Dear DC Editors and Judd Winick
Here's the letter theminiwheat and I wrote to DC editors and Judd Winick. We actually sent it off snail mail to hopefully get our point across even more, since snail mail is so outmoded. Here's the address for anyone who wants to send a letter to them for any reason. I think the next one I write will be to get them to reunite the Joker and Harley Quinn.
Feel free to discuss!
DC Comics
1700 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
May 7, 2010
Dear DC editors:
We are writing to you about Jason Todd. Both of the authors of this letter adore the character. We think he’s great as an antagonistic anti-hero and there is so much potential for amazing stories about him.
What concerns us both is this drive to push Jason to become a villain, particularly in the wake of Battle for the Cowl. Grant Morrison’s lovely Revenge of the Red Hood arc seems to have brought Jason back towards the grey anti-hero area and we champion that because there are simply too little characters in DC like that. There are enough gun-toting villains that go up against the Batfamily. You must be aware that the vast majority of both Jason and Batman fans did NOT like the “irredeemable” direction he was going in in the wake of Battle for the Cowl simply from the online sentiment. On the other hand, what is interesting is to see someone like Jason be antagonistic towards the Batfamily, but at times work with them, such as in Outsiders 44 and 45, where he gives Dick Grayson information to save a man’s life.
We are not the only fans of Jason who feel this way. There are many more out there that aren’t writing letters to you, but we have spoken to quite a few of them just the same. Judd Winick’s Under the Hood arc brought Jason back to life in such a way that he was a complex character: he was sympathetic, and he did bad things, but he did them in an attempt to do right. Antagonistic actions, yes; villainous, no.
Jason’s ultimate goal is to bring peace to Gotham. The fundamental difference between Jason and Batman’s Rogues’ Gallery of Villains is that the villains want to see everyone suffer; whereas Jason wants to see evil suffer. That is something people can understand, even though his methods are questionable.
The great thing about an antagonistic character like Jason is that he makes the protagonist and the readers question their morals, ethics and ideas. Fans debate over whether what Jason is doing is right and this is a good thing. Anytime a writer can get fans debating philosophical and moral ideas from reading comics is awesome. We need a character like Jason and we need him to remain in that grey area to continue to do this.
Jason does have a good fanbase. As you can see from this Comic Book Resources poll (Found here: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=315409), the amount of people who are glad Jason has returned far outweighs those that aren’t or are unsure about it. There is incredible online excitement surrounding the Under the Red Hood movie among the fandom. And Winick’s upcoming miniseries is going to spark even more interest in Jason, just as the movie will bring in more fans who will want to read and learn about Jason the anti-hero they saw in the movie; or at least something close to it. In fact, according to this poll at CBR (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=317909), almost as many people intend on picking up Winick’s miniseries about Jason as those that intend to pick up Red Robin, a comic featuring a character that has had his own comic for over a decade. Marvel Comics has done well with anti-heroes like the Punisher, Deadpool and Wolverine; and DC’s Secret Six is one of the best comics on the market right now, proving there is a place for a comic featuring Jason as an anti-hero.
Jason as an anti-hero who does bad things to do accomplish a right plays a unique role in the Batfamily. There’s no one else like him. He’s the black sheep. He also has a great potential for good stories: there has been no interaction between him and Alfred, nor any of the Batfamily females: Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Helena Bertinelli or Barbara Gordon. Any interaction between Oracle and Jason would be particularly interesting as they did work together as Robin and Batgirl and she attended his funeral. She has also questioned why they continue to let the Joker live as well as whether Batman makes things worse for Gotham city. We are not attempting to suggest story ideas, but rather point out Jason’s great potential.
As well, by having Jason remain in the grey area, it gives an opportunity for him to have an ongoing comic. He’s been used so sporadically since his return and yet still gained a good fanbase; having him in a regular ongoing would be both beneficial and give him some kind of continuous direction. We, among many others, are incredibly excited for Judd to tell the rest of Jason’s tale and show once again that he is very sympathetic. Our ultimate hope is that Judd could tell more of Jason’s story in the present time and not just in the past.
If there’s any way you could also forward this letter on to Judd Winick, we’d be delighted. Jason’s “daddy”/re-creator needs to know there is a lot of love out there for this wonderfully complex character.
Thank you for reading our concerns and we hope you can address them. We’ve added our contact information at the bottom of this letter should anyone need or want to get back to us.
