DC Meme - Day 11
DC 30 Days Meme
Day Eleven: Favourite Romance
Canon: Dick/Babs, for which I already made a HUGE SCANSPAM OF DOOM for the shipping meme. Not canon: Bruce/Jason. OTPSOTPSOTPSOTPS.
Obviously, since Babs/Dick got its scanspam, Bruce/Jason must receive equal treatment. So here it is, the Bruce/Jason scanspam where I curse myself for not remembering better every little thing that made me think 'oh yeah. so in love.' I'm going to focus on Post-Crisis Jason, because that's the version of my OTP that tugs at my heartstring, but just so you know: Bruce/Pre-Crisis Jason?
Very very in love as well.
I'm a little less clear on whether this is Pre- or Post-Crisis Jay, but as a rule I consider Detective Comics Barr-written Jason Pre-Crisis, much more in keeping with the character that way.
Bruce/Jason of any kind: DOOMED.
As for Post-Crisis Jason, his relationship with Bruce starts in a way that is the staple for crazy Batman/kids interaction. It even beats how Tim entered the Batfamily, because Batman was not in favour of that instance of generalized madness. Jason?
YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, THEY WERE FATED TO MEET. Bruce is totally writing into his diary, 'Even Alfred thinks we're meant to be!!!' And he draws little hearts bats hearts bats and 'Batman/Robin 4 EVER' in the corners. (no relation with the movie.)
Bruce tells all his friends about his new boyfriend new Robin.
That's not at all a suspicious smile, Bruce.
The two of them are a match made in VIOLENT, GLEEFUL HEAVEN.
Batman likes when Jason beats up bad guys.
At one point, Jason is the only thing keeping Bruce from giving up. Batman/Robin OTP, but he does it in a way that's very, very Jason. I've got issues with The Cult being in continuity, but there's no denying that Jason is properly heroic and that the two of them are depicted as perfect partners.
the mini series also gives us this
>_> yeaaaah.
But they're also DOOMED, so stuff like this start happening. Batman is bad for Jason.
Bruce is, as you can see, amazingly unconvincing. And quick to drop the issue.
Then there's the stuff with Garzonas. Summing up: a daddy's son with diplomatic immunity rapes and abuses his girlfriend. Batman and Robin manage to catch him, but he walks. First thing he does when he's out? Phone the poor girl and tell her they're going to have fun together. When Batman and Robin hurry to her apartment to assure her she's going to be safe, she'll have protection, they find her dead. She killed herself. Jason takes it very badly, and he goes to confront Garzonas. The confrontation takes place on a balcony.
Next thing we know, Garzonas is falling to his death and Batman arrives to late to save him.
It's never made clear if Jason lied or not. More importantly, Bruce never knows. That's when the story gets fascinating: Bruce doesn't bench Jason.
Taking retcons into account, any other Robin to have pulled something like that off would've been fired so fast thay wouldn't even had the time to say 'Holy accident, Batman!' Heck, even before the retcons, Dick had already been fired at least once. This incident should've prompted the mother of all 'I have to be able to trust you, you're unreliable and a danger to yourself and to others, you're fired' speeches.
Instead, what happens?
I won't put a lot of GK43 (today), but the missing stuff is the case Bruce sends Babs and Jason to take care of.
PLOT STUFF HAPPENS HERE. The two of them exchange bad puns, Jason is Very Violent in a way that's somewhat reminiscent of Huntress, he calls Babs out on the fact that she's out of practice and it's just Bruce and him, there's meta about how the 'new characters on the show', i.e. Babs and him, are doomed, and they bond. It's an excellent story.
Oh yeah, Bruce is gone on that kid.
After that, well, Jason dies.
Huh-uh. I want to say that the last line is ambiguous, except that, honestly, it's not ambiguous at all. This doesn't even count as subtext.
Batman pretty much descends into violent vigilante madness.
Dick and newcomer Tim manage to snap him out of it, and advises Bruce to take Tim as Robin. Because "Batman needs a Robin". Except Bruce doesn't want to hear about it; suddenly, Robin is the worst idea he ever had. Jason is dead, Jason has proven that Robin can die, and Robin is a bad, bad idea. It takes the combined efforts of Tim, Dick, and Alfred, to accept Tim as a future Robin.
