Friday, September 28, 2012

ASK LOBDELL: ALL AT ONCE EDITION 9/28/12


So the Lobster owed me quite a few questions for weeks of No Ask Lobdell due to being busy...writing. We rectified this last week by doing more of a live format where Hoodies submitted their questions and then Scott popped on the same thread in the middle of the dark, dark night and answered 'em. So we've got a recap for ya-----Mike


  • Amy Nim I noticed recently that Roy's tattoo in RHATO is, ah, pretty doubtfully Navajo, unlike the arm band tattoo he had previously. Does Roy still have his Navajo heritage?
  • Krissy Kris Collins Will Red Hood be getting his own comic book? Would he be interested in writing for a solo Red Hood book?
  • Krissy Kris Collins For Issue #15, the Red Hood & Red Robin team up but at the same time there's friction b/w the Titans & the Outlaws. What should we expecting? A bloodbath?
  • Rock Roche With Star and Hood getting their own arcs, when is Arsenal going to get some focus and will Chesire be showing up?
  • David Napier We will be going back to the untitled? I feel like there is more to the story to be explored?
  • Dezhmond Young Are we goin' to get some Jason Todd solo missions to make up for him bein' out of the book for a while?
  • Krissy Kris Collins Jason Todd has never done well with psychological attacks and the Joker is full of those attacks. How will the Joker terrorize Todd in the coming issues of Red Hood & the Outlaws?
  • Dezhmond Young @David...the untitled, I believe, are bein' handled by Essence.
  • David Napier @Dezhmond doesn't mean they won't interact with her or against them again
  • Adam Campbell the Outlaws have been to a wide range to exotic locales in their jet-setting adventures. where do you intend to send them after the Death of the Family?
  • Austin Rodriguez Can you have DC make a replica of Roy's hat? Also is Jason going to play a big part in Death of the Family?
  • Adan Velasco Quevedo Reading the issue 0 preview, I see that the whole business about Jason stelaing the Batmobile tires is out of continuity now. Why's that? I mean, aside of Jason´s dying, a lot of people knows him like the kid who was stealing Batman and live to tell the tale, or at least didn't end in jail :P
  • Alexis Parrick Saw the 0 Preview and loved it. Now with Jason and Tim doing a tag team up against Joker, are the others "Outlaws and Teen Titans" know the two "brothers" know each other? Or is its some misunderstanding that they call can joke about later?
  • امير أنور Whenever the mod says he's taking questions for Ask Lobdell, I refrain from taking part in it. I don't think the mod views Jason Todd the way I do so I don't think he'd ever choose a question I wanted to ask.[Hoodie Admin note: I must be a real free speech killing SOB huh?] Here's to hoping you would read and answer my very elaborated question Mr. Lobdell: I love Batman, it isn't just because he owns the night but his legend and life that inspires me. Training his mind and body to become perfect. Living a life of secrets, pretending to be someone that he's not during the day. The loss, the death of his parents, is something I can relate to... that feeling is eternal. That's why he is Batman. I never thought I'd feel so connected to a fictional character. I read almost everything there is to know about Batman. As I began to read about Jason Todd I felt that same connection I felt when I read about Bruce. It wasn't all the things that happened in Jason's life but his personality that I felt was so similar. Lot of people see Jason as a gun waving angry, egotistical punk but I think those people are ignorant. He has a rage I can relate to, something I have had a hard time suppressing my whole life. Even though his rage is an integral part to who he is, it is only second to him being an emotional and impulsive person. I see Jason as a highly intelligent person who does everything for a just cause. His confrontation with Batman and The Joker exhibited everything about him. He asked Bruce why he didn't kill Joker (Something I think people were dying to read) a question that is straight to the point. After that, we had one other interaction before the 52 ( and that wasn't so great :/ ). I know you mentioned you don't want to do another Batman/Red Hood story but do you see yourself ever writing a father/son scenario with Bruce and Jason? Something that is deep and beyond a few words. I feel Bruce still loves Jason as a son but is so emotionally distant because it's hard for him to acknowledge he's alive again and does what he does. Jason's death was important to Bruce as the death of his parents. It haunted him... it still haunts him. He lost his parents and a son... and now that son is taking everything he was taught and permanently ending evil. I know with Death of the Family we will see some kind of interaction but will we ever see Bruce reaching out to Jason? I read Scott Snyder likes Jason Todd and wanted use him beyond the typical ignorant view of him. I hope at the very least if you've read this that you speak to Mr. Snyder about the idea and perhaps see where it goes! Thank you thank you for putting the Red Bat on Jason's armor!!!! You probably didn't expect to get a question like this from a guy with a profile picture of a cat and his name written in Arabic haha but I would sincerely appreciate it if I heard back from you :) - Ehsaaz
  • Juan Aurelio Perez How will Batman treat Jason as compared to the other members of the Batfamily during Death in The Family? Also are we going to still follow Starfire and Roy, or will they get their own comic for a bit??
  • Alexis Parrick Will Isabel be a returning character? I think she's one of the best things that can happen to Jason. (Not that Roy and Kori are bad or anything like that.) She brings him back down to normal or something like that. Shipper of these two...
  • Philip Moore any news about a new reguler artist on red hood
  • David Napier After death of the family will Jason be more or less involved/in touch with members of the bat-family?

