“Hunted by the Past, Part 1”
Creative Staff:
Story: Jeff Trammell
Art: Rob Guillory
Colors: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letterer: Becca Carey
What They Say:
A friend from Jason’s past is found dead in an alley, and the Red Hood is on the warpath for the killer. But in his pursuit, Jason finds himself facing down his own past and place within the Bat-Family. Can Jason outrun his demons or will they drag him back to the grave?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While Jason Todd was never my favorite during his original introduction, death, and rebirth as the Red Hood, I’ve grown to appreciate the character over the years and the small times I get to read stories about him it’s not a bad thing. Jeff Trammell puts together a pretty solid story here that definitely has the hallmarks of making it the best of the run so far as it touches on Jason’s past and messes with interesting characters. Rob Guillory presents it with some really nice style so that it doesn’t feel like just another Batman-style story set in Gotham with the Red hood and Jean-Francois Beaulieu gets to take that and run further with it using some good color design, especially since it’s mostly at night and utilizing darker colors.
The start of the storyline does a nice brief recap of Jason’s life and how he came up from the streets, tried jacking Batman’s wheels, found himself as Robin, ended up dead, and then reborn to become the Red Hood. Trammell covers it well for a format like this and you feel like you get a good handle on the character quickly. But at the same time, Trammell goes to show that Jason’s time on the streets wasn’t him alone as he had a good friend in Max Dawkins that looked out for him, made sure he had some food, and wasn’t alone in all of this. When he became Robin, Jason began leaving money for him and saw that Max got himself into college and was turning his life in a direction to help the homeless of Gotham. It’s a good uplifting story until Jason finds Max dead in the streets, shot up full of heroin, and basically just another loss according to the cops who don’t see anything bigger going on here. It’s a shit moment that just leaves you disgusted with the mindset, even for Gotham. Hell, especially for Gotham where things are never what they seem.
With the Red Hood now on the case, I like that he understands that he did pick up things from his time working with Batman regardless of how he feels towards him in the now. We get a simple bit of investigation here and then a challenge to some street toughs, which means a shootout, but it doesn’t take long to turn into the real villain here with Scarecrow behind it. It’s amusing in that he’s told that there’s a doctor behind Max’s death and his list of which one it could be is unsurprisingly long. The story takes some good turns here, especially with Scarecrow’s toxin being used creatively, and the arrival of Batman is only going to make things worse. For Jason, there’s a lot going on here and Trammell takes us into the simple but clear heart of what it is that really frightens him.
In Summary:
Truth and Justice has been a… well, not hit or miss series but mildly enjoyable to a miss series. This opening installment to a Red Hood story comes off much stronger than most of the prior stories and executes it smoothly and in a way that does make you want to come back for more. It’s simple but effective in its approach, has some solid artwork that fits the Red Hood style, and it expands a bit more on the character’s past in an easy way but one that resonates with the concept of this series which is key as well. I’m actively looking forward to seeing more of it.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 12th, 2021
MSRP: $0.99