Even then, Tim spends a while training. Whereas the reader only knew about Jason training before he became Robin by a couple mentions in the dialogue and the narrative box telling us so, most of Tim's early appearances were spent out of costume, in the Cave. And when he does receive his own costume, it's very different from Jason's. It shows almost no skin, it's more heavily armored and less bright, melting more easily with the shadows.
Jason is dead, and nothing will ever be the same again.
evidence 1:
evidence 2:
evidence 3, taking place in Hell:
evidence 4, in the JLA/Avengers crossover:
evidence 5:
BW:Fugitive NW/B fight smashign the Case
evidence 6 (Bruce is hallucinating Batman):
evidence 7:
Well, I guess it's saner than him talking to Batman.
evidence 8:
This takes place when Cass gains the ability to speak at the cost of her fighting skills. Batman tries to train her back to her former level, but to Cass' mounting frustration it's not going well.
evidence 9:
Jason is the lesson that told Bruce: if you love someone. If you let them get close. If they're fearless and impulsive and angry at all the ways criminals fuck the world up for innocents. If protecting the innocents is worth more than anything. If nothing pushes their buttons more than big guys pushing women and kids around. If they want to do more.
They're going to die. And it will be your fault.
Jason is who Bruce misses so much, blames himself so much for his death, that he sees him everywhere. Is there anyone in the Batfamily that didn't remind Bruce of Jason at some point?
Bruce can't see past him.
Hush and As the Crow Fly, which was Winick laying the groundwork for his Let's Bring Jason Back act, go here, but as I hate Hush with the hatred Steph fans feel for War Games, I'll post only a couple pages, and the Jason stuff in Crow is mostly long-term subtext, so I'll drop that one.
And then! Jason returns! And I have not read Lost Days yet, okay, I'm a bad penniless fan.
And if by this point anyone was still unconvinced of the Bruce->Jason obsession, I hope this is enough to put these doubts to rest. With a crowbar. And there's also a lot of proof that Jason is equally obsessed with Bruce.
Wow. That's some speech. One of a kind? The light to his darkness? For serious? Wow.
And here we have Under the Hood.
I've already mentioned the flashbacks of Jason's time as Robin.
Oh, Bruce is full of suspicions. Nothing we haven't done before.
Black Mask tries to think why in all hells Batman doesn't put a stop to these shenanigans.
Or maybe he can't because he doesn't want to.
They have the same methods:
They work together even though they're opponents, and they trust each other with their lives:
Jason trusts Bruce.
Bruce Bruce Bruce, look at me Bruce, today I'm gonna kill someone right before you! (And you're gonna let me go, because I own you.)
Stuff Jason knows:
It's a gesture that manages to be both crazy and... sort of cute. And very provocative, of course, but that's Jason's thing.
Black Mask finally picks up on the Vibes. They haven't been discreet.
And here's the heartbreak scene, because at this stage I might as well put it up:
which you know is one of my favourite scenes. <3333333 KIDS. SO IN LOVE. SO TRAGIC.
Then the building explodes. Huh, whaddaya know. It's like these two couldn't get a happy ending, or something.
Then Jason is still as jealous of Dick, and that carries over in Nightwing OYL, which I will not post because I have standards. What you need to know: Jason wears Dick's costume because obviously Dick is the Good Son and Jason wants to be Batman's favorite, and he also sleeps with Dick's girlfriend of the week, which is something I generally call Discontinuity, because Dick and Cheyenne certainly don't have enough of a connection for him to sleep with her, and Jason's otherwise never shown much of an interest in girls. (Yes, there are instances of Jason flirting, but not enough, I think, for him to create a plan revolving about him having sex with Dick's ex.)
This isn't from N:OYL and gets the point across:
OUTSIDERS 44 45.
Also, the travel through the multiverse gave some awesome 'Bruce/Jason OTP of DOOM' scenes.
In the steampunk universe of Gotham by Gaslight:
Later, Jason is fighting giant bat-monsters:
THEIR EYES MEET ACROSS A PLACE FULL OF MONSTERS.
MAYBE HE'S ALREADY HOME. Look how close he always stands to Bruce!
On Earth... 51, iirc.
