Batman #635

Feb 2005 · DC · 2.25 USD; 3.50 CAD

📊 ~60,901 copies sold its debut month

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“Under the Hood Part 1 New Business”

★ 1st appearance — Red Hood

About this Issue

Batman #635 is the opening chapter of the 'Under the Hood' arc and marks the first appearance of Jason Todd as the Red Hood — one of the most consequential character resurrections in DC history. Todd had been famously killed by the Joker in 1988's 'A Death in the Family,' and his return here, after nearly seventeen years of death, broke a longstanding comics taboo against undoing fan-voted character deaths. The story reframed Jason not as a simple villain but as a philosophical challenger to Batman's no-kill rule, posing the question of whether mercy for monsters makes a hero complicit — a moral argument that has driven the character ever since. The arc's cultural reach extended well beyond print: it served as the direct source material for the 2010 animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, which is widely regarded as one of the finest entries in DC's animated library.

In "Under the Hood Part 1: New Business," Batman faces a chilling return from his past when the mysterious Red Hood reemerges in Gotham, stirring unrest beneath the city’s already fractured crime scene. With Black Mask tightening his grip on the underworld, the Dark Knight must navigate shifting alliances and long-buried secrets as the Red Hood’s true intentions remain shrouded in shadow. Written by Judd Winick and brought to life by Doug Mahnke’s dynamic art, with Tom Nguyen’s inks, Alex Sinclair’s colors, and Pat Brosseau’s sharp lettering, this issue sets a tense, personal tone for an escalating conflict. The cover by Matt Wagner captures the moment’s intensity with striking precision.

writer Judd Winick · artist Doug Mahnke · inker Tom Nguyen · colorist Alex Sinclair · letterer Pat Brosseau · cover Matt Wagner

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $70

CGC 9.8 · 1199 in census $273

CGC 9.6 · 888 in census $160

CGC 9.4 · 457 in census $107

CGC 9.2 · 240 in census $107

CGC 9.0 · 131 in census $94*

CGC 8.5 · 93 in census $78*

Show all 16 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 34 in census $77

CGC 7.5 · 16 in census $69

CGC 7.0 · 15 in census $63*

CGC 6.5 · 11 in census $56*

CGC 6.0 · 3 in census $49*

CGC 5.5 · 1 in census $32*

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $26*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 4.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 3.5 · 2 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

VF/NM $99.99 Signed · Sketch $99.99 Signed · Sketch $99.99 NM $108.35 CGC 9.4 $110 NM- $114.99 VF/NM $119.96 Signed $125

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History

Writer Judd Winick conceived the 'Under the Hood' storyline specifically to bring Jason Todd back to life, an ambition he carried into his Batman run and developed collectively with editor Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and others during early planning sessions for the Infinite Crisis crossover. The resurrection mechanism — Superboy-Prime punching the barrier of reality, inadvertently restoring Todd — was a deliberate editorial decision to tie the return to the line-wide event, though Winick himself acknowledged to interviewers that the cosmic explanation sat uneasily against the arc's otherwise grounded, street-level tone. Jeph Loeb had quietly 'opened the door' in his earlier 'Hush' storyline (Batman #617–618), where a Clayface impersonation of Jason planted the idea of his survival in readers' minds; Winick built directly on that groundwork. Doug Mahnke served as the primary penciler, and the cover for issue #635 was painted by Matt Wagner.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Jason Todd in the identity of the Red Hood (Batman #635, cover-dated February 2005, published February 10, 2005).
Written by Judd Winick; pencils by Doug Mahnke; inks by Tom Nguyen; colors by Alex Sinclair; cover art by Matt Wagner; edited by Bob Schreck and Michael Wright.
The issue is Part 1 ('New Business') of the 'Under the Hood' arc, which ran through Batman #635–641 and #645–650, plus Batman Annual #25.
Jason Todd had been dead in DC continuity since Batman #428 (1988), killed by the Joker in 'A Death in the Family' — a death decided by a reader telephone poll that ended 5,343 to 5,271 in favor of killing the character.
Winick deliberately borrowed the Red Hood alias from the Joker's own early-career identity, connecting Jason's new persona thematically to the man who murdered him.
Jason's in-continuity resurrection was explained as a side-effect of Superboy-Prime disrupting reality during Infinite Crisis; Talia al Ghul subsequently restored his mind via the Lazarus Pit — a mechanism later streamlined to the Lazarus Pit alone in the New 52.
The full arc was collected in trade paperback as Batman: Under the Red Hood (ISBN 9781401231453), gathering Batman #635–641, #645–650, and Batman Annual #25.
The storyline was adapted into the 2010 direct-to-video animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood (directed by Brandon Vietti; screenplay by Winick himself), starring Bruce Greenwood as Batman and Jensen Ackles as Red Hood — the film received a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from its initial critical sample and was considered the highest-rated direct-to-video Batman film until The Dark Knight Returns animated film.