On Jaybinâs sense of justice, and how it compares to Bruceâs justice and the Batsâ morality
I often think that the reason that modern references to Jasonâs Robin run fall flat is because people fall into the trap of arguing that Jasonâs defining trait as Robin was either his anger or his joy (be they DC editorial or just fandom discourse). And whilst neither of these descriptors are wholly satisfactory, and also run the risk of two-dimensionality, a lot of the problem is that these two emotions sit almost entirely at opposite ends of the spectrum from one another, so are hard to remedy.
Instead, I would argue that what most jumped out at me from Jasonâs Robin run was his sense of justice, which I think can be applied to both the more whimsical joyful and the more angry sides of Jasonâs personality as Robin, kind of bridging the gap between the two.
Sure, all of the Robins have a sense of morality, which is usually quite strict and, often, easily summarised by the âno killingâ stance, but I think it is Jason out of all of the Robins who most embodies the idea of justice (people getting what theyâre due), as opposed to just morality (having a code/sense of right and wrong). For Jason, every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. Itâs not that Jason doesnât believe in redemption or even in shades of grey â Iâd argue that even as Robin, he knew that being able to be a bit ethically grey was necessary for both life and vigilante justice â but he does view his role as a vigilante as ensuring that people get that justice, and feels it personally when it doesnât measure up to what he believes they are owed (most infamously with the Stanson case).
Sure, the other Robins and Bats do, too, but I think that they are more concerned with harm-reduction, stopping whatever is causing the harm and focusing on rehabilitation as a way to reduce further harm, than anything else. Thatâs Bruceâs sense of justice; when his parents were killed in front of him as an eight-year-old, it destroyed his entire world, and Bruceâs mission, yes, aims to stop any more preventable deaths which helps the victims, but itâs ultimately for the little boy who lost his parents and had destroyed his entire world â his commitment to harm-reduction in all cases, no matter his personal feelings, is the equal and opposite reaction for the harm he and his parents experienced down that alley. Bruceâs mission, despite helping others, is very centred around his own trauma and what he feels he needed and wished he had that night.
Sure, this is very similar to what Jasonâs mission becomes in UTRH, but itâs still slightly different to (though an understandable progression of) Jasonâs sense of justice as Robin. As Robin, Jason (perhaps informed by his past, though Iâd argued this is more the case in post-UTRH comics, such as BFTC) is mostly focused on justice for the victims, first and foremost (perhaps because, at this stage, he doesnât yet view himself as a victim), and unlike Bruce and the rest of the Robins, this often has a far more literal eye-for-an-eye mentality to it. Harm-reduction for future victims does come into it, but not at the cost of forgetting or ignoring what has already happened to the victims that already exist. It is justice in the truest sense of the word. And itâs focused on how Jason perceived the world and the people in it, as opposed to how Bruce sees himself reflected in the world.
Anyway, thatâs just my opinion.