P.S. Not trying to sound petty here, but can we return to post-crisis Jason's original hair colour as well? While we understand the symbolism behind the red-headed stepchild Grant Morrison was going for, it's difficult to suspend our disbelief that Jason was dying his hair while deceased and while in a coma.
Feel free to discuss!
DC Comics
1700 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
May 7, 2010
Dear DC editors:
We are writing to you about Jason Todd. Both of the authors of this letter adore the character. We think he’s great as an antagonistic anti-hero and there is so much potential for amazing stories about him.
What concerns us both is this drive to push Jason to become a villain, particularly in the wake of Battle for the Cowl. Grant Morrison’s lovely Revenge of the Red Hood arc seems to have brought Jason back towards the grey anti-hero area and we champion that because there are simply too little characters in DC like that. There are enough gun-toting villains that go up against the Batfamily. You must be aware that the vast majority of both Jason and Batman fans did NOT like the “irredeemable” direction he was going in in the wake of Battle for the Cowl simply from the online sentiment. On the other hand, what is interesting is to see someone like Jason be antagonistic towards the Batfamily, but at times work with them, such as in Outsiders 44 and 45, where he gives Dick Grayson information to save a man’s life.
We are not the only fans of Jason who feel this way. There are many more out there that aren’t writing letters to you, but we have spoken to quite a few of them just the same. Judd Winick’s Under the Hood arc brought Jason back to life in such a way that he was a complex character: he was sympathetic, and he did bad things, but he did them in an attempt to do right. Antagonistic actions, yes; villainous, no.
Jason’s ultimate goal is to bring peace to Gotham. The fundamental difference between Jason and Batman’s Rogues’ Gallery of Villains is that the villains want to see everyone suffer; whereas Jason wants to see evil suffer. That is something people can understand, even though his methods are questionable.
The great thing about an antagonistic character like Jason is that he makes the protagonist and the readers question their morals, ethics and ideas. Fans debate over whether what Jason is doing is right and this is a good thing. Anytime a writer can get fans debating philosophical and moral ideas from reading comics is awesome. We need a character like Jason and we need him to remain in that grey area to continue to do this.
Jason does have a good fanbase. As you can see from this Comic Book Resources poll (Found here: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=315409), the amount of people who are glad Jason has returned far outweighs those that aren’t or are unsure about it. There is incredible online excitement surrounding the Under the Red Hood movie among the fandom. And Winick’s upcoming miniseries is going to spark even more interest in Jason, just as the movie will bring in more fans who will want to read and learn about Jason the anti-hero they saw in the movie; or at least something close to it. In fact, according to this poll at CBR (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=317909), almost as many people intend on picking up Winick’s miniseries about Jason as those that intend to pick up Red Robin, a comic featuring a character that has had his own comic for over a decade. Marvel Comics has done well with anti-heroes like the Punisher, Deadpool and Wolverine; and DC’s Secret Six is one of the best comics on the market right now, proving there is a place for a comic featuring Jason as an anti-hero.
Jason as an anti-hero who does bad things to do accomplish a right plays a unique role in the Batfamily. There’s no one else like him. He’s the black sheep. He also has a great potential for good stories: there has been no interaction between him and Alfred, nor any of the Batfamily females: Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Helena Bertinelli or Barbara Gordon. Any interaction between Oracle and Jason would be particularly interesting as they did work together as Robin and Batgirl and she attended his funeral. She has also questioned why they continue to let the Joker live as well as whether Batman makes things worse for Gotham city. We are not attempting to suggest story ideas, but rather point out Jason’s great potential.
As well, by having Jason remain in the grey area, it gives an opportunity for him to have an ongoing comic. He’s been used so sporadically since his return and yet still gained a good fanbase; having him in a regular ongoing would be both beneficial and give him some kind of continuous direction. We, among many others, are incredibly excited for Judd to tell the rest of Jason’s tale and show once again that he is very sympathetic. Our ultimate hope is that Judd could tell more of Jason’s story in the present time and not just in the past.
If there’s any way you could also forward this letter on to Judd Winick, we’d be delighted. Jason’s “daddy”/re-creator needs to know there is a lot of love out there for this wonderfully complex character.
Thank you for reading our concerns and we hope you can address them. We’ve added our contact information at the bottom of this letter should anyone need or want to get back to us.
P.S. Not trying to sound petty here, but can we return to post-crisis Jason's original hair colour as well? While we understand the symbolism behind the red-headed stepchild Grant Morrison was going for, it's difficult to suspend our disbelief that Jason was dying his hair while deceased and while in a coma.