Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
By Alex Segura
The Red Hood’s very presence haunts the Dark Knight’s every waking hour.
But how did the Red Hood come to be? What trials did he go through before donning the gleaming red helmet, during those formative years before he crossed paths with Batman?
Writer Judd Winick and artist Pablo Raimondi hope to answer that question in June, with the debut of RED HOOD: THE LOST DAYS, a six-issue mini-series revealing the untold story of the man behind the Red Hood. It’s the tale of an angry young man’s transformation into a deadly villain.
What else is there to say? We went straight to, well, the source on this one - writer Judd Winick. Take it away, Judd:
“I’m thrilled to return to this character, and it’s both a joy and challenge to tackle this new story. LOST DAYS tracks the time from the Red Hood’s rebirth to his return to Gotham. In it, we get to understand this anti-hero in a new way. I think it explains both how he’s sympathetic, and an unrepentant monster. He’s a wonderfully complex character, and I hope this adds some even greater depth to his mythology.”
The series will ship its first two issues in anticipation of the arrival of BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD DVD arriving in stores. The DVD, the next entry in the popular ongoing series of DC UNIVERSE Animated Original PG-13 Movies, hits this summer from Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation and showcases Batman confronting new enemies, old foes and painful memories as a powerful vigilante with a penchant for violence comes to Gotham to stake his claim on the city.
And hey, Judd’s got a few things to say about the DVD, too:
“I can barely describe the fun and terror that went into adapting two years worth of story into one film, but the results will be something that will knock everyone on their cans. I couldn’t be prouder, and I’m itching for everyone to get a look.”
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Tags: Batman, judd winick, pablo raimondi, red hood, under the red hood, warner premiere
47 Responses to “Discover RED HOOD: THE LOST DAYS”
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My wife and I are eagerly anticipating the release of this DVD. Volume 1 & 2 of “Under the Red Hood” is what brought her into the larger world of comic books and has made her a fan of Nightwing.
You just made my life. Seriously. Winick is on Jason again? My favourite antivillain is finally back on track! We’re getting a miniseries? I am putting this on my pull list ASAP!
It seems like the extended version of that Batman Annual where they told us the story of how Jason was resurrected and turned into the Red Hood.
If I remember correctly, there were some stripes where Jason is seen training hard in martial arts and the like…
The bad thing is that (after Jason’s last appearance in Batman & Robin, under Morrison’s pen) he ultimately turns into a rather pathetic vigilante (”let the punishment fit the crime”?.. gimme a break) that ends up with his ass kicked.
I liked him better in the Under the Hood miniseries (back in the Infinite Crisis days), where he seemed like a true manace to Batman (and the whole Underworld altogether) and was depicted as a calculating, ruthless, and deadly foe. I’m not saying Under the Hood was that good, however: it wasn’t.
I like Jason, though.
Here’s the thing with Jason Todd:
I HATED the guy originally and was one of the people that voted to get rid of him.
I LIKED him in the 52-series
I DISLIKED him in the new BATMAN & ROBIN series
…now, I don’t know, I’m on the fence.
I can say that Pablo Raimondi is A LOT kinder in drawing Jason to look cooler and “attractive” again - he wasn’t drawn that way in BATMAN & ROBIN. Also, why did he dye his hair black again? His hair is red…REMEMBER, it was revealed that Bruce made Jason dye his hair black to resemble Dick. Was this an over-sight?
Jason is Winick’s bread and butter, huh?
I’ll be grabbing it… I WNAT to like Jason, really I do… they just need to retcon the retcon of his “rebirth”…
@ meisterlegion: his hair is black because the story takes place in the past. Its the lost years…so this story takes place even before the UNDER THE HOOD story by winick. He changed the color of his hair just recently in batman and robin.
so no thats not a mistake.
I will try this, seems interesting and i like Pablo Raimondis art.
can we please get this dvd on region 2. There is not point getting the mini if I can’t get it here in Ireland.
