Red Hood: Lost Days #6 (Spoilers!!!)

[benicio127]

AKA the final issue of this mini-series and the issue where I was like omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

cuntfucius, levy and whitesycamore will be giddy about this.




Four pages.









Whoa! WHOA! WHOA!! Hotter than I expected. Ahem! He wakes up and she's gone. She leaves him with a note and another very important gift, which I was so, so, so glad to see in this.



Oh hey, look! Jason uses gmail. Mary Borsellino will be pleased to know about the dagger in this.
Here's her entry from evenrobins.net on Jason's dagger. Quoting from the entry:
Red Hood’s weapon of choice is a dagger with a waved blade. This edge design has been popular in numerous cultures throughout history, with a variety of connotations attached to the distinctive shape.

In simple, practical terms, a waved blade allows for a longer overall edge distance than would be present in a straight dagger of the same length. Waved blades in longer weapons, such as Flamberge swords, have the added advantage of causing the other weapon in a duel to vibrate, thereby making one’s opponent uncomfortable. This would not be true to any noticeable degree in a weapon such as Red Hood’s knife, however.

The origin of Red Hood’s knife within the Batman comics themselves is most likely the story “The Lazarus Pit!” from issue #243 in 1972. One of the original Ra’s Al Ghul stories by the O’Neil/Adams/Giordano team, this issue saw Batman forced to duel against a man who owed debts to both Ra’s and Batman. Both opponents weilded waved daggers.

As Judd Winick, the writer responsible for the entire Red Hood arc, utilised the Al Ghul family as a significant plot element, it seems likely that this classic storyline was one of the key inspirations behind Red Hood’s dagger.

Just as with the history of waved daggers in the real world, however, the element of pure aesthetic interest must be taken into account. Placing a waved dagger in a panel is more visually interesting and suggests a greater degree of ritual — whether the reader is aware of the legacy of the Keris blade or not — than a simple knife can.

Whatever the reasons may be, Red Hood’s dagger has developed iconography of its own, and now casts a shadow of specific meaning forward over any future appearances of such weapons in future Batman stories.


I'm so sad to see this mini-series end.

Comments

[icon_uk]

So Talia actually boinked her "Beloved"'s adopted SON? That's just plain damn WRONG.

[starwolf_oakley]

Saying "You remain unavenged" and smooching him in one thing. This is a little different.

Of course, IIRC, Talia was somewhat unstable at this time from getting tortured, killed and resurrected by Nyssa a half-dozen times.

[kirke_novak]

Yeah, I don't dig it.

[jarodrussell]

Geez, who doesn't own KORD, Inc. these days?

[sun_man]

Talai is so hot. I think she should go for Dick next.

[superheroics]

I'm not keen on the hookup, but damn if Jason doesn't look hot in this art.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Ted? Because, you know...

[jaybee3]

Damnit, didn't we all say Winick would go THERE with this storyline and then say no, even if wouldn't do it. Bah.

[benicio127]

Yeah, I didn't think he'd go there either, but now that he did, I can't argue with the extreme hotness that it is.

I love it... complicated, fucked-up, non-vanilla-y goodness. Just like real people.

[whitesycamore]

I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. I mean, I do ship them... But it feels very odd to actually see it out there on the page.

I AM glad to see that Jason has finally shaved. An all consuming quest for vengeance is no excuse for poor grooming! (also it's quite effective as a visual metaphor for loss of virginity).

[grimmbear]

It appears that's ALL she goes for. You'll notice these been no Tallia/Cass sexiness.

[cloud_wolf]

I laughed. :(

[whitesycamore]

I'm... ambivalent about the hookup, but Jason is looking incredibly hot here. I must say Haun really seems to be going out of his way to draw him sexy. He's even more lovingly rendered than Talia in these scans - a definite "female gaze" thing going on. I dig it.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Laughter is the first step towards healing ;)

[sistermagpie]

Poor Jason. See, no matter how many people tell me Talia's awesome, any time she's in a relationship with someone besides Ra's I just keep waiting for them to roll their eyes at her. Beloved, father, son, sexy, loving Talia, beloved son, father, sexy, loving Talia...

But then, that's probably why I like Dick.

[benicio127]

You know, I wasn't digging the possibility of the hook-up when you were before! But now that I've seen it, I'm totally OK with it. There's something about it that's very human, very vulnerable, very complicated, very messed up. I love that Winick has made Talia into a woman whose sole purpose is not to pine away for Bruce. I love that there's more to her. And I love sexually open/aware women.
I actually don't see this as being predatory/statutory either, as the artist has clearly been drawing Jason with stubble since issue #4. The stubble to me is an indication of Jason's maturation from teen to man (18 years old)
And you know, Selina has hit on both Dick and Tim before. And Tim actually was underage.

And oh my, what will Jason say to Damian now.... >;D

[icon_uk]

She and Dick have a much more... combative relationship. They certainly don't remotely like each other.

[cloud_wolf]

Messed up to the max. I'll be over here imagining D&D's reaction.

Damian: *jaw drops*
Dick: well then

[jaybee3]

Just to add to my previous thoughts (after I try to wash the images from my mind - unlike others I NEVER shipped this).

But, even knowing the slogan of Scans Daily, is it's "never just you". Am I the only one who has a problem with this? Who really DOESN'T like it? Not from Jason's POV (duh, he's a teenage male and she's a MUCH older hot chick offering herself to him) but from Talia's? The version of Talia that we had previous to this series never even looked at men other than her Beloved let alone had sex with him. Now in 6 issues we have Winick having the daughter of Ra's having casual sex with some minion and then has sex with the son of her "Beloved"? Would the Talia we saw in the 70s-90s, even up to Hush, do this? Heck, I don't think the EVIL Talia Morrison's been writing would do this - she still seems as hung up over Bruce as ever.

Remember the days when Talia used to be an actual rival to Selina as Bruce's top love interest with writers/readers? I guess that's gone now. Selina has slept with father/son before (the Bradleys) and was criticized for and derided for it ever since but she's never gone farther than kiss one of the Robins (to explicitly make Bruce jealous). This is a whole different kettle of fish.

Or am I the only who sees this? And everyone else is just LOVING this - oedipal/incestual (she is the mother of another of his sons) stuff?

[benicio127]

I'm just waiting for the comments about who Damian's real daddy is now... DUN DUN DUNNNNN xP

(Of course that would mean Jason is 28 and he's not, especially since I don't know if Dick is even *that* old)

[shewhohashope]

I am the most irrational Talia fan, because comments like this usually make me really angry, but I hate how Talia is constantly written with men, and will possibly be incredibly upset by this issue once my feelings coalesce beyond being stunned into confused neutrality.

[whitesycamore]

They do seem very much like two individuals who are messed up and lonely but genuinely care for each other. And thankfully, it doesn't seem that she's manipulating him into it at all - more that they've just reached a point where they both feel comfortable acknowledging their attraction to each other.

So no, I can't really condemn it. And I never said it wasn't hot; just that I'm a little stunned they actually went there!

[cloud_wolf]

Dick is the normal one. Dick, the circus boy whom everyone falls in love with and has been fighting crime since before puberty. That's just- *makes vague hand gestures*

[cuntfucius]

Considering her dad has practically prostituted her off before I think it's safe to say Talia has very warped views on sex and family.

[shewhohashope]

I liked random minion! And I don't think Talia's obsession with Bruce ever stopped her having non-romantic relationships with other men. 70's/80's Ra's refers to him as the only man to have ever engaged her emotions.

Of course, I love Talia and want nothing more than for her role to not be in competition as Bruce's number one love interest.