Teen Titans Annual #2

Damian versus Jason.

SPOILERS AHEAD

While the "A" plot is more interesting I'm going to quickly address the "B" plot first to get it out of the way.

I expected it to be more boring but it was actually kinda fun. The rest of the team train and deal with Joystick while Robin is away. I'm guessing it was originally going to be released around Christmas but the issue got moved back? Regardless Joystick shows he can take the team on by using Djinn, the genie. She reminds me a little of TT Go Starfire without being quite as quirky. But she has some dark secrets that she's not keen on the team learning about much to Joysticks' horror. Which was a rather creepy moment that worked really well for the tone.

There is some nice development for Djinn, Red Arrow and Crush. With Red Arrow realizing that her teammates are trying to improve and that she should acknowledge that. Then her distrust in Djinn is touched upon although I'm not sure if she really trusts her just yet. Crush has feelings for Djinn but is pissed to learn the genie has a deeper connection with Robin. Let me just say that I'm not really a fan of any minor getting into a relationship with any character that's thousands of years their senior. I didn't like it with Angel and Buffy, I don't like it with Essence either. I feel like she's too obvious to be the traitor. But this was a great set up to give some insight on the ladies of the team.

Here's the set up for the main story that is continued from #26:

Damian has this idea that Red Hood betrayed him. Alfred warned him that he's rushing in when he should be talking to his adopted brother. But Damian left anyway taking a mysterious box with him that's supposed to help stop Jason. I'm not a regular reader of this series so I might miss a few details, that said I really think the teaming up with Jason should have been shown more on panel before we got to this moment. I know they haven't appeared on panel in TT much before this. Granted writers usually don't have the luxury of being able to build up plots thanks to editorial or other behind the scenes problems. I can only comment on this issue for that development so it may be considered bad writing to some for the lack of build up. For me I can only compare this to past interactions between these characters.

What I really appreciate from Glass is that we get a sense of what the mental state of both Damian and Jason is before and after their fight. Damian still has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about being an only child and sees his brothers as lost children his father collects. Something that shifts after the fight when he seems to realize how badly he screwed up. His superior/inferior complex really comes into play during this story. Unlike other times he started fights with his brothers I do feel sorry for Damian for losing his one family ally due to his own mistrust. I've seen some objection to how Damian is portrayed and I had some reservations myself before I bought this.

While I can't talk much about how he's written in the series as a whole I can talk about this issue. The thing is, I think the conflict is perfectly in character. I never saw anything before this issue that convinced me Damian had ever truly 100% accepted Jason or Tim as family. He's (barely) tolerated them and has shown no problem attacking them (as seen in Robin War.) Compare his relationship with Dick and them. There's always felt like a distance between Damian and them. There needs to be more of an attempt at improving these relationships instead of ignoring the problems.

While he might have shown some reluctance last issue in believing Jason betrayed him Damian never fully trusted him. Otherwise he would have looked for an alternative. He has never bothered to really understand Jason, or even Tim to an extent, as seen by his thoughts. Damian thinks they obsess over him when really it seems like it's the other way around. Damian constantly provokes Tim, dismisses or taunts Jason and generally looks down on them. Jason himself hasn't really showed any interest in Damian except the rare occasion when he sees their similarities (trying to bond with him in RHATO #17) and in this series when he tried to help out. Compared to Dick or Tim they interact the least.

Damian doesn't seem to be aware of how good a fighter Jason actually is and thinks he's just a street brawler. I guess Talia never told him about the All Caste and Jason would have no reason to say anything. But didn't Jason fare well against Cassandra Cain or is that not canon anymore? Despite Damian seeming so sure of his victory in his speech and in his thoughts it's obvious that on some level he knew he couldn't win in a straightforward fight. Because Damian uses every dirty trick he could employ to try to unbalance Jason.

