“Hood,” he croaks, forcing his chin up in a pathetic display of courage that he absolutely does not feel. “Hood, please.”
And then, like a ray of light piercing through the clouds, Jason speaks.
…Tries to speak.
……Cuts off in a thick gurgle, his voice low, constricted, choked.
………And right here, right now, Roy Harper can confidently say that he’s having a bad day, but he can very clearly see how easily it could get a hell of a lot worse.
(AKA a Jason Todd whump fic set during the first Red Hood and the Outlaws era.)
I JUST FINISHED RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS 2011. I FUCKING DID IT. EVERYONE IN MY LIFE TOLD ME TO STOP BUT I DID IT AND I GOT THROUGH IT. BECAUSE I AM NOT A QUITTER.
Now, here is a long post of some horrible highlights from my rhato 2011 reading experience (this post was written as I read the comic):
⚠️this is literally just a post of me bitching and moaning so if you don't wanna read that just don't lol
Starting off strong with hong hong (genuinely pretty sure the font is just abysmal but I read it as hong hong like 4 times and I couldn't stop giggling at the concept)
Eerrm..... he's RIGHT behind me, isn't he?
Can I have "he would not fucking say that" for 300?
AND ANOTHER FUCKING JOKER PLOT BECAUSE JASON WRITERS HAVE NO ORIGINAL IDEAS 😑
A year ago. This was all supposed to have come to an end A YEAR AGO. YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT JASON, ALLEGEDLY: TRAINED WITH THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS, TRAINED WITH THE ALL-CASTE, LEFT BOTH AND RETURNED TO GOTHAM TO BE THE RED HOOD..
WITHIN. A YEAR.
Jason Todd was revived 1 (one) year ago. According to this comic.
The concept of Jason ever stopping someone from killing a slave owner/human trafficker is unfathomable to me. Is this supposed to be the same guy that chopped off the heads of a bunch of drug dealers and shoved them into a duffle bag just to prove a point???? The same guy that thinks that some people can't be rehabilitated and need to be killed???? THE SAME GUY WHO BLEW UP (AND KILLED ANY SURVIVORS) OF A CHILD TRAFFICKING RING IN GERMANY??????
Hey, Tony! Give me an Ollie with NOTHIN'
Extra comments
Isabel has been here for too fucking long. I try to always be a woman character's #1 fan just because I don't ever want to be part of the crowd that doesn't give her a chance but I'm so annoyed. I'm mostly annoyed at the writer not being able to just let her go. She serves very little plot purpose and I'm annoyed
Jason's mouth helmet disturbs me
Kori and Roy having a thing is so weird
Roy calling Jason his best friend pissed me off. Roy's best friends are the Titans
The all-caste backstory for Jason is weird and annoying
It kills me that red hood: lost days (peak) was finished the same year this (bleak) came out but immediately retconned in new 52 when it was the most beautiful Jason backstory yet
Kori is so oversexualized I feel gross
Kori's backstory/reason for not remembering the Titans doesn't make sense and I think the writer knows that. Because she remembers literally everyone else from her past ??