YES! Finally we get more Jason from a writer that UNDERSTANDS him and treats him with some respect! I am ALL IN for this series!
CORRECTION: …not the 52-series, it was COUNTDOWN series.
(he was likable in that book and I could take more of that interpretation of Jason Peter Todd).
…and as a side-note, please tell me we can all collectively ignore that bollocks about Jason’s red hair? I have the issue where Bruce finds a young Jason Todd stealing the wheels off the Batmobile and guess what? No red hair. I don’t know if the red hair thing is another crazy Grant idea or SOMEBODY ELSE’S crazy idea, but YUCK!
@CultOfConner - I know I agree with you…we need some kind of consistancy here. The Grant Morrison explaination makes it seem like Bruce had some sort of fixation or weird fetish.
Jason Todd is really a character with two distinct incarnations. Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, his origin was similar to Dick Grayson’s. He was the youngest member of a family acrobatic troupe (first appearance: Batman #357), and after his parents were murdered by Killer Croc, Jason was adopted by Bruce (in Detective #526). The first time Jason put on the Robin costume, he dyed his red hair black, and it stayed black thereafter. Post-Crisis, Jason’s origin was completely revamped (Batman #408). He was a black-haired street kid and petty thief, and his parents had different names and stories. His father had been killed by Two-Face, and I think his mother died of some disease. The current Jason Todd is evidently a bit of mesh of these two versions.
NOOOOO FRIGGIN’ WAYYYYYY!!!! Now THIS is what i wanted to see!!!
I’ve been wanting Winnick’s Red Hood (not that god-awful Morrison version) back in the books for a long while now… he’s one of the most interesting and complex characters in the bat-mythos.
I’m sure as hell picking this up, and I hope it leads to an ongoing. Jason’s character has much more to give than other “bat-sidekicks” that have their own monthly (coughs-batgirl-coughs).
Can’t wait for that DVD either… SO COOL!
@meisterlegion: His hair ISN’T red and it NEVER was… that’s just some stupid idea Morrison came up with to try and make Jason “his” character.
I get what you’re saying. But he’s a good character. He’s just been horribly mishandled by everyone that’s not Winnick. I mean, Red Robin? Morrison’s Red Hood? Sorry, but those incarnations of Jason just seem like overkill to me, and frankly, just plain stupid.
THIS is Jason. Give him a shot, I can almost guarantee you’ll like him…again? =P
God speed, Winick! I’m really looking forward to this. Jason has been butchered, which is a shame because he could potentially be a great member of the Gotham universe — a complex anti-hero who isn’t straight up moronic, by-the-numbers villain. I think he has great potential, both as a foe to Batman and an occasional ally (with stipulations, of course). He occupies an amazing grey area I REALLY want to see explored to its fullest.
And please, please, let’s just forget Morrison’s Jason ever happened.
I don’t know what you guys have been reading, but the red hair wasn’t a Morrison conceit. When Jason was first introduced back in Batman 357, he was a red-headed circus acrobat. When he first went out as Robin, they had him dye his hair black, so the public would be less likely to realize that there was a new Robin running around. There’s a Wolfman interview floating around online about the decisions made during that era that tells all about it. It wasn’t till the post-crisis reboot of the Jason storyline that he had black hair from the start.
I guess Infinite Crisis brought it back into continuity. No big deal.
@praetor - I have that Annual and it was very cool. I believe Shane Davis did the art.
I wonder if the reality altering “Superboy punches” will be part of the story for the DVD or will they just go with Lazarus Pits?
cryingfanboy beat me to it. Jason’e hair is, indeed, red.
I’m kind of surprised that they chose to adapt Under the Red Hood over, say, Hush. Hush is the bigger storyline with more wacky antics going on and is probably more well known, in general, than the Hood story. But, I guess, the other has more personal drama in it and that makes better TV?