Making references to Jason's death to try to get him mad (which Jason sees for what it is)? Check. Bluffing that he'll blow them both up (likely trying to trigger Jason's PTSD)? Check. Attempting to use leverage against Jason that he previously claimed would take him down? Check. In fact Damian yells out "no!" once Jason makes him lose the box and tries to get it back. If he could he probably would have used a crowbar like he did with Tomasi but since Jason is using one it's clearly a no go.

I do still find the constant use of a bar as a setting for Jason to be incredibly lazy, especially since his decreased friend was a recovering alcoholic that died in rehab. Still I suppose it would be a little weird if they did this during Jason's Underlife mission. While I do think Jason backing off from the Sanctuary investigation made sense (he knew Bruce wouldn't allow interference) I like that Jason is expressing his anger at the killer needing to be caught. I don't think that was possible with Kate and there's a nice openness that he has with Damian. I especially love that Jason is aware of what Damian is capable of while not looking down on him. When he learns that Lady Vic is dead he first asks if Damian did it then if a team member did.

Jason is in a horrible place given everything that happened to him recently, Damian even highlights this by making a comment about Jason looking bad. Unless you already hate the character prior to this issue I think you'd be hard pressed as a reader to not sympathize with Jason a little. While Damian thinks the worst of him the first thing Jason thinks is that Damian is there to tell him about Roy dying. Consider that for a moment, he actually believed Damian was there to comfort him or break the news of his friends' death. And given everything that's going on with Jasons life he was still willing to go out of his way to help Damian. Like he says he wanted to be allies. It makes it all the more painful when he's attacked.

Unlike the other times this has happened with Damian he's not in a mental state where he'll allow himself to just completely take the beating because he's facing a kid. He has a limit for how much crap he's willing to take and Damian pushes him too far. There have been comparisons to the Bruce vs. Jason fight but I was surprised no one mentioned the Bruce like parts Damian had. The first might just be me but I was struck by déjà vu with the panel of Damian aiming a punch at Jason's chest right where his symbol is. At first I thought he was trying to rip it off just like Bruce did with the bat symbol. I thought Jason might have too because the next panel had him holding Robin's wrist and seriously telling him: "Damian. Don't do this."

Just like Bruce he's attacking to his full extent but unlike his father he's trying to force a confession. Only this time Jason has had enough and doesn't let himself be beaten.

The next bit is where Jason is on the ground after Damian removed his mask. Damian threatens him with imprisonment which we know was what Bruce planned to do. But he takes it way further. Was Damian planning on torturing him? It sure sounded like it when he attempted to use the box to get the truth. What makes it even worse is the box is something Jason knows even Bruce wouldn't use. All of Damian's plans backfire on him spectacularly because he really doesn't know Jason as well as he thinks he does. He repeatedly tried to trigger his PTSD and assumed making Jason mad would make him sloppy.

As Jason says he didn't bother to fact check anything, something that bit him hard by the end. What's the first thing a detective should do when they find a suspect? Look for a motive which Jason asks for and Damian admits he doesn't have. He literally thinks he can force Jason to confess to fill in the blanks. I think that underlines why Damians' torture prison isn't the solution he thinks it is. He believes that he can just get the answers he needs not taking into account that he may be wrong. What if the person lies to get him to stop? It seriously messed up the way he investigates to the point he didn't consider another method. He's gotten lazy and if I'm reading into this correct it looks like Jason was the one actually doing the leg work with all the Other research.

Jason on the other hand understands Damian perfectly and explains how badly he screwed up. He tried several times to end the fight before Damian upped the stakes. I would prefer it if Jason didn't beat up Damian but at least this story gave us a believable set up for why that could happen. Damian forced the conflict, and to those claiming "Jason beat up a child" it's not that cut and dry. First of all Damian is not a normal kid. He was the one that kept attacking someone that didn't want to fight and wouldn't listen to logic. He literally had no evidence to support the theory that after months of working together Jason would attempt to kill them.