WHY DID KORI HAVE TO DEFEAT HER BIG VILLAIN WITH A KISS? WHY COULDNT SHE JUST OBLITERATE THEM???? I HATE WHEN MEN WRITE COMICS
I hate this "new edgy" era of new 52 comics where everything had to be Like This. The only way I can describe it is Like That because it's so specific but they were trying to make everything new edgy and appealing and it's all shit
Roy being forced into the dumb funny one character archetype is doing such a disservice for his character. I miss his meaner side
Unfortunately this comic has given me the best Jason and Tim brotherism interaction I've seen in a while. And I'm salty
Oh yay the amnesia is supposedly selective (Kori memory thing). Because that makes it make sense
This interpretation of Ollie and Roy's relationship makes me want to hit myself over the head with a baseball bat. This writer doesn't understand nuance in any sense and cannot grasp complicated relationships. Whoever is writing this thinks complicated means a bunch of convoluted extreme details and not clashing experiences and views etc etc
Making Roy have a problem with alcohol instead of drugs also rubs me the wrong way idk why. I think it's bc drugs and alcohol have very different effects on the user (even depending on what kinda drug) and imo it being drugs is extremely important to Roy's motivations and his growth in recovery 🤷♂️
OH MY GOD THEY FUCKED UP JADE SO BAD. OH MY GOD BRUH
Jason's backstory timeline makes zero sense I'm crying. They're trying to add too many things for it to make sense. And apparently this all happened after Jason was already 15. Mind you he died before he hit 16 originally so this timeline for him being Robin makes NO SENSE lmao
we are officially 3/3 for shitty outlaw backstories. Roy I can't believe they did this to you. I'm so sorry
^ adding onto this it annoys me that they made Roy a "guy in the chair" for Ollie instead of letting him be Speedy. Like they're fully ignoring the fab five and the TEEN titans in new52 right now
Overalls this comic is allergic to making Jason or Roy start working with Batman/Green Arrow when they were 13/younger lmao. Like no it's ok they were tiny. Embrace it
also I'm pretty sure they retconned Roy's backstory within the same comic? Like his backstory was different at the beginning than what it was in issue #37 I can't do this
Overall thoughts: don't read this comic. It's not good. It's like really bad. Jason is way too medicated and everything is bad
Pray tell, what are your thoughts on RHATO (2011 or 2016) for the ask game?
[reversed unpopular opinion]
ohhh boy. welcome to my #lukewarmtakes on rhato 2011 & 2016 and related paraphernalia!!!! i thought this was supposed to be about things that i Didn't Like but since i suppose other people don't like it. this is fair to ask about.
rhato (2011) - now is the time to admit i did not read past issue #28. sorry for being a fake fan
ALL MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS ARE HERE :D EVEN JADE NGUYEN OF CHESHIRE FAME!!! HI JADE!!!!
additionally on top of that all my favorite characters INTERACT. i can't claim to be the #1 jayroy fan i am objectively not but oh do i love & adore them. and the joyfire interactions... they are so queerplatonic polyam
rocafort draws a cute jason todd. my son boy.
i really like rb silva's art in the later issues that i have not read
despite how much i wish it was curly, kory's hair is generally drawn cool as fuck!!! i love when it's literally fire & also extends far to an unreasonable degree
isabel ardila is really fun & silly & so nonchalant about the bullshit that happens whenever she hangs around jason in a way that implies such an interesting personality. (leans in real close. girl you can't fix him. are you trying to get him to make you worse?? in which case. okay fair i gotta respect that)
essence i also enjoy!! she has some I Am Inherently Evil complexes that are admittedly pretty ripped off from raven but honestly. i like how lobdell writes it more than wolfman did. so. anyway.
every time essence & jason fight it's like miscommunication trope dialed to 11 and honestly that's so funny to me
crux is neat. crux should have shown up more. shout out crux
s'aru is such a silly guy i enjoy his characterization as well. the fact he just has subway sandwiches and gaming consoles and soda cans and whatever else on him. guy of all time.
i think killer croc being roy's sponsor is genuinely the funniest thing ever (also i like it when my favorite characters are suicidal)
i really do like n52 roy's characterization and i am simply going to stop pretending otherwise. it's not rhato but i think about dc comics presents #26 forever it is so n52 roy. love him for that
jason's cherished memory (#3) of sleeping on bruce's shoulder while sick most important thing to me!!! bruce chose to keep him company over patrolling gotham & it really reminds me now of bruce's distress during the nocturna adoption arc he loves his son sooo much awaughhhh
i think #6 revealing that jason's red bat is a dick grayson cast-off is so interesting. fascinating implications.
also jason punches through a submarine in that one which. awesome. do that more mr. jay todd
ALSO ALSO introduction of the tropical island it's so idyllic to me. ideal home base location. i think it's so good as a... liminal space, almost? the outlaws lingering there and returning to its comfort but it's not somewhere they can ever truly settle.... i have many thoughts about Themes regarding this island that i haven't talked about (yet!)
also williamson accidentally plagiarizing a book because he was quoting a thing his wife said during their divorce. i think it's really silly while also simultaneously confirming (to me!) jason as some sort of aro and/or acespec which i gotta respect!!!
