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Robin - Tim Drake ready for one of his know-it-all lines filled with “I told you so”

The entire video is on tiktok

Ko-fi ☕

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Former Talon!Dick Grayson and Robin Tim Drake, illustration I made for the second chapter of my story “Behind Blue Eyes (I was the only witness” on ao3.

I'm posting it again because I care so much about this illustration, but it flopped so badly last time. I honestly love the brotherly dynamic between Nightwing and Robin Tim and I miss it so much, so a few months ago I started writing by combining my passions: writing and drawing. I am very attached to these two members of the Bat-Family because I grew up catching up on Tim's 90s comics and I love the (wasted) potential of Talon!Dick Grayson

Ko-fi ☕

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Former Talon!Dick Grayson and Robin Tim Drake, illustration I made for the second chapter of my story “Behind Blue Eyes (I was the only witness” on ao3.

I'm posting it again because I care so much about this illustration, but it flopped so badly last time. I honestly love the brotherly dynamic between Nightwing and Robin Tim and I miss it so much, so a few months ago I started writing by combining my passions: writing and drawing. I am very attached to these two members of the Bat-Family because I grew up catching up on Tim's 90s comics and I love the (wasted) potential of Talon!Dick Grayson

Ko-fi ☕

#dick grayson #talon dick grayson #tim drake #dc comics #Talon decides that his new brother is Robin #robin tim drake #Dick has yellow eyes and strawberry bubble tea #giotanner #dc universe #dceu #dcau #dc fanart #drawing #dc robin #the court of owls #dick grayson edit #tim drake edit #nightwing #nightwing edit #artists on tumblr #illustration

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Batman #148 Thoughts... or Why Jason Todd is Awesome and Batman Doesn't Deserve Him.

So... I know a lot of the discussion about this issue has been about what happens to Jason, and IYKYK. What I want to discuss are parts of the rest of the issue and why I think Jason is one of the best characters (and more than how many perceive him). *spoilers ahead*

I know many outsiders and even those in fandom look at Jason Todd or the Red Hood and think of him as the hot, angsty edge lord who isn't afraid to break Batman's one rule. He's cool and badass so you want to be like him or he's the romantic fantasy bad boy with a soft side. These things are fine, but this is often where people stop with Jason or if they dislike him the above descriptions are why.

Some people want him to be an antagonist again because villains are cool and this is where we get things like 'The Boys' because it's edgy, subversive, or some intelligent deconstruction of superheroes. Colorful and honorable superheroes like Superman or Spider-Man are boring, just a fantasy, or for kids who don't understand the real world. Again, fine if that's your take, but I don't believe that one "graduates" from one to the other.

Beyond the Fast and Furious style cool factor of fast cars, guns, and explosions that often get associated with Jason, there's more to him than that and it's why he's still one of my favorites. Hell, this is the same character that writers thought would be a priest in the Flashpoint universe, a universe that had gone to hell in a handbasket but in all that chaos and darkness he became a PRIEST.

(The World of Flashpoint: Issue #2)

Say what you will about organized religion, Christianity, or the Catholic church (because there are definitely issues there), but I think two of Jason's core traits that I admire are his faith and hope. Traits that often get Jason hurt by the people closest to him, but that often see him through the darkest times.

The cheapness of using Jason's "death" aside, these traits are seen again in Batman #148. Not only is Jason willing to put his faith in Bruce again (after everything "not" Bruce did to him in Gotham War), but he's the first down into the cave.

This isn't blind faith, but a willingness to try. A hope that maybe this time he won't be hurt, even if time and time again history has proven otherwise. Note: This can be a slippery and dangerous slope and not one without consequences as many people fall into the trap of going back into or staying in toxic relationships that only bring them pain. (And I never said his greatest strengths can't also be his greatest weaknesses).

We also see some emotional maturity and growth in this issue and I love that for Jason. Has he been going to therapy? Maybe, but my money is that he's probably been reading lots of self-help books or something.

