Clearly there must be something wrong with me cuz I'm not offended or confused in the slightest. More relieved really. I was afraid it be something more radical or something incredibly lame. Jason having a traumatic experience in his childhood in crime alley doesn't surprise me. He is messed up alright and serves as quite the reflection of Gotham City. I'm more surprised it took DC this long to use that plotline.
It would've been unrealistic for Jason the streetrat not to at the least have witnessed some crazy shit going down in crime alley as a little kid. Perhaps I'm more accepting of this its because I use to justify his attitude and behavior by telling people that I strongly believed the boy was broken before Bruce found him.
Jason haters could never understand why jason wasn't grateful to Bruce for picking him up and why didn't he change for the better and become more like tim and dick? Duh, cuz he didn't come from a nurturing or healthy environment like those two did. Dad was absent in and out of jail, mom was either a druggie or sick and whatever the case is, he dealt with her death alone. Jason's like a wild child, except unlike...say Cass Cain, he lived & dealt with the worst side of humanity so he picked up their traits and habits. So yeah, sorry guys. making him Robin so soon after adoption was pretty dumb of Bruce. Tim and Dick at least had a healthy childhood with parents to nurture and instill in them a sense of normalacy...ie. a foundation from which to work with. Jason had none. He was a broken child.
I see this as just further explanation, not a retcon. Back in the eighties they couldn't write this sort of story, not with a Robin. Death was their extreme back then. But now...? They can go even further in bringing some more realism. It won't be a happy story, I'm sure, but violence, crime and children rarely are.
Ironicly, while DC gives jason an even more messed up childhood to explain his bad behavior and what not to do with kids like him...they're having Dick repeaat Bruce's mistakes by having him let Damian become Robin.
Right. And there went my suspencion of disbelief.
Anyways, I was also pretty worried Cass or Barbara would die. So glad no one did.