#And ofc Bruce can’t communicate like an adult without screaming and breaking things

[thejasontoddarchives]

Comments by @sepalina for context

Hello! There was no animosity behind this post, I just wanted to clarify my stance. For the record, I don’t post my opinions/commentary about comic panels without having read the actual issue. I don't know why some people do that, but I don't really know what they have to contribute if they never even actually engaged with the source material (the same way you wouldn't trust a movie review by someone who never actually watched the film).

In my opinion, there isn't much editorial can do to explain away Bruce's abusive behavior out of the blue. It is intrinsic to his character because that's been one of his most consistently written traits since the 80s (possibly even longer, since l've seen posts about how he's been manipulative and controlling with his love interests too, but granted I didn't read many of those comics, can't really speak on that myself).

It’s one thing if he was only abusive during one era, ex. rebirth era comics because all the groundwork for the gritty dark knight had long been established by then and they had no intention of looking back (although even still, if it happened more than 5 times during that period I’d argue that again it’s just a personality trait at that point). However since he’s been shown to be problematic at best even during his good dad era ( [x], [x], [x] ), it can’t just simply be written off as if his mistakes were just a product of an altered brain state, and that if he just got rid of his alter ego all of his problems would magically go away. It’d be a very shoddy way of acknowledging his mistakes, and a poor resolution if that is the route they took. It’s also a far cry from redemption.

I’m not one of those readers who desperately wants Bruce to be a good dad, I know it’s just not who he is at his core. For some people no amount of good intentions enables them to have good judgment and make the right decisions, and to me Bruce is just a very clear example of that. Yeah I’d like for him to stop beating Jason to a pulp and telling him he’s worthless, but that’s a bit different from wanting him to be an actual good dad who knows healthy communication. Truly it is okay for him to be the deeply flawed person he is. Readers don’t have to always agree with everything he does.

Perhaps people who lean strongly on their fanon constructions of Bruce would like this easy out so that they can see Bruce become “good” while skipping most of the legwork. Personally, I think it’s more natural for them to have a strained relationship where many of them just won’t ever see eye to eye, and for the writers to properly explore these dynamics outside of just Bruce throwing his fists and keeping his kids under his control.

Okay whoever keeps mentioning zur en arrh on my Gotham War posts, you’re missing my point. Bruce’s behaviors are not what is out of the ordinary, it’s the framing of what he’s doing that has changed.

Yes, in Gotham War so far they’ve hinted at his two personalities intermingling and that being the reason he’s so controlling and all over the place. However my point was clearly that Bruce’s “extreme” personality has always been there in comics spanning across the past 3-4 decades, and it’s only now being portrayed as if he’s off his rocker for behaving in the way that he does.

Which one is more unhinged. Bruce completely losing his shit last week in a fit of rage at Jason and then this week saying that he’d never let Jason die again, that he’s family, and he’s just a misguided child (Gotham War), or Bruce’s mini monologue about how traumatizing Jason’s death was for himself after deliberately bringing Jason to Qurac then screaming at and fighting him for being angry about the situation instead of blindly following his orders (Batman and Red Hood #20). I’d say it’s all pretty consistently manipulative and messy.