#i blame the new52

[strawberrytalia]

alright i’m feeling bitchy since i’m looking at anti fanon posts, so im gonna say:

a lot of people give tim way more importance to jason’s life and mission than he actually carries.

jason hates what tim represents, he hates that the title of robin was passed down because to him, that means time never stopped, that means bruce never stopped, and that means bruce didn’t care enough.

but tim as a person?? isn’t even really part of the equation. yes, jason might feel resentment and annoyance towards him, but some of you think tim is the root of his anger and grief, when he’s not. tim wasn’t the person who was supposed to love him and fight for him. tim has no obligation really to care about jason’s feelings, and time and time again, he’s proven that he doesn’t.

[thraced]

How the fuck is J'onn not winning this match. What more does he have to go through to please you people????

Saddest Backstory Competition

Who has the saddest backstory?

Round 1: Matches 1 - 10

Professor Ozpin vs Nebula

Vegeta vs Kyle Reese

Catra vs Nami

Kyoko vs Gamora

Denji vs Whisper

Percy vs Zuko

Shadow vs Martian Manhunter

Weiss vs Dr Doofenshmirtz

Annabeth vs Cinder

Cassandra vs Satsuki

Matches 11 to 20 are linked to in the comments.

[leoruby-draws]

Back to back to back comics, last time I swear lol!

The Batfam and their relationship to money (or more specifically Bruce's money). Or at least a more goofy, parody interpretation of it. Bruce is more lenient (wimpy almost I feel) here, in this au, bit more likely to spoil the kids for comedic effect. His money seems endless and he's never been afraid to spend money to help whoever needs it. Well the kids need it!! For roblox and cool bikes!!

For Dick tho, he tries not to relies on Bruce for money and strives to be independent. I based his attitude on his outsiders appearance, where he got pissed that Bruce was funding his team without his knowledge. I do understand Dick's position on this, since Bruce can be a control freak despite how generous he can be.

Barbara has always been more independent from Bruce, and I think in the new52 she even has her own company to fund herself? (Correct me if I'm wrong, didn't read her new52 book). She has no interest in money from Bruce at all. She's smart and resourceful enough to become a millionaire herself honestly.

Cass being 'raised' outside society, doesn't seem to care whether or not she has money. She'll grab a club sandwich outta a dumpster then eat all of Bruce's most expensive caviar's and truffles. At the same time, no concern whatsoever. Bruce likes to spoil her regardless.

Jason being from a very poor background is absolutely ecstatic to have a billionaire for a dad and will spend to his hearts content. Bruce is happy to make Jason happy, but wishes Jason would stop buying expensive bikes (and crashing them). Interestingly I noticed in the comics, Jason himself likes to hand out money to friends in need as well. Like father like son.

Steph has a better relationship to Bruce than in canon, so here she likes to scam some cash from Bruce whenever she can, cuz why not? Bruce doesn't mind helping her and her mom out, its harmless really. Tim is rich himself, and a bit oblivious to Steph's lower class problems. Perhaps she'll try scamming Tim next lol.

Damian has a rich parents on both sides of the family, both Bruce and Talia have a bit of a competition on spoiling him. Can't blame them, he's just too much of a cutie-pie. Tho they're working on trying not to over do it. Talia likes to spoil Jason as well, they have a pretty friendly relationship in this au.

Didn't have enough room for Duke, so he gets a half-page to himself. The fully functional mini-batmobile is from this drawing from way back. Looks like Duke is learning to get as much outta Bruce as he can, seems Bruce is more generous the younger his sidekicks are. Case in point here:

Jason and Cass should be older here, as Robin and Batgirl, since Dick is Nightwing here (as per my personal timeline). But this gag works better when they're little and cute. Bruce just can't resist their cuteness here.

That was a lot, hope you like this!

[sasheneskywalker]

jason todd meta list

Jason Todd's canon ages, with sources

by InDarknessOftFindI

Jason Todd and Comic Book Morality

by clinicalmiddlechildsyndrome

Jason Todd, The Hysteric & Bruce Wayne, The Batman

by aresianrepose

Jason's point isn't about whether or not villains can be redeemed, it's about the people they continue to kill

by its-not-lookin-good, de-vespertiliones

Who's to blame? How Jason Todd is blamed for his own demise (Part II)

by fuckyeahjasontodd

unjust world

by lemontongues

a son asking his dad to prove that he loves him by avenging him

by blueteehood

jason todd as a meta character

by brionysea

jason values “the good guys”

by cleromancy

Why Jason and Cass wouldn’t get along

by aingeal98, tumblingxelian

Jason and Cass: Murder Victim and Murderer

by casscainmainly

Cassandra Cain and Jason Todd Are Foils to One Another.

by celestialdevils

The Pit’s influence on Jason has nothing to do with anger and is more about blunting his compassion

by bitimdrake

the debate between Jason and Bruce’s killing/no-killing rule is so fucking exhausting because they’re both right and that’s the damn point

by wanderintofics

Willis and Catherine

by firefrightfic

The Jason Todd Book Club

by pluckyredhead

Jason and his reaction to sexual assault

by pluckyredhead

the issue posed in “The Diplomat’s Son” is that Bruce questioned whether Garzonas fell or was pushed and doubted Jason’s word when Jason said he fell

by fantastic-nonsense

Post-Crisis!Jason had exactly two life goals as Red Hood: make Batman’s life a living hell by creating chaos and prove he’s “better” at crimefighting than Bruce

