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Most of the former and current Robins – Dick, Tim, and Damian – have all had extended runs as members (and, on occasion, leaders) of the Titans. Jason (and Stephanie) are the two who have had almost no long term association with the team.
Still, a lack of long term association doesn’t equal to no association, as Jason Todd was briefly a member of the Teen Titans back when he was Robin. It isn’t a lot but I feel even brief interactions are worth documenting as comic book history is something that should be remembered. Either to cherish it…or to not repeat the same mistakes.
So Remember How Jason Todd Was Initially Dick Grayson Jr…
Jason is called up by Donna Troy for a single mission at a time when the current roster of the Titans are in a state of disarray. Dick, Jericho, and Starfire are on Tamaran (though Dick and Joey have been sent back after shenanigans involving Starfire’s people), Cyborg and Changeling are searching for the latter’s dad who has gone insane, and Raven has been kidnapped by Brother Blood. Also the team is reeling from the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths (also by the same creative team as the current Titans book), which led to the death of their teammate Kole.
The other heroes Donna calls in are Wally West, Aqualad, Speedy, and Hawk. From that lineup it seems obvious that Donna was trying to re-create a version of the original team (that or she really thinks highly of heroes with red in their costumes). Except the heroes she’s picked are all suffering from the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths as well. Wally has just become the Flash with all the baggage that implies, Aqualad lost his lover Tula during the event leaving him very withdrawn, and Hawk has lost his brother Don, who as the hero Dove kept his rougher edges in check, making him a bit more eager to the ways of violence. While Roy doesn’t have any Crisis-related trauma, he is very unwilling to get involved after learning that Cheshire, a villain he had a fling with and clearly still carries a torch for, is involved. Yeah not going to lie, reading this comic with the knowledge of what happens in the future, it was mildly amusing to see that Jason Todd was somehow the most level-headed one out of the ensemble.
Now, writer Marv Wolfman may have decided to either ignore or was unaware of the direction that Jason’s personality would take on post-Crisis but he makes the conscious decision to write him as a good-hearted kid who ignores Hawk’s jibes and acts as the team’s conscience. When Donna has a breakdown over her selected team’s failure and tries to hand off the team to Jason, he steps up and confronts her about it. He points out that he isn’t Dick despite wearing the same costume and manages to help her manage her feelings.
He’s also savvy enough to realize that Roy has some connection to Cheshire just from reading his body language. And finally, shock of all shocks, he recognizes his limits and doesn’t charge headfirst into danger, playing a supporting role to the best of his ability. Like a true asset, he knows what he needs to do and sticks to the plan. Considering the whole mission ends up being a bust, Jason’s the only one who comes out of it looking even remotely competent.
Jason does return one last time as part of a larger group of Titans and their allies in their assault on the Church of Blood. He doesn’t get to do much and is kinda lost in the cavalcade of characters, but he does once again willingly play the supporting role and takes care of Raven’s mother Arella after she is injured in the scuffle. Once it all ends, he decides to take his leave but promises to rejoin once he’s older, with Nightwing’s blessing.
So, that’s Jason Todd’s time on the Titans. A short but by no means insignificant career, and…
Oh. Right. Might as well.
Red Hood is Angry. Water is Wet.
Now to give some credit to Geoff Johns, he writes Jason as Red Hood a lot more sympathetically in his other works like a small cameo in Justice League and Three Jokers.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for this issue.
I will have to start with a certain issue I have with writers like Johns as well as Tom King and Brian Micheal Bendis, which is their tendency to cherry pick their continuity as they please. Now all writers do this to some extent, but the way these writers approach their storytelling seems to be ignoring whatever would be inconvenient to the story they are telling at the moment. Like the past is just moldable clay to them.
For instance, Jason Todd notes that he never got to work with Beast Boy and Cyborg, which is not true…
…and follows it up with the fact that Raven used to tell him to keep his anger in check, which never happened as they were also never teammates and as far as I can tell never even interacted with each other before now…
Well, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about why Jason is here…which is to beat up his successor Tim Drake while complaining about how he didn’t have a memorial in Titans tower and whining about those that did.
All while wearing a version of his Robin outfit, which really isn’t doing him any favors.
Reading this issue after the previous story was enough to give me mental whiplash. Also the fact that Jason is doing all this just as the Titans are calling up a bunch of their past members and reserves because Infinite Crisis is on the horizon, kind of ties a weird bow on this whole affair. Jason Todd became a Titan when the team needed him to step up after one Crisis, and now leaves the team in disarray in the onset of another.
Next week: A DC Comics experience at the Gaylord Texan
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