September 14th, 1983 might not seem like a very important day, but it would change the history of Batman forever. Batman #366 gave readers a huge milestone — the return of Robin to the Batman comics. However, this wasn’t Dick Grayson, who had been killing it in New Teen Titans and had become Nightwing. No, this was the character who many would consider the worst Robin — Jason Todd. Jason Todd has a very interesting legacy as Robin. Robin had become an integral part of the Batman mythos since his first appearance in 1940, and since Dick went to the Teen Titans, Batman comics were missing something. Jason Todd was a second chance at Robin, one that would crash and burn as the years went on.
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Robin is one of the most important comic characters ever, but Jason Todd wasn’t up to the mantle. It’s been 42 years since he put on the costume, but five years after he became Robin, Jason would be killed, as fans voted to kill him off. Batman #366 gave readers hope for a new era of Batman comics, but looking back at the character’s original origin and what came afterwards, that hope was ill-founded. Jason Todd was kind of doomed from the start and an argument can be made that DC should have never made him into Robin. The Robins are a vital part of Batman, but Jason was never meant to be a unique character and that hurt him from the start.
Jason Todd Put on a Mantle Bigger than He Was
Batman #366 is sort of an ironic comic in a lot of ways. It’s a story about Batman fighting the Joker, and it’s the first time that Jason Todd became Robin. So, while he first appeared before this (more on that later), his baptism by fire was because of the Joker, the villain who would kill him. Jason Todd was always something of a problem, and his first appearance as Robin made the cardinal mistake that would doom Jason Todd. To understand that, you have to know about his pre-Crisis origin. Jason Todd was basically the exact same as Dick Grayson. They were both the children of circus performers, both of their parents were killed by criminals, and Batman would take in both of them. DC didn’t even try to go in new directions with Robin; they just copy pasted Dick Grayson’s origin, changed some names, and went to town. Jason was never going to popular, and his first comic as Robin played into that. Jason wasn’t an original character back then; he was meant to slide into the Dick Grayson-shaped hole in the Batman mythos, and there was no reason for fans to care.
Dick Grayson had grown into a great character over the ’70s and early ’80s. He was always a fan favorite, but he was more beloved because of New Teen Titans. There was never going to be a replacement for Dick Grayson in the Batman mythos, and DC made the mistake of trying to straight up replace Dick in the least creative way possible. Jason was created to be Dick, and his first adventure in the costume showed that. He was just the bright shiny face with Batman, making jokes and doing the Dick Grayson dance. There was nothing special about him, and that was by design. I can only speculate on why DC made the decisions they did with Jason, but it feels like they were trying to do the least work possible making them different characters so no one would actually realize they were different characters. Dick was still the Robin in cartoons and DC didn’t want to confuse the young kids who wanted to see Dick in the Batman comic they had just talked their mom into buying. This was the problem with Jason Todd in the beginning, and it was one that DC would realize was a problem. One of my favorite Jason Todd moments comes from the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Superman classic “For the Man Who Has Everything”. Moore made a joke about knowing the difference between Jason and Dick, and that’s always been the problem with early Jason Todd.
Jason Todd Wouldn’t Become Important Until He Died
42 years ago, Jason Todd put on his Robin costume for the first time. This is a big moment in DC history, because it would lead right to “Death in the Family”, the final Jason Todd as Robin story until years later, when we started to get stories set in the past. Jason Todd was never going to be as popular as Dick Grayson. He was never big enough to step into those fairy boots. Jason Todd was barely a character of his own at this point, and fans would turn on him slowly but surely.
Looking back, it’s easy to Monday morning quarterback the decision to make Jason Todd Robin. It’s easy to say that DC should have went in new directions with the character. However, 42 years ago, fans didn’t know what to expect and I’m sure some people were pretty excited by the whole development. However, how many of those readers were the same ones that voted to kill him five years later? We’ll never know.
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Courtesy of Toei Animation