Here they join the others. There's a extremely bloody fight against the bad guys attacking Gotham, in which Bruce and Jason have fun gouging eyes and breaking bones.
Look how disturbed Jay is at Bruce's bloodthirstiness. DNW Batman to be psychopathic murderer.
And after Bruce dies because Jason told him they should help his companions, it's not long before Jason tells the others to fuck this saving the multiverse shit, he's outta there.
Everyone knows about Jason's issues.
When Bruce dies, Jason is there, in Gotham, so there'll be a Batman. Tony Daniel fucked up a lot of things with Battle for the Cowl, no doubt, but that general idea was right.
And as far as I know, that's about it.
In conclusion: Bruce/Jason, OTP of DOOM.
the rest of the days:
Day One: Favourite Character
Day Two: Favourite Villain
Day Three: Favourite Team
Day Four: Favourite Family
Day Five: Favourite Civilian/Non-Masked Character - IMAGE HEAVY
Day Six: Favourite Title - IMAGE HEAVY
Day Seven: Favourite Writer - IMAGE HEAVY
Day Eight: Favourite Artist - IMAGE HEAVY
Day Nine: First Title You Were Hooked On
Day Ten: A Title You Wish You Could Bring Back
Day Eleven: Favourite Romance
Day Twelve: Favourite Friendship
Day Thirteen: Favourite Enmity/Rivalry
Day Fourteen: Favourite Legacy Character
Day Fifteen: Team-Up You'd Like To See
Day Sixteen: Favourite Live-Action Adaptation
Day Seventeen: Favourite Animated Adaptation
Day Eighteen: Favourite TV Episode
Day Nineteen: Favourite Game
Day Twenty: Favourite Fanwork
Day Twenty-One: Favourite Power
Day Twenty-Two: Favourite Costume
Day Twenty-Three: Favourite Weapon
Day Twenty-Four: Favourite Vehicle/Method Of Transportation
Day Twenty-Five: Favourite Crossover Event
Day Twenty-Six: Favourite Mini or OGN
Day Twenty-Seven: Favourite Elseworld
Day Twenty-Eight: Most Memorable Death
Day Twenty-Nine: Most Welcomed Retcon
Day Thirty: If I Could Undo Anything...
Day Eleven: Favourite Romance
Canon: Dick/Babs, for which I already made a HUGE SCANSPAM OF DOOM for the shipping meme. Not canon: Bruce/Jason. OTPSOTPSOTPSOTPS.
Obviously, since Babs/Dick got its scanspam, Bruce/Jason must receive equal treatment. So here it is, the Bruce/Jason scanspam where I curse myself for not remembering better every little thing that made me think 'oh yeah. so in love.' I'm going to focus on Post-Crisis Jason, because that's the version of my OTP that tugs at my heartstring, but just so you know: Bruce/Pre-Crisis Jason?
Very very in love as well.
I'm a little less clear on whether this is Pre- or Post-Crisis Jay, but as a rule I consider Detective Comics Barr-written Jason Pre-Crisis, much more in keeping with the character that way.
Bruce/Jason of any kind: DOOMED.
As for Post-Crisis Jason, his relationship with Bruce starts in a way that is the staple for crazy Batman/kids interaction. It even beats how Tim entered the Batfamily, because Batman was not in favour of that instance of generalized madness. Jason?
YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, THEY WERE FATED TO MEET. Bruce is totally writing into his diary, 'Even Alfred thinks we're meant to be!!!' And he draws little hearts bats hearts bats and 'Batman/Robin 4 EVER' in the corners. (no relation with the movie.)
Bruce tells all his friends about his new boyfriend new Robin.
That's not at all a suspicious smile, Bruce.
The two of them are a match made in VIOLENT, GLEEFUL HEAVEN.
Batman likes when Jason beats up bad guys.
At one point, Jason is the only thing keeping Bruce from giving up. Batman/Robin OTP, but he does it in a way that's very, very Jason. I've got issues with The Cult being in continuity, but there's no denying that Jason is properly heroic and that the two of them are depicted as perfect partners.
the mini series also gives us this
>_> yeaaaah.
But they're also DOOMED, so stuff like this start happening. Batman is bad for Jason.
Bruce is, as you can see, amazingly unconvincing. And quick to drop the issue.
