DC K.O.: Red Hood vs. The Joker #1 Review

In this review of DC K.O.: Red Hood vs. The Joker #1, Red Hood faces down the Joker three times, in three different forms and arenas, in a trip down memory lane.

DC K.O.: RED HOOD VS. THE JOKER #1
Written by SCOTT SNYDER and JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
Art by DUSTIN NGUYEN
Main Cover: JORGE CORONA
Variant Covers: DUSTIN NGUYEN, LEE BERMEJO, GUILLEM MARCH, TAURIN CLARKE
Page Count: 30 pages
Release Date: 12/24/25

As Jason prepares for his battle against Joker, he thinks that he will forever erase the idea of Joker creating him with this fight. The Heart declares the rules – 2 out of 3, choosing your own forms – and they begin, guns blazing. Jason struggles briefly, remembering first seeing Bruce fight Joker, then gets a brutal sword stab in, and Joker flees. Jason brought one item to this world – a chemical designed by Bruce to destroy the Joker. He chases Joker into Ace Chemicals, gets a hit with his chemical bullet which mutates Joker into a wacky monster. Joker retaliates by throwing a bomb which knocks Jason into the chemicals, killing him, awarding Joker first round.

Jason chooses his Robin form, while Joker chooses his Death in the Family form, and they rematch in the warehouse where Jason died. Jason declares that he held back as Robin, but doesn’t hold back now. He beats Joker down with the crowbar, then drags the clown’s body out of the explosion after dodging his final shot. Round two Jason.

In Round Three, Jason chooses a future version of himself as Red Hood, while Joker chooses the Red Hood of Zero Year. They fight in a rain-soaked graveyard, and Jason beats Joker literally into an open grave, thinking he finally is free of Joker and Batman’s creation. He lies down and bleeds out as Joker’s heart restarts because of a gadget installed.

In the Watchtower, Booster Gold forces Tim Trapper to watch as Earth turns into New Apokolips.

Analysis

To be perfectly up front as a reviewer, the event of DC K.O. is very uninteresting to me. Entire months spent on individual duels leading up to a conclusion which feels arbitrary and story defined rather than an interesting competition, combined with the usual “ludicrously powerful villain gets even more powerful and threatens to destroy the universe” – it’s all very much Not For Me. I have also never been either a Joker or a Jason Todd superfan. While I don’t think I would have voted to kill Jason, I do rather like the status quo of tragedy and grief in the Batfamily caused by A Death in the Family, and though I do like that he’s back, I’ve never been a really avid reader of his comics outside of the somewhat inspired “Dark Trinity” arc that Scott Lobdell wrote during the first phase of the Rebirth era.

That being said, if you do like the concept, and you like the writers in question – Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson – they haven’t skimped on artistic talent. Dustin Nguyen’s work on the landmark Jason story “Under the Hood” is still legendary, and his work with Jason vs. the Joker here is quite strong (and he turns in a darn good variant cover as well). Giuseppe Camuncoli is an excellent fill-in option, and also contributed to the Under the Hood era a bit as well. Artistically, it’s a fine package.

Writing-wise, Snyder slips in his obsession with Zero Year and the Spider-Man: No Way Home-esque obsession with mechanically “curing” villains. While I object to this because I think it erases heroism as well as villainy if you say that someone’s evil choices are just determined by chemicals, it’s definitely a nod to his popular run on Batman with a special focus on Joker, so fans of that stuff will likely enjoy its inclusion here.

I don’t find the conclusion very interesting – the writers tried to give Jason a “moral” victory, but unless they have a significant plan of what Jason does AFTER this fight, it feels like it’s going to be completely forgotten next month. The Joker having a cheating device to go to the next round despite losing is pretty nonsensical, and all in all, the issue was just another fight.

Snyder’s obsession with Joker being a chemical determination rather than a choice for evil is stupid.

Jorge Corona (Batgirls, We Are Robin) draws a bloody, chaotic crowbar wielding Joker vs knife wielding Red Hood main cover, with a pale blue destruction background. Interior (and Red Hood legend) artist Dustin Nguyen provides a split-screen effect variant with an over the shoulder, gun-holding Jason, and a crazed Joker face. Lee Bermejo’s hyper realistic cover features our duo over a blazing fire background. Guillem March goes for a Joker arm (again with crowbar) vs Jason cracking his knuckles gunfighter standoff composition. Taurin Clarke’s more digital painted cover provides Jason turning the tables on Joker with the crowbar, with a huge red Darkseid behind him.

Final Thoughts

While Dustin Nguyena and Giuseppe Camuncolo provide excellent artwork, the end result is a bunch of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Ian Miller

A latecomer to comics - I started reading Bruce Wayne: Murderer, Birds of Prey, Hush, and War Games in college. Over a decade and a half later, I'm still inspired by Batman, and especially the Bat-Family (Stephanie Brown!) I started out listening to BTO, then Stella drew me to TBUCP, I volunteered to write reviews, and the rest is history! Love recording the podcast, especially with my amazing cohosts. Also a huge fan of Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, and many more books!