by fantastic-nonsense

how long was jason dead for / how long before came back to gotham

by sohotthateveryonedied

timeline of Jason coming back to Gotham

by sohotthateveryonedied

Jason being good with kids

by sohotthateveryonedied

Too Dangerous for Kids

by redhoodinternaldialectical

Jason and Bruce’s conflict is not a misunderstanding

by redhoodinternaldialectical

outward expressions of emotions

by aalghul

Jason and guns

by aalghul

Jason Todd’s Childhood Friends

by aalghul

Jason Todd- DC's Pandora's box

by mintacle

"utilitarian killing vs. no kill rule" dilemma

by mintacle

Bruce-as-Batman Vs Bruce-as-parent, Batman is the abuser and Bruce is the enabler

by mintacle

Jason’s final monologue in Under the Red Hood is so impactful and important because he’s being honest

by littledead-ridinghood

Bruce, Jason, upbringing and ethics

by cainware, littledead-ridinghood

Bruce, Jason and Robin retcons

by littledead-ridinghood

Jason grew up alone

by littledead-ridinghood

in the New52 the reason why Bruce doesn’t take Jason down personally has either changed or expanded

by comic-commentary

do you think jason pushed felipe?

by comic-commentary

What does Jason want to do with his life?

by comic-commentary

does jason carefully select/thoroughly research the criminals he kills, or is it just on sight?

by comic-commentary

Jason Todd and the Ladies: Pre-Resurrection

by comic-commentary

Jason Todd and the Ladies: Post-Resurrection

by comic-commentary

Jason and Tim in Pre52

by comic-commentary

Dick and Jason were never close in canon

by comic-commentary

Gray Areas Exist *throws glitter*

by comic-commentary

Jason consistently positions himself with the other victims of the Joker

by arkhamnyanight

canon shows Jason being remarkably, and I would say to some degree irrationally, eager to be on good terms with Bruce again

by arkhamnyanight

Jason’s motivations and plan in UTRH

by arkhamnyanight

why Jason chooses to confront Bruce rather than directly kill the Joker

by arkhamnyanight

call Jason a murder victim you cowards

by romanticizingmurder

the sanctity of life

by romanticizingmurder

What Jason says and what Jason does aren't always the same

by romanticizingmurder

how many people will die waiting for a villain to reform?

by romanticizingmurder

Countdown and Jason’s characterization

by yvtro

the brilliance of jay's progression in countdown

by boyfridged

bruce is projecting on jason and it profoundly affected jay

by boyfridged

Jason, Willis, and retcons

by boyfridged

Jason and reaching out

by boyfridged

Jason Todd trusts Dick Grayson, and so Dick is a glowing, ticking timebomb

by thecruellestmonth

Does the mass-murdering criminal Jason "Red Hood" Todd canonically support the death penalty?

by thecruellestmonth

Jason Todd + cops

by thecruellestmonth

Jason Todd + literature

by thecruellestmonth

Jason Todd vs. security

by thecruellestmonth

quick and dirty guide to Jason Todd in the masterpiece Batman: Battle for the Cowl—canon and fanon

by thecruellestmonth

Jason Todd’s knife skills

by wonderwondered

Jason Todd’s less known skills appreciation

by wonderwondered

Jason Todd’s fighting skills

by wonderwondered

Jason is a victim, not a survivor

by greylittlebird, vintagerobin. thecruellestmoth

[I will be updating the list every time I find a new meta post.]

[tjmsteph]

what did more damage to tim’s reputation: new 52 or fitzmartin

whether the new 52 or fitzmartin did worse damage is a really tricky question. from one side, many of the modern misconceptions come from the new 52 misunderstanding the red robin era as a natural progression for tim as opposed to the traumatic regression it was. however, new 52 was always meant to be 'a different take on the characters' so i really only blame future editorial and tumblr fans for taking the new 52 content at face value instead of a glorified elseworld. what is enraging about fitzmartin, that isnt just the rampant misogyny in her constant undervaluing of steph's character and relationship with tim, is the fact that the content is supposed to be about 'the real tim'. even post-fitzmartin, the content seems to bring up stuff related directly to post crisis tim (note: the valentine special using ariana and acknowledging her relationship with tim) but really only doing so by omitting key character traits of all the characters involved and to empower a white blonde man of all things (tho bernard fans will never admit it cause god forbid you call out a white man benefitting from editorial misogyny without being called 'homophobic'). in the end, i think new52 started the beginning of the end but fitzmartin took the final blow in dismantling any chance for tim's character to recover after rebirth tried to salvage the damage

[cologona]

I was considering the consequences of Brothers In Blood pushing the idea of Jason as a nutjob while his character was still new to readers, contextualizing his other comic appearances as the actions of a madman where they might not have been seen as such otherwise.

Honestly I don’t blame fanon for taking the concept of Jason being insane and running with it. Every other comic he’s in pre-flashpoint calls him some manner of “psychotic” or “delusional”. Yeah sometimes it’s just a pejorative but most times it’s a nudge to the audience like I’m sorry but the anti-pit madness crowd is wrong. Not just because there is canon basis for it but because Jason was written to be a lunatic regardless of it, and it was meant to invalidate him. That fans decided they still liked him and that his madness absolved him of wrongdoing works just as well for DC because all they really want is for Bruce to still be righteous and admirable. Whether Jason is seen as an incel or babygirl doesn’t matter. (That’s why new52 Red Hood pivots sharply into “it was all Talia’s fault!” retcons.)

Pit madness is ultimately just an explanation for why Jason randomly gets written as cRaZYy (because no one paid attention to the explanation BFTC provided for itself, and because BiB exists.) it isn’t the origin of the idea at all. The way people talk about it, I get the impression that there’s some perceived moral difference between Jason’s madness being innate vs due to external influence.