@ coopster
Winick took it upon himself to write the script and pitched it to Bruce Timm, et al, they thought it was great and it got made. So it wasn’t like they had to choose between Red Hood and Hush.
[...] Judd Winick and artist Pablo Raimondi are teaming up for a new miniseries called Red Hood: The Lost Days — “a six-issue mini-series revealing the untold story of the man behind the Red Hood. It’s the tale of an angry young man’s transformation into a deadly villain,” according to DC’s The Source blog. [...]
in Jason’s original pre-Crisis appearances, he had curly red hair.
oops, cryingfanboy and coopster both beat me. cheers.
Red Hood is a great character. Red Hood is Jason and Jason is Hood. But Judd Winnick needs to stay on this character. He is a great writer and brings out the best out of the characters he focuses on
I think the Red Hood deserves a deeper look while everybody bets on Dick or Tim this guy also has a lot of potential not as villain but as the anti hero he always was. He can become a great vigilante even better than Grayson’s Batman just look into his life further and give this guy a chance to show us he’s also able the wear the cowl even if the rest of DC doesn’t like it.
Maybe Jason was simply lying to Scarlett when he told her that he had red hair and Bruce had him dye it.
I find it hard to believe that Bruce would exhibit such a quasi-pedophile (and certainly abusive-obsessive) behavior.
pic of Pre-Crisi Jason with (gasp!) red hair:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wpPLG-yJpJw/Sq0qKaevzlI/AAAAAAAADNg/vr_A-O0lfb4/s1600-h/JasonToddintro.jpg
can anyone help me out? was under the hood ever collected in trade?
@krmapuskringle: wow… that looks more like blond hair? and it’s indeed PRE-Crisis… as in a million years ago…as in retconned OUT. oh, and did i mention that looks like blond hair and NOT red?
@jorel1983: Yes it was. In 2 volumes if i’m not mistaken.
@jorel: yes it was collected in 2 volumes.
vol.1: http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Under-Hood-Vol-1/dp/1401207561/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268856257&sr=8-3
vol.2: http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Under-Hood-Vol-2/dp/1401209017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268856257&sr=8-1
@praetor: I could not agree more. And it certainly isn’t something that would be fitting to CURRENT comic book storytelling.
This is…AWESOME. Please Judd, help people understand that Jason can be a worthy anti-hero…or anti-villain in the DC Universe. This excites more than most of the current Batbooks stories!
Well! I think we know the answer now: a mess of the two origins.
What shocks me most is @TheCoyoteGospel didn’t chime in - they always have a comment or two about such a heated topic…especially involving Morrison.
I really liked Jason when he was the Red Hood after his resurrection. I thought it was a great idea to have a former Robin be an anti-hero. He’s still a good guy but he kills. Like Punisher (or Green Arrow now lol). I didn’t mind him as Red Robin in Countdown either. But then Battle for the Cowl came about and Tony Daniel destroyed all the enjoyment I had for the character. Then Grant Morrison destroyed the rest with Batman & Robin.
This does look cool however, but I have a hard time getting interested in the character again because the next writer is going to just destroy him again.
hmm what are they under? i looked up under the hood and didn’t see anything
This is going to be the only other bat title I’m picking up other than Red Robin. Jason Todd/Red Hood is my fav bat character. Looking forward to both the dvd and the mini
Re: The Jason hair debacle - he had dark hair when he met Batman in Batman Annual #25, post Infinite Crisis so yes, it is a Morrison retcon. His precrisis self had ginger hair, yes, but we have seen his current origin now and it was dark haired.
post crisis pre crisis who cares morrison went with pre crisis so thats what batman and robin was based on. whether judd goes with that or not is his choice but grant went with that. now enough stop squabbling like little kids…unless you are little kids then continue
It’s a god damn hair color, who the hell cares?