Does Bruce deserve this level of forgiveness and compassion from Jason? No, but Jason gives it to him anyway. I also feel like this is a soft challenge from Jason. "I'm not here to save you from yourself or to ask you to save me. We do this together or not at all."

And if you're thinking, "Oh no, Jason has gone soft. Not my Jason Todd!" He's still a cheeky bastard in battle, even when he's on the ropes.

Now, for Jason's "death", one could say that it was a cheap ploy by the writer or DC to get people talking or to have a random "Jason dies" scene (though he's revived in the same issue so I feel the emotional stakes/hype are less compared to leaving it open-ended until the next issue).

One could also look at it in a cynical light given it's Jason that Bruce brings down into the cave during the flashback reveal with the secret Lazarus Kool-Aid. Did Bruce plan that knowing Jason would volunteer in some sort of reverse psychology manipulation? Was it just a random plot explanation to justify having the "Jason dies" scene? Who knows? Though I think Dick or Tim would've volunteered as well. But my focus is on the conversation.

This is another example of Jason's hope and faith, and his faith in Bruce. Bruce's plan isn't tested, though one could assume that he's done the math so to speak, but it's still Jason literally putting his life in Bruce's hands. It's also fairly clever because if Failsafe is some echo of Batman, then something in his programming probably knows about the emotional pain of Jason's initial death. So not only is "killing" going to make him glitch out, but killing Jason is probably the ultimate Failsafe glitch.

Deep down I think Jason knows how much he means to Bruce, even if Bruce is terrible at showing it sometimes. He's willing to take the risk and die, not for Bruce, but for the greater good of saving the day.

Let's also not forget that in the span of a short amount of (in-universe) time, Jason has saved the entire East Coast (end of Gotham War), Gotham City (end of The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing), and is now ready to die again to stop Failsafe--all while his brain is still probably a little messed up from Gotham War.

Let this young man take a damn vacation!

Was this issue perfect? No. And I agree with others about it not being cool that Steph, Cass, and Duke got sidelined as the clean-up crew, but I do think it showed a lot of Jason's deeper character (flawed or not) and how he's more than just the edgy, sarcastic bad boy. That part of him is just the hard candy shell he's had to create to protect the gooey center that is his hope, faith, and love. After all, Damian has previously (and rightly) called him out as the "emotional one".

P.S. I know my previous post picked on Jason's Red Hood outfit at the end and I still stand by the fact that it wasn't my favorite, but seeing that it's Jorge Jimenez's art, I can forgive it. I love most of Jorge's art and would kill (not literally) to be as talented as him, but that outfit design is still a no for me. Sorry, Jorge. :(

#and this is why i follow these people who put in words my thoughts #thank you #jason todd

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Hmmmm. Having so many more thoughts about "Damian's stories are about what Batman can do for Robin, while Tim's stories are about what Robin can do for Batman" as a concept.

And look this is partly me simplifying things way way down. Because ofc there are stories for both of them in the other direction, and I can name a bunch of them off the top of my head. But I'm looking at overarching themes.

Because!!! I think part of the divide in whether people feel particularly close to Damian's stories or particularly close to Tim's comes down to their identification over which fantasy and story they want to overlay the concept of Batman and Robin with. Do they want a fantasy about the strength and change a child can bring even to the adults around them? Do they want a fantasy about how a child can grow and be forgiven by adults for everything, even the dark parts of themself they hate?

"Can I fix others" vs "can others fix me" are both deep concepts people identify with, whether or not either impulse is a healthy one.

