I Don’t Like Sand

im gonna sort them with little stars. 1 star = tecnically skippable, but i still think it should be on this list. 2 stars = important. 3 stars = ESSENTIAL. my favorites and the most important!

as robin:

batman 408*** jasons first appearance and origin

batman 409-413*** continuation of jasons origin story

batman 416** nightwing drama, but warning- this is writen by starlin, who hates robin and esp jason (more on him later). so just be aware while you read, lol. i have mixed feelings with this comic..

batman 412-413* vs a mime lady, museum heist

detective comics 569-570*

dc 571** vs scarecrow

dc 572* sherlock holmes crossover

dc 573-574** the focus is more on batman in 574 but still

batman 424-425** this is the infamous comic where jason may or may not have pushed a guy off a building. BUT, disclaimer, this is written by starlin and was meant to make jason look bad. so keep in mind that this isnt a "killing rapist good" comic, and more of a "wow robin is so evil!!" comic. #jasondidnothingwrong

dc 579**

batman 414,421-422* gives context for way later developments (also starlin)

death in the family aka batman 427-429*** a big disclaimer for this one!!! its also written by starlin and another thing about this guy is that he likes to shoehorn in modern politics into whatever story hes writing, being really insensitive (and racist) to the point of it looking like a joke. so yeah. warning for the biggest whiplash between child murder and insane irl politics being basically mocked.

post resurrection:

batman: hush* his first post resurrection appearance technically, but its very brief. no number bc the parts that matter are included in the utrh omnibus.

under the red hood*** i could give you the exact issues but, JUST READ THE OMNIBUS. its the collected stories, plus a couple extra.

some parts of this story can be a bit confusing without context, but to get full context youd have to read a metric ton of stories, none of which include jason. so just use context clues for anything you dont get (or dm me and ask, lol).

theres an animated movie based on this story, but a few things are cut out/changed. (i still recommend it though, especially if you dont want to read this whole list...)

batman annual 25*** flashback/explanation for how jason came back. one of my favs of all time (also included in utrh omnibus)

red hood lost days** prequel, but read after the others. shows jasons life between his resurrection and utrh stunt.

these both take place after utrh, not necessarily jason focused, and they are pretty out of context. nevertheless, here they are:

green arrow 69-72* dont judge jason too harshly for this... he had a weird role in the sidekick ecosystem at this point.

outsiders 44-46* this is a brief appearance but i like it, interaction with nightwing

NOW... my final recommendation is:

robin 80th anniversary, specifically jasons story- "more time" *** really short and was written really recently, but its by winnick who's the author of like half of this list and basically THE post-resurrection jason writer. so you can read it with only the knowledge of this list and understand it! please do! IM BAWLING!!!!

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on modern (2011-now) comics:

i dont remember enough about new 52 to give recommendations. the only jason centric story is rhato, WHICH SUCKS. SO BAD. SKIP IT, IM SERIOUS. in fact, skip anything written by lobdell.

however.. as much as i hate to say it, lots of the new 52 stories set up his relationship with the rest of the batfamily, and these dynamics stayed to this day.

i have no specific recommendations, though... maybe "batman and robin eternal" ??? i seriously havent read these in years LOL

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for rebirth and infinite frontier id have to make a whole new post if i wanted to be in detail because i have a lot to say. ill just say- task force z was sorta weird but overall good jason characterization, and despite hating lobdell and it being shitty i also like the beginning or rhato rebirth. gotham war is a poorly written ooc mess but i must admit i love the angst LOL. jason also makes a lot of small appearances in batman/nightwing/etc which (though i havent read all of them) seem to mostly be good.

I AM ALSO A HUGE FAN OF ARKHAMVERSE JASON. this is an alternate universe (the video games) and so none of the comics on this list are canon to that universe, and none of the arkhamverse stuff has any connection to 'main canon' BUT THAT DOESNT MATTER. i think arkhamverse jason is almost perfect.

for arkhamverse jason: play batman arkham knight, then read arkham knight genesis! also theres a red hood dlc! i love him so much 😭❤️😭❤️❤️😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️

i have some fluffy non-canon recommendations, but ill make a new post for them later because this has taken me forever and its way too long!!!!!

thank you for the ask and for reading!! yay for new jason fans!!!!!