I like the miniseries idea but I just wish they would work on the present state of Jason. By far, he is my favorite of any of those who have worn the Robin costume followed closely by Tim Drake. This is primarily due to Winnick’s run on Batman. DC had a chance to have their own version of the Punisher or at least a Moon Knight type, a badass who goes to the very edge but doesn’t cross it. I completely blame Tony Daniel for completely destroying any chance of redeeming Jason. The stories have been there. There was an issue of Nightwing where Jason makes peace with Nightwing even calling him his brother, perfect chance to make Jason a good guy. Countdown, the entire series looked like it was going to redeem Jason, wrong, he goes back to being a criminal. Then there was an issue of Batman shortly before Battle for the Cowl when Tim takes Jason to the Batcave to watch a special message left for him by Bruce. Instead of making it being a message meant to inspire Jason into turning his life around, Daniel decides to make Jason mentally insane. Why does DC hate Jason Todd so goddamn much? Please, DC, redeem Jason.
alright the real RED HOOD is back! I don’t know about the new incarnation it felt odd to me. If you ask me if you want Gotham City truly cleaned up they’ll give Jason the cowl and let him and Damian do their thing as Batman and Robin. I guarantee the series will come to an end in about 30 issues.(HA HA).
THIS MADE MY LIFE!!!!! THANK YOU DC AND JUDD !!!!!!
There’s the way we can learn real color of Jason Todd post-post-post-crisis hair. But that only if we’ll see Todd’s pubic hair. We totally should start petition for. If we don’t and DC will get feeling of freedom from our collective Big Brotherhood then who knows what they’ll be capable of. First they change hair color then they’re going to change skin color and what next… gender transition? And I don’t want my Batman with tits and Batwoman with dildo!
C’MON, DC, YA BUNCHA WEIRDOS, SHOW US JASON’S PUBES!!!
@ runnerx13- Thank you for the clarification.
@ majesticfool- quote “wow… that looks more like blond hair? and it’s indeed PRE-Crisis… as in a million years ago…as in retconned OUT. oh, and did i mention that looks like blond hair and NOT red?” You live up to your name, someone shows you evidence and you choose not to believe. Fine for you. And, of course, post Infinite Crisis negates post Crisis. Everything old is new again, like it or not. And Morrison’s entire story hinges on making sense of the entire history of the characters, everything is fair game. Even Jason’s red hair, which was really more of a strawberry blonde.
@ praetor- Actually there’s a little truth there. It was Jason’s decision to dye it,originally, not Bruce’s.
Ha!!!!Ha!!!! I can’t beleive you people are fighting over Jason Todd!!!Jason F@*$ing Todd????one of the lamest characters Ever!!!!!!”But he came back as the Red Hood and now he’s cool”….whateva….i find it funny he came back around the same time Bucky came back as the Winter Soldier…one of the few things marvel did better and Before dc. that is why dc didn’t know what to do with lame-o todd after they brought him back and could not make him repent and be good…because marvel beat them to it with Bucky……who is a better character anyway….and i’m not even a marvel fan
jason todd has always been my favorite char. i was pissed when he died. and outragesly excitited when i thought he was back during the hush storyline. dissapointed to find out it was clayface. and excitited once again when he returned as red hood. now in the new batman and robin series he seems to have gotten careless in the first time since his youth. and i think they tried to make the pink flamingo guy look badass by taking on grayson, todd, and damian at one but instead of making him look more meanaceing they make the other three look lame. jason died and came back, and in recent years have been batman fans version of superboy prime. he should have had his own mini-series during blackest night. if any thing could make him face his demons it would of been to see his parents up and moving around again. then being forced to play hero, in order to save innocent lives, followed by being faced with the temporary batman black lantern.
jason todd should be a hero with a questionable mean streak like green arrow not a mass murdering anti hero like marvel comics wolverine.
I…have…waited…4 Years…for…this…
Judd Winick is the only guy who knows who Jason Todd is and I am thrilled he’s gonna be able to refocus this character [even in a series in the past]away from Countdown, Gatman, and Morrison’s Red Hood, which were basically like torture for me to read.
Thank you Judd!