In the last 70 or so pages of Huckleberry Finn and I can say I really like the book. First off, very fucking funny (the duke and the king??? godddd). The style of writing is very simple and easy to read and once I started reading it kind of placated my own worries on not sounding astute enough when writing, that I should instead focus on the story as a whole and what I'm trying to say before considering how I tell it.
**He writes brilliantly, and the man can write a good poem when he wants to. He's also really good at creating humor and suspense**
Ofc being as old as it is, the book has its period-typical racism (I'm not talking about the slurs, rather the way they considered people). But in that I sort of grasped another through line, that what you consider to be normal talk or 'fact' could be another self-rationalized bias. Huck struggles throughout the whole story with this, and sometimes it feels like the narration itself struggles with considering Jim's perspective (given the pov is Huck himself this makes a lot of sense).
The book is very good, and I find it interesting to use as an exaggerated (as all good stories are) perspective into what life was like in that era. What ways we've changed as a society, and what we've merely adapted to fit the times.
Was reading a story and the character's kept going to the hospital, even for minor injuries. It seemed odd to me, because the first thought to me is "who's gonna pay for that?". Might just me being from the states, but do people actually go to the hospital when they are unwell? Like we only go there when we are literally dying. Kind of crazy to imagine how many illnesses we miss cause we're so busy trying not to go broke and neglect our health in the process.
Having a relative who denies climate change (still, yeah ik) is kinda funny because I get claims that there’a all sorts of articles that prove that it’s all a hoax and that the earth was destined to do this anyway. So as always I ask for him to send me these articles. A week or so passes, no articles get sent because there aren’t any, I do a quick search and find a decent article on how climate change is very fucking real and we are progressing the world’s temperature at an unpreccedent rate, send it to him and revisit the same “argument” next week.
I wish more Jason Todd reading lists would properly include Jason's Robin run. A post by me all about telling you where to find it.
These three books combined contain:
Batman #404-429
Batman Annual #11-12
Detective Comics #571-#595
Detective Comics Annual #1
The Killing Joke
Batman: Son of the Demon
Batman:The Cult #1-4
While I still personally highly recommend pirating comics, I'll play the game of recommending the collections. Maybe you find it in an area or shop that'll let you read through it for free, maybe your library collects DC Finest books, maybe you are willing to invest in the price for em all
The DC finest are great because they dont leave missing issues between the three. And while the Detective Comics Annual, The Killing Joke, and Son of the Demon dont have Jaybin, they are some nice additions to have access to. Other than missing about 4 issues, these books collect all of Jason's post crisis appearances from the Batman and Detective Comics comics
This is a total of roughly about 60 comic issues. So if youre willing to have all of Red Hood and the Outlaws on a list, I'd say the full* of Jason's actual Robin run and original 80s appearance is a must eh?
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Im vaguely trying to stick to something condensed, so the three above are the "main" ones. But for Jason's non Bat & Tec appearances, you can add on a few more options! Keeping em under a readmore v
"Legends" is a 6 issues series with multiple tie in comics, and essentially is the official start of post crisis. In which a young Robin Jason has some of my favorite appearances + definition of his character! The omnibus recently came out, and is rather hefty. But as far as I know it's the only reprint of this series.
It's also stated to be in DC Heroes & Villains Collection: Legends, which seems to include just the BatTec tie ins! Wow! Perfect for Jaybin reading! Theoretically MUCH cheaper than a full omnibus! But I cannot really find it. Not preowned or on any sites really. The only place selling it is the website for its credited publisher (Hachette), and i get nothing but a blank screen if i try to select it. You can add it to cart, with a warning stating shop orders are only available to UK customers. So! If you have access to it, I recommend this one over the full omnibus for Jason reading. Its a shame i cant see further information on it though
Honestly probably cheaper to just buy the actual issues (Legends 1-6, Batman #401 + Detective Comics #567)
Give it up for another omnibus 🥳😔💸
The New Teen Titans Omnibus Vol. 4 features all of Jason's story appearances in tntt, which is pretty great! That'd be The New Teen Titans (1984) #18-21 & #24-31
He ofc has some other minor appearances, but unless youre pretty invested in tntt too, they're not really worth a whole other omnibus added in. If you're interested in all of Jason's appearances within original issues instead of reprint collections, i do have a list i enjoy using that i can provide!