I don’t know. Anyways- Jason haters of a certain type will say that poor mental health isn’t a trump card to never be held accountable for your actions -and that’s true- but if we’re picking and choosing canon based on what should be then why are we holding even the worst of Jason’s comics as representative of him? To be clear, mental illness also isn’t a trump card to disqualify someone’s argument.

[havendance]

My headcanon for what happens to the Birds of Prey in a universe where Flashpoint didn't happen, is that, having faked Oracle's death, Barbara proceeds to come up with a bunch of new aliases and also rearranges the birds so that she now has multiple specialized teams each made up of 1-2 people who know that Oracle's alive and masterminding everything and new recruits who don't.

Dinah gets sent undercover to round up her new52 Birds of Prey team. With Katana (aimless from the recently disbanded Outsiders presumably (sorry, I don't read a ton of Outsiders comics)) as backup, they bring in new recruits Starling and Poison Ivy in one of Barbara's more reform minded measures. Later, after the court of owls stuff, she also gets saddled with Strix.

Helena is in charge of forming a more Gotham-focused team with the Question and Manhunter to take on corruption.

Zinda is sent to pull on some of Barbara's old suicide squad contacts--specifically Vixen and Nightshade to form a team that does international espionage type things under cover of Vixen traveling for her modeling/fashion career. It might also be interesting for Barbara to pull on her ties to Batman inc to supplement their different missions.

I will be honest, I don't know what to do with Hawk and Dove.

Anyway, this goes on for a while with Barbara keep trying to do more and more and have operatives doing more and more at once. The building subplot is that everyone's worried that she's overextending herself. It all culminates after Damian's death, when Barbara blames herself for being too busy trying to everything that she missed what was going on with Leviathan and was unable to stop Damian's death. She ends up paring down and refocusing the Birds back into a small set of operatives again.

Of course, it's not long after that that Helena quits the team without giving a reason when Checkmate pulls the old strings they have on her to get her undercover in Spyral, and Barbara has to adjust once again. (Do I think that Helena would get dragged into Checkmate in a universe where she as firmly ensconced in the Birds of Prey and not a dangling thread King and Seeley could tug on? Probably not, but this is my headcanon and there's a secret good version of Helena in Sypral that lives in my head (and will doubtless be dashed against the rocks when I actually get to reading the arc)).

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Thank you so much for the Jason review rec list! It motivates me to start reading his comics, tbh. It helps tremendously that you put so many details of his characterization in it, because it prepares me of the way hes written in it! :D I do have a question, which is: in your opinion, which of runs have the most consistent writing/characterization? Ive heard that hes written.. very inconsistently bcs they dont know how to write him (wont let him be an anti-hero or challenge batman, which also brings me to another question on what counts as his true characterization; is it him before the n52 reboot?) Thank you!

I'm really glad to hear that! I hope you have lots of fun exploring Jason comics :D

Wow are both of those questions very difficult to answer! But I shall do my best to under the cut!

Most runs are very internally consistent with regards to his characterization. Jason will stay mostly the same throughout the run, or have an actual character arc that keeps him feeling like the same character throughout.

Batman and Robin (2009) is a notable because Jason is written by two different authors in it, and Grant Morrison's Jason and Judd Winick's Jason have very different vibes.

What people usually mean when they say he's written inconsistently is that every author has a different take on what Jason should be like, and they all have a different idea about what kind of story they want to tell using him.

Judd Winick read Hush and thought something along the lines of "Wow this story would have been so much better if Jason had actually been the one behind everything that happened here!" and so he wrote Under the Red Hood, and made Jason into Evil Batman: someone with all of Batman's methods and techniques, yet without the commitment not to kill and with a serious thirst for vengeance.

Grant Morrison wanted a much more traditional Batman villain. Villains who blame Bruce for all their problems despite Bruce not actually being at fault and then killing people about it are pretty common. Morrison took that idea and used Jason to fit this mold in a new era where Bruce was gone and Dick Grayson took up the Batman mantle.

Scott Lobdell wanted a story about redemption and healing and family. So Jason gets repeatedly paired with other people to care for or to love and shown parallels in his own life that force him to confront his own unwillingness to forgive and become a much, much gentler person.

The authors of The Man Who Stopped Laughing were faced with the challenge of finding a suitable antagonist for the Joker. Jason is a character with enough of a violent streak to actually be menacing to the embodiment of all evil that is the Joker. But that requires bringing out that murderous streak, and thereby countering Lobdell's characterization.

Which of these is the true characterization?

None of them.

All of them.

One True Characterization can't exist in comics. Especially not DC comics which has a policy of almost routinely destroying their entire multiverse and building it back up from scratch.

Every character's personality is an aggregate of all the different stories that have been told about them. Those stories are told by dozens of different people, in a constantly shifting setting, full of characters who are also written by dozens of different people. What is and isn't canon changes constantly. All you can do is read a bunch of comics and get the general vibe of a character from that.

Jason's characterizations in particular have been so widely different that it's hard to figure out what exactly you should count as being true to him.

The reason many people may point to pre-new52 comics as 'true' characterization is that an important part of characterizing is keeping in mind the events the character has gone through and how those might impact their thinking and worldview. During the time span of around 1980-2009 DC comics were written such that it was pretty easy to make a timeline of events for any given character. Post-new52 I and many others find it nearly impossible to tell what history any of the characters have.

In between 2009 and now there have been at least two or three reboots. So, for any comic passed 2009 here is a list of questions about Jason that I can't answer:

Has Jason ever been to prison?

Did Jason fight Tim in Titan's Tower?

Was the Red Robin identity originally held by Jason?

Did Jason ever attempt to be Batman?

Has Jason actually stabbed Tim before?

