gothamspring

[gothamspring]

comic books are good to get into if you really like to complain about everything all of the time

[gothamspring]

Something so fun about JPV not being allowed to narrate in the first issue of Sword of Azrael 92. We start with his father narrating up until the moment he dies and then immediately pick up from that moment with Nomoz narrating how Jean Paul reacted from there, what he did and where he went from that exact moment. Literally he has no room to breathe in the narrative he is literally shuffled from moment to moment in every panel in his introductory comic as others dictate and relay his actions. We don’t learn about Jean Paul Valley from Jean Paul Valley. Isn’t that like the most Jpv thing ever? Isn’t that like perfect for his introduction?

[gothamspring]

I think I have to laugh at Jim Starlin's writing because otherwise I'll cry. It's so... he tries to tell us that Jason is worryingly reckless and violent, but then he writes Bruce being perfectly fine as "I made my move before I even consciously decided to do so" (Batman #414), "MacDonald decides to take the dramatic way out [...] Shed no tears for him" (Batman #420), "I don't rush in after him. No way out" (Batman #420), "Sometimes you have to ignore the rules. Sometimes circumstances are such that the rules pervert justice. I'm not in this business to protect the rules. I serve justice" (Batman #420), "I take to the city night, seeking crime and diversion. Pity any criminal that I catch in the act tonight" (Batman #421), "I will break and twist things within you. You can't conceive of the pain I can cause. It is pain that will go on forever! You won't escape it... because I won't let you die!" (Batman #423), someone else saying "I'd heard all the stories about... you know... how violent he could get" (Batman #423), "They were evil. They deserved to die" (Batman: The Cult #1), "My aim is to break the man, just the way he broke me [...] I enjoy it" (Batman: The Cult #4), "I get careless. It happens somethimes" (Batman #425), "I'd hoped to end this without any more deaths" (Batman #425, immediately after getting two guys to shoot & kill each other), "I try to keep my temper in check. I remind myself Jason's just a kid" (Batman #426, immediately before angrily yelling at Jason)

...and then Jason is freaking out over completely reasonable things like "my dad thinks I might've killed a man" and "this dude is a rapist and he's walking consequence free" and "I might have a whole other mom out there" like idk Mr. Starlin only one of these people reads as irrational & violent and it's not the child going through like twelve personal crises in a row.

[gothamspring]

this diva

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I worry about this girl (alternate caption: “did jet just die? You know- it was really unclear”)

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wow cass has gotta be the biggest dyke in the universe. i understand now.

[gothamspring]

`does anyone have the jaybin pannel where hejokes about getting himself a new alias and one of the ones he comes up w is "don quixote" ?

[gothamspring]

Batgirl (2000) #60

[gothamspring]

Major bummer that "emotional brick wall/hyper-masculine" Jason ended up as some of the prevailing characterizations because both of those things are like notably not things that he particularly is. The closed-off thing I understand (outside of Lobdell's characterization) to be an extension of general bat-family behavior, which is an extension of general Bruce behavior, bc in everything pre-Lobdell he's just trying and trying to form bonds and even post-Lobdell its the less prevalent of the two, but I have trouble pinning down the hyper-masculinity. I think realistically (beyond questionably-written stuff like NW:BIB) it's probably a mix between his physical appearance of being a big strong man, the pragmatism-centric Red Hood identity, and being mean/punk and seen as more hotheaded/violent than the others due to the killing (with the aterisk that his hand to hand fighting style isn't actually much more brutal than any other bat,) but idk I feel like we're overplaying it a little. I'm not saying he's the fem-est beast to walk the earth, I'm definitely not getting into Jason-is-woman-coded discourse, but. He's referred to as a drag queen (derogatorily) at one point, every worthwhile platonic connection he has outside of Bruce and Dick (and as of N52, Roy, which isn't done well but something that would have potential imo if it wasn't done awfully) is with a woman, he takes a recurring interest in victorian culture/fashion, he tends to be REALLY theatrical, is emotionally open as much as he's emotionally self-aware (which is still more than most bats, even if it's the lowest of bars,) and cries like, a noticable amount, none of which super gives tropey macho meathead. And although gendering personality traits is arbitrary and pointless, I could get it if he actually had any real stereotypically masculine interests (besides weaponry,) or was a gym bro, or one of the guys, but he isn't, really. You know who is sporty with a close friend group of other men? Tim Drake, who never gets hypermasculine allegations despite that. And I'm not saying Tim should get them, I just think it's a little weird that Jason does so much!

[gothamspring]

Batgirl (2000) #60

[gothamspring]

shes sooo fascinating

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but why did they say this

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People bringing up Jason killing in utrh as being ~just like what two-face did to his family~ is so funny because no matter what version of canon you use, Jason's family was disrupted by prison.

You know, the thing that Batman puts people into?

Jason doesn't know his father is even dead until he's already Robin - he believes his father is in prison again.

If Jason killing people is just perpetuating a cycle, like people on here want to say, then so is his being Robin. So is his helping Batman at all. All of it feeds the justice system and mass incarceration that took his father away.

But that might require actual introspection on what comics are saying and promoting, instead of taking the easy "but murder is BAD and prison is GOOD" route, huh?

[gothamspring]

Eric Drooker (American b.1958), Twilight, New Yorker Magazine Illustration

[gothamspring]

new jason fit

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Goatsong, Leila Chatti

[gothamspring]

When the character makes selfish decisions fully knowing it's the wrong choice. and then it causes them and everyone else pain and disaster and ruins everything 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