#robin era

[bludhavenbirder]

@cxpedcrusxder

The only thing Dick could hear over his heartbeat was the voice in his head telling him to remain calm. If he didn't calm down, he'd never get Bruce out of this. He would fail the man to which he owed his life. He shook his head as violently as he could without causing a sound, to dispel the image of having to tell Alfred that he failed and Bruce was gone. Dick wasn't going to let that happen. His training would get them through this. He forced a few slow breaths in and out before he continued through the vent system of the old office building.

It had been a grueling day, hours since Dick had lost contact with Bruce. The building was a dead zone, so Dick no longer had contact with Alfred at the moment either. It was all up to Robin.

He worked his way towards the third floor, pulling himself up on the sharp metal angles of the vents. He peered through the slats of the vents, eyes widening slightly when he saw Batman. Dick had found him.

He kept his breathing steady and quiet, trying to prevent any changes in the soundscape. The foundations of the building were old and parts were rusted from being so close to the water, so some noise was normal, but he needed that leeway for something else.

He scratched his nail against the metal of the vent, then gently pushed a part of the vent to make a low metallic noise. He watched the others in the room to see if they'd react. One of the goons looked up towards the vent at the metallic noise, but another brushed it off saying it was just the old bones of the building.

Dick ran through a few words in his mind, trying to decide what was best to communicate in morse code. Robin had too many longs in it. The word here should be able to go undetected.

He scratched out the rhythm of the word softly, pressing the metal of the vent for the one dash in r. By the time he reached the end of the word, the people watching over the Bat still seemed none of the wiser.

Even if the voice in the back of Dick's head that told him he couldn't get through the situation was right, at least Bruce would know he wasn't alone. That had to count for something.

[nightwings-bussy]

just an innocent compilation of dick getting sexily damseled, nothing to see here move along

(new teen titans 1980-1984)

[whothefuckisjasontodd]

New Teen Titans #20

Donna pulls together a new team of Titans, which includes Jason. Somewhere in the world, Cheshire is up to no good. 

Jason, you’re such a little dork. Note Flash hanging a lampshade on Batman’s grim demeanor. This early in Post-Crisis it’s probably quite deliberate as DC goes for a more serious vibe than Pre-Crisis. The grimdark and edgy 90s approach. 

Sheltered Bird - 2

What’s the bet that Batman probably let him go expecting him to be on monitor duty only? I wonder if Batman even knew that Nightwing is currently not with the Titans. He didn’t really have much time for a heart to heart previous issue.

 Sheltered Bird - 3 

Has any Robin before or since been so very dad-ed? Probably not.

Geoff Johns did Jason dirty when he had Raven (who barely ever meets him) talk shit about Jason’s time with the Titans in the 2000s. Geoff Johns did a lot of Titans dirty tbh but this one hits particularly close to home because this is such a cute run. 

Good Kid - 1 

Jason was not a Bad Robin, and DC’s victim-blaming agenda trying to cast him as one beyond the grave doesn’t hold up when you actually go back and read his stuff. There is a period where he goes through a deliberate character assassination to make him unlikable, but it ends up somewhat sympathetic anyway and is still not as bad as DC tried to make him out to be later. This counter is to track the times Jason is shown to be a good kid. 

The Titans like to tease the baby bird, okay, it’s very cute. Poor lad. He’s very confused about Donna basically treating him like Dick and trying to defer to him, because in his eyes she’s the obvious leader. He also doesn’t rise to Hawk’s borderline bullying at this point. 

Jason expresses his opinion on the Robin costume early on. 

Note: At this point in Post-Crisis, it’s actually Bruce’s fault, not Dick’s. This is confirmed in Nightwing’s new Post-Crisis origin in Secret Origins #13. 

So, Bruce is the sadist. Moving on. 

The Titans settle in for the night and Cheshire attacks. Jason and his acrobatic skills means he’s in the best position to try and stop her. 

Boy Wonder - 1

Jason isn’t just a brute that punches people, he’s Robin, the Boy Wonder, and that comes with well-rounded talents including detective skills, agility and strategy/tactics. This counter is for Jason showing off any of those talents that earned him the suit. 

