InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Nudge a friend to update."

bluefall (bluefall) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-04-08 13:31:00

Entry tags:

char: robin/nightwing/dick grayson, char: robin/red hood/jason todd, char: robin/red robin/tim drake, creator: tony daniel, event: battle for the cowl

This was totally worth killing three good titles for.
Know what's a horrible, beautiful, fascinating disaster?

Specifically today I refer to the actual crossover title itself, the second issue of which came out today. I will spare you the ludicrous and laughably pointless cameo by thong-up-her-ass Dinah and Jim-Lee-idiocy-costume Helena and the ZOMG Black Mask is a dangerous badass!!1! posturing, and go straight to the Batboys nonsense.

As we saw in the preview, Jason kills some people and Dick gets mad at him; Dick follows this by going home and sulking about the legacy, and then we get this hilarious page:

He's so outraged! How dare Tim do exactly what he was about to do!

Meanwhile in Jason's cave, Tim and Selina are poking around and get jumped by Jason, who does not appreciate houseguests. Also, I don't know why I even mention Selina there, because she for some reason doesn't participate in the fight and her presence is just as brief and arbitrary and pointless as the Birds. I will say I like the color choices that make the action and the different players so clear, though.

No words.

However, on the plus side, there is one redeeming panel:

Heh. If they're going to be writing this thing like this, I'm on Jason's side.

(I know some preview pages were posted already, but if I counted right, the issue is 30 pages, not including the Peej preview, so that gives us up to ten.)

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

parsimonia
2009-04-08 02:37 pm UTC (link)

You know what I found absolutely adorable about this issue?

Where Nightwing is all "I've narrowed down the possibilities as to who you might be. I have you pegged...JASON TODD!" HAHAHAHAHA, no shit Sherlock! I mean, was that really supposed to be a reveal? It's even funnier that the shot before it has Dick standing all proud and triumphant.

I liked the interaction between Tim and Selina. Too bad there couldn't have been more of their team-up.

Jason nearly killing Damian, knocking out Catwoman, and shoving a batarang into Tim...however gun-happy he is, all of those actions go directly against how I perceive the character. (Although, oddly enough, I can see Tim reaching for the crow-bar, if only to slap some sense into Jason.) Maybe Joker-like is what Tony Daniel is going for, though.

I will say I like the color choices that make the action and the different players so clear, though.

It's funny how Tim being in that version of the Batman suit actually has him looking less dark and grim than his Robin suit. I'm guessing Dick's Batman costume will be some sort of visual compromise.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

sistermagpie
2009-04-08 03:05 pm UTC (link)

Jason nearly killing Damian, knocking out Catwoman, and shoving a batarang into Tim...however gun-happy he is, all of those actions go directly against how I perceive the character.

Honestly, what's the idea supposed to be? He's claiming that he's just taking Batman to the places Bruce was afraid to take him, so he's actually killing criminals instead of just hurting them. So where does shooting Bruce's 10-year-old son and stabbing Tim in the chest come in, exactly?

And I'm assuming that those things were supposed to be lethal, because it hate the way they always try to split hairs with Jason, where he's shooting at people in a non-lethal and yet point-blank way.

So what's Jason's code, exactly? He's got issues with his family--that's great. And he's decided to go against Batman's code--okay. But how do those two work together? What's his idea of right and wrong? I think Winick has made a point of saying that he's a bad guy--not a misguided good guy who can be brought into the fold. But does he want to destroy the Batfamily? Why? Is he trying to hurt Bruce by killing his boys? Without Bruce there I'm not sure how that works. Even if he doesn't like the Batfamily's methods, they help fight crime in Gotham, so why kill them? Unless he really just wants to kill them all and become Batman, in which case he's just a nut that needs to be destroyed rather than a bad guy who can operate on his own.

I don't think he can be Joker-like. Jason really seems like the anti-Joker to me. He's like Bruce--he wants order and justice. Just his sometimes screwed-up version of it. But I always think of him as having a kind of protective streak as well, which killing Damian kind of goes against. We readers have plenty of reason to cheer the kid being shot, but does Jason see himself as a kid-killer?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

parsimonia
2009-04-08 03:20 pm UTC (link)

Very good points and questions.

But I always think of him as having a kind of protective streak as well, which killing Damian kind of goes against. We readers have plenty of reason to cheer the kid being shot, but does Jason see himself as a kid-killer?

That's what really seems off to me here. As we've seen in recent posts here, when Jason was excessively cruel or violent in fighting criminals as Robin, he always justified it by pointing out all the bad things those people had done. That guy was a drug-dealing pimp who murdered his girlfriend, he deserved it, is what Jason would say.

He wouldn't shoot a kid (even one as bratty as Damian), he wouldn't stab Tim, and he probably wouldn't knock out Selina unless he confirmed that she was going to stand in his way. Written differently, I could see Jason reaching out to Catwoman since she's theoretically more of a "bad guy", and maybe she'd set him straight.

*sigh* I keep waiting for Alfred to ambush him and give him a good talking-to.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-04-08 06:54 pm UTC (link)
	I keep waiting for Alfred to ambush him and give him a good talking-to. I would pay good money for a Peter Tomasi written Alfred telling Jason off, and expressing profound.. not anger, but disappointment in him. Alfred being disappointed would crush your average Batclan member faster than Bruce using the scary-voice. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-04-08 07:15 pm UTC (link)
	Ohhh, my goodness, yes. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	janegray 2009-04-09 07:11 am UTC (link)
	Motto. (Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -