#guide to jaybin

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Pre-Crisis Jason Todd, you are an utterly incomprehensible child.

Your compulsive acrobatics are adorable. Your ability to imprint on Bruce and call him your new father within a month is impressive. Your cute child powers are so strong that Man-Bat tried to adopt you. Your ability to phrase things in the weirdest way possible is matched only by Pre-Crisis Dick Grayson, and even then, you have proven yourself his equal in that regard.

You’re insane, and I love that for you.

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Batman #385 (Pre-Crisis) and Batman #410 (Post-Crisis)

Hmm. There seems to be this recurring theme with Jason that he’s not a real child. Like somehow his experiences—whether as Robin or as a homeless kid—make him not a child anymore. They age him. Jason is in danger, but it’s fine, because he’s not 12, he’s old.

[galaxymagitech]

Pre-Crisis Jason was calling Bruce his “new father” a month or two after meeting him.

Post-Crisis Jason, on the other hand, was still calling him “Mr. Wayne” after six months of training.

Both Jasons are oddly trusting of Batman, especially Post-Crisis Jason, who happily got in his car. But DC Comics took this kid who just latched onto parental figures with startling speed and made him much more emotionally guarded. Yes, both Jasons immediately trust Batman, but for Pre-Crisis Jason, that trust has a much more emotional component—a child looking for someone to take care of him—and for Post-Crisis Jason, that trust is more factual—Batman is a good guy, and so Jason believes he’ll try to do the right thing.

Hilariously, though, both Jasons were technically kidnapped.

[galaxymagitech]

Jason has been living with Bruce for 6 months. Has he just been calling him Mr. Wayne this whole time? Did Bruce not tell Jason to call him by his first name before, or has he told Jason to call him Bruce before but Jason didn't listen? Does Jason feel like he "earned" the right to call Bruce by his first name by going out as Robin?

This is just plain weird to me. I get that people were more inclined to call adults by "Mr. So-and-So" a few decades ago, but it's been six months! That's Jason's foster dad! It must've been really awkward for Jason to constantly be calling Bruce "Mr. Wayne" at the dinner table and stuff.

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Jason: I’m sorry, Batman…sorry I wasn’t a better partner. I always tried.

Bruce: You’ll get a chance to try harder, Robin——I promise.

Wow, Bruce maybe read the room a bit? That’s reassurance-seeking. He wants you to tell him he wasn’t a bad partner. Instead, you just go, “Well, you’ll live. And then you should try harder!”

*sigh* I’m sure Bruce had the best of intentions and thought he was very reassuring, but seriously?

[galaxymagitech]

Honestly, after reading Batman #422, I'm shocked that this comic isn't brought up beyond the panels of Jason beating up an abusive pimp. Like, only two issues before Garzonas dies (or is killed), Jason is part of a case involving sexual violence, the perp walks free and is going to leave Gotham to hurt other people, and the rapist and murderer is only stopped because someone kills him.

Jason isn't the one who kills Branneck, but he doesn't disagree with Judy's actions either. He sees firsthand that if Judy hadn't killed Branneck, another woman would have died. There was nothing Batman, Robin, the police, or the law could do.

I've got a longer post in the works (it still needs image descriptions), but this is, like, the context for Garzonas. We see Jason acting uncharacteristically violent in response to a rapist and murderer evading justice, we see Bruce and Jason discuss the righteousness of killing such a man, and we see directly saving lives that Batman and Robin couldn't save by killing Branneck. Whether you're wondering why Jason might have killed Garzonas or why Bruce might haver believed Jason did it, this comic has answers.

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Batman #385

“Pops.” I’m dying.

Anyway, one thing I like about Pre-Crisis Bruce is that he sometimes bases his response on the outcome and sometimes on the intention of an act—but usually whichever one is better for Jason. Here, Jason disobeys Bruce and saves the day. Since Jason ended up helping, Bruce decides to bring him to dinner and a basketball game. Because it’s the outcome that matters, right? But in the very same comic, Jason rushes forwards and ends up messing things up. But it’s okay, because his goal was to save lives, which is admirable even if he was wrong about there being lives to save.

Bruce wants to do whatever he can to support Jason and will choose which philosophy is better for Jason in that moment.

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I don't know what happened, but Detective Comics #569 has a sudden art shift, and the characters became absolutely unhinged. In #569 and #570 alone, unhinged actions include:

Jason shocks two goons with a cardiac resuscitator...on the butts. While announcing "Daddy spank!"

Bruce randomly grabs Jason by the shoulder and tells him to "never do that again!" It's not entirely clear what "that" is. Jason is extremely confused. As am I. This is never addressed again.

Bruce brings Jason into a seedy criminal bar, then leaves him in charge. Jason, who is very clearly out of his depth, proceeds to hang out with a sex worker and order milk.

Bruce almost kills Joker in revenge and has to be stopped by Jason.

Bruce threatens to fabricate evidence to send a guy to prison in order to convince him to give information...and also implies that the guy would be attacked in prison.

Plus chaos gremlin Jaybin: