[Renegade Robins: Jason Todd] Farewell, Dear Moench: Feb. 17-Mar. 1

Clubs & Events Fan Club Discussions
, ,
1

Batman 400 Jason 4
Batman 400 Jason 4610×609 567 KB

Only for this run!

After 3 months of adventures (3 years if you were reading these books in the 80s!), Jason Todd of the Renegade Robins Club says goodbye to the 1980s run of Doug Moench. But fret not: Earth-One goes out with a bang as the entire rogues gallery comes out to play!

Join the club today!

Click these drop-down menus for some bonus info:

Community

  • The Damian Wayne wing of the Renegade Robins is still looking at Batman & Son. Check it out if you haven’t already!

  • The Dick Grayson Fan Club has just launched with its first week! Help support our feathered brethren!

  • Jay is also helping out over at World of Bats. Can the Bat-Family survive the Night of the Owls?

Bird Sightings

  • If you squint, you may spot Jason Todd in Last Days of the Justice Society of America, a coda to Crisis on Infinite Earths. Similar cameo appearances occur in subsequent references to COIE from here on out.

  • Jason doesn’t appear in The Dark Knight Returns #1, but he does get a solemn mention.

DKR Jason
DKR Jason396×613 287 KB

Background

  • Two-Face first appeared in Detective Comics #66 (as Harvey Kent, later renamed Dent). His most recent appearance was as part of the ensemble of rogues in a story from our very first session, Detective Comics #526.

  • So many villains appear in Batman #400! Black Spider is from Detective Comics #463-464. The Cavalier is from Detective Comics #81. Dagger is from Batman #343. Killer Moth is from Batman #63. Ra’s Al Ghul is from Batman #232. The other (non-cameo) villains in this comic have been covered in previous sessions.

Many of the foes from previous weeks have returned, Jay!

Batman 400 Jason 1
Batman 400 Jason 1529×596 391 KB

Here’s our schedule: 2020-02-17T06:00:00Z → 2020-03-01T06:00:00Z

Jason Todd Week 9 Reading (Eight Issues)

Note: Two issues are missing from DC Universe. Links to summaries have been provided.

I. Film Freak Finale

  1. Batman #396

II. Two-Face

Missing Issue: Detective Comics #563 (Summary)
2. Batman #397
3. Detective Comics #564
4. Batman #398

Missing Issue: Batman Annual #10 (Summary)

III. Love Killer

  1. Detective Comics #565
  2. Batman #399

IV. Resurrection Night

  1. Detective Comics #566
  2. Batman #400
Discussion Questions
  1. How did you feel about the new villains, Film Freak and the Love Killer?
  2. What did you think of the various character dynamics in the Two-Face/Circe arc?
  3. How does Batman’s battle against his rogues here measure up to similar stories?
  4. What did you think of the art in Batman #400 The Stephen King intro?
  5. Which story from the 1980s Doug Moench run have you enjoyed the most?

And as an extra bonus, here’s an article about the 1980s Doug Moench run!

Jason and Rena

Poll Question: Should Jason keep dating Rena?

  • Yes! The boy needs love!
  • No! The job comes first!
  • Only if she gets a crazy post-Crisis revamp!

0 voters

We will be checking out Jay’s time with the Titans two weeks from now, but a week from today, you can join Damian in witnessing the resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul!

5 Likes
2

Here’s another blog post about Moench’s 1980s run:

If you know of any other good articles on the topic, please share them!

2 Likes
3

How did you feel about the new villains, Film Freak and the Love Killer?

Film Freak has a decent introduction – he has some fun, creepy/kooky moments like the references to Psycho and King Kong, and some of this crimes and how he evades our heroes are pretty clever, but dude is fated to be a C-list villain at best.

And does Love Killer even count as a supervillain? He just seems like a normal serial killer to me…wow that’s an odd sentence to type.

What did you think of the various character dynamics in the Two-Face/Circe arc?

Honestly, I was surprised to see that she would even come back after that initial Black Mask arc, so that was pretty cool. I liked the idea that Batman was wanting to try to cure Harvey of his illness.