Jason and Hawk are the only two heroes in play, and Hawk basically shoves Jason out of the way so he can attempt to kill Cheshire and the thugs. Cheshire makes to kill Hawk and Jason...

...is a good boy. 

Good Kid - 2

Anyway, Donna comes to the rescue and then Cheshire escapes and Donna and Hawk get into it over his excessive violence and willingness to kill. Donna goes completely off on him.

And Jason is the voice of reason. 

Good Kid - 3

I’m counting each separate instance more freely than I might’ve if Jason had a long Robin run, just because it is so short so there’s not use condensing his actions and appearances. 

Of course, Donna is still confusing him with his big brother, and so she decides that the correct course of action is to step down as leader and put the 14/15 year old in charge. Yes. That sounds great. What do you think, Jason? 

He seems thrilled. 

And then is like ‘yeah nah, m8′ only he does it by running after Donna and telling her what’s what.

People Skills - 1 

Jason knows people and their motivations very, very well and can usually accurately figure out where they’re coming from or how to approach them best.

Anyway, this issue nicely establishes a big sister and little brother relationship between Donna and Jason, now that she’s remembered he’s not Dick Grayson but instead about six years younger and smol. It’ll continue through his run with the Titans. It’s very cute.  

The next morning the Titans discuss Cheshire and the ethics of killing. The Titans apparently don’t have a ‘no killing’ rule, it’s a ‘no needless killing’ rule which is...a bit more open to interpretation. 

An interesting look at where Jason currently stands on it. It matches up with his consistent portrayal as someone who dehumanizes murderers, allowing him to basically write them off and consider their death and motivations and humanity a ‘who cares’ scenario, which will eventually turn into ‘they deserve to die and I’ll kill them’. 

They Deserve It - 1 

This is going to track Jason’s tendency towards the kind of morality that sees him dehumanize the worst criminals, leading to his later motivations and actions as Red Hood. 

Anyway they’re doing their plan Titan things and Jason goes off inside because he’s hella cold (no kidding) and Roy joins him and then Jason basically turns around and probably gives Roy flashbacks of trying to hide things from Dick

Boy Wonder - 2

People Skills - 2 

Not just boy detective, but that’s a lot of insight into people and how they react to things. Very impressive, little Jay. 

Anyway Cheshire is basically like ‘YOU KNOCKED ME UP’ and Roy definitely did not see this coming. 

[whothefuckistimdrake]

Detective Comics #648 (1992)

So we look back on Stephanie, doing her thing.

Batman and Robin send the police after Cluemaster, thinking Stephanie’s hints are his psychosis manifesting.

The catch a glimpse of Spoiler on the rooftops, and Robin pursues.

Stephanie gets away. Good girl.

Dodo Bird: 2 

You’re surrounded by bricks and should watch where your captive is putting their hands regardless, Tim. He does eventually catch up with her though by finding her address. And again, Stephanie looks beautiful and Tim looks hideous.

Anyway Tim waits for Steph in a tree, jumps on the back of her bike, and that of course causes them to crash.

She, Robin and Batman then join up to take down her dad.

[bludhavenbirder]

@batfambitches

Dick was not supposed to be in the manor's kitchen in uniform, but he didn't know what else to do. He gripped two fistfuls of ice, fingers turning red as his tunic. Dick stared down at his hands, moving his fists from left to right as he tries to control his breathing. He had sprinted up the stairs the moment Bruce had turned his attention to the computer so Dick could get a moment to himself, but at the sound of footsteps in the hallway, he realized that he wasn't getting it.

[whothefuckisjasontodd]

Detective Comics #568

Part Two of the Legends crossover that introduced New Earth post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. This makes this issue the first for Detective Comics in Post-Crisis continuity. 

We open on G. Gordon Godrey (I believe there is an artist mistake cause he looks different this issue) doing his anti-hero rhetoric thing while Batman and Robin look on. 

Jason calls the protesters ungrateful, saying it’s enough to make a guy wanna hang up the cape and stay home. 

Batman schools him pretty quick, reminding him that he’s fighting crime, not ‘saving the world’. I’m fairly sure modern comics has lost this distinction these days in Batman’s motivations. 

