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[lipsofpoison.insanejournal.com]

I bring you some scans from the Jason story from Legends of the Dark Knight #100. With huge thanks to islwyn who encouraged me to go hunting for this, I found it a very enjoyable issue. Please excuse the slight wonkyness of the scans, my scanner hates me.

It's six months after Jason's training began and he's now an officially trained Robin. He's been really happy all day. This is running concurrently with flash-forwards to Bruce searching for Jason when Jason was searching for his mother during A Death In The Family. This little bit with Alfred, Bruce and Jason was what sparked my love for the story, though.









Then of course, it goes to Bruce finding Jason with this final scan which is pretty much heartbreaking. I like it as an ode to the case, though.

Comments

[runespoor7.insanejournal.com]

Dick apparently wasn't on Earth during the last six months (?) of Jason's tenure as Robin, according to the shaky timeline I've guessed from such various sources as GK 42-45, the Nightwing Annual #2, and... I can't remember how that was presented in canon at the time, but I know that Dick didn't learn of Jason's death because Bruce told him. It was always either the Titans telling him, or maybe Alfred in one version, and most clues point that Dick wasn't around much before Jason died.

If it helps, I don't think Dick really knew where Jason and he stood either.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

That's the impression I get. I remember Dick finding out months later--and upset at Bruce not even trying to get a message to him at the time. And the beginning of their relationship was screwed up too, according to current continuity. On one end of Jason's tenure we've got Dick and Jason at odds because of the way Dick stopped being Robin and Jason starting. On the other end we've got Dick not being around and Jason dying. In between it seems like there were stabs at a relationship, possibly with Dick making an effort, since I think a) Dick would do that and b) Jason would probably wouldn't feel comfortable doing it but would appreciate and respond to the chance.

And then Jason died before they had time to really establish a good relationship. And Bruce dredged up a lot of the bad stuff anyway ("Don't pretend you're sorry he's dead, you were jealous because I adopted him!" sort of undoes any work Dick/Jason would have managed to do). Now, like you say, they probably wouldn't know where they stand at all. Which offers potential for a writer with a good idea!

[runespoor7.insanejournal.com]

And Bruce dredged up a lot of the bad stuff anyway ("Don't pretend you're sorry he's dead, you were jealous because I adopted him!" sort of undoes any work Dick/Jason would have managed to do)

That's one of the scenes I don't count in my personal canon. I like the Year Three version much better, and since Year Three happened in Batman and "you were jealous" took place in Teen Titans, Year Three even has the priority, sort of. "You were jealous" is about as wrong as Bruce telling Dick he'd taken Jason as Robin because he missed Dick.

There was a Nightwing issue - around the Last Laugh storyline - where Dick is looking at a picture of Jason and him at the mountains in civilian clothes. So yeah, stabs at a relationship did happen.

Given that there was Bruce between them, it'd be interesting to learn more about how they related together, except that I have very little faith in DC not making Jason look bad and insensitive and not getting Bruce to make Dick look better in comparison.

[lipsofpoison.insanejournal.com]

It's the Nightwing issue directly after it and it shows them bonding,. There's also when he's training Tim, he mentions training Jason in the same technique but him not having the patience for it.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

I love that picture of Dick and Jason--it not only gives us proof that yes, they forged a relationship together during the time Jason was alive, but that it was important to Dick.

I tend to think even without those specific scenes Bruce's bad reaction from Jason's death, the way he wasn't able to really reach out to Dick (since he'd already lost one Robin) would have just gotten mixed up in Dick's own grief about Jason. It's hard for us to even really know much about it since not only did we not see them together a lot but Bruce's reaction tended to overshadow everything else. I'd like to see them get a chance now to get into what they may have wanted from each other instead of just from Bruce, you know?

I feel like that's another thing that Tim brings into the picture, actually. He got the relationship with Dick.

[lipsofpoison.insanejournal.com]

I think a lot of what Bruce says can be written off as grief. A part of me really misses the whole thing of Bruce taking away all of Jason's photos and really being hurt so you can at least show how badly he was reacting. I don't like the retconning that seems to occur about that time.

I like Jason and Dick's relationship. They are shown to work together on three occations at least and there is a photograph and an implication of two other times of them spending a bit of time together.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Oh absolutely--it was grief. All the stuff in that whole scene I understand as Bruce talking out of grief (really only the "don't pretend you're sorry" doesn't make sense). It just feels like a situation where Bruce's reaction to Jason's death, which we all know made him even more difficult and wanting to push people away, would have added to the conflicting feelings over in Jason in general. It's not unusual for death to drive people apart instead of pulling them together, and I feel like that happened with Dick and Bruce as well. What with Bruce being freaked out about losing people even more with Jason gone he wasn't going to reach out to Dick! But I feel like it also would have made it even more hard for Dick to just straightforwardly deal with the relationship he'd lost with Jason.

[lipsofpoison.insanejournal.com]

I can understand it to a degree. He wants to hurt Dick and to hurt Dick, you imply that he isn't a good brother, good to his family and his charges. He's striking out, so it could work that way. The whole situation can, hopefully, just be written off as this horrific grief.

I think Dick in Y3 is shown as too worried about Bruce than to really worry about it. Although he has two break-down-crying moments about it, he is going 'this was your son, Bruce, what's wrong with you' but doesn't seem able to vocalise it correctly. One of the most heartbreaking moment for me is him seeing the photos of him are still up but the ones of Jason are missing and I think that probably added another level of guilt to Dick's feelings. It's a lot to deal with.

[runespoor7.insanejournal.com]

I think a lot of what Bruce says can be written off as grief.

I know, but that's one of the two scenes I most hated Bruce in, though for different reasons. Then again, I think the whole Bruce-Dick-Jason issues were dealt with in possibly the ugliest possible way before Y3, and I'd take Dixon's Nightwing: YO retcon of how Jason and Dick met over the 'I took Jason in because I missed you' scene (incidentally, not the other scene where I really really hate Bruce, because I'm too busy screaming inside my mind).

I don't like the retconning that seems to occur about that time.

? Retconning? Has DC tried to retcon away Bruce reacting badly to Jason's death? But... that's Tim entire reason for becoming Robin in the first place!

I love how Bruce's reaction to Jason's death was two-fold - denial then violence, and that it was gradual rather than immediate, and how the simple confrontation in Y3 (hahaha, simple) didn't solve the problems.

[lipsofpoison.insanejournal.com]

Oh, I hated the scene but it was an understandable scene. It seems so out of place with the amount of times Jason taking the suit has been retconned now. Nightwing: YO is a definite preference, but I did like Dick giving Jason his card. Not as much as I loved the whole 'I'm going to break your records' thing though.

It's always seemingly downplayed as "he got a little violent" and the level of grief is downplayed like whoa now. I may be reading too much into it, but the Bruce that cleared away Jason's things and that Dick believed for a moment could have let someone die, it doesn't seem to be the same one that is often remembered.