    And Lobdell Answers:


    Scott Lobdell Amy Nim: I will have to ask him. (How many ginger Navajos are there -- roughly?) Krissy K: Not that I know of, but, no, I wouldn't really have any interest. (I sort of do want to write a RED HOOD/RED ROBIN mini-series in the wake of events in Death Of The Family... but unlikely to get my way! Krissy K II: No blood baths. Rock Roche: Roy is kind of shy, but we'll be dragging him front and center soon. No plans for Cheshire.
    September 22 at 5:29pm · Like
    Scott Lobdell Whoops! I keep forgetting I shouldn't hit RETURN. More to follow...
    September 22 at 5:29pm · Like
    Scott Lobdell David Napier: Certainly, but I don't like to tell all the stories at once! Dezhmond Young: Who says he is out of the book for a while? His name is right there on the cover! Krissy K III (You again?! LOL!): It is going to be harder this time, because Jason is older and wiser. But if you've read the zero you know that Joker still has a few cards to play. Adam Campbell: France! Austin Rodriguez: How awesome would that be?! Hmm. I'll ask around! Adam Velasco Quervedo (that's a lot of letters!): Personally, I can believe a man can fly and that a billionaire dresses up as a bat to beat people up every night.. but someone stealing the tires from the bat mobile always struck me as several kinds of absurd. That said... I don't think there is anything in the Zero that says he wasn't trying to steal the tires off the bat-mobile. There were only four panels per page and we couldn't show EVERY-thing... Just sayin... Alexis Parrick: I am sorry, I don't understand the question. =( Ehsaaz: Wow, that is one long post! The answer is "Yes!"
    September 22 at 5:43pm · Like · 2
    Scott Lobdell more to follow...
    September 22 at 5:43pm · Like
    Scott Lobdell Juan Aurelio Perez: He is going to be too busy with Joker to treat Jason one way or another... but expect big things in the following month.
    September 22 at 6:39pm · Like
    Scott Lobdell Damn, have to stop hitting "Return!" Juan; We are following all of them throughout -- and Roy is even going to be taking over the Teen Titans for a little bit. Alexis Patrick II: Yes, and me too! Phillip Moore: My understanding is it is Timothy -- and the more you see of his work the more you'll see why it is an excellent choice! David Napier II: I would guess more.
    September 22 at 6:42pm · Like
    Scott Lobdell Wow! Was that it?! I'm so proud of myself!
    September 22 at 6:42pm · Like 1
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Friday, September 21, 2012

Girl In The Hood: Outlaws Zero Edition



By
Elizabeth Airelle

"That's My Story--And I'm Sticking To It!"


     We take a break this month from our outlaws still in space for a story everyone has been waiting for since the reboot started:  Red Hood’s origin. Like most people, his story starts with his own parents’ story. His mother Catherine Elizabeth was a high schooler who met the older, charming, troublesome Willis Todd. After a hook-up in an alley [ahhh romance] she becomes pregnant. Willis was welcomed into her family home but it did not last very long.  Jason grew up to the sounds of his parents fighting a lot. Jason was often left alone while his father was “working” and would watch over his mother who now was battling depression and drug addiction.

     While Jason seems to feel sorry for and love his mother his feelings for his father seem much different, more cynical. He would have to put his drunken father to bed. Spending quality time with dad was working the corner dealing drugs [the same corner Willis met Catherine]. Jason never seemed to mind when his father got hurt whether by a batarang [but then Willis bragged about it] or gunshot wound. Then the day came when his father was arrested. And that was it, he died in prison. This left Jason the man of the house and he tried his best to protect his mom by scaring off her dealers.  Like many addicts, he couldn’t save her from herself and found her “dead” in an alley.

