The following story and photos are from Giant Panda King's book,
Gotham 1919-1939 by Russall S. Beattie, available from www.giantpandaking.com.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Jason Todd. The second Robin had a penchant for trouble, even early on in his crimefighting
career. Jason had essentially been raised on the streets and coerced into the Mad Hatter’s
exploitation ring. He considered it a lucky streak when he was discovered by the Bat-Man and got to
take up the mantle of Robin. Together they took down the Mad Hatter, and the future seemed bright.
Over the years, the Bat-Man watched Jason become more and more violent and brash. Eventually, it
caught up to Jason. During an investigation into the Joker’s latest crime spree, Jason decided to
chase a lead without telling the Bat-Man. Jason’s actions in the previous weeks leading up to this
had led Bruce to believe Jason was feeling the pressure of working under the Bat-Man’s wing.
Jason’s behavior had become erratic, even hostile towards Bruce at times.
While chasing the lead, Jason encountered the Joker in a warehouse and attempted to
fight him. The Joker overpowered Robin and savagely beat him with a crowbar.
Upon the Bat-Man’s arrival to the warehouse, all that remained was a tattered,
bloody uniform. He assumed that Robin had been murdered by the Joker.
Little did the Bat-Man know, Jason had survived, albeit barely. The League of Assassins had been
watching the Bat’s crusade in Gotham, and jumped on the opportunity that arose with
Jason’s supposed “death.” Before the Bat-Man could arrive on the scene, they recovered Jason.
He was in bad shape and comatose, but the League had plans for him. Jason spent years in a coma.
The League fed him through a tube during this time, and used a catheter as well, until, one day,
he finally awoke. He awoke to a surrounding much different from the city he was familiar with.
The sandstone and rock of the League’s buildings were much harsher in contrast. Jason hardly
recognized himself in the mirror; he had grown during his time unconscious. He found himself a
prisoner amongst the League of Assassins, and he was subjected to brainwashing sessions every day.
These sessions were conducted by a member of the League named Professor Ojo. Ojo was the master
of torture within the League. He was one of the Seven Men of Death, alongside Malcolm Merlyn,
Deathstroke, and others. Hailing from Spain, Ojo had been born without eyes due to a birth defect
caused by radium poisoning. The poor safety conditions his parents had been working under
were later linked to this. As a boy, Ojo did not let his blindness get the better of him.
He learned other skills that let him analyze the people around him; their conversations,
their tones, and the small, minute sounds they made that indicated certain body language.
He utilized this and became a truthsayer, an analyst of people and behaviors.
He earned money for his family, and a reputation for himself. Soon, his talents attracted the
attention of Ra’s al Ghul, leader of the League of Assassins. Ra’s took the boy from his humble
origins, training him, and Ojo ascended through the ranks of the League over the years. Professor
Ojo was so loyal to Ra’s that he considered his master a god; destined to save humanity.
Jason Todd’s subjection to Professor Ojo’s brainwashing and torture was excruciating on
the young man. He’d already suffered intense physical abuse at the hands of the Joker,
and now he was suffering intense mental abuse at the hands of the League.
Once Ojo considered Jason to be broken, he was turned over to Ra’s al Ghul himself for training.
Ra’s spent the next few years further honing Jason’s skills, turning him into a human weapon.
It is rumored that he may have been responsible for the assassination of Omni Happonen,
a Finnish politician, and Henry C. Beasley, an American Medal of Honor recipient. Speculators
think that these individuals may have been at odds with Ra’s al Ghul’s plans.
Bruce Wayne had seen the anger in Jason and tried to help him control it,
but Ra’s undid all of that. He instead pushed Jason to unleash his anger, using it in his
missions. This had its benefits, but it also served to make Jason even more uncontrollable.
His anger ruled his decisions, even though they were made in service to the League
and Ra’s. Years later, the Bat-Man would suspect that Jason had sustained brain damage from his
beating at the Joker’s hands. This may have been a cause for his unpredictable rages. This eventually
made Ra’s al Ghul cut ties to Jason. The leader of the League did not like unpredictability.
At a crossroads, Jason was distraught, angry, and alone. His wandering eventually led him back
home to Gotham City. Jason saw how Gotham had changed. The Bat-Man had a new suit,
there were new criminals, and there was even a new Robin. This fact did not help Jason’s anger. He
felt betrayed, abandoned, and replaced. His anger turned to resentment and a desire for revenge.
Donning a red mask and utilizing his combative skills, Jason Todd became the Red Hood.
At first, his strikes went unnoticed; a mugger killed here, a small-time
robber there. The organized crime families in Gotham were mostly dissipated at this point,
but there were some operations that remained. These vestiges were what the Red Hood went after
first. A Maroni heroin operation was left in bloody tatters,
the mobsters strewn in various pieces. This drew the attention of both the GCPD and the Bat-Man.
The Bat-Man suspected almost immediately that this was no average criminal. He saw the rage
in the murder scene, and it reminded him of that same rage he had seen all those years ago.
Over time, the Red Hood became more and more bold with his attacks. It became clear to the
Bat-Team that this individual was trying to uproot the remaining organized crime families.
His attacks would always leave behind many casualties. It seemed to them that the Red
Hood was trying to make a point: that the Bat’s methods were ineffective. The Red
Hood seemed to believe in a more permanent form of justice, if one could call it that.
It wasn’t until the Bat-Man finally confronted the Red Hood that the conflict came to an end.
This conversation resulted in the Red Hood unmasking, confirming the Bat-Man’s suspicions:
this new criminal was his former protege, Jason Todd. Jason and Bruce fought for several minutes,
but eventually they reached a stalemate. Jason fell to the ground, collapsing from exhaustion,
and the Bat-Man leaned against a wall nearby. There, Jason finally vented about his anger
to the Bat, voicing it for the first time in his life. Bruce listened and responded with sympathy,
and took the responsibility for Jason’s plight at the hands of the Joker years ago.
This interchange served to mend some of the wounds between the Bat-Man and former Robin.
In spite of this, Jason still felt that he was past the point of no return.
Before the Bat-Man could stop him, the Red Hood leapt off the side of the building they were on.
The Bat-Man rushed to the side, but the Red Hood had vanished without a trace.
Even after searching for weeks, the Bat-Team was unable to locate Jason,
and the attacks on Gotham’s criminal underworld ceased.
The Red Hood’s impact on Gotham had been brief, but resonant. It spoke of an underlying rage that
grew beneath the surface; an open wound that festered with each new criminal that appeared.
Gotham would not see the Red Hood for months, until the events of the Shadow War
began to come into effect. Jason would be a warrior for the Bat-Man’s cause, focusing his rage
in his own effort to protect the city. Gotham had taken much from him, but it was still his home.
The Bat-Man saw the Red Hood as an example of his own failure.
It would haunt Bruce for the remainder of his life. Even though Jason was alive,
he had spent years hating Bruce for abandoning him. Bruce felt the weight of that hatred,
and would find himself wishing he hadn’t given up the search for Jason’s body all those years ago.
The Bat-Team would encounter the Red Hood numerous times after his disappearance,
and Jason was eventually welcomed back into the fold.
After his brutal beating from the Joker, his abandonment by Bruce,
and his brainwashing by the League of Assassins, Jason could finally rest easy; he was home again.