Did Jason ever shoot Damian and Dick?

Does Jason remember the time he spent multiverse hopping with Donna Troy and Kyle Raynor?

Did he ever have tentacles?

Does he know that Dick has killed people? For that matter: Has Dick killed anyone?? Did Blockbuster ever exist??? Is that time he killed the Joker counted as canon still????

Did Jason ever kidnap Mia Dearden?

How many people has Jason killed? I can't even tell you if he's killed less or more than 100

Did the All-Caste thing happen?? Did Lost Days happen???

Was he involved in Hush?

These are really important questions! The list does not stop there either!

This uncertainty does not invalidate the newer comics, but the nature of the reboots does mean that the already difficult task of getting a 'true Jason' is impossible. You have to take every reboot as a reboot, meaning that new-52 Jason and Rebirth Jason and 2005-2009 Jason are literally alternate universe versions of each other. This is both true on a meta level, and has been written into the canon of the fictional world he lives in. Arguing that one is more real than the other is futile.

(Though it does mean that if you want a stable timeline, starting with 2005-2009 era comics is a good idea. It's easier to follow along with what is supposed to have happened and when. It also contains the majority of the events that fandom likes to play off of.)

The versions I like best reside mostly in the 2005-2009 era, and that's true for most of the other Jason fans that I follow on Tumblr, but I know of a few blogs who much prefer Rebirth Jason and neither of us can definitively prove that one Jason or the other is more valid or canon or true or whatever.

Most arguments about which Jason is the true Jason will just come down to personal preference anyways. Many, many people could write essays, pulling up sources and comic panels, to argue very effectively that I'm wrong about Brothers In Blood and Batman and Robin (2009) #1-#6 being in character for him. That's okay. It's cool even! The fact that he is messy and complicated and can be interpreted so many different ways is great! As you read, you'll find out which versions appeal to you best and they might be very different than mine!

My biggest advice is to read each author's rendition of Jason with an open mind, and an open heart, and just see if you like it!

Don't worry about searching out the real Jason. Just vibe with the stories that have been made about him and think about how each appeals or doesn't appeal to you. If you start reading, you'll develop an understanding of him. Your personal interactions with the art/stories will always be more valuable than figuring out the fan or authorial consensus about him.

[rednriddn]

So to my knowledge. (What I've seen in my research on the topic)

At first when comics started coming out characters didn't interact with each other and were treated as completely separate. There were 2 Flashes (Jay Garrick and Barry Allen). Never talked about in universe. Until they were when the 2 met. And it was decided the 2 Flashes were from different universe.

Earth 1 was Silver and Bronze age heroes (1950s-1960 (when this issue came out)). While Earth 2 was Golden age. Easiest way to tell apart is to go to wiki and look at The Justice Society. All members are Earth 2. While the Justice League is Earth 1 and I believe Teen Titans.

In 1983 they had a Crisis issue where Earth 1 & 2 merged. All of this is what Wiki calls "New Earth". Jason became Robin and Dick got New Titans (Kori, Raven, Beastboy, and the Wilson family (Deathstroke and sons))and so much more. And I believe this is where most people prefer fanfics if the care about canon characterization. Also there are a lot of babies (especially of the Titans but a lot of them get killed)

In 2011 New52 started. They scraped the slate to start new. Whole new multiverse. Lot of people feel characters were character assassinated (they always were meme). Especially in Redhood and the Outlaws for Roy and Kori. They also don't have Wally or Young Justice(I believe) for most of its run. But they did give us a lot of Damian content. And Jon Kent.

Then in 2016/2018 they did Rebirth where "everything canonically happened". And started screwing a lot of stuff up in my opinion. RHATO Vol 2 #25. Abusive Batdad. Ric Grayson. Killing Alfred and Blaming Damian. Making Damian Crazy. Aging up Jon. Ect.

Part 2 will have my personal timeline. It takes a lot from canon. I'm very detailed about the time takes place. I follow the 4 years in our world 1 year in theirs.

I want to tell a story that is canonically correct, here's the problem, I don't know how you people do it, but I don't know what the canonical universe is supposed to be here. and I just keep finding more universes. some help??

For some references, here's the shipps I want to put in it: Superbat, birdflash, Royjay, Timbernkon, Damijon

[incoherentbabblings]

Comic Book Shenanigans

So these two panels caused a little kerfuffle didn’t they?  Dick’s statement that Bruce has to be father to a bunch of batkids?  Correct.  Dick’s second statement that Damian suffers the most from Bruce’s ‘scattered’ parenting tactics - not because he’s the youngest, or most vulnerable - but because Damian’s Bruce’s ‘one real’ son? Eeeehhhh hmmmm.  Bruce leaving off the final S in sons accidentally/intentionally(?) stating that he doesn’t think of Dick or Jason as his sons?  Oh people’s butt clenched so fast and hard.

I can get behind the idea Dick not thinking of himself as Bruce’s son, since they emphasised it enough in the past that Bruce made a point of not trying to replace John in Dick’s life. This didn’t stop Bruce from viewing Dick as his son though (my favourite example is definitely Superman/Batman #65, it may have been a fear gas hallucination but by god you can pry that panel of bby Dick calling Bruce dad from my cold dead hands.  Other examples include the adoption arc in Gotham Knights, Bruce Wayne: The Road Home where in Bruce’s notes he talks about Damian, Dick and Tim as his sons and so on).  The above statement from Dick however requires Dick to know that Jason also doesn’t think of Bruce as his dad.  Which again, I can get behind in this continuity, but I can’t get out of my head how when Jason first woke up and dug his way out he literally started begging for his dad to come help him.  Again, we know Bruce thought of himself as Jason’s dad, hence the adoption years before Dick up to the Batman and Robin Convergence Issue.  Tim is in a similar boat in this universe but again Pre-Flashpoint he was the only one of the boys to take Bruce’s surname and do the whole Father’s Day issue of Robin and so on.  

