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No one in the Bat - Family is a victim of their reputation more thanRed Hoodis , and this fact expands beyond just how other characters inDC Comicstreat him . Jason Todd is often reckon as the bad Robin , with rooter narrowly voting to obliterate him off in theBatman : A destruction in the Familystoryline . resurrect as Red Hood during the events ofBatman : Under the Hoodby Judd Winick , Doug Mahnke , Shane Davis , Eric Battle , and Paul Lee , Jason has more recently been write as the Bat - Family ’s black sheep due to his anger and orientation for fierceness . And while this characterization is effective at differentiating him from the rest of the Bat - Family , it has also led to a stagnancy of his persona ’s journey . That said , the last instalment of " Cheer , " a Batman and Red Hood tale inBatman : Urban Legends#6 , has at last yield Jason Todd the emotional story that he deserves .
write by Chip Zdarsky , with artistry by Eddy Barrows , Eber Ferreira , Scot Eaton , Julio Ferreira , and Oclair Albert , flashback art by Marcus To , colors by Adriano Lucas , and letters by Becca Carey,“Cheer " sees Red Hood and Batman team upafter a new drug called Cheerdrops hits the streets of Gotham . After finding a small fry whose mother was in a comatoseness due to the effects of the drug , Red Hood kill the boy ’s abusive male parent in a convulsion of passion . realize the order of magnitude of his actions , Jason pass away down a spiral of ruefulness and guilt trip , magnified by the fact that the child ’s circumstances were so similar to his own before he was adopted by Bruce Wayne .
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What realise " Cheer " Red Hood ’s good story is the fact that it near him and his actions from beyond a " right or wrong " model . That is , its depiction ofRed Hood is loose from the moralizingthat Jason Todd has been subjected to ever since he return to DC Comics . No longer relegated to being the " unsound " member of the Bat - Family because of his anger , Zdarsky ’s Red Hood story focuses on a much more compelling angle rather : his excited biography .
With " Cheer , " Zdarsky movesRed Hood away from sometime Bat - Family antagonistto a deeply conflicted man fight to negociate between his hurt and the land of the world he lives in . Reconciling with how his desire to protect the innocent stems from the fact that no one , not even Batman , could protect him from the world ’s evils , the story explores interrogation of how Jason feels about his actions as Red Hood . From this , the core aspects of what makes Jason Todd and Red Hood so contentious – his rage , his impulsiveness , his sensitivity – are brought into new focus as his smashing strengths , not his weaknesses .
Batman: Urban Legends Proves Why Red Hood’s Anger Is Heroic.
In see at how " sunniness " reorients much of Red Hood ’s character , it is necessary to examine how he has antecedently been represent in comics related to the Bat - Family . In the wake ofUnder the Hood , Jason appeared in Bat - Family stories as an antagonist , specifically as ahyper - violent Batman and Nightwing . As such , his private individuality was shaped not so much by the particularities of his life , but by the fact that he wasbad . Without the more classically grand or likeable calibre of Dick Grayson in exceptional , Jason Todd ’s narrative purpose rarely went beyond providing more evidence for why he was Batman ’s bad Robin .
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What " Cheer " come through in doing is render the emotional power of take Red Hood out of an excessively moralisation setting , plain in how his fury is instrumental to make unnecessary his have sex ones . This is fitting , considering that the Cheerdrops drug that him and Batman were tracking down overwhelms its drug user with a feeling of euphory . At the climax of exit routine six , Red Hood comes to deliver Batmanfrom the villain Cheer ’s lair , where his old wise man had been administered with a heavy Cupid’s disease of the drug . When he is sprayed with the Cheer gas , Jason campaign off the happy legerdemain that he is given from the drug by tapping into his fury . This is an important footfall , because Jason fight back off the Cheer gas allow him to fight alongside the eternal rest of the Bat - Family , who came to his assist straightaway afterwards . Thus , Jason ’s decision to stay angry , rather than give into the conjuring trick of happiness that Cheer provide , helped finally integrate him into the rest of the Bat - Family . alternatively of pushing him by from them , Red Hood ’s wrath was exactly what the Bat - Family need to save their wise man .
Red Hood’s Rage Makes Him Empathetic Towards Batman.
Zdarsky ’s saucy take on Red Hood ’s angriness is most apparent when hetalks Batman down from stamp out Cheer . After he was inject with an antidote by Red Hood , Batman was so sweep over with furore against Cheer that he dangled him off the boundary of a building . Stopping him from get out his bighearted rule , Jason told Batman , " This is n’t you ! God knows most sidereal day I wish it was , but … it ’s not . If you ’re going to amount down from Mount Judgement to my degree for once … He ’s not the guy to do it for . "
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Thisexchange between Red Hood and Batmandemonstrates how Jason ’s wrath has been reconfigured in the story to be an huge advantage . While his rage has played a part in the events of the story , from killing the abusive father in the beginning , to resisting the consequence of Cheer ’s petrol , it also endows him with an ability to empathize with others ' anger . And this is just where " sunniness " succeeds as a Red Hood account , because it digs deeper into what it actually imply for Jason Todd to have these touch in the first topographic point : to help people . Zdarsky ’s writing on the whole has made it clear that Jason Todd was never wild for the interest of being wild , but as a response to the injustice in his own biography and around him . And here , angriness is n’t something jeopardize the rubber of the Bat - Family like in previous tarradiddle , but a commonality that play reciprocal agreement between Batman and his most contrary boy .
Jason Todd ’s sprightliness has been far from easygoing , andBatman : Urban Legendshas not shied forth from indicate the saddest moments from the 2d Robin ’s life ( and expiry ) . This , alongsidemending his relationship with the Bat - Family , has made " Cheer " one of the deepest explorations into Red Hood ’s emotional life sentence . By taking Jason Todd beyond just a one - distinction , angry character , " cheerfulness " reasserts why the Bat - Family in DC Comics is such a active group . Though many of its fellow member have suffered huge tragedy , the acquirement they build in reply to it drives them to protect the innocent and vulnerable .
Red Hood does have a reputationof being the misunderstood penis of the Bat - Family , but Zdarsky ’s written material shows that there is more to him than just that . By not focalise so much on the " good or bad " optics of his action as Red Hood , " Cheer " proved how Jason Todd ’s rage come from a place of hurt and empathy . In this path , " cheerfulness " succeeded in giving Red Hood his best story because of its investment in apprehension , rather than judge , his actions . Hopefully , this variety in approaching can lead to moreRed Hoodstories steer by emotional meshing , rather than moral didacticism .
Next : Red Hood No More : What ’s Next For Jason Todd ?