The part I was a little “eh” on was the Batman/Catwoman split. I liked that it was amicable and that Selina didn’t suddenly decide to go supervillain again just because Bruce was being an evasive a-hole, but him being one in the first way felt like rather cheap drama. And it just kind of sucks that in the history of these two characters that it seems like these two can’t be together for longer than, say, a year.

How does Batman’s battle against his rogues here measure up to similar stories?

I absolutely loved #400, and part of it was the way that all the rogues were set up. I liked how they were organized and had a plan that forced Batman to use all his allies and everything in his disposal, both physically and mentally.

What did you think of the art in Batman #400 The Stephen King intro?

The art was overall excellent. There were a couple of names I weren’t familiar with, but man, seeing Bill Sienkiewicz doing Batman interiors alone was worth the price of admission, not to mention other amazing, classic artists like Joe Kubert and Brian Bolland.

The King intro was cool, though annoying in how they fitted it here on the service. Like, I get that this was printed at the time as a sort of front and back cover flap thing like with hardcovers, but the thing with those is that with physical media you can just move to the next part. Swiping from one side to the other on the tablet is a lot less convenient.

I’m just saying it would have been nice if they just placed the two pages together instead of putting one in the front and one in the back. Sometimes making things just as they were back in the day is more annoying than cool.

Which story from the 1980s Doug Moench run have you enjoyed the most?

Woof, that’s a hard question. There’s been honestly a surprising amount of good stories from this run, more than I initially thought.

Probably because it was my first introduction to the run when I read it for the Crisis crossover, I want to say the final arc with Nocturna was pretty great. The introduction to Black Mask was also really good, as was the crazy arc of Joker in South America.

1 Like
4

Hey, there was no SUPER in my question! :stuck_out_tongue:

It would be a shame if Bruce totally forgot how to handle this sort of thing a few years later and got his back broken as a result…

5

You know, I was going to make a joke about how Dixon is no Moench but then I thought, Moench was writing one of the Bat-books at the time, wasn’t he?

2 Likes
6

I thought Film Freak was the more interesting villain of the two and it was a lot of fun watching Bullock and Robin team up here. I’d forgotten that Bullock was a movie buff. I also loved how frustrated Jay kept getting that Bat and Cat were always one step ahead of him and Bullock. It felt like a real teen’s reaction to a parent’s love interest whose started to muscle in on activities that were once just things the parent and child did alone together. It also shows off Jay’s competitive streak which is something that is carried over into the post-Crisis version of the character.

They were all interesting and well handled. The art really helped make them come to life. I really liked the Batman/Catwoman interactions the most out of the bunch.

Well at least he didn’t get his back broken by the end of this. :stuck_out_tongue: That aside I enjoyed this particular set of fights.

The art was a crazy quilt of insanity just like Batman’s rogues are. I especially liked the art for the The Tempting. I also found it interesting that Ra’s was talking about how the Lazarus Pits effects on him were waning which is a direct connection to this week’s DWBC storyline. Its also ironic that the title of this story is “Ressurection Night” when the DWBC is covering "The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul this week. (nice timing that wouldn’t you say?)
The Stephen King into was interesting to read.

My favorite was the Nocturna story but I also really enjoyed the Robin/Bullock team ups as well though those might not qualify as actual stories. Anytime Bullock and Jason team up is a good time for me.

2 Likes
7

Yeah, it’s a shame that this dynamic doesn’t carry over after the Crisis. Bullock himself largely disappears from the main Batman titles for a few years and instead becomes a member of Paul Kupperberg’s Checkmate in the late 1980s, leaving little room for Robin interactions.

8

I missed those interactions a lot once things shifted to post-Crisis. At least those pre-Crisis interactions got a nod in N52 in RHATO.

1 Like
9

Really? Huh, I don’t remember any of that.

10

Are you responding to my comment or JT428’s?

11

JT’s, sorry, I think I did reply to his post, though I’ve noticed sometimes that doesn’t show up.

12

Here’s the reference: RHATO #15

Bullock RHATO 15
Bullock RHATO 15575×549 435 KB

1 Like