The point is, Dick's exclusion of himself I can justify because I can get behind the idea that's how Dick himself understands his relationship to Bruce or how Dick thinks Bruce understands their relationship (true or not).  The dismissal of Tim and Jason, whilst fustrating, are totally logical in this universe. 4 Robins in as many years means heavily affected relationship trees right?

But this week's Batman where Bruce deliberately separates Jason and Dick from Damian is poorly phrased at best or is actively dismissive of Bruce's relationship to Dick and Jason at worst.  They're not his sons because...?  They're not related to him?  Or at least, that's the conclusion that many people jumped to.

I know Seeley and King do think of the batfam as an actual family regardless of biology (I'm sure they’ve both said as much in interviews in the past).  I saw lots of praise for Dick's relationship to Damian in this issue, how it really blurs that line between fraternal and paternal and how frightened Damian is in being replaced in that position in Dick's eyes. So I guess people got confused over how the boys can clearly see each other as brothers but Bruce cannot acknowledge any of them as his sons apart from the one he's (conveniently) biologically related to.  Maybe you could argue it's also because Damian is younger and needs guidance beyond that of a mentor (which is why Dick blurs the line between brother and dad right?) but the 'only bio kids count' schtick is still there in the background, especially in these panels.

I don’t really blame the writer’s for this. I think that after the New52 made it that Tim, Dick and Jason were never adopted nor really had that paternal influence due to the condensed timeline alongside the focus of Damian being The Son of Batman while the other three were distanced from Bruce as a father figure and so on and so on, have really made people feel like DC is dismissive of adoptive families.  Especially when by 2011 Bruce was referring to the boys as his sons [plural] even if Dick and maybe Jason didn’t feel the same way, then the reboot happens and now Bruce only refers to Damian as his son, and the status of the others when it comes to who is or isn’t adopted and when this all happened is really unclear.  On a tangent it’s linked to Cassandra’s treatment as well with the feeling that she has really been shafted for years now (oh my goodness people are begging for her to be adopted again at the end of Tynion’s arc, just so she can have a set place in the family no questions asked no more conveniently leaving the poor girl out of group shots and so on).  The same arguments are happening on the Green Arrow side of things right?  With Mia still …well MIA… and Ollie’s relationship to Roy versus Connor versus Emiko...

It’s really unfortunate (but I believe unintentional, not that it lessens the impact really) phrasing that is a bit screwy.  Dick’s statement (a totally understandable one from my point of view and makes sense in universe) from this weeks issue coincidentally coincided with King’s panel from Batman and it just made people remember that the Bruce isn’t really being allowed to be a father to any of the kids because of the consequences of the condensed timeline of the New52. 

Maybe this is something Rebirth will fix, maybe not. If not though, can I nudge editorial a little bit?  Bruce seems to not be allowed to be a dad to anyone outside of Damian, who just so happens to be his biological child, which leads to an uncomfortable line of thought that the others don’t count because of their lack of relation.  The reality is that it’s probably a lack of history.  We don’t really know what the three boys relationship to Bruce was before the New52 starting point outside of the odd flashback or annual here and there (with I think Jason’s remaining the most intact and Tim’s...not... lol Tim what a mess...)  If the paternal relationship is ignored, you have either just a mentor relationship (which I really doubt Bruce could do and not create a familial attachment to the boys) or the unfortunately persistent child soldier analogy, which is something no fan wants nor believes in… I think.  I hope.

[corhore]

What happened in Wonder Woman Rebirth? How did they retcon the stuff the Nu52 brought in?

It was revealed that Diana's memories of Themiscira, her mother and the amazons after she left were all an illusion by the gods Phobos and Deimos.

Basically the Rebirth was the return of many pre-flashpoint aspects of DC and to do that with Wondy they had to retcon all of her new52 stuff which makes sense as New52 Wondy was just too different to classic Wondy. Which is sorta a shame as some of her N52 stuff was dope, but alot of it was trash so I don't blame them for throwing it all away.

Wonder Woman Rebirth is also a self aware jab at how utterly inconsistent Diana's status quo and character has been over the decades. Like I'm not joking when I say everytime she got a new creative team they would basically scrap everything and do something different. New setting, new supporting characters, new tone. It was only until Rebirth where they decided to give her consistency.

Which is the reason why despite being a huge mainstay in DC Wondy isn't as easy a character to get into compared to Supes and B-man. Despite this she's still my second fav of the trinity (Supes being my first). And is still one of my favorite DC characters ever. That just shows how strong of a character she is.

Also last tidbit they retconned her New52 daughter of Zeus origin in Rebirth and then a few years later re-retconned it back in for some reason. No idea why. Guess someone at DC has bad taste and really likes that origin. Well since then several universe altering events happened, DC had massive layoffs and now another big universe altering event is happening so I have no idea what going on at the clown circus known as DC editorial offices.

[leoruby-draws]

Having something a little different here, not really introducing a new team member per say, but a friend and ally of sorts. Here's Tom Bronson aka Tomcat, son of Ted Grant aka Wildcat! I love cats, look how many are in this pic, everyone's having a fun time (except Grant lol).

Tom debuted in Justice Society of America 2007, which I enjoyed tho it lacked the space for all those characters (a common problem I noticed in a lot of earth 2/jsa stuff), Since he was introduced in the first issue, you would think that he'd be a pretty important character onwards. But alas, he rarely got any focus past the early few issues, even in JSA All-Stars he wasn't given a lot of page time. Then new52 hit and he got erased, not sure if he's been re-introduced back yet.

