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Tweak says, "FIGHT THE POWER!"

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!

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icon_uk
2009-04-20 06:19 pm UTC (link)

It could be interesting to think what the alternative would have been if fans had voted the other way. Would Jason have been crippled? Stayed in the Mideast doing charity work? Hunted down diplomat's sons suspected of rape? Turned to a life of crime? Disappeared from continuity like Aunt Harriet until someone had a better idea? We'll never know.

I think we'd have seen this as a transformational experience for Jason, he's have quietened down, become better at research whilst he recuperated, maybe become the resident Bat-computer-whizz, until he took to the streets again, as a more cautious, more obedient Robin. Pretty much exactly like Tim, in other words.

In retrospect, that resurrection was probably also tied to the planned death of Dick Grayson in Infinite Crisis,

Possily, but I dunno, I think the two events are rather far apart.

which would have opened up a space in the Batman family for Jason: the new Nightwing. Much of Brothers in Blood makes no sense unless we imagine Jason in Dick's place. (The rest simply makes no sense at all.)

Ditto the first Outsiders arc OYL, which is also atrocious, but has a Dick Grayson that even Winick's writing shouldn't have screwed up THAT much, but makes a bit more sense with Jason (such as threatening Superman with Green K if he didn't back off and leave them to the morally grotesque decision making, a move Dick would sooner chew his own leg off than consider), though again, only in SOME scenes.

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freddylloyd
2009-04-20 08:01 pm UTC (link)

We know that Dan DiDio was thinking about Dick Grayson's death as the crowning touch in Infinite Crisis from early on, meaning from before the first issue in late 2005. Batman: Under the Hood appeared earlier that year, I believe.

I haven't read far enough in the Outsiders series to have seen the context of Nightwing's confrontation with Superman. The volumes and pages I have read, mostly pre-OYL, don't seem as out-of-character for Dick as some people complain. I think one theme of the series throughout is that Dick's idea for the Outsiders was one he couldn't really carry out, however much he wanted to after Donna Troy's death. Just trying it forced him to strain the friendships that he'd built up, thus straining his psyche.

In other words, we fans of Dick Grayson were supposed to be thinking, "You gave that job your best shot, but it's just not you." If Dick had truly been written out of character, then he wouldn't have had such trouble with that approach.

As with Brothers in Blood, the decision to spare Dick from being killed in the Crisis might have meant some quick rewriting afterwards.

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