Then there's the stuff with Garzonas. Summing up: a daddy's son with diplomatic immunity rapes and abuses his girlfriend. Batman and Robin manage to catch him, but he walks. First thing he does when he's out? Phone the poor girl and tell her they're going to have fun together. When Batman and Robin hurry to her apartment to assure her she's going to be safe, she'll have protection, they find her dead. She killed herself. Jason takes it very badly, and he goes to confront Garzonas. The confrontation takes place on a balcony.
Next thing we know, Garzonas is falling to his death and Batman arrives to late to save him.
It's never made clear if Jason lied or not. More importantly, Bruce never knows. That's when the story gets fascinating: Bruce doesn't bench Jason.
Taking retcons into account, any other Robin to have pulled something like that off would've been fired so fast thay wouldn't even had the time to say 'Holy accident, Batman!' Heck, even before the retcons, Dick had already been fired at least once. This incident should've prompted the mother of all 'I have to be able to trust you, you're unreliable and a danger to yourself and to others, you're fired' speeches.
Instead, what happens?
I won't put a lot of GK43 (today), but the missing stuff is the case Bruce sends Babs and Jason to take care of.
PLOT STUFF HAPPENS HERE. The two of them exchange bad puns, Jason is Very Violent in a way that's somewhat reminiscent of Huntress, he calls Babs out on the fact that she's out of practice and it's just Bruce and him, there's meta about how the 'new characters on the show', i.e. Babs and him, are doomed, and they bond. It's an excellent story.
Oh yeah, Bruce is gone on that kid.
After that, well, Jason dies.
Huh-uh. I want to say that the last line is ambiguous, except that, honestly, it's not ambiguous at all. This doesn't even count as subtext.
Batman pretty much descends into violent vigilante madness.
Dick and newcomer Tim manage to snap him out of it, and advises Bruce to take Tim as Robin. Because "Batman needs a Robin". Except Bruce doesn't want to hear about it; suddenly, Robin is the worst idea he ever had. Jason is dead, Jason has proven that Robin can die, and Robin is a bad, bad idea. It takes the combined efforts of Tim, Dick, and Alfred, to accept Tim as a future Robin.
Even then, Tim spends a while training. Whereas the reader only knew about Jason training before he became Robin by a couple mentions in the dialogue and the narrative box telling us so, most of Tim's early appearances were spent out of costume, in the Cave. And when he does receive his own costume, it's very different from Jason's. It shows almost no skin, it's more heavily armored and less bright, melting more easily with the shadows.
Jason is dead, and nothing will ever be the same again.
evidence 1:
evidence 2:
evidence 3, taking place in Hell:
evidence 4, in the JLA/Avengers crossover:
evidence 5:
BW:Fugitive NW/B fight smashign the Case
evidence 6 (Bruce is hallucinating Batman):
evidence 7:
Well, I guess it's saner than him talking to Batman.
evidence 8:
This takes place when Cass gains the ability to speak at the cost of her fighting skills. Batman tries to train her back to her former level, but to Cass' mounting frustration it's not going well.
evidence 9:
Jason is the lesson that told Bruce: if you love someone. If you let them get close. If they're fearless and impulsive and angry at all the ways criminals fuck the world up for innocents. If protecting the innocents is worth more than anything. If nothing pushes their buttons more than big guys pushing women and kids around. If they want to do more.
They're going to die. And it will be your fault.
Jason is who Bruce misses so much, blames himself so much for his death, that he sees him everywhere. Is there anyone in the Batfamily that didn't remind Bruce of Jason at some point?
Bruce can't see past him.
Hush and As the Crow Fly, which was Winick laying the groundwork for his Let's Bring Jason Back act, go here, but as I hate Hush with the hatred Steph fans feel for War Games, I'll post only a couple pages, and the Jason stuff in Crow is mostly long-term subtext, so I'll drop that one.
And then! Jason returns! And I have not read Lost Days yet, okay, I'm a bad penniless fan.
And if by this point anyone was still unconvinced of the Bruce->Jason obsession, I hope this is enough to put these doubts to rest. With a crowbar. And there's also a lot of proof that Jason is equally obsessed with Bruce.
Wow. That's some speech. One of a kind? The light to his darkness? For serious? Wow.
And here we have Under the Hood.
