Batman Fans Were Right to Vote for Jason Todds Death

Batman Fans Were Right to Vote for Jason Todd’s Death

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When Batman fans voted to kill off Jason Todd’s Robin in 1988, they could not have expected how right a decision that would be for DC Comics.

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Batman Fans Were Right to Vote for Jason Todds Death

In 1988 DC readers famously decided against keeping Batman’s second Robin alive, taking part in a fan vote where they could choose whether or not to kill Jason Todd off at the end of the classic storyline A Death in the Family. To the shock of many, in a close vote it was decided that Jason would die at the hands of the Joker. And while it may seem like a bit of cruelty on the part of the fans to vote to kill a young boy, in both the short term and the long term they made the right call.

Jason was first introduced in 1983’s Batman #357 by Gerry Conway, Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala as a replacement Robin after Dick Grayson struck out on his own and became Nightwing. Jason originally had almost the exact same origin as the first Robin: he was part of a family of circus acrobats who was taken in by Bruce Wayne after his parents were killed. After the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason’s origin was revamped in Batman #408 by Max Allan Collins and Chris Warner. He was now depicted as an orphan from the streets who got caught trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile. After first sending him to a school for wayward boys that turns out to be front for a criminal enterprise, Bruce takes Jason into his own home. Despite having vowed to never train another sidekick after Dick, the boy eventually takes on the mantle of Robin.

The death of Robin in Batman #428 by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo has been revisited many times in DC Comics, both from the effect that it had on Batman, as well as from Jason’s own perspective after he returned from the dead. Since coming back to life and becoming Red Hood, Jason has been something of a black sheep in the Bat-Family. He initially appeared as a villain seeking revenge against Batman for not killing the Joker. He later became a vigilante who was not averse to using guns and lethal methods to take down criminals. And while his current role in the Bat-Family has been recently reexamined through titles such as Future State: Gotham and Batman: Urban Legends – as well as his live-action debut in the Titans show – his actual time as Batman’s Boy Wonder and the reason why comic book fans chose to kill him has not received as much attention.

Jason Todd and Dick Grayson are Night and Day

Batman Fans Were Right to Vote for Jason Todds Death

Dick Grayson premiered on the comics page in 1940 with a big smile on his face and became famous for his “Gee whiz!” attitude in both the comics and on television. He was introduced as a way to appeal to children and give them someone they could relate to: a kid their age who tagged along with his hero and helped save the day. Even though he had a tragic backstory that saw his parents murdered in front of his eyes, most stories focusing on Robin were rather light, in fitting with the tone of Batman comics in general at the time. As the ‘70s rolled around, he eventually began to grow up, and finally struck out on his own as the hero Nightwing.

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Once Jason was re-introduced following Crisis on Infinite Earths, he could not have been more different from Dick Grayson. Instead of being bright eyed and bushy tailed, he had a bit of an edge to him. He came from the wrong side of the tracks, growing up in Gotham’s Crime Alley where Batman’s parents were murdered. He was a streetwise kid who lived on his own, smoked cigarettes and committed crimes. He had an attitude and by the time he was taken under Batman’s wing, he was less patient than Dick and was overly eager to get out on the streets and start busting heads. The ‘80s marked a time when comics began to move into grittier and edgier territory, and Jason very much reflected the trends of the time.

Why Did DC Fans Want to Kill Jason Todd?

Batman Fans Were Right to Vote for Jason Todds Death

Fan reaction to the new Robin was mixed. This explains why the vote to kill him was so close (only 72 more people voted to kill him than voted to save him). But looking back at Jason’s brief time as Robin, and it is easier to understand why he might have rubbed some readers the wrong way. He was, in a word, annoying. While stories tried to depict him as a rebellious counterpart to Dick Grayson’s more Boy Scout nature, his constant pushing back against Batman and Alfred could often come off as bratty. Given Dick’s tragic loss of his parents, it made sense that he would try to be a hero and help others from experiencing the same grief that he had to endure. With Jason, though his father died while working for Two-Face, his motives came off as less heroic. He was presented as someone who wanted to punish criminals and have an excuse to fight bad guys, rather than someone looking for justice or to protect others.

Jason displayed many personality traits that would later play out after he was resurrected as the Red Hood. From early on, Jason seemed to have no problem killing enemies. When an imposter was going around dressed as Batman and murdering criminals in Batman #402 by Max Collins and Jim Starlin, Jason questions if it’s such a bad thing that he’s killing people. In Batman #424 by Jim Starlin and Doc Bright, one of the final storylines right before his death, it is heavily implied that he kills a criminal named Felipe Garzonas. Angered when Felipe walks free after abusing a woman so badly she commits suicide, Jason corners him on the fire escape of his apartment. As Batman arrives on scene, he sees the villain plummet to his death. While Robin claims that the man fell, Batman is not so sure, and later expresses his doubts about keeping Jason on as his sidekick.

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Jason Todd’s Death Paid Off So Much Better Than Fans Could Expect

While fans might have wanted to just get rid of a teenage sidekick they didn’t like, the vote ended up paying dividends for Batman stories for decades. Jason’s death haunted Batman for much of the ‘90s. His Robin costume hung up in the Batcave for years, serving as a reminder for Bruce of the cost of his war on crime. During key moments in storylines like Knightfall, Bruce is haunted by the memory of Jason’s death and the thought that he could have done something different to save his young ward. Getting rid of Jason also opened the door to a new Robin in the form of Tim Drake, a character who proved to be much more popular with fans and has been acknowledged by many characters to be the best Robin that Batman ever had.

For years Jason Todd was one of the few characters who it was ruled should stay dead. Joining the ranks of Uncle Ben and Bucky Barnes (who would later return to life himself as the Winter Soldier), it was an accepted rule that Jason should stay dead, as a reminder of the cost and a failure for Batman. But that rule changed in the 2005 storyline Under the Red Hood. After facing the villainous Red Hood vigilante, Batman is shocked to discover that it is Jason himself, returned to life using Ra’s al Ghul’s Lazarus Pits.

This kicked off a compelling arc for the character that has been more rewarding than simply leaving him dead would have been. Jason struggled to understand why Batman continued to let the Joker live, and was furious that his death wasn’t enough to finally convince the Dark Knight to put down the Clown Prince of Crime for good. In the years that followed, Red Hood remained on the outs with the rest of the Bat-Family, who looked down on his lethal methods. He himself has struggled to find his place and see how much of a hero he really is. Recent storylines like Batman: Three Jokers and Batman: Urban Legends have seen him grapple with his relationship with Bruce and memories of his own murder. Future State: Gotham depicts him going undercover as an agent for Batman against their enemies, with the rest of the Bat-Family believing him to have turned traitor.

It’s tough to know how the past 30 years of Batman stories would have played out if more fans had voted to keep Jason Todd alive at the end of A Death in the Family. But there have been plenty of great stories and character moments that have come from this decision. It re-established Joker as a dangerous and murderous villain. It made Batman struggle with his role as a father figure and a crusader for justice. It opened the door for Tim Drake and other future Robins. And it made Jason Todd one of the most interesting and three-dimensional characters in Batman comics. And it all happened because a bunch of fans decided to kill Robin.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/jason-todd-robin-death-batman-vote-good-decision/

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