#and the CCA wants you to know drug dealers in comics are villains

[whalehouse1]

letting drug dealers live to support himself when he is smart enough to know how many other Gloria’s that would create- can you explain this line because I don't understand your meaning. Gloria suffered abuse and died as the result of diplomatic immunity being misused to protect a powerful man. He was a drug dealer but he could have easily been a company man or just a rich kids son. The drugs were actually only really used to play into "evil latine drug kingpin" tropes for the character.

So just a preface for context, I’m a blunt talking person without meaning for things to sound mean, so if anything comes across as rude or ill-intended, it is not meant to. Normally I wouldn’t say this but given the subject matter in play I just want that in the forefront just in case.

I am not an avid comic book reader and get a decent amount of my information second hand and only started reading comics very recently and have maybe read a total of 20 of them. I did this mainly because I grew up watching and loving the animated Batman series, he was my favorite superhero as a kid and as I got older I kept hearing how Batman/Bruce Wayne was terrible so I recently rewatched the first season of the animated series and started reading comics to see if that was really the case. Again just some background info so if I’m missing anything of importance it is solely due to ignorance and not me avoiding something on purpose (that’s me with Dick more than anyone).

So when I say the Gloria’s, I’m talking more victims overall and not her type of victim specifically. Like you said the drugs were there to be a “latino drug lord trope” which growing up where and when I did, I should have realized it was to be more racist than I did when I read it. But, in comic world (or the small bits I’ve gathered from the few I read plus the super hero shows I watched as a kid), drugs are usually attributed to villainy and very rarely do “good” people use them. So with Jason allowing the drug lords to keep up their business, he is actively allowing them pretty much free reign to do as they please and from the few stories I’ve read with the drug lords and their lackeys, they all carry an “assaulty” vibe to the stories when I read them. Add to it, he should by all rights know Stephanie whose mother is a drug addict and while I can’t vouche for authenticity, I remember reading his own mother was a drug addict as well. I have not read The Killing Joke because honestly the premise disgusts me and the animate version of Death in the Family was too unpleasant for me to watch the crowbar scene, so not sure if that part is true or not. So Jason has seen people have their lives upended and harmed due to drugs and when you’re 12-16 (I cannot tell ages in comics at all) and you see a woman in that state it’s going to scar you. So Jason knows that even if the drugs didn’t cause the crime, it potentially escalated the violence of it. This also plays into the fact I see Jason more of a protector than the other Robins were/are. And it’s much harder to defend those who can’t defend themselves when you’re helping drug lords stay safe in a world where they cause most of their problems. Now I’m not saying he needed to go legit or anything like that (I would love for him to get there, like Bruce couldn’t have it proven he was falsely identified and sold off to s trafficker, it’s DC and Gotham, they’ve seen it all. Now do you know what I think would have been a better job for him? A pimp. He could keep the drug lord connection bracket since as I said they’re all written to be scum balls who would utilize sex workers. He’d have an easier time keeping his employees clean which would hopefully help them stay safer than being under the influence while with a client and he’d be able to protect the disenfranchised better because he’d be at a more surface level. Also despite this ask/answer potentially getting away from me (if it did I apologize just ask me to clear icy what you need clarified and I’ll do my best), you can draw Jason in a pimp hat. He would be like Butters from South Park only aware of what he’s doing. Still not on the up and up because the US is horrendously sexphobic, but he’d be able to be what he always was, a defender for those who can’t defend themselves.