I saw the cover for Red Hood (and the) Outlaw(s) #37 and was drawn in by one detail. Not the fight between Jason Todd and some new characters but the fact one of them was holding a baby. That's kinda weird right? The kid stands out because the child is the only one besides Jason that's wearing red. It might be a girl since Rocafort gave the baby earrings and a hair pin. She looks like she's Asian so a few of us wondered if it's Lian Harper.
History in the DCU has been wonky with characters remembering old canon recently. Wally West remembered his own children and while he hasn't found them Zoom refers to them as being lost. They exist. While the old comic clichè of "having kids ages them" might be a factor for some that's not the case with the twins that rapidly aged to 8-10. If DC did bring Lian back they probably would want her much younger.
Maybe it's not that important but I found one appearance of Roy's a little curious. During Flash War heroes show up when Wally and Barry are racing. Roy is among them and comments about not knowing what's going on in his friends lives. He wasn't invited to join the new Titans line up and he had no idea things were falling apart for Wally. This is likely foreshadowing that Wally will accidentally kill Roy in HIC but I found it interesting that Roy questions who Jai and Irey are.
No one else there besides Wally and Barry know but Roy is the only one that latches onto that detail. The missing kids of a father who forgot they existed. If anyone else had asked who they were this wouldn't have stood out as much.
There were rumors that Lian was going to be born before HIC at the end of Roy's last Titans run. The arc was mostly about Roy as he tried to solve a case when no one else wants to help. Cheshire shows up and they get along which leads to the two of them having sex.
Yes this could be the conception of Lian but this isn't necessarily proof. Then again DC apparently knew Roy was going to die for awhile and allowed writers to do their own send offs before he was killed. Titans had this storyline, Nightwing did a one shot where Dick and Damian hung out with Roy, and RHATO did an annual. There was also some stories in Green Arrow that dealt with his relationship with Ollie. So if they knew Roy was dying that far in advance DC might have wanted to at least make it possible for her to be born.
So why would she turn up in RHO?
Where else would she turn up? Green Arrow is cancelled at the moment as is Titans and Dick is Ric. While Jason has never interacted with her before Flashpoint he was with Roy when Jade told Roy he was a father in original canon. Ironically Lian's birthday is actually a day after Jason's. (*1) And while I know it wasn't intended to connect the two her codename in Kingdom Come is Red Hood.
From a storyline point of view her introduction could make sense for the upcoming Year of the Villain tie in.
Jason hasn't had any closure on Roy's death and we haven't seen much of his grief. When I saw the solicits mention Lex Luthor offering Jason sidekicks I was baffled. Why anyone would he think Jason wanted that? Lex is supposed to be tempting people with power. With things they want like Cheetha having a weapon that can kill gods. If he wanted to Jason could find people to work for him. This kind of happened already with the Su sisters and Bunker.
At first I thought maybe Lex would use the sidekicks backstories to make Jason sympathize enough to accept the offer to help them. Maybe that will factor in. The solicit for the dark gifts issue however makes it sound like the sidekicks are students Lex wants trained. Then what is the "gift" that is suppose to get Jason to agree to the terms Lex sets?
What if Lex couldn't approach the situation the same way as the others? We know Lex spied on the Outlaws so he has to have some insight on them. Jason doesn't want wealth or power. There are other things that are more obvious that Lex could offer but might be reluctant to give.
One example is for Joker to die which might not work with his plans. Joker usually is a power player when he teams up with Lex. He might not want to give up a valuable wild card. Okay, so what about Jason's teammates? Artemis and Bizarro are lost surely Lex could bring them back. Would he though? If he's trying to get someone to sign up to be evil bringing in those that can act as a moral compass is the worst thing he could do. The best compromise is to have some connection to Jason's friends that can't talk him out of the deal.
The deal needs to be something that Lex is pretty sure Jason wouldn't refuse. Like the baby daughter of his recently deceased best friend. The sidekicks could be extra perks to help Jason achieve other goals but they might also be around to hold Lian as leverage. If nothing else I like theory crafting this. Do I think it's possible? Sure, I think there's enough going on to make it potentially happen. If it did it opens up a lot of story ideas for Jason too. From there who knows.
It might not happen but I'm going to be positive because I'm tired of a depressing DCU. Lian would bring some much needed heart back.
1* Birthdays: Jason Todd August 16, Lian Harper August 17. I just realized that this issue would come out in their birthday month.
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