He and Ted had a pretty good relationship in the book, Tom never blamed Ted for not being in his life and even actively keep up the distance as an adult. Up until Vandal Savage tries to attack them at least. Here in the TrWh au, it can be assumed Tom was discovered at an earlier age (he's 11 to Jason's 10 btw).

Also I said up there that Tom isn't a new team member, but I did wanted to do that originality. That's because in the comics, Tom really didn't like fighting at all when Ted meet him. And that's because Tom has a secret ability to transform into a werecat, something he inherited from his mother. Ironically he keep it secret from her, maybe that'll change in this au.

Ted seemed to help Tom get over his hang-up over fighting somehow, it's not really explained how exactly (like I said, Tom didn't get much focus past tho early issues).I wished that he kinda keep up his reluctant pacifism, it's a unique outlook in a world full of heroes and villains fighting each other.

So at the moment he's a non-combatant ally of the Outlaws, maybe that'll change later who knows.

Since I'm introducing him at at an earlier age, he's still in that anti-fighting mindset, and prefers to stay out of trouble. So he can't really help the team in combat issues, but they can still hang out and have fun in other ways.

Tom's tries to come off as cool and standoffish, but that seems to be a way to hide his skittish and kind-hearted nature. He's been feeling stressed and lonely, esp with how his mother is currently sick and bedridden. Perhaps some friends will do him good!

Here's Tom hanging out with the other Wildcats, his father and Yolanda Montez. Tom is fun to draw, esp in his werecat form. I might be making him more like a cat than a panther, but cats are so fun to draw. I'm basing some this of my mom's own cat, a black cat like Tom.

I really liked Yolanda, she had a real aura of confidence and was really outspoken about what she wanted. I admit I might be a bit biased, since I'm also a Latina as well (¯\_(ツ)_/¯). You can see her trying to 'help' Tom with training to fight, he doesn't seem to enthused with the idea. There's also Ted showing affection with his son, look at the mini cat suit, Tom is so done lol.

More of Tom spending time with Yolanda, they have fun together. Btw Yolanda might already be Wildcat at this point or at least just about to, a bit earlier than in canon but why not?

Jason messes with Tom, he can't help himself. Tom doesn't seem to know how to react with Jason sometimes, esp when Jason jokes around with him. But the jokes never feel too mean-spirited so it's not too much of a bother.

If you ever read Fruits Basket, then you know there's this character with the ability to call forth cats to him. Tom doesn't quite have that power but cats seem to gravitate to him anyways. Looks like Jason called in a favor for his little brother Damian.

Here's a comic that I'd meant to go on a little longer but couldn't think up of what to come next. It's meant to show how Tom meets the team and decides to become friends. Tom seems unsure and almost insecure about why he's being 'recruited' to be friends. Rose seems surprised at Tom's stance but Eddie seems happy to make another friend. But why does Jason want to be friends?

You know there's been some meta about how Jason probably wouldn't have mind not being Robin and just be the civilian son of Bruce Wayne. YMMV on whether you can agree with that or not, I can see reasoning for it tho it should be noted Jason was really ecstatic to be Robin. I'll keep it ambiguous on whether or not Jason would want to hang up the cape, but I keep this reasoning in mind for his interactions with Tom. Tom not wanting to fight at all is a viewpoint Jason has not really come across in his interactions with heroes. As said in the comic, he finds it 'interesting'. Perhaps he was also drawn to Tom's conviction in his ideals as well, maybe Jason finds it kinda admirable in a way.

The team Jason, Rose and Eddie made is in some ways a place to have fun and hang out, to escape from lonely and unhappy lives. It the same reason why other members of the team joined in, to just do things their own way and on their own time. Members come and go at their leisure (the team have multiple places to hang but no official headquarters) so it's a fairly casual and unrestricted type of team. Having a member who doesn't even fight is not really a problem. Though Tom sometimes feels lonely when team members go out on combat missions, and he gets left behind.

There's also the little detail of the team being 'unofficial', I don't think I ever shown that info before. Though I'll probably talk about that for another time.

Well, hope you liked that!

[red-bat-arse]

When considering Jason's first return to Gotham as Red Hood, I think I prefer if his crusade isn't driven by an unnatural, foreign Lazarus Pit madness. I much prefer the take that the Pit just skates around the edges of what's already there and has nothing to do with his new methods.

Like yeah the former is great for angst potential, and if the end game of relevant stories is reconciling the Bat-family it tends to make the transition go smoother -if Jason was being influenced then there's something to blame. But unless you really dig into the psychological ramifications of unwillingly being resurrected and then being driven to escalating violence by a magic green pit, then imo most of the time taking this route just feels like a cop out. And because I like Jason's motivations as Red Hood (control, revenge, protection) it really irks me when his anger is just dismissed as the byproduct of "Pit madness", like its something to be cured or managed.

I prefer it if the effects of the Lazarus Pit weren't as big an influence as, say, the years Jason spent away from Gotham training and travelling for a goal he embraced. I know the new52 watered him down but when Jason came back as Red Hood, he was supposed to be sort of an "avenger" showing the hypocrisy of Batman's moral code in real time. He had a top down view of crime -he wanted to control it because he knew, with the way Gotham was, you could never stop crime. He didn't kill people indiscriminately and his goals were very fleshed out and very concrete.

