The world of superheroes can sometimes be seriously dark and sick (as anyone who watched the first season of Jessica Jones can attest). A couple of months ago, I mentioned how the version of Jason Todd, the second Robin, introduced in the late eighties, after Crisis on Infinite Earths, had such a bad rep that comic fans actually voted by phone to have him beaten to death in Ethiopia. Ah, comic fans.
Me, I don’t think the kid was all bad. In fact, some creators did a pretty swell job with the new Boy Wonder. Hell, even Jim Starlin gave him a few chances to shine before killing him off! Here are five instances of post-Crisis Jason Todd kicking tail like nobody’s business:
A couple of Two-Face’s twin henchmen…
Batman #410
Two members of a gang of cat burglars…
Detective Comics #569
The Scarecrow…
Batman #415
A group of British hitmen, on Christmas day…
Detective Comics #572
A disturbing reminder that some ugly stereotypes have sadly been around for a long time…
Batman #420
NEXT: Dogs.
I’m sure everybody who has been a victim of a suicidal terrorist will be relieved to know none of that was true, it was just an ugly stereotype.
As with everything else, just because something has happened, it doesn’t mean it can’t be turned into a stereotype, especially an ugly one (i.e. hurtful to many other people who had nothing to do with it)
Still, I like the way Jim Aparo nailed his expression of ‘Oh shit, I’m gonna be kicked by a kid with no pants!’