#comics references

Some highlights:

The Contents!

Cool pull out maps! (There's a world and US one, too)

Food chains and sports teams!

There's a bunch of non-earth stuff including other planets and dimensions!

I just finished watching the trailer, and I'd have a little thing to mention about Steve. If he really came back from the dead, he did it like, 66 years after his supposed death.

And, if my calculations are correct, guess who else was dead but in fact not really, came back to life 66 years after his presumed death, and was also named Steve ?... yep that's right, Captain Rogers from the MCU.

🤨 Did you sneak a peak at the outline for my baby Blue Jay AU that I keep pretending doesn’t exist, anon? Seems like you and I are on the same wavelength. Baby jason was a snarky, clever, extremely eager to please kid and when he was triggered he fought with everything he had to protect himself and others is exactly how I think of the little guy.

Canon actually supports this version of him. In fandom, the tire theft origin story gets a lot of attention, but the canon details of what came after are so important. After Bruce gets his tires back, he makes a deal with Jason not to turn him over to the cops or social workers if he goes to stay at Ma Gunn’s School for Boys (Batman #410).

Turns out the school is a front for criminal activity.

Jason nopes right outta there and gets picked up by Bruce again for boosting tires (Batman #411).

Jason tells Batman about a plan to steal from the museum. Then Jason shows up to foil the crime himself because he didn’t think Batman believed him. It’s after this that Bruce takes him home.

If there's not one that's your favorite, do you have a top 5 of our favorite Eevee?

Oooo, nice ask, anon. I love a good prompt that lets me use visual aids, A++.

This is a topic I have strong feelings on, both from an aesthetic preference standpoint and a practicality of armor and weapons perspective, so this might stray a little into hot topic territory...

To start with, I’m actually pretty partial to the original look. You know, this guy:

Give me a smooth featureless helmet, a biker jacket, and some tactical jeggings any day. It’s classic.

That said, my favorite look is probably actually from RHatO. I think the design it’s pretty similar between the New 52 and Rebirth, but the art is better in Rebirth.

Source: Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) Vol 1

I love the thigh holsters and the greaves. My major beef with this look is the three-quarter sleeves and the bared forearms. Like, come on, Jason is mainly a close-quarters combat fighter who favors knives. There is no power on earth that could convince me that he shouldn’t be rocking a sick pair of vambraces.

Task Force Z isn’t ... terrible. I loath the crowbars as a weapon of choice (🤮👎). But I like the streamlined, hyper-jointed, plate-armor look that realistically provides protection for melee fighting while still letting him flip around. Not really a fan of the hood look here though (are we just blatantly ripping off Iron Man now?).

Source: Task Force Z #8

I detest, likely deeply and passionately detest, the muzzle and cropped hoodie vest get-up. And, omg, the red ribbons on his arms, don’t even get me started. Like what the fuck even is that? It’s ridiculous. My problem with this look is partially that the aesthetics and impracticality don’t appeal to me, but also that it’s so over the top it makes Jason feel like a caricature of himself.

Source: Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War #1 (2023)

Possibly the only thing worse than the muzzle/ribbons get-up is the pill head Jason design. It’s just so godawful I’m not going to feature it here.

I’m honestly not even sure what to say about this one. The boots are fine, I guess. 🤦‍♀️

Source: Batman 148 (2024)

When it comes to Robin, I don’t have a particular favorite. I adore cute as button Jaybin in his little collared yellow cape (although I wish the artists would give him some kneepads at least).

Source: Robin 80th Anniversary

But I also equally like a more armored, badass Robin look for Jason.

Source: RHatO Rebirth Vol 1 (2016)

I think more people should talk about the fact Jason was able to make Batman laugh, on just an awful anniversary too. Like, Batman is known for being stoic and just generally…not a happy dude? But this little kid comes along! And now the ‘dark knight’ is smiling and laughing!! Jason made Bruce happy then & afterwards too as Jason & Robin.