     Jason then began a life on the street stealing to survive. While he never hurt anyone others were not as nice to him. He was nearly killed but was saved by Dr. Leslie Thompkins, who tried to lift his spirits. After he recovered  Jason attempted to steal drugs from her but was stopped by Batman. Batman was ready to cart the boy off to juvie hall but Leslie intervened and somehow convinced Batman otherwise. With that we was whisked off the street to a “friend of a friend” who happened to be Bruce Wayne
After a moving in Bruce told him the truth about himself.  He had hoped that Jason could channel that similar loss into something larger than them.  From the start as Robin, Jason had doubts about himself. He spent 6 months training and then would spend every night at Batman’s side. At first he was great at it. Shortly thereafter, the anger from his youth would come out and he would get more and more violent with the criminals.

     Jason was then put on monitor duty where he came a across a photo of his mother who was clearly alive. 3 days later Jason was in the Middle East reunited with her but immediately it all “went bad” as the Joker was there and beat him nearly to death with a crowbar and then blew him up. Jason doesn’t remember what happened between his death and after: he just remembers awaking in the Lazarus pit.

     The story doesn’t end there! The backup tale has the Joker takes over the narration and he has been in Jason’s life long before his death. One night Joker was bored and needed something to do, he noticed a young Jason in the next room whose father was having a gunshot wound treated. Joker decides he wants to make Jason a “star”. Joker was behind Willis’s arrested, he was also responsible for Catherine’s overdose which turns out to be not so deadly after all, just the illusion of death. He also was the one who dropped off a near death Jason to Dr. Leslie Thompkins and maybe the one who had him attacked in the first place. Before he knew it he created his own Robin, but shortly after destroyed him too. Joker feels disappointed after all his hard work Jason didn’t stay dead. Of which isn’t good For the Outlaws, because next month we finish up our space odyssey then we head into Death Of The Family!

     They said this would be the story that changes everything and it did. I guess we will start with his mom. There is only one woman now, Catherine Elizabeth Todd.Gone is Sheila Heywood, his biological mother from A Death In The Family whom Jason had discovered as a different name on his birth certificate which led him around the world until he found her. Catherine was originally Jason’s stepmother Pre-Crisis, a woman we only saw in quick flashbacks, we knew she was probably a drug addict who’d died of an overdose. Catherine plays both roles in Jason’s story: mother and destroyer. Catherine “died” but shows up alive in the Middle East in the Joker’s plan to lure Jason to his death. Somehow that makes it all that much worse, when you think of the little boy with the baseball bat, wanting to protect his mother from her dealers and how she delivered him to a killer with a crowbar.

     Some people are having a hard time understanding why Jason would be so loving and protective to his drug abusing mom? You got to remember that is his mother, love can be unconditional for a parent-child relationship. But if we’re really looking at things to adjust to, there is a huge change is that in the panel where Willis is getting arrested for the last time you can clearly see a baby bump on Catherine! Was Jason going to be a big brother at one point? Is he still and we don’t know it?

     Next we have his meeting with Batman. I miss the old version with him stealing the wheels off the batmobile but I get it, times change. Also the adding of Leslie Thompkins being involved with his becoming Robin and she clearly has been de-aged in this new 52. I wonder if she  is still part of Bruce’s backstory as a child?The big bombshell is the Joker not only killed Robin but may have even created him.  The Joker is at best an unreliable narrator but we are to believe he is telling the truth. If this is the truth this is pretty wild. The Joker controlled his life and his death. We are all left wondering the details but this has got to be something that will be explored in Death Of The Family.

     Also a minor observation, Roy Harper now seems to have been an alcoholic rather than a old 52 heroin addict as mentioned on the Who’s who in the new 52 page.

     This issue does raise questions such as; does Joker know Leslie Thompkins has a connection to Batman? Why else would he drop Jason off there? If he knows about Jason does he know about Bruce or the others? Does he simply not care? Who was the person at Jason grave? What became of Catherine’s pregnancy? Why didn’t Catherine’s parents take Jason in? Does Batman know of Joker’s involvement? These questions are all the more reason to keep reading. 

Until next time Hoodies !! 

You can find Elizabeth chatting with other Hoodies at:
https://www.facebook.com/RedHoodOutlaws
And follow our Twitter feed: @RedHoodOutlaws

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