#jayjonnia

Awww thank you! I can't promise they're everyone's taste, and I understand people's hesitation due to the double whammy of Tom Taylor and Jon Kent, and initially when Jay was introduced I didn't have any interest in them at all. What got me intrigued was the ongoing Secret Six run, which is a book absolutely chock full of messy gay drama. And that got me to go back and deep dive into Jayjon.

The basic summary that I can give as propaganda is that Jay is a seventeen year old anarchist who successfully convinced Jon Kent to go along with his plan to overthrow a dictatorship. He's much more active a partner than a generic love interest, and in a lot of ways he's helping Jon define who he is outside of "Superman's son." Despite being created by Tom Taylor, the more comics Jay appears in the more it becomes clear that he's not a two dimensional sweet supportive love interest. That boy is a Hater. It's literally one of my favourite things about him.

(And also I think people saw Tom Taylor's name, Jon Kent as the protagonist, and Jay's pink hair and made a whole bunch of assumptions about him and Jayjon that lumped them in with Tim Drake and Bernard under the "DC doesn't care they're just throwing these heroes with random boring gay love interests" take. Which I disagree with especially when it comes to Jay tbh.)

But to understand my own personal love for jayjon, as someone who doesn't really care about male characters in general, you gotta understand the third part of this messy triangle: Nia Nal aka Dreamer. Spoilers for everything involving the three of them below.

Made a reading guide for Jay, Jon and Nia's relationship leading into Absolute Power because I've been asked about what happened there once or twice and certain people could use a refresher.

Part of me hopes Jay puts an end to Amanda, honestly. I don't know how, but I hope so. I also wonder, am I the only one who thinks Nia is written in a very opaque way?Almost like an anti-hero turning into a villain or is it just my perspective, I wonder if the author is aware of it, What's his intention with the boys? I've had that question for a while, and this latest issue made me ask it again. What do you think?

Her* intentions, but yeah.

Despite my status as a mutual of Nicole's, I am not privvy to her machinations any more than you are, and this latest issue really threw me for a (very good) loop. Like, I fully did not expect Nia to tell Jay JACK SHIT, and yet here she is, telling him the one secret that would totally nuke what remains of her life if it got out. Yknow, the guy whos entire skillset is leaking information. Sure Nia, that'll go well for you.

I think Nia's writing is actually pretty complex right now. She's kind of hard to get a read on in that final scene, but I think she's being genuine, just short-sighted. This is her attempt at an olive branch and its............ well, its a really weird olive branch, and I think it displays her naivety in some pretty interesting ways. In her pursuit for justice, she doesn't think of consequence. Unless she plans to take the fall for it, what does she think is going to happen to Jay if he pulls the trigger? You think the US would just let him walk away from that? In a lot of ways, despite her good intentions, this proposition is validating everything Jay said about her at the start of the scene. She's selfish, she's careless, but she has a choice in her actions. Its really good stuff and I expect it to backfire on the both of them.

I think we're gonna see this book end with Jon totally alone, honestly. I could totally see Jay and Nia on the run after whatever happens with Waller since at the end of the day they are currently co-conspirators, and I think Jon's himbo nonsense of not being able to choose between supporting Jay and defending Nia is gonna bite him in the ass. There's no situation where I can see Jon/Nia happening and being totally flowers (or possibly even being requited period, I mean, like, Nicole HAS said that Nia's song is one ABOUT BEING LED ON by a guy, lmao) or even happening period considering what Jon doesn't know about her, and clearly Nia's current priority is JAY and his feelings and HIS justice (which is NUTS) Jon Kent be damned, and Jay and Jon... Jon needs to get his head out his ass, period. I love Jayjon and want them to be endgame, but Jon needs to go rot in bed for awhile so he can realize he's being a huge dickweed. Maybe spend some more time in the volcano.

The external premise of the JayJonNia dynamic as we've been told in promotions and such is that Jay & Nia are vying for Jon's affections. The general DC fandom is also taking this as the conclusion since Jay loves Jon, and Nia also has feelings for Jon. The existence of these romantic feelings immediately makes people think this is going to be some tug-of-war for Jon's attention but that is not the source of their current tension at all.

The reason these three are fighting is because of Gamorra.

Gamorra is what brought these three together, and it is what's splitting them apart. Saving Gamorra was where ALL of them debuted as superheroes in the comics. This was Nia's first introduction to the mainline story, Jay's suit debuted here, and Jon's first big superhero mission was this.