For instance. I will fully tell you that part of my problem with Dick and Damian as Batman & Robin, apart from the amount of it being written by Morrison, is that in the stories I have read, I see very few that give me a satisfying answer to 'what benefit is Dick getting out of this relationship', and as someone who helped coparent her own much younger sibling to the point my mother rewrote her will during that period to request that I got custody of my brother, not my father, should anything happen, reading a narrative where I'm supposed to celebrate Dick's sacrifices in taking on Damian is one where I want this situation to be rewarding for DICK. Because I know the suckitude of the situation where everyone is telling you how noble you are for making this sacrifice, and I know the joys you find in it, but by god is it hard and it is work that you can find yourself resenting and it is something where I see myself in Dick and I want a fantasy telling me that this was all worth it and the narrative is entirely uninterested in giving that to me.

#i love these types of posts #tim drake #dick when he was Batman

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Honestly this is just a bad take. Tim was forgotten for so many years, he is the only one without an animated movie and even in the young justice series he did nothing. Only people from the comics knows him and HE IS A ROBIN. So yeah please, if a few times it is him who "saves the day" let him do it. He was put in a corner in many issues so obviously when FINALLY he does something people are "why Damian can't do this? Why Nightwing can't do that?" And complains because they think he stolen panels and character development from their favs... Can you please remember TIM DRAKE is a great character, he learned from Lady Shiva and he was the leader of Young Justice? Can you? HE HAS EXPERIENCE

DC and especially Chip Zdarsky hates every Robin except Tim.

Steph and Duke is not here because they don't even "exist" 😑🤦‍♀️

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even worse. we have on a practical level a boy who has been brainwashed, has been treated by his ASSASSIN (the Joker), and theoretically has not yet recovered from the trauma, because TOO LITTLE time has passed. And so still with this trauma… Jason passively acquiesces, and Bruce does not cradle him in his arms, give him a speech, or ask questions

this is terrible.

So you mean to tell me that Jason made the choice to die (and be resurrected two pages later) for Bruce's plan to work (to essentially take down the evil alter ego Bruce created) and Bruce just... let him? Like him dying wasn't that big of a deal?

And the thing is that it works. This could have been the perfect opportunity to have Jason actually die and have Bruce live with the knowledge that his plan killed his son again, but we obviously can't have any actual emotional stakes in DC comics anymore.

#jason todd #bruce wayne

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Dick Grayson being annoying is actually so important to me

#poor tim #i miss so much their dynamic #tim drake #dick grayson

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dick grayson really out there surviving bullets to the head while jason straight up died from a punch, plot armor is truly something

#jason todd #dick grayson #real

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Jason Todd has two little words for you by breaking through the fourth wall (REAL). See the entire tiktok here

Much more seriously I am sick and tired of Red Hood being used as the “I am the distraction” for Batman, for the Bat Family, even going so far as to kill him for a page because they have a portable Lazarus pit serum anyway.

And instead of being angry, hurt, after being brainwashed and willing to “kill him for his father Bruce Wayne's mission” he passively accepts everything. Easily.

I swear he seems angrier Nightwing these years than Jason-

This is not just for the last story arc, but it is in the last few years. A great character they don't know how to use.

How I would love to have even an ounce of the luck of the Daredevil character, who has amazing story arcs.

Of course all this is my personal opinion, from an incredible romantic of the character

Support me with a coffee ☕

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He is really just a "pwetty distraction" for dc writers. Wow. I hated it even if I love the character so fuckin' much

Jason Todd (alive) shows up to do absolutely nothing in Poison Ivy #23 by G. Willow Wilson and Haining

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Jason Todd has two little words for you by breaking through the fourth wall (REAL). See the entire tiktok here

Much more seriously I am sick and tired of Red Hood being used as the “I am the distraction” for Batman, for the Bat Family, even going so far as to kill him for a page because they have a portable Lazarus pit serum anyway.

And instead of being angry, hurt, after being brainwashed and willing to “kill him for his father Bruce Wayne's mission” he passively accepts everything. Easily.

I swear he seems angrier Nightwing these years than Jason-

This is not just for the last story arc, but it is in the last few years. A great character they don't know how to use.

How I would love to have even an ounce of the luck of the Daredevil character, who has amazing story arcs.