There was zero motive and knowing full well what Jasons mental state was ("looking like crap" likely exhausted, dealing with losing everything including his best friend) he tried to trigger his PTSD to win a fight. Not just once either, he did it repeatedly. He did it in Batman and Robin with Tomasi and no one called him out for such despicable behavior. In fact a later issue treated it like it was a endearing experience for Jason as well as Damian. This is someone's mental health that's being toyed with, which is abuse. Imagine if he did the same thing with Barbara and the gun used on her. How well do you think she'd take it? And we don't even know why the box pissed him off yet.

Frankly I'm impressed that Jason managed to last as long as he did. Damian was demeaning him ("your kind"), threatening to imprison and likely torture him. I don't like Damian getting beaten up by his family but he's not the innocent victim some are painting him as. Even still I like the potential this story gives because these issues between them HAVE to be properly addressed at some point. Damian has to learn instead of repeatedly making the same mistakes. After all this time he finally seems to realize he's not so much better than Jason. That his actions have consequences and Jason was sincerely trying to help him. Damian might even feel guilt especially if he helped push Jason away from the family. We'll have to see if Lobdell or Glass follow up on that.

Damian himself is going through a lot and despite his misgivings with Jason I did think he wanted them to be brothers. At least I got that from #26, I don't think that was as apparent here. I don't believe that their situation means their chance at being brothers is ruined. Quite the opposite since this has them both leaving and feeling bad for how things turned out. I did hear a theory about Jason pretending he was giving up on Damian when he threatened the team to put on the act for the Other knowing they were watching. If not I think he just said that to show Damian how to properly threaten someone even if it was an empty threat. Jason doesn't kill kids. Damians' bomb ruse felt a little extreme but I guess it was done to show how desperate he was. I do love that Jason wasn't impress and didn't fall for any of Damians' attempts to mess with him.

I was surprised by this issue, more so when I spotted what could possibly be nods to Damians' feud with Tim. Back in the Red Robin series they came into conflict more than once. Ironically Damian was hurt to learn Tim didn't trust him and in fact added him to a list of threats he was preparing to deal with. When Jason is leaving he tells Damian that he lost the fight the moment he showed up which in turn reminded me of Tim saying something similar. In Red Robin he tells Damian that he lost the second Tim tried. Whether it was on purpose or not I was thrilled with this connection. Both were telling Damian that he set himself up for failure and that their more skilled than he gives them credit for.

More than anything I'm excited about the possible stories that could come from this development. I was pleasantly surprised by how well Jason was written since he usually doesn't fare so well in other titles. He was mature, even when he finally lost it he explained why Damians' actions were foolish. I could see Tim in his place during the "you think you're the smartest person in the room bit" but unlike Jason I don't think he'd admit Damian is smart but still just a kid. This showed how much Jason has grown and what his real desires are (family/being connected to people/proving that his way of doing things has merit.) Jason isn't the weakling some believe he just restrains himself a lot.

My hope is that Damian has some serious realizations here and the experience humbles him. At least with his behavior towards his brothers. I might pick up this series to see the development although I might skip the Deathstroke arc because I don't care for the character.




Say What?: Damian called Jason by his first name. That's kind of a big thing.

Jason talking about the cape feels spot on since he mentioned not liking "dress up."



Did You Notice?: The box has an extremely ornate design but it's just odd considering the context. It's supposed to contain something important that even Bruce wouldn't consider using that Damian thinks will help him beat Jason. Why would they put something that's possibly trauma inducing in such a decorative box ? That just seems like a lot of work to put into such an unimportant detail.

Jason only uses the crowbar to deflect weapons. He never uses it on Damian.



Question Asked?: Why would Jason ask if Damian is old enough to be at a bar? He knows he isn't. Maybe it's a roundabout way of asking why he thinks he can be there? Not that DC's constant confusion of their characters ages isn't a thing.

What's in the box?

When does this take place for Jason? After his trip to Mexico? Before?

How are the members of the bat family finding Jason? This was the same person they couldn't track down during UTH. Yet Bruce, Kate and now Damian have no trouble locating him outside of Gotham? Damian appears to be waiting for Jason to arrive at the bar.