Few interesting things in DC Comics' recent announcement of a new Red Hood series by Gretchen Felker-Martin and Jeff Spokes.

For Mature Readers

First, it is a “mature rated (Ages 17+)” series, presented specifically as being “in-continuity,” but is not, as far as what DC’s said so far, a DC Black Label title.

This is not a first for DC, as titles like Mike Grell’s Green Arrow in the 1980s were “suggested for mature readers,” though it has been a long time — 30, 40 years — since DC has done mature, in-continuity titles that were not relegated to Vertigo or Black Label, or weren’t at least miniseries.

(DC does not list this book as a miniseries, but I’m increasingly skeptical of the longevity of any new series; it’s not a miniseries now, but let’s see where we are after 12 issues.)

I’d love to read an interview with Marie Javins or Jim Lee talking about this decision to “go mature.” Anecdotally, I visited almost 10 different culture news sites and nearly every one just repeated the same content as the press release with no original reporting, but maybe the 11th would have had what I was looking for.

Collections Baked In

The other interesting thing is that DC’s press release says specifically, “Red Hood Vol. 1, collecting issues 1–6 of this new ongoing DC All In comic book series, will publish on June 16, 2026, and Red Hood Vol. 2, collecting issues 7–12, will publish on December 1, 2026. Future volumes will be announced soon!”

I have been reading Collected Editions' archives lately, updating some code, and I’m struck by how groundbreaking a statement like that would have been 20 years ago. DC is announcing the collections of this series, scheduled for no sooner than a year away and before the first single issue has even been released and this is not a scandal?!

Writers, artists, and comics shops would have been up in arms over such a thing once upon a time. The single issues won’t sell if people know a collection is coming, went the logic, and a collection won’t come if people don’t buy the single issues. Twenty years later, collections are so commonplace, mentioning collections alongside single issues (and digital release) is not just uncontroversial, it’s good business sense.

I’ll be curious to see what DC does with this. Clearly I’m overdue to read Red Hood: The Hill, since last I saw Jason Todd, circa Batman: Urban Legends/Task Force Z/Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing, Jason had hung up his guns for a kinder, gentler path, but clearly that didn’t work out so well.