These panels are very, very interesting. Yeah, we get another case of Bruce sidelining Jason in a way that screams ‘keep the kid out of the dangerous stuff’, but the motivation of Jason here is the action. This issue is focused on teaching Batman’s philosophy about crime through Bruce teaching Jason, and it ends up at odds with his later post-retcon characterization as being concerned with victims. 

This can either be put down to Jason’s background not being retconned yet or the needs of the story being put before characterization. These issues in the Legends crossover are introducing us to Post-Crisis Batman before we go back to Year One. There are a lot of heavy-handed things like this pointed out at various times. 

Anyway, some counters: 

Sheltered Bird - 4

Reckless Thrillseeker - 1

Reckless Thrillseeker is obviously the popular victim-blaming idea DC tried to push as the reason Jason died. While it obviously had nothing to do with his actual death, this counter is to examine if it’s really a big part of his Robin characterization at all, or if the entire thing was made up in order to victim-blame him and serve later characters.

Just a note, I will be doing a counter roundup for all the issues of Post-Crisis that occur before Jason’s origin retcon and will later use those to compare to the Post-Retcon Robin!Jason, to see how much he really changed or if it’s even noticeable. 

More Robin as a means of exposition. Apparently Batman needs to do all that research in order to figure out that falcons in urban areas like to make their nests high up. Truly the World’s Greatest Detective. 

He doesn’t figure out that the Penguin he spots on the roof is decoy and falls into a trap, but he turns Penguin’s giant birds against him and catches him in a net. It’s...the 80s. 

The next morning G. Gordon Godfrey is still going on television with his ‘nah we don’t need heroes’ thing. 

Jason in civvies, and more of Bruce’s philosophy on people. 

And that’s the end of that issue. 

[whothefuckisjasontodd]

New Teen Titans #21

We pick up where we left off. Roy tells Jason to go back to help the others, knowing that Jade won’t care that Jason’s just a kid. 

People Skills - 3 

Jason picks up on Garth’s grief in the midst of all the chaos. 

It turns out to be a trap set up by Cheshire and the Church of Blood to make the government and Titans look bad. Jason is boggled by this because politics. 

Jason’s angry little face when Hawk ruffles his hair is 2017′s mood. 

People Skills - 4 

Jason out of all of them is the only one who picks up that Roy (who just discovered he’s a dad) is acting weird. 

They’re both so cute and Jason is so polite and respectful of Donna in her role as floundering leader. It’s neat watching her come into her own in this arc. 

[whothefuckisjasontodd]

Batman #401

Alright, time to drift over to the Bat books for a bit. Batman #401 was published in November 1986 and is part of the Legends event which introduced the ‘New Earth’ (aka Post-Crisis) to the readers. 

It’s the official start of Post-Crisis over in the Batman world. 

So we open with a case where a jewelry thief is booby-trapping items. Gordon knows who it is but they’re having problems providing it. Bruce stages a party and the Magpie (the thief) strikes, while G. Gordon Godfrey spews his anti superhero rhetoric. 

Jason first shows up after the disastrous party

Pretty standard Robin stuff here. He’s the voice of the reader, getting the exposition. 

I hate it when he’s always right, too, Jay. 

Jason gets her, for sure. Accidentally ripping her entire outfit apart. That’s what you get for wearing impractical villain outfits, I suppose. I quite like that they actually went there played on that. 

Jason is, uh...embarrassed, to say the least.

Good Kid - 4

I’m really glad they had him do this instead of something joking about taking a peek or whatever they might’ve done. It fits in with Jason’s characterization as respectful to women, as well. 

The problem is that he freaking traps them all in the room with the deadly lasers so maybe he could stand to be a little less respectful of the villain’s modesty lmao. Good going, kid. 

Death by lasers! I love comics. 

Anyway, what I get from this is that Jason’s legs have always been strong, no wonder his thighs end up so impressive. 

Magpie dropped her shiny thing under a bench and was like ‘no no i can’t leave it’ and that’s basically how they catch her. She serves as a good lesson on...not being a magpie. If Batman is after you, just let the jewel go and gap it, villains.