Of course all this is my personal opinion, from an incredible romantic of the character

Support me with a coffee ☕

[giotanner]

Jason Todd has two little words for you by breaking through the fourth wall (REAL). See the entire tiktok here

Much more seriously I am sick and tired of Red Hood being used as the “I am the distraction” for Batman, for the Bat Family, even going so far as to kill him for a page because they have a portable Lazarus pit serum anyway.

And instead of being angry, hurt, after being brainwashed and willing to “kill him for his father Bruce Wayne's mission” he passively accepts everything. Easily.

I swear it seems angrier Nightwing these years than Jason-

This is not just for the last story arc, but it is in the last few years. A great character they don't know how to use.

How I would love to have even an ounce of the luck of the Daredevil character, who has amazing story arcs.

Of course all this is my personal opinion, from an incredible romantic of the character

Support me with a coffee ☕

#jason todd #red hood #jason todd dies for a PLAN? he was brainwash but hey NO TRAUMA he is ready to die #bruce wayne #dc comics #batman #batman edit #jason todd edit #dc universe #dc #giotanner #drawing #dceu #dc fanart #dcau #dc fandom #jason todd angst #jason todd deserves better #illustration #artists on tumblr #jason todd death

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[Support my video on tiktok] War between Crime Lords in Crime Alley, Jason Todd appears to have been cornered by Black Mask. But this is no longer Ethiopia, this is no longer Robin, gentlemen this is Red Hood. And Red Hood, like it or not, will always have the backup of the Bat-Family. Nightwing and Tim Drake can't wait to tell him “now you owe us,” after all!

(Black Mask is one of my favorite villains in any universe).

I worked on it until 4 a.m., please do not let it flop!

Ko-fi ☕

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If this really happens, don't be surprised if people stop reading comic books. You treat great characters with bad writers

(I want a reboot, everything after gotham war is shitty for jason)

can I say that this is the only thing I can call lazy writing in the whole story arc? I REALLY DON'T LIKE IT. Because it's one thing to have Lazarus fluid that maybe you use it as a “defibrillator” when you look dead. Or maybe the Bat-Family does a fake death to counter Zur. We have seen that it is possible to fake a slowing of the heart, and after all, we are in a comic book. But, what the fuck? This reviving fluid is the only thing that makes no sense because one of the main factors of the Pit is that if you're dead it doesn't bring you back to life. (Jason woke up in the coffin and he was alive. But catatonic. Therefore Talia brought him into the Lazarus Pit). Then it's too easy to have little portable serums that revive you. Let's forget about every random death that can happen, SO MUCH THEY HAVE THE FLUID THAT BRINGS YOU BACK TO LIFE. Come on… I find this so bad. And the fact that Jason agrees to DIE????

#I'm so DONE

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can I say that this is the only thing I can call lazy writing in the whole story arc? I REALLY DON'T LIKE IT. Because it's one thing to have Lazarus fluid that maybe you use it as a “defibrillator” when you look dead. Or maybe the Bat-Family does a fake death to counter Zur. We have seen that it is possible to fake a slowing of the heart, and after all, we are in a comic book. But, what the fuck? This reviving fluid is the only thing that makes no sense because one of the main factors of the Pit is that if you're dead it doesn't bring you back to life. (Jason woke up in the coffin and he was alive. But catatonic. Therefore Talia brought him into the Lazarus Pit). Then it's too easy to have little portable serums that revive you. Let's forget about every random death that can happen, SO MUCH THEY HAVE THE FLUID THAT BRINGS YOU BACK TO LIFE. Come on… I find this so bad. And the fact that Jason agrees to DIE????

#jason todd spoilers #jason todd #please i have to rant about it can you rant with me? #bat family #dc comics #dc jason todd #red hood #batman #dc universe #jason todd death #jason todd deserves better #than a lazarus fluid #dceu #bruce wayne

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Robin - Tim Drake ready for one of his know-it-all lines filled with “I told you so”

The entire video is on tiktok

Ko-fi ☕