If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, you know I’m a weird stickler for comic book costume designs. I prefer my looks to be relatively clean and simple. I tend to prefer the looks of characters like Nightwing or Spider-Man to their more busy and chaotic counterparts. One such design I always had a soft spot for was Jason Todd’s initial Red Hood design.

That first Red Hood costume isn’t anything fancy, but it was exactly what the character needed for his return after decades as a ghost haunting Batman’s narrative. A few years ago, Jason ditched it for, arguably, one of the worst looks in comics as part of a new narrative which saw him on the outs with the Bat-family and his close friends Arsenal, Starfire, Artemis, and Bizarro.

And so you can understand why I was elated to discover Jason, as revealed in an exclusive over on Popverse, has finally gone back to something a little closer to sensible.

Jason’s new look isn’t just a redesign for the sake of redesigns. He’s also getting a new book, Red Hood, by Gretchen Felker-Martin and Jeff Spokes. In a first for DC, the new book will be both in-continuity and aimed at mature readers. Details are scarce, but Red Hood will see Jason relocate to the New Orleans-inspired city of New Angelique, where he’ll be hanging out with Huntress.

I’m excited for this? I like the character and idea of Jason Todd a lot. It’s interesting to compare Jason to Bucky, given their similar timeframes and circumstances. I think Bucky was probably handled better at first, but quickly became a definitive co-lead/secondary character after he dropped the Captain America identity, while Jason has had more interesting things happen to him in the long run.

But I’m also excited to see this as the litmus test for what DC can do with an in-continuity, mature-rated title. There’s never really been anything like it before; the closest would probably have been Vertigo and its tenuous-at-best link to ongoing DC Continuity when it first launched. Marvel has sort of toyed with this over the years, with some of its mature-rated Punisher and Wolverine titles being loosely in continuity.

The new costume is what I’m more interested in. Red Hood has been one of DC’s most criminally overdesigned characters ever since that first costume. He returned to the living in 2005’s “Under the Hood” arc, rocking a pretty casual biker-inspired leather jacket and red helmet. It was meant to evoke the very first Red Hood, a criminal identity that was passed around to various low-level thugs, the last of whom would fall into a vat of chemicals and become The Joker.

Jason wouldn’t get to wear this look long. “Under the Hood” happened at a period when the universe was shifting in big ways, just before Infinite Crisis. A few years later, following a brief stint as Nightwing, Bruce’s death and an even briefer (something like 1.5 issues) stint as a gun-toting Batman, Jason would pop up for Batman & Robin in a costume meant to more clearly evoke the original Red Hood design.

The new look was a mostly white bodysuit with a black cape and a massive, pill-shaped red helmet. Jason also briefly underwent a change underneath the hood itself, no longer dying his hair in this arc, revealing his original strawberry blonde colored hair that most fans had forgotten about by that point. Jason would rock this look for the “Batman Reborn” era, but by the time of Bruce’s return through Flashpoint, Jason went back to his classic look.

Most recently, Jason ditched the classic look in favor of a redesigned costume to reflect his solo “outlaw” era. On the outs with his former allies and kicked out of Gotham after being implicated in the attempted murder of the Penguin.

I hate this costume. I honestly think Jason makes a lot more sense in a more casual costume, something that allows him to blend in with the public. This bizarre number with short sleeves and a sleeveless vest looks like something he slapped together on a whim. I also just don’t really care for Jason carrying around a crowbar, let alone a sword. I get why he does, but I don’t care for it.

The new look still isn’t perfect, and honestly, the longer I look at it, the less I like it. It does feel a lot like a ’90s throwback, when costumes were full of straps and details and unnecessary accoutrement. Nonetheless, I feel it’s an improvement. I dig the return to the simple coat and hoodie. I’m curious if we’ll see him get the classic Red Hood helmet back, or if he’ll just wear this larger domino mask.

For the record, before anyone asks, I maintain that Jason’s best look is his Batman: Three Jokers costume. It checks everything I want from a modern Red Hood costume. It’s simple enough that he can blend into a crowd, yet flashy enough that he’s obviously Red Hood. I also love the way the Three Jokers costume integrates the Robin tunic into its design as a slick nod to his past.

Jason’s a bit of a fashion victim, sadly, but he continues to be one of the more interesting yet underutilized aspects of the Bat-family. I’m really eager to see this new book and where it takes him. If you’re looking for more Jason, I’ll be back here soon with a post-mortem of Chip Zdarsky’s Batman run. I meant to have it up, uh, two months ago, but life is what it is.

Do you have a favorite Jason Todd look? Do you think the Red Hood look works? Let us know in the comments, or come join us in the official Homeworld Discord community, where we’ve been talking about Jason’s sense of style (or lack thereof), as well as making the case for Hitmonkey to show up in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls.

Red Hood #1 is on stands September 10.

The post Jason Todd is Finally Ditching One Of His Worst Red Hood Costumes appeared first on Homeworld.