It is a significant place for them as heroes but also personally as people because it's Jay's home.

If you remember this interaction, it stated with Nia showing up, explaining that if they don't stop Bendix, the entire Justice League would be in trouble, and Jon & Nia jumping to go save Gamorra alone.

Then Jay slows both of them down and says this:

Jay is advocating for Gamorra's autonomy and this speech then becomes the crux of the issue.

Jay explains to Jon & Nia that they can't fight FOR Gamorra, but they can fight with it. He constantly speaks for his country's rights. He started all of this for his country. So when I say Gamorra is the reason they are where they are, it also very much means JAY is why they are all where they are.

Jon & Nia's failure to understand the importance of autonomy, the necessity for intersectionality and knowing their own limits landed them here.

Nia has good intentions but she doesn't have the power. Physically yes, but systematically, she was a new, young hero with little experience. But her belief in her own physical powers led her to making some....bad choices.

She obviously didn't want to work for Waller but accepting any sort of deal with her was a bad move. Jon warned her, she didn't listen. Afterthought gave her his premonition, she ignored it. In her efforts to protect Parthas she couldn't see far ahead enough to understand what she will have to put to the slaughter to save her own home. Jay wanted teamwork, he went into this with that, but Nia and Jon have a bad habit of taking everything on themselves.

Jon is just as bad. That lecture from Jay was directed specifically at Jon and all of SOKE was Jay showing Jon that he isn't alone. He keeps trying to give Jon community, get him more involved in ground-level work, and tries to show him that even if he is Superman, he needs a place to rest. Jon's penchant for doing everything alone means he's also shortsighted about who's the wrongdoer, and how systematic violence works.

SOKE starts with Jon worrying about how Superman can't punch dictatorships, oligarchs, corruption or pollution. Then we're introduced to Jay, a reporter whose main goal in the story is explaining that Jon doesn't have to do it alone, and that these things take time.

Jay wanted teamwork, he went into this with that, but Nia and Jon have a bad habit of taking everything on themselves. He is their glue, he gave these two direction when they were fumbling in their new roles as heroes.

Nia

Then it all goes to shit and Gamorra is colonized once more.

Nia is deeply, painfully aware that she fucked up big time by the end of Dream Team. She keeps trying to scaffold the damage and fix things but the train has left the station a long time ago. All she can so by the end of it is watch, while still somehow trying to be the hero she desperately wants to be.

And this all leads to Nia taking her most direction action to suppress Jay when she could've genuinely made a different choice; the chase in the forest.

In Nia's eyes, she can't be forgiven or be the hero she wants to be unless she fixes this for Jay. She asks JAY for forgiveness, she tries to explain herself to him, she tries and tries from Ground Zero all the way up to Secret Six, where she's only really talking to Jay throughout the run. Jon is the one giving justifications and explanations, Nia doesn't try to explain herself, but she does want to get Jay justice. The run opens with Nia's guilt about Jay, it's eating her alive. She'd go so far as to kill for him! She doesn't give a shit what Jon would think (she does, she cares but not enough to stop her), she's said it plain as day in Absolute Power.

Nia is here, to appeal to Jay and earn some kind of absolution for what she was involved in. She cares about Jon, has feelings for him, but ultimately, his acceptance isn't what she wants.

Jon

This is obvious. Jon is deeply in love with Jay. From the moment they met, Jay gave him direction, purpose, and most of all, safety. Jon was desperate for someone to not treat him like a ghost or a tragedy, and Jay was it. He didn't love him for Superman, he always called him out, he debated with him, affirmed him, and generally engaged with Jon without any duplicity.

Jon has been living a life of lies, hiding and manipulation. The first 9 years of his life, he lived under a different name- Jon White. Then turns out his dad's Superman. The move to a new town and turns out everyone there is an alien who have been used to control Jon by Manchester Black. Then his kryptonian grandfather comes in and starts talking strangely about who he is. He gets lost in space and is under the thumb of a deeply emotionally abusive man for years. Then he gets used as a weapon by having his brain hijacked.

Point is, Jon has control issues and trust issues. He needs people to be direct with him and he needs to be in control of a situation. Jay provides him this with ease.

It is canon text that Jay is the only thing that makes sense for Jon. He is his home, his side is the only side he will ever take, and through Super Son, we see that no matter what Brainiac Queen or Nia did to his mind, he will always, ALWAYS remember Jay Nakamura because he is at the core of who Jon Kent is.