I've already mentioned the flashbacks of Jason's time as Robin.
Oh, Bruce is full of suspicions. Nothing we haven't done before.
Black Mask tries to think why in all hells Batman doesn't put a stop to these shenanigans.
Or maybe he can't because he doesn't want to.
They have the same methods:
They work together even though they're opponents, and they trust each other with their lives:
Jason trusts Bruce.
Bruce Bruce Bruce, look at me Bruce, today I'm gonna kill someone right before you! (And you're gonna let me go, because I own you.)
Stuff Jason knows:
It's a gesture that manages to be both crazy and... sort of cute. And very provocative, of course, but that's Jason's thing.
Black Mask finally picks up on the Vibes. They haven't been discreet.
And here's the heartbreak scene, because at this stage I might as well put it up:
which you know is one of my favourite scenes. <3333333 KIDS. SO IN LOVE. SO TRAGIC.
Then the building explodes. Huh, whaddaya know. It's like these two couldn't get a happy ending, or something.
Then Jason is still as jealous of Dick, and that carries over in Nightwing OYL, which I will not post because I have standards. What you need to know: Jason wears Dick's costume because obviously Dick is the Good Son and Jason wants to be Batman's favorite, and he also sleeps with Dick's girlfriend of the week, which is something I generally call Discontinuity, because Dick and Cheyenne certainly don't have enough of a connection for him to sleep with her, and Jason's otherwise never shown much of an interest in girls. (Yes, there are instances of Jason flirting, but not enough, I think, for him to create a plan revolving about him having sex with Dick's ex.)
This isn't from N:OYL and gets the point across:
OUTSIDERS 44 45.
Also, the travel through the multiverse gave some awesome 'Bruce/Jason OTP of DOOM' scenes.
In the steampunk universe of Gotham by Gaslight:
Later, Jason is fighting giant bat-monsters:
THEIR EYES MEET ACROSS A PLACE FULL OF MONSTERS.
MAYBE HE'S ALREADY HOME. Look how close he always stands to Bruce!
On Earth... 51, iirc.
Here they join the others. There's a extremely bloody fight against the bad guys attacking Gotham, in which Bruce and Jason have fun gouging eyes and breaking bones.
Look how disturbed Jay is at Bruce's bloodthirstiness. DNW Batman to be psychopathic murderer.
And after Bruce dies because Jason told him they should help his companions, it's not long before Jason tells the others to fuck this saving the multiverse shit, he's outta there.
Everyone knows about Jason's issues.
When Bruce dies, Jason is there, in Gotham, so there'll be a Batman. Tony Daniel fucked up a lot of things with Battle for the Cowl, no doubt, but that general idea was right.
And as far as I know, that's about it.
In conclusion: Bruce/Jason, OTP of DOOM.
the rest of the days:
Day One: Favourite Character
Day Two: Favourite Villain
Day Three: Favourite Team
Day Four: Favourite Family
Day Five: Favourite Civilian/Non-Masked Character - IMAGE HEAVY
Day Six: Favourite Title - IMAGE HEAVY
Day Seven: Favourite Writer - IMAGE HEAVY
Day Eight: Favourite Artist - IMAGE HEAVY
Day Nine: First Title You Were Hooked On
Day Ten: A Title You Wish You Could Bring Back
Day Eleven: Favourite Romance
Day Twelve: Favourite Friendship
Day Thirteen: Favourite Enmity/Rivalry
Day Fourteen: Favourite Legacy Character
Day Fifteen: Team-Up You'd Like To See
Day Sixteen: Favourite Live-Action Adaptation
Day Seventeen: Favourite Animated Adaptation
Day Eighteen: Favourite TV Episode
Day Nineteen: Favourite Game
Day Twenty: Favourite Fanwork
Day Twenty-One: Favourite Power
Day Twenty-Two: Favourite Costume
Day Twenty-Three: Favourite Weapon
Day Twenty-Four: Favourite Vehicle/Method Of Transportation
Day Twenty-Five: Favourite Crossover Event
Day Twenty-Six: Favourite Mini or OGN
Day Twenty-Seven: Favourite Elseworld
Day Twenty-Eight: Most Memorable Death
Day Twenty-Nine: Most Welcomed Retcon
Day Thirty: If I Could Undo Anything...