Spoilers.





























Batman Annual #25, wherein we FINALLY discover the means by which Jason Todd return. And, thankfully, Winick is writing, so not only is the story good, it matches up with the Red Hood arc perfectly.

In any case, the short version is that Jason comes back as a result of Superboy Prime doing some reality tampering, setting things right. One of these tamperings involves a reality where Jason survives the Joker's beating and the explosion. I suppose he adjusts the normal reality...with that one?

In any case, Batman never knew Jason escaped his grave because all the detection traps were made to prevent people breaking INTO Jason's coffin, not OUT of it. Jason had some brain damage for awhile, came out of a coma, lived via instinct on the street, til he was discovered and handed over to Ra's al Ghul, who tried to rehabilitate him to no avail. Talia, doing what she believed was right, shoved Jason into a Lazarus pit, against her father's wishes. It restored Jason's mind and body completely, and he is as you see him now. He escaped Ra's' fury, and was set up with all the documentation he needed through Talia.

He finds out that Bruce let the Joker live, and through some mechanism (the Lazarus pits, feeling betrayed/disappointed), he snaps. He does his stint as Hush to see if Bruce will show remorse, and when he doesn't, it's the final straw that leads to the Red Hood, and what follows after that.

Overall, I was really impressed. I had low expectations for this comic (I mean, come on. It's an annual.), but Winick actually pulled it off pretty damn well.

 

I thought the issue was pretty good. I do wish it would have clarified what happened at the end of the last issue of Batman when Joker shot the C4 and Jason and him went ka-blewey.

 

Uh...I'm going to soft-pad my opinion right now and ask up front if anybody will be angry at a negative review? I have some pretty bad things to say about it, and I have no intention of "flaming," but still...

 

I wholeheartedly agree with its awesomeness, I see a lot of people didn't like it though. Even trying to fit it into everything else that's happened and is happening it still was a fun little story. (Though the Hush thing raises the whole "mimicking Nightwing" thing that Bats used to deduce that it wasn't actually Jason) Using the "He's alive! Thank God!"? Priceless. Having the "correction" take place 6 months later? Morbid (and awesome).

 

You are perfectly free to express your opinion here.

 

Eh, maybe I need to read it to get it, but it sounds lame as hell.

Something screwy in the DCU? Blame Superboy Prime... laaaaame.

Alarms for breaking in, but not out? LAaaaaaame.

Bringing back one of comics most meaningful dead people? Laaaaaaaame, but par for the course it would seem, nowadays. LAME LAME LAME.

 

Glad I picked this up on a whim.

 

I was gonna make a thread like this and call it "The Return of Jason Todd, or how Judd Winick stole the election of 1988."

Anyways, when I finished this issue, I sat back, thought about it for a minute, and decided it was actually a pretty clever way of explaining things. It was impossible to come up with an explanation that blew everyone away, and caused them to rally around Winick, and I thought this was about as good as we were gonna get.

I'll clarify a little on what happened. Basically we know that Superboy Prime and Alex Luthor busted out of their little Paradise some time before Superman-2 does in Infinite Crisis #1. As Superboy was shattering the barrier between the Paradise and the the "real world," it sent ripples through the fabric of the universe causing changes, such as all the troubles in the backstories of Donna Troy, Hawkman, and the Doom Patrol.

As for Jason Todd, continuity was supposed to play out with Jason surviving (which is noteworthy because Winick himself had called in to save Jason and never really let go of that), but the shockwaves upset things causing him to die, hence "Death in the Family." Several months later, the ripple passes and reality resettles bringing Jason back to life. Presumably opperating under pure adrenaline, Jason manages to claw his way out of his coffin, climb to the surface, and wander some twelve miles before ending up in a coma.

So, he's vegitative for a year (which makes sense since he was beaten near to death), then ends up homeless in a slightly-better-than-vegitative state, with his Robin-training instincts kicking in and taking over from time to time.

Long story short, Jason ends up as Talia's pet project, but Ra's ultimately gets fed up with Jason's lack of recuperation and fears that if he is discovered, Batman would come down on him hard, so he orders Talia to get rid of him. Instead, she sneaks him into the Lazarus Pit and revitilizes his mind and body, then smuggles him away and sets him up with cash and connections.

Basically, the continuity wave and the Lazarus pit together end up bringing about Jason's return. He was always supposed to survive the Joker's beatdown and explostion, but reality fluxed and he was dead for some months before everything settled and he ended up alive in the same state he would have been if he'd lived, basically almost dead. The implication is that, if Jason had lived back in '88, he would have been incabable of functioning as a normal human being again, which is why the Lazarus Pit was necessary. This also adds to the tension between Ra's and Talia that ultimately led to her abandoning him a few years ago.

So yeah, in the end, I enjoyed this explanation and thought it was about as good as it could have been, since there's no getting around the fact that Winick was mesing with history. I enjoyed all the Under the Hood storyline, and this revelation will not taint my liking for it.

 

Honestly, I thought the continuity wave thing was kind of lame (although if they use it to bring back Ice, too, all will be forgiven  ). Still, it was a good read.  

 

I enjoyed most of it. I always assumed Ra's was part of it somehow. I just would have preferred Ra's or Talla being behind the whole thing. The only lame part of the story was the whole Superboy Prime thing. That just really lamed up the "origin" of Jason's return.

It was good. Not quite as good as 'Winter Soldier' though.

 

What happens in Winter Soldier?

 

in 1945, when Cap was frozen, Bucky was dumped into the frozen waters as well. The Russians found Bucky. He has no memory of who he was. Russians trained him as an Operative/Assasin. Putting him in cryo freeze when not needed, and pulling him out for important jobs. Now he's out there on the loose.

 

Winter soldier is great! All I have read is the first seven issues but I love what I read.

 

As long as you're constructive and not just posting something lame like "THIS SUXXXORZ MAD BALLZ" you'll never get flamed here. We're good like that.

I thought it was good, if somewhat predictable explanation. I think a lot of people knew it was tied into Infinite Crisis in some way and thusly were expecting that. I did like the throw in of Talia and Ra's Al Ghul.

What I'd really like an explanation for, is Jason's Todd's white streak of hair during Hush that went missing later. What the hell?

Finally... anyone seen the cover for the first Nightwing OYL book? Interesting, huh?

 

"Just for men."

 

maybe it was to make bruce think he was older then he really was. I'm not sure what his age would be in continuality but that makes the most sense in my mind.


and as for the annual good read and pretty much somewhat how i expected. Now I'm wondering more about OYL nightwing with that dagger.

 

I have written an essay about this. I shall post a link to it if www.batman-on-film decides to publish it, and if not, then I'll cut and paste it. Either way, you'll read it shortly.  

 

i think it had the original Hulk color syndrome...where it was actually black but the color made it look white.

 

I'm on the fence with this one. On one hand it was a good read. On the other, Mainstream publishers show once again that nothing is sacred when it comes to stories anymore. Forget Winter Soldier for a min. 'cause I'm bringing in Hal Jordan.

If DC wants to start their universe all over again, that's their poragative. But, If the old one is continuing could we ground it in a little reality and let the dead lie after a heroic sacrifice. What's the point of killing off anyone anymore when they're brought back later. Why let characters grow up to fill their mentor's shoes when you're just gonna toss them aside later?

Next they'll bring back Barry. Mark my words.

 

Do you have a picture of the Nightwing cover?