Jon wants Nia in his life, he wants to know her and he loves her in his own way but ultimately, she is not who he looks to for direction.

Nia was inside Jon's brain crafting dreams for him to hold onto, and every single time, Jon turned to her and went "where is Jay?". He would actually let his mind collapse over losing Jay.

And Jay proves this trust right every time! Nia wanted to secretly kill Waller? He told Jon the second he found a chance to do so. Jay has never let Jon think he could ever reconcile with Nia. He is clear about how much he hates her even if Jon himself disapproves. Jon is unhappy about this but he WANTS this honesty. Hell his need for control and clarity is so far gone that he has been snooping on Jay's laptop!

Nia and Jon, in this event, have both set each other's approval and acknowledgment aside for one person and that is Jay.

Jay doesn't care for their acknowledgement. He never tries to make himself palatable to appeal to them. He comes as he is and if they have an issue, they can fuck off. Jay is the one being chased here.

Hi again ^_^!! Thank you so much. Ah I've been following Jay since his first few issues in SOKE, he's truly become my main blorbo after these past 5 years and I'm glad you enjoyed my takes on him!!

Wrt Jay and Nia....I think pretty much everyone can agree these two are the highlight of the JayJonNia trio. Jon's the weakest link(sorry Jon, still love you). Jay and Nia bring with them a lot of weight in terms of themes. Being trans, being a refugee, isolation, intersectionality, and how proximity to whiteness and cishet-ness impacts the amount of privilege one has, how that is then used to oppress your peers and much more.

I think Nia has the potential to become a revolutionary, Nicole seems to be headed in that direction for her. Taylor(Galaxy) might be the final push she needs to full embrace that.

Nia is very scared of herself, and unwilling to confront the consequences of her choices.

She started off wanting to be a hero. In the her graphic novel and in the TV show, she's someone who deeply admires superheroes and wants to be just like them. It's her biggest dream, and what she uses to define herself. Her journey as the Dreamer is tied to her gender identity and her perception of herself as a person. These three things triangulate, and the collapse of one leads to the destruction of the others.

Jay is a threat to her identity, Jay is a victim of her actions. A friend whom she failed, and a loved one she failed to save as a hero. He's like a neon pink reminder of her shortcomings.

As of Absolute Power, Nia's not a good hero. In Nia's head this means she isn't a good Dreamer, which means she failed in living up to all the previous generation of Naltorians who are depicted in very stereotypically feminine ways, which means she is failing at being a girl. So she CAN'T fail at being a hero, otherwise she views herself as a failure of a person. Maeve made her feel shitty enough for being the one to get the powers, if she 'fails' at being a girl, that means she's just proving Maeve right, that the powers are wasted on her because she isn't a 'real girl'. (I hate her sister Maeve with the power of a thousand suns)

It's a pretty direct tie-in too. S6 starts with her dreaming about Jay, the guy she betrayed, pointing a gun at her during a bottom surgery. She then misses that surgery because she has to go see Jon and Jay about her premonitions. She failed Jay, so she doesn't deserve to do this.

Despite her crush on Jon, Nia actually ends up evaluating herself based on JAY'S opinions on her. She needs to somehow downplay the damage she did to him because if Jay deems her irredeemable then...what's the point?

Up until they extracted Waller's memories, Nia was calm and fully siding with Jay. Even Lori tells her that Jay's anger at her is justified. So she tries to take accountability but it's not all neatly tied up just because Waller's memories got wiped. Taking accountability is very, very hard and Nia has a long road ahead of her.

Nia and Jon are kinda similar in the way they treat Jay. They want him to get better but the think it's all very A + B= C. "If we move to San Francisco and start anew, then Jay will start anew and be fine." "If I kill Waller, then Jay's going to forgive me and we can be friends again."

But Jay's a complicated person with a lot of pain. His dismissal of her actions means her identity is still being threatened. So she fights Jay, to perhaps regain some agency over the consequences. @faemorrigan put it best, Nia's not used to being in a position of power. She's a trans girl from the Middle of Nowhere Ohio, growing up in a transphobic community, living with a sister who CONSTANTLY invalidates her and on top of that she's an alien.

But with Jay, she's currently the one with more power. American citizen, white, she passes well too. She can fight him, side with him, help him, whatever, but she isn't owed forgiveness and she needs to learn to be okay with that.