as much as jasons robin run is fun there is this horrible sort of dread that comes with reading it because we see this sweet little kid grow up, truly start to come into his own as a hero, and he has so so much fun. he is so so loved.
we see him so happy and so fulfilled, and then we see as that gets taken away little by little again and again, and we see that sweet little kid get worse and worse. more jaded, more depressed, more self-destructive…and then that’s it—and then he dies. he never gets to get better.
its just always in the back of my head that one day this little boy will get sad, and he will never feel better. he’ll just die.
I wish more Jason Todd reading lists would properly include Jason's Robin run. A post by me all about telling you where to find it.
These three books combined contain:
Batman #404-429
Batman Annual #11-12
Detective Comics #571-#595
Detective Comics Annual #1
The Killing Joke
Batman: Son of the Demon
Batman:The Cult #1-4
While I still personally highly recommend pirating comics, I'll play the game of recommending the collections. Maybe you find it in an area or shop that'll let you read through it for free, maybe your library collects DC Finest books, maybe you are willing to invest in the price for em all
The DC finest are great because they dont leave missing issues between the three. And while the Detective Comics Annual, The Killing Joke, and Son of the Demon dont have Jaybin, they are some nice additions to have access to. Other than missing about 4 issues, these books collect all of Jason's post crisis appearances from the Batman and Detective Comics comics
This is a total of roughly about 60 comic issues. So if youre willing to have all of Red Hood and the Outlaws on a list, I'd say the full* of Jason's actual Robin run and original 80s appearance is a must eh?
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Im vaguely trying to stick to something condensed, so the three above are the "main" ones. But for Jason's non Bat & Tec appearances, you can add on a few more options! Keeping em under a readmore v
"Legends" is a 6 issues series with multiple tie in comics, and essentially is the official start of post crisis. In which a young Robin Jason has some of my favorite appearances + definition of his character! The omnibus recently came out, and is rather hefty. But as far as I know it's the only reprint of this series.
It's also stated to be in DC Heroes & Villains Collection: Legends, which seems to include just the BatTec tie ins! Wow! Perfect for Jaybin reading! Theoretically MUCH cheaper than a full omnibus! But I cannot really find it. Not preowned or on any sites really. The only place selling it is the website for its credited publisher (Hachette), and i get nothing but a blank screen if i try to select it. You can add it to cart, with a warning stating shop orders are only available to UK customers. So! If you have access to it, I recommend this one over the full omnibus for Jason reading. Its a shame i cant see further information on it though
Honestly probably cheaper to just buy the actual issues (Legends 1-6, Batman #401 + Detective Comics #567)
Give it up for another omnibus 🥳😔💸
The New Teen Titans Omnibus Vol. 4 features all of Jason's story appearances in tntt, which is pretty great! That'd be The New Teen Titans (1984) #18-21 & #24-31
He ofc has some other minor appearances, but unless youre pretty invested in tntt too, they're not really worth a whole other omnibus added in. If you're interested in all of Jason's appearances within original issues instead of reprint collections, i do have a list i enjoy using that i can provide!
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VERY TRAGICALLY. All of Jason's pre-crisis run has not been collected for reprints 😔. What we have so far is Red Skies, which is late in his pre-crisis run and goes all the way to the end
Im a big Jason Todd fan and i always very highly recommend reading his entire 80s run, pre crisis very gleefully included! Its what i read first, its what i think everyone getting into Jason should read first, its all a continuing story instead of being an episodic because its all (except for the first few origin issues) is written by the same author, most of Jason's Robin run is in pre-crisis, it has so many interesting stories and characters, it shows us Jason's pov far more often than post, if you dont like it you can cherrypick from it still. It does still have some info pieces within referenced and used by dc comics about Jason. And while he has a different origin and path to Robin, I do ultimately see pre-crisis Jason as the same character rather than some vastly different one worth skipping and ideally I want anyone interested in Jason to read his longer pre-crisis run and read it first. Doesn't work so well with the reprint situation of pre though. So im mostly just moping here
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Bonus: My library Does Not have DC Finest collections, but the library app has some other collections you can read for free. I wouldn't recommend these otherwise because they completely skip over Detective Comics (those are important!!) And are stupid expensive in physical form because theyre out of print. It super is a nice bonus however that Second Chances includes #402-403 though, which are post crisis issues that the finest skipped over. And of course them being more accessible than the finest depending on your resources
Batman Second Chances (402-403 & 408-416, Batman Annual #11)
Batman The Caped Crusader (417-425 & 430-431, Batman Annual #12)
Theres like multiple A Death In The Family collections just read whatever idk
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