Anyway, that I think adds to the heartache of his death / Bruce being so close far more than their fight does. (Not that the fight isn’t important or anything, it absolutely is) that difference between that happy caring kid to the current Jason is supposed to be shocking 👏 not expected 👏

I agree, it absolutely adds to the heartache of his death.

I think there’s two related reasons for the focus on Jason as the “angry” Robin.

1) After Jason died, dc made a concerted effort to rewrite history that ‘Jason was reckless and angry and didn’t listen to Batman so his death was his fault and really he had it coming’. Because apparently the thing to do after you brutally murder a child as part of a grotesque media stunt is to use classism and victim blaming to gaslight your audience in order to deflect from your own failings. 🤢

For example just look at the difference between this panel from Batman #614 published in 2003:

Jason never had the skills that Dick had.

I’ve always known that Dick had a gift. Jason only had … rage.

Versus these panels from Batman #410 published in 1987 where we see Jason display obvious skill in hand-to-hand and acrobatics, and Bruce calls Dick and Jason “two of a kind”:

2) It’s a lot easier to not feel bad about Jason’s brutal demise if you focus on him as a bad seed to begin with. Like, who wants to think about a happy kid who excelled at school and loved his dad being beaten half to death and blown up.

So, yeah, I totally agree with you anon, the difference between pre-death Jason and post-death Jason is supposed to be shocking, not expected. Most of all it’s tragic. 😔

At some point in RHATO, Jason gives up his most cherished memory. The one where he’s sick & Bruce stayed home with him.

He was offered it back, and told them to keep it. He refused the offer. I’ve heard that the memory gets mentioned again later but I don’t know if he ever actually really takes it back.

Do you know if he ever gets it back? It’s both sad and not if he doesn’t, because on one hand he’s losing a good memory, but on the other I think it helps cut him off from Batman. Which really might be good for him (looks at all the other comic issues w how Bruce has treated Jason)

Hey, anon. Thanks for the ask! 💙

I’m by no means an expert on the comics, but I did have a bit of a comic-buying hissy fit a bunch of months ago trying to answer this exact question for myself. Here’s what I concluded (complete with pretty pictures because I’m a firm believer in citing your sources):

So in the new 52 rhato #3 (written by Scott Lobdell), Jay, Roy and Kori each give up their most cherished memory to gain entrance to the Chamber of All. The memories are held by Sa’ru (an all powerful being is also apparently a bratty child?).

Sa’ru gives Roy and Kori their memories back when they exit the chamber, but Jay refuses his.

Skip forward a bunch of issues to rhato #19 and Jason actually has Sa’ru take all his memories after a thing with the Joker (that’s a whole different blog post) and he ends up with complete amnesia. The series is being written by James Tynion at this point, not Scott Lobdell.

But Jason eventually gets all of his memories back in rhato #26.

I think you can make a reasonable argument that Tynion intended this to include his most cherished memory, as Jason talks about remembering his finest moments, his lowest moments, etc. Note, the series is still being written by Tynion.

But now skip way way ahead to rhato rebirth #34, and we get this exchange. 

So, no, I guess he didn’t get it back? Note, that the series is back to being written by Lobdell at this point.

Honestly, I think this is just another stellar example of dc saying, continuity, consistency? What are these strange and foreign concepts? And thus authors doing whatever they want, to hell with any prior storylines. Tynion was clearing going for an arc where Jason reclaimed his memories. Lobdell had a different idea in mind.

I don’t know that it really matters either way. I mean it’s one memory, right? So even if it’s gone, Jason’s second most cherished memory just moves up into spot numero uno. Based on how much Bruce clearly meant to Jason, and that Bruce was actually a good Dad in most of the comics featuring Robin!Jason, I’m guessing that that memory is of the two of them together, too.

I’d say go with whatever makes you happy and fits your own head canons for Jason. I hate the whole storyline and pretend it doesn’t exist while I stick my tongue out at dc and tell them liberally to fuck right off.