in anything we’ve done with him so far – is Jason Todd truly a bad guy in the darkest sense? Look at what’s going on, and look at this man. Is he truly a villain, or is he something else? If you look at it this way, you might guess or see where we’re going?
“What would be the worst thing for Batman? For me, it would be for Jason Todd, who will remain the Red Hood as well, is that he will become Batman in a sense. In his eyes, he’ll be better than Batman. That line that Batman has drawn in the sand – that very distinct line between what he will do and what he will never do – Jason doesn’t see it. Jason Todd will kill people – bad people, or people who help bad people. Or, occasionally even innocent people who might get in his way while he’s hunting the bad.
“Everything we’ve done has not been about him being a villain, per se. He’s bad, but there’s something about him. What Jason can do and will do in the course of the time we’re dealing with it is that he wants to become what Batman will never be able to become. He will be better than Batman. He will do what Batman has never been able to accomplish. If Batman had killed the Joker years ago, Jason wouldn’t have died. Now, this ghost of all his past failures has literally come back to haunt him.”
But going back to Winick’s point that Jason is a man – and the point that Robin made in “Hush,” that corpses don’t age from teenagers to men while they’re in the ground – how did Jason get to be who he is today?
Winick is mum.
“Nope – nothing out of me on that. This is so not about the why right now, and I apologize to people who are looking for that immediately. The why is not going to be important for a really long time. The only hint I’ll give is that it’s no accident that DC Countdown and the return of Jason Todd happened on the same day. There’s a much larger story here – a story that Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka and I have been planning, and Jason Todd plays a part in it. So yeah, in one day, I’m partly responsible for killing off a hero, and bringing back another one…”
So – there you go, if you were thinking that Winick’s comments on the return of Jason Todd being the worst thing that can happen to Batman sounded familiar to Dan Didio’s comments that Countdown and the upcoming Infinite Crisis is an examination of the worst day in the DCU, it’s because they are.
“We decided a long time ago that Jason would be a very important part of the puzzle – this was brewing while Countdown and Infinite Crisis was being created. Jason plays into all of what’s coming. It’s going to be a while before the why and how is explained, and for me, it’s the least important part of things right now. Right now, it’s all about the who and what when Batman and Jason finally meet – we’re getting there, we’re three of four issues away from the point where the arc started and they were beating the living hell out of each other.”
The only hint Winick will give about how long Jason has been alive, and what he’s been up to – a possibility to consider: “I’ll put it up as a possibility – there’s an excellent chance that the Jason Todd you saw in Hush is the one you’re looking at now. I’m not saying this definitively – it’s only a possibility. But I’d urge people to go back and look at ‘Hush’ and figure out if there’s any point in the fight between Batman and Jason where there could have been a switch – where Batman could have been fighting Jason, and then, a moment or two where he could have been fighting against someone else.
“Comics are an amazing thing – everything about them. There is no other medium where you’re telling stories with characters who have been around for 50 years and there’s a hope that there will be a few constants – a few things that will never change and never be touched. I agree with that – there are some things that should never be touched. In this case, maybe one of those things that shouldn’t be touched is being touched, or maybe not. I’m not saying what the hell is going on, or what we’re looking at – is this Jason back from the dead? Is he a zombie? Did he never die? Is he from another planet or universe? Is he a ghost? Go through all of it. Every fan that reads this can and will go through all of the possibilities and come to their own ideas, which is great.
“But again, to me, that’s the least important part. The most important part for me is that Batman is now facing his worst nightmare. It’s the worst thing that could possibly happen – one of his sons, who he brought into this life, has now become the worst thing for him. Not just a villain, not just someone who takes lives, but someone who looks at him and says he’s useless. That’s how Jason looks at Batman – he looks at him as a father, but as a father who has long since become useless. It’s time for someone to actually save Gotham City, and wouldn’t it be interesting if it was Jason Todd? Gotham has been this way for decades – a hellhole. Batman is fighting and fighting to save it, but he can’t. And it’s something that he realizes and knows that Jason is right about, but he will never cross that line or go that far. Jason will.”
And finally, for those wondering, yes, Winick was reading Batman in 1988, and, when the time came, he called in and voted for Jason to live. 16 years later, he got his wish.
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New Teen Titans (second series) #20-21 [1986]: In Switzerland, the villainess Cheshire resurfaces and battles Wonder Girl's "new" Titans, including Jason Todd; Hawk is out for blood, and Wonder Girl stops him from needlessly killing one of Cheshire's henchmen; Cheshire comes face to face with Speedy and informs him that he is the father of her child. Roy claims that he didn't know about the child; Cheshire fakes an assassination attempt for the Church of Blood, battles the Titans, and escapes with some Church of Blood acolytes, who arrive via helicopter for her; Jason Todd deals with the pressure of his teammates assuming 'Robin leads the team.'
New Teen Titans (second series) #28-31 [1987]: Jason Todd assists the Titans in the defeat of Brother Blood. Brother Blood, his acolytes and a brainwashed Raven battle, defeat and capture the Titans; Raven returns to normal and attacks Brother Blood with all her might; Azrael saves Brother Blood from certain death and flies him to a monastery in Virginia.
Batman #408 [1987]: As Batman and Robin battle the Joker, Robin is shot and almost fatally wounded. Rather than see Dick be further endangered, Batman "fires" his partner, sidelining the Boy Wonder for a time. Months later while in Crime Alley, Jason Todd literally runs into the Batman. He is caught in the act of stealing the Batmobile's wheels. Batman puts Jason into what he thinks is a school for wayward boys. In reality, Ma Gunn's School for Boys is teaching boys how to be criminals. This flashback tale establishes post-Crisis continuity concerning how Dick Grayson abandoned the Robin mantle. Jason Todd's new origin as Robin is told for the first time. First mention of Dick Grayson being 'fired' as Robin.
Batman #416 [1988]: Nightwing returns to Gotham and runs into the new Robin, Jason Todd. Jason's brashness jeopardizes Nightwing's plan to expose some drug dealers. Later, Nightwing returns to the Batcave and confronts Batman. Nightwing learned from the newspapers that there was a new Robin, and was upset that Batman took on a new sidekick after 'firing' him less than a year ago. Nightwing recalls his hero history, detailing his evolution of being 'fired' by Batman, to his brief college career and time with the New Teen Titans and his graduation to Nightwing. Nightwing makes Bruce admit he missed him, although the moment is awkward and Dick leaves. Nightwing meets up with Jason to resume their case and expose the drug dealers. Nightwing gives Jason his old Robin costume and the two heroes proceed on their case, as Batman looks on approvingly. This flashback tale establishes post-Crisis continuity concerning how Dick Grayson abandoned the Robin mantle and became Nightwing.
Batman #426-428 [1988-1989]: Jason searches for his birth mother and learns she is being blackmailed by the Joker. The Joker beats Jason with a crowbar and leaves him to die in an explosion. As a result of an 800-phone-in number, readers vote that Jason will not survive. In Batman #426 he is found dead by Batman. Death of Jason Todd.
Batman #635-638 [2005]: "Under the Hood" The Black Mask and the new Red Hood carve up the Gotham underworld — as Batman and Nightwing search for answers. First appearance of Red Hood II in Batman #635. Jason Todd revealed as Red Hood in Batman #638.
Teen Titans (third series) #29 [2005]: The Red Hood comes looking for Tim Drake at Titans Tower - leading to a showdown: Robin vs. Robin!
Batman Annual #25 [2005]: The truth about Jason's return is revealed!
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