InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Your fears are groundless"

tsuki_the_geek (tsuki_the_geek) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-04-19 21:44:00

Entry tags:

char: batman/bruce wayne, char: joker, char: robin/red hood/jason todd, publisher: dc comics, title: batman

The History of Jason Todd (Part 5) -- Death & The Return

So... a death and a resurrection? Damn, I should have posted this on Easter!

Here are the links to the previous "History of Jason Todd" posts:

Part 4: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/183159.html
Part 3: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/182791.html
Part 2: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/178502.html
Part 1: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/146730.html

And I know we all hate Jason right now for what's going on in Battle for the Cowl but... well, it's understandable that the kid has violence-against-family issues. As we see here...

When we last left off, Jason was violent, a jerk, and way more "edgy" than the Robin that most readers were used to. He was definitely a polarizing figure. Then DC did one of their most infamous reader-response events ever: they created a 900-number where comic fans could call in and vote whether Robin would live or die in the next series. The vote went on for 35 hours and it costed 50 cents a call! And the worst part? The vote was VERY close. But "death" won out, and thus Death in the Family was created.

Now, BLASPHEMY ALERT, I kind of hate the entirety of Death in the Family. I just think it's a horribly written book and it makes my brain leak out of my ears if I see too much of it at one sitting. Thus, I'm not posting much of it. Here's what you have to know:

1) Robin/Jason finds out that the mother who he loved and cared for and sacrificed for as she was dying is... GASP! Not his real mother! Clearly confused and upset, Jason sets off to find his real mother (notably without Batman) even though all he has is the woman's temporary location from 15 years ago and her initials. Somehow, though, he narrows it down to only 3 women that he has to find.

2) Batman finds Jason all the way ACROSS THE WORLD and, after lecturing him on running off, agrees to help him find these 3 women. Notably, one of them is Lady Shiva. But no, Jason's mother could not be that cool... Batman/Robin finally find the real mother working as a relief doctor in Africa.

3) Jason's real mother? She's a bitch. And evil. An evil bitch. She's been working with the Joker to undercut her own relief/charity work (what the hell was the Joker doing in Africa anyway Or Iran later for that matter?) and, oh yeah, sells out her own son at the drop of a hat... (and yes, she knows that her son is "Robin, The Boy Wonder!")

(There's a scene in the middle of these two posts where the Joker double crosses Jason's mom and leaves her to die in a bomb explosion w/Jason. Jason dies not because of the crowbar specifically-- he gets RIGHT next to the bomb trying to defuse it and save her. HER. His mom. The woman who was totally fine with the Joker killing her son. Then everything goes BOOM!)

Classic, iconic picture. For an interesting contrast, here's Under the Hood's version of the same scene:

Mask on in this one. Interesting touch...

So, almost 20 years pass and we see memories of Jason here and there-- but mostly he's just used for OMG BAT ANGST! I HAD A SIDEKICK WHO DIED! moments-- until 2006 and Under the Hood. And, oh yeah, stupid Superboy Prime:

.................
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*CRIES*

Coming Soon:
(Part 6) A look at Jason's short but well-written time as Red Hood, and (Part 7) the very, very few awesome Jason moments in Countdown!

(Post a new comment)

	pyrotwilight 2009-04-20 12:37 am UTC (link)
	What's the scene with the explanation of how Jason came back from? How could the sensor's tell either way if they were broken into and not out of? Sounds good but kind of stupid. Especially with how DC has teleporters and Batman knows it. (Reply to this) (Thread)

(Anonymous)
2009-04-20 02:22 am UTC (link)

Well, the way I figured it was Batman, concerned about grave robbing or some such thing, placed pressure sensors in the coffin that would alert him if the lid was removed. Jason, unfortunately, didn't open the coffin he just dug a hole straight through the center of the lid. The weight of the dirt on the coffin maintains pressure on the sensors thus preventing them from going off. Makes sense, I think.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	parsimonia 2009-04-20 12:39 am UTC (link)
	Okay, that's it. In my will I am going to specify that I be buried with a utility belt. Also, his coffin is pine? Sheesh, you'd think Bruce would've sprung for a hardwood. (And oh god that sentence was not intended to be dirty.) Looking forward to the Countdown bits! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	runespoor7 2009-04-20 04:58 am UTC (link)
	Fun fact: in the Far East, pine is a symbol of immortality and life renewed. Your dose of irony for today, how would you like it? (Reply to this) (Parent)

ladymirth
2009-04-20 01:11 am UTC (link)

*Cries with you*

I LIKED Under the Hood. It made sense that a Jason who had gone through the trauma of being betrayed by his own mother, beaten, blown up and buried only to wake up to a world where Batman had seemingly moved on as though he had never existed, would feel majorly pissed off and betrayed.
I confess, I cheered when he brilliantly conned Black Mask into killing his own men and then he kidnapped the Joker and beat seven kinds of shit out of him!!!♥♥♥

However, it didn't make any sense that he would evolve into a complete sociopathic jerkwad. Betrayed as he felt, he still loved Bruce and idolized Dick and I'm assuming still loved Alfred too, although he was never mentioned. Him becoming a Huntress-like anti-hero I get. Taking over Nightwing's identity and beating up his replacement to a pulp I don't get. Becoming a supervillain who shoots kids and murders people who aren't even criminals, I don't get. At least Cassandra was supposed to have been shot up with psychotropic drugs which apparently gave her a complete and irreversible personality transplant.

Also, from all I've seen from A Death in the Family, Jason got killed for trusting his biological mother and not being reckless and disobeying orders. So what's with all the "I got myself killed by being stupid and over-confident" rubbish that dates all the way back to A Rite of Passage, when Jason's ghost speaks to Tim?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	brandiweed.livejournal.com 2009-04-20 04:05 am UTC (link)
	However, it didn't make any sense that he would evolve into a complete sociopathic jerkwad. Given the nature of the injuries done to him, has anyone suggested that he might've suffered personality-altering brain trauma? Sure, it's an ass pull, but not a completely unjustifiable one (especially compared to Supermanchild Prime warping reality!). (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)