#10 xiao long the talon asking jason to assist his suicide and jason does it. i think this is a top ten fascinating jason todd character trait (he does it again in annual 3.) idk i think him respecting when people want to die.... gnawing on it
there's an issue between here somewhere where roy takes the lead of the teen titans temporarily and i am a big fan of that for him
also shoutout to #17 where bruce basically says jason was the one who made himself a good man!!! i love that!!!!!! #17 really is peak good dad bruce to me (at least in the more modern era of comics) it's one that really lets me appreciate the vision of bruce as a father who Doesn't Suck
i know we were just good-dading bruce. unfortunately this is shortly followed by #19, which features jason running off and wiping his memory (post death of the family and b&r #20, where bruce brings jason back to ethiopia expressly to retraumatize him in the hopes of discovering what brought jason back to life in order to bring damian back to life.) which is in and of itself a type of suicide i think. and also roy & kory go after bruce and roy problem solves his way into the acres of all and . and and. frenship :)
amnesia arc in general has pros like: jade mention. appearance of the dunce hat. roy being hypercompetent in a way i have to love. this really fascinating thing where roy & kory & jason are all on different sides of the conflict but all in the end want the same thing! and i think that's sooo interesting
there's also this scene in #22 where kory uses tamaranean tech used to catch smoke panthers on essence and it Works and essence is pissed about it and it's so funny & also delightful to me. essence voice: no earthen technology will harm me. kory: ok bet.
i haven't even talked about the all-blades. the all-blades are pretty awesome visually & also fun conceptually. i think they should have kept #4's thing about it requiring blood to work. yayyyy craft your soul into a weapon and feed it your suffering yippeeeeee
talia characterization i think is generally pretty all right in this one! i like #25's flashback sequence where she interacts with jason. and also catherine is there <3
i thinkkk i like when komand'r showed up in rhato but tbh i need to reread those arcs, having now experienced og komand'r
rhato (2016) + red hood: outlaw which starts in like 2018-2019 maybe. to be clear i only read the first arc & then stuff after #25. (i haven't actually read #25. you can't make me.)
dexter soy's art is pretty awesome
some cute bruce & jason interactions from what i remember
artemis outclasses jason in every single way and that's delightful to me
cute interactions with bizarro!! shoutout pup pup <3
i don't actually hate jason's costume change to the muzzle. i think it's fitting for what his headspace was like in the time
#25 & #27 awesome for my bruce haterisms. oh he's so shit in those issues and it's so Good for jason angst. i must admit.
suzie su & her sisters are genuinely important to me. especially in annual 2 i love how much they support her
speaking of. #27 genuinely devastates me i'm so so so so so sad about roy dying. jason's grief is so real
dog's cute i guess
i don't remember the artist for these arcs but i think the art is pretty solid!! i especially like how essence is drawn, and her outfit in... #32? 10/10
prince of gotham arc was generally enjoyable to read! definitely one the jason arcs i like and would mayyyybe go as far as to recommend when it comes to the post-flashpoint era
there's this scene in the chamber of all around issue #50 where the outlaws run into the past outlaws and jason sees roy and it's sooo devastating i am still not over jason grieving roy sorry
generation outlaws i gotta reread. i don't remember anything about them except some of the kids' gimmicks but!!! putting jason in charge of children is such a funny concept. he is not built for that.
confirmation that transitioning makes you immortal remains forever delightful to me
essence possessing isabel ardila i remain thinking about always. again, just something so interesting to me!
and. i think that's all? i definitely have less to say about rhato (2016) just because i've read less of it/thought about it less. i think in general there are a lot of Moments that i like thinking about and analyzing and reflecting on. & i'm generally positive on the cast of supporting characters that make their debut or only feature in rhato! i didn't even talk about issue #4's untitled. & also n52 roy is there shoutout n52 roy. no one gets you like i do.
i think rhato(s) a lot, evidently. hope you enjoyed my. uh! unreasonably long answer!
Does anyone actually truly give a fuck about Jason's rhato 2011 all-caste backstory. Like really. Does anyone actually care. And if so please tell me why because I'm failing to see it as anything besides a load of bullshit 😭
#project hail mary
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#photography
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