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VERY TRAGICALLY. All of Jason's pre-crisis run has not been collected for reprints 😔. What we have so far is Red Skies, which is late in his pre-crisis run and goes all the way to the end
Im a big Jason Todd fan and i always very highly recommend reading his entire 80s run, pre crisis very gleefully included! Its what i read first, its what i think everyone getting into Jason should read first, its all a continuing story instead of being an episodic because its all (except for the first few origin issues) is written by the same author, most of Jason's Robin run is in pre-crisis, it has so many interesting stories and characters, it shows us Jason's pov far more often than post, if you dont like it you can cherrypick from it still. It does still have some info pieces within referenced and used by dc comics about Jason. And while he has a different origin and path to Robin, I do ultimately see pre-crisis Jason as the same character rather than some vastly different one worth skipping and ideally I want anyone interested in Jason to read his longer pre-crisis run and read it first. Doesn't work so well with the reprint situation of pre though. So im mostly just moping here
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Bonus: My library Does Not have DC Finest collections, but the library app has some other collections you can read for free. I wouldn't recommend these otherwise because they completely skip over Detective Comics (those are important!!) And are stupid expensive in physical form because theyre out of print. It super is a nice bonus however that Second Chances includes #402-403 though, which are post crisis issues that the finest skipped over. And of course them being more accessible than the finest depending on your resources
Batman Second Chances (402-403 & 408-416, Batman Annual #11)
Batman The Caped Crusader (417-425 & 430-431, Batman Annual #12)
Theres like multiple A Death In The Family collections just read whatever idk
One of Je-na's hobbies was peeling tape. She'd thumb up the edge with her forefinger and peel it back slowly before she laid the adhesive back onto the small roll. For a split second in this transition between air and tape was the struggling adhesive that tried its hardest to pull the two strips together. A small glitter of inertia before Je-na, the outside force, separated it.
She was doing the same thing today, a slow pull as the not-so-quiet bustle of class life happened around her. Girls bunched up together to gossip about the latest trends, compare notes, quiz answers (some from cram school) and the like. She checked her watch, two minutes and thirty seconds before the period ended at 4:30pm, then twenty more until dismissal.
Her father was watching her, she could feel him breathe over her shoulder.
Je-na pulled the strip of tape back up, Mr. Woo might want her to stop by again. Most of the time he wore a subdued smile, with a tension to his shoulders that he would repeatedly roll back with a gesture just as stiff as his kindness. It was warm in a way, like the sun on your back after days of rain. A brief grasp of gentleness against the setting sun as you forgot how the heat seared you moments ago. A day ago. Thirty-two seconds ago.
She pulled the strip back down, smoothed over the piece once over until only the tongue peeked out. Then once over again.
The bell rang.
Ten minutes later Mr. Woo walked in to take attendance.
Je-na wondered if the man realized the crease in his brow, a small instinctive fold that he always wore. She tried to smooth it over once, but like tape it didn't budge. Perhaps if she tore off his skin to straighten the bit off, the crease would disappear. If only...
Class was dismissed. She waited til the room cleared out to gather her things. A few notebooks, an eraser, a mechanical pencil, and the roll of washi tape which she shoved between the waistband of her skirt.
Her father watched as he always did when he thought she didn't notice. She always noticed.
Mr. Woo lingered by the doorway, he sorted through papers. Skipped past sheets in chunks of two to three. She walked past him. Her hand brushed his as she tried to squeeze past, she wanted to pretend like she didn't know him, like his cold hands have never been closer than a coincidental brush.
Instead she peeled back a smile, and stopped in front of him.
🖭
