Reviewer: Andy “I’m the Daddy” Logan
Story Title: Under the Hood – Part Four
Written by: Judd Winick
Penciled by: Doug Mahnke
Inked by: Tom Nguyen
Colored by: Alex Sinclair
Lettered by: Pat Brosseau
Editor: Bob Schreck
Publisher: DC Comics
Before we go any further, I should point out that this is a spoiler-laden review. It’s pretty much impossible (for me, anyway) to talk about this book without mentioning the shocking reveal of the Red Hood’s true identity, so if you don’t want to know, or hey – you don’t care…don’t let the door hit you on the way out, mkay?
SPOILERS
For those of you still here; enjoy.
For once, my deepest hopes and wishes regarding a character reveal have come true – Jason Todd is back, and he’s the man under the Red Hood…and I, for one, was doing cartwheels around my front room when I reached the stunning last page of this issue. It may not be the most fashionable thing to say, but I wanted and hoped and prayed that Jason Todd would return to the DCU, mainly because I felt that there was such a plethora of potentially great stories that you could tell using the Todd / Wayne dynamic.
So, to all of you who want to flame me for saying it, tough – I wanted Jason Todd to be the Red Hood, and I am DAMNED GLAD HE IS. So there.
Trust me on this one – forget the whole “comics bring back characters from the dead too often and without meaning” shtick, although I DO agree that too often, DC and Marvel resurrect characters with little or no rhyme or reason, often devaluing the manner of their death in the first place – Marvel, especially, are guilty of this.
However – this once, this time, I believe DC have got it right. The buildup, beginning with the revelation during the “Hush” storyline that Todd’s body had been dug up and taken elsewhere, along with what (possibly) turned out to be a false appearance by the man himself, continuing in to the “Scarebeast” story-line with the suggestion that the former Robin was attacking Bats, and running into the current story arc with the reveal that Batman’s so-called “greatest failure” was still alive and well, has been flawless in it’s design and execution.
Okay, okay, I know I’m getting ahead of myself. After the dire twist over the identity of Hush, we could still be hit with a swerveball from DC and Winick – maybe it’s just Clayface play-acting again? Something tells me, however, that this is no swerve, and no matter how it happened, or even WHY it happened – Jason Todd has returned to the streets of Gotham.
And what a return it’s been – going toe-to-toe with both Batman and Nightwing at various points in the arc – and holding his own each time – outsmarting Black Mask (who is once again superbly portrayed as a witty, scheming and volatile foe) and outgunning Mr Freeze, Red Hood has been the proverbial fly in the Bat-World ointment since he first exploded onto the scene.
It’s somewhat poetic that Todd, who was apparently murdered by the Joker, should make his return disguised as the Joker’s very first criminal persona. Just as Joker tried and failed to stamp his authority on Gotham’s Underworld in the Red Hood guise, so Todd is attempting to show he can make a difference using (nearly) the same style of mask and name.
The end of the issue, just before the reveal, shows the Hood tracking down Joker and in a powerful and visceral series of panels, beating him to a bloody pulp with a crowbar. Again, there is a poetic symmetry here, as long-time Bat readers will remember that Joker beat Todd nearly to death with the same style of instrument just before Todd’s actual demise from Joker’s booby-trap bomb.
This leads to the question – is Joker dead, or not? Somehow, I can’t imagine Batman’s greatest foe being wiped off the map for good, but it won’t hurt the character to be rested out of continuity for a while.
I must confess that I’ve been picking up shades of grey from Red Hood during this arc, and in particular in this issue. I have a feeling that Todd is styling himself not as a bad guy, but more of an avenging vigilante who isn’t afraid to cross any line to achieve his aims. If innocents should happen to be hurt or die in his quest to do what he feels is right, then too bad – they’re just casulaties of war. Also, whereas Batman has always based his ethos on not killing opponents, Todd has shown several times in this arc that he will shed as much blood as is neccessary to acheive his aims.
After all, it does look in this issue that Red Hood gives up and walks away from the fight, allowing Batman and Nightwing to take the Kryptonite, and his cryptic “Lie of the land” comment would seem to suggest his primary goal was simply to test and evaluate – perhaps to establish the methods used by Batman at this moment in time, and, indeed, who he will end up crossing swords with on the other side of the law?
This will inevitably lead to some delicious confrontation between him and Batman – and, indeed, hopefully with Nightwing, with whom he always had an uneasy and fractured relationship with, anyway. Check out recent issues of the always highly readable and enjoyable Nightwing series to find out more about the early, edgy relationship between the two. Having said that, I understand Nightwing relocates to New York as of the next story arc within his own title, so a direct confrontation between the two Robin’s past would seem an unlikely prospect at the moment.
So, are we witnessing Jason Tood aka The Red Hood aka The Anti-Batman? A conscienceless vigilante, happy to shed as much blood as he has to in the name of his own brand of justice? A cold, calculating and angry individual on a mission to clean up Gotham his way?
Or is this another elaborate swerve? It’s been suggested that what we thought was Clayface pretending to be Todd during the battle in Hush really WAS Todd after all, and at some point during the fight – near the end, presumably – Clayface and Todd “swapped” to try and throw Bats off the scent and play with his mind that little bit more. That may be the case, or it may be that just as what we thought was Todd during Hush was somebody else, what we think is Todd now is once again not the real deal.
I say again – at the risk of ending up with even more egg on my face than usual, I believe that this is sincere, and that we really have witnessed his return.
There are still lots of questions to be answered – how is Todd still alive, where did he get the funding for all his weapons from, and due to his aging into a full grown man from a teenager, just how long has he been out of the ground?
This has been an intriguing, gripping and expertly written and drawn arc, one of the best Batman stories in any of the Bat-Family of titles in recent years, and easily the best since Hush. Jason Todd’s return, and whether he stays as the Red Hood, assumes a “Dark Robin” or “Dark Batman” persona, and how it will affect Batman’s psyche, makes for some potentially highly exciting and fascinating times to come. With this character’s return, the status-quo in the Bat Universe has changed entirely, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