So, iiiiiif you make the main thing driving his change in methods be a 'madness' that more-or-less influences his mind and thoughts, all of that falls a little flat. It really devalues any of Jason's well-deserved anger and grief over his brutal murder and how it didn't change anything in Gotham. You heard it straight from him, "I thought I'd be the last person you ever let him hurt." He didn't come back because he went 'mad' with revenge or the Pit's influence, or because Bruce replaced him, or even because he didn't believe he was mourned enough. Jason came back, under his own power and with his own views on how controlling crime would make him a better version of Batman, because he saw that the man who killed him was still running wild and terrorizing his hometown and he couldn't let that stand.

He wasn't being driven by Pit madness or whatever the fuck, he was being driven by very real feelings of grief, anger, betrayal, and a burning desire to do better for Gotham even if he had to turn away from Batman's methods to do it.

[tjmsteph]

Concerning Convergence Batgirl and Detective Comics Rebirth, do you think Tim was too much of a dick in convergence given the not talking to her, saying she wasn't ready, and expecting them to get back together because she was batgirl again. The sudden romance rekindling felt a bit left field.

As for TEC Rebirth a common criticism is how Steph felt mainly defined by Tim and was just mainly his GF throughout that arc. Do you feel the same way?

LOVE THESE QUESTIONS for the first point i would normally agree but this was a complicated stage for both tim and steph. tim being a dick, considering everything he was going through and the whole ‘steph’s dead but not really’ makes sense from his side. its complicated

may be controversial but i wouldn’t mind steph ‘fake dying’ as long as some writer handled meaningfully steph’s side of the story, how she just had to pretend she didnt exist for a year and how essentially her mother was miles away and she couldnt even ask her if she was okay and take care of her. i think it would also make an interesting commentary on ‘deciding to lie for batman’ and ‘being batgirl’ to appeal to someone who will never accept her, but we know it will never happen. sighh.

but back on the subject:

what i like about timsteph is that they are not perfect, they are not just ‘i love you and will ignore your flaws’ but more ‘i love you and your flaws, i love you unconditionally in spite and because of your flaws’ and it’s something that the writers in the red robin/batgirl era have been handling well in my eyes but i might be biased. in a situation where tim acts hard to reach, steph trying to get a rise out of him is her way of reminding him of ‘the good times’ and make him loosen up.

personally i didn’t feel like the timsteph’s romance rekindling came out of nowhere mostly because they never really… broke up? they were forced to be separated by the whole ‘fake dying’ and, before being able to set their issues aside, bruce ‘died’ too and tim went berserk so it’s natural their original feelings are still up and running.

as for the ‘he liked her again now that she was batgirl’ i mostly feel like it was just an (average) giant ‘foot in mouth’ tim drak-ian situation. he is an ass that sucks at explaining his feelings, even worse since he spent a year trying to detach himself from his feelings and is now (awkwardly) trying to piece his life back together and failing so he deserved that punch. always does i fear.

but in general i think that convergence, as admittedly a bit rushed as it is, was the perfect way to put them back together. they’ll have to pry the klimt inspired kiss from my cold dead hands.

onto the second one, much easier to agree with because I DO. GOD. i ADORE tec 939-940 but i can’t for the life of me enjoy rebirth steph. i don’t blame tynion cause the damage comes from within (looking at you, new52) but yeah absolutely. in a just world, the timsteph death speech moment would be written in a much better setting where steph actually had other things going on in her life but i cant ever win

[flashfuture]

The New52 fucked up the West family so hard. 

Pre Reboot

Ira and Nadine West had three biological children Charlotte, Rudy, and a stillborn daughter. 

Iris was sent back in time from the future to avoid a war. She came seemingly very soon after the stillbirth because Nadine was still on bedrest. Iris was always Ira’s favorite. 

Ira was a very absent minded but brilliant physicist. He didn’t spend a lot of time with children and pretty severely emotionally neglected them. 

Charlotte was childhood sweethearts with a man named Edgar Rhodes. They got married and had a daughter named Inez. They would later get divorced. We know the least about them. 

Rudy married Mary and they had Wally. Rudy was a manhunter and a con man. He was always physically abusive to Wally and demanded a love he didn’t show his son in return. Mary was very emotionally and mentally abusive with gaslighting and guilt tripping Wally. 

Okay cause of that Wally always considered Iris and Barry his parents cause they loved him and raised him. 

Reboot. 

Ira went from an absent minded disaster of a physicist who didn’t spend enough time with his family to William West. 

William as it would seem had three kids with an unnamed woman. Rudy, Iris, and Daniel. His unnamed wife died when Daniel was born and William blamed him for this. He was very abusive and turned to alcohol. 

Wallace was very obviously intended to replace Wally. During a Flash annual Iris said his dad was Rudy which isn’t the case. 

Wallace was Daniel’s son and his mother is never named as well. Daniel also acted like Wallace’s uncle and not his father. Wallace was raised by his mother until he was a teenager. Wallace’s mother disappeared when the Crime Syndicate came around so he moved in with Iris.

So Rebirth says Rudy did exist so obviously Wally does too again. Which Wally and Wallace were very close to their Aunt Iris. Wally was heavily abused again by his parents. So he described the summers he got to spend with his Aunt as her saving him or rescuing him. It was very clear Wally was not safe at home and did not want to live at home. 

We also get a picture of a young Wally holding a toddler Wallace implying history was altered again to weave theirs together. So cousins who found solace and sanctuary with their Aunt Iris. 

What would have made more sense

Firstly just add Daniel in. No reason to delete other siblings. Just tack him on as the youngest sibling. 

Secondly don’t make Ira or William West the abusive drunk. That’s over played and over done. Abuse isn’t always so in your face. Ira is way more interesting of a character than abusive drunk #15

Thirdly on that point William abused Daniel and Iris tried to protect him. But when Daniel snapped and pushed his dad down the stairs and paralyzed him Iris abandoned Daniel. Iris West would have never ever sided with an abuser. It was always her main motivation for taking Wally with her as much as possible, keeping him safe. 

Fourthly DC give your female characters names for fucks sake. You redid Iris’s dad but didn’t name her mom. Wallace has a mom who is talked about, who raised him but she is never named. Stop doing that. It wouldn’t be hard to just throw in a name. For example “Wallace’s mom, [insert literally any name here], disappeared when the Crime Syndicate attacked” That would have added one (1) more word and it would make her a real character, names are important they assign importance to things. 

And lastly this one is just me probably but I want Charlotte and Inez back. I want Iris to have a niece. And Charlotte while maybe a little full of herself was apparently a not terrible mother. Iris having a big sister and not just two criminals for brothers would also be good. 

[spock-smokes-weed]

Alright so I’m actually going to break down why the fight wasn’t actually that bad and why y’all need to calm tf down and actually wait for the story to finish before you start yelling about Bruce being written as a bad dad again.

1. Old timeline is back, Jason did a lot of murder

Since Urban Legends is set firmly after the events of Death Metal and is part of the event (Infinite Frontier) that’s all about the old continuity coming back into play, I would kindly like to remind everyone that Red Hood was a straight-up villain pre-new52. A villain who did a lot of murder, and even tried to murder several members of Bruce’s family. I think it’s completely justifiable for Bruce to be wary of Jason, especially with how viscerally Bruce hates murder and guns. Things Jason has in spades. There was never an actual storyline of Jason going from villain to bat, it was just something that DC changed with n52, so Bruce’s trust in Jason being fragile because he’s suddenly remembering how much harm Jason used to dish out is understandable.

Jason even says himself in this issue that he’s killed a lot of people before!!!

2. The story so far has been written completely from Jason’s point of view

This means that Bruce doesn’t have the same information that we (the audience) do. He doesn’t know about Tyler, he doesn’t know who exactly Andy was, and he doesn’t know what Jason has been up to. I went back and skimmed issue one to make sure I didn’t miss something like Oracle filling Bruce in on the goings-on, and yea the moment where Tyler jumps out to defend Jason is the first time he’s learning about him. This means when he sees the dead body left in the alleyway by Jason, to him it looks like Jason going off the rails again.

And since it’s from Jason’s perspective I would consider him an unreliable narrator when it comes to Bruce. He’s always been an unreliable narrator when it comes to Bruce since he never got the full picture of what Bruce went through after his death. Like one of the tragedies of Red Hood is that we knew how badly Jason’s death tore Bruce apart, but Jason didn’t, and that lead him down the path to becoming a villain.

Bruce and Jason’s relationship has always been interesting because their different life experiences and trauma shaped them in different ways. Bruce had to watch his parents get gunned down before him so that left him with a wavering view of human life as something precious (no matter whose life it is) and with a petrifying hatred of guns. Jason was torn away from his family by being murdered by someone who wouldn’t have been a problem if a bullet had been put between his eyes a long time ago, giving him the ideology of sometimes people aren’t beyond saving and it’s better to kill them. We’re seeing those two ideologies clash again in UL like we saw in Under the Hood.

3. Fight Break Down

So one thing that I think is super important to take into account (which so many people have just so happened to leave out) is that Jason threw the first punch. Jason escalated things into violence.

It seemed all Bruce wanted was some answers, and considering that to him it looks like Jason killed the dude for no reason, he’s well within his right to ask for.

What I think is really interesting about this scene and interesting about this comic in general is how it shows all sides of Jason in a very natural way. I think his internal monologue being super freaked out that he just crossed that line again, while his external dialogue is all excuses and shifting the blame over to Bruce.

Jason is deflecting. He’s letting his emotions overtake him and getting angry and confrontational with Bruce when he didn’t really need to. This is super understandable knowing what we do about Jason and how triggering the situation with Tyler is to him, but that still doesn’t make it okay.

With the way Bruce tells him to stop yelling and how he shoves Jason off of him makes me think he really didn’t come here to start a fight. Bruce really doesn’t get all that violent with his blows until it becomes clear to him that Jason is gonna keep attacking him.

This fight was drawn beautifully and to me personally, it really looks like Bruce is pulling his punches. The language of the scene feels more like a situation that got out of hand on Bruce’s part, and with Jason, it looks like he’s legitimately trying to hurt Bruce.

Bruce’s expression and words here really make me think he didn’t want it to come to this. That he didn’t want to hurt Jason and clearly regrets that he did.

4. Closing thoughts

Bruce and Jason’s relationship post-resurrection has always been a confusing and complex one, and I think it says a lot that their fighting like this happened in issue #2. Bruce and Jason don’t understand each other, and misunderstanding has always been the core conflict between them, and I think Urban Legends is going to be the story where they finally smooth things over and come to see the world how the other sees it.

I think there is a great story in the works here and I’m just so tired at people already throwing out the nuance to paint Bruce as an evil abusive father who hates Jason. When that’s literally never been the case. Bruce was stuck in an impossible situation when it came to Jason being the Red Hood and handled it the best he could. I would say that Jason is the rouge that Bruce has been the most lenient with and has given him chance after chance after chance. Bruce has always extended the olive branch to Jason, always offered to help him but it was always Jason who pushed him away. Jason’s feelings about Bruce are understandable but honestly misguided in my opinion, and he’s so blinded by his own hurt to see it.

This post got super long but I’ve really liked what UL has given us so far and I can’t wait for the next issue. I think this is the story where the fight between Red Hood and Batman can finally be laid to rest.

Also, stop woobifying Jason and twisting shit to make Bruce look worse it’s infuriating