Jason becomes a teacher and we meet the more of his students.
SPOILERS AHEAD
DNA is curious why their class looks like a M.A.S.H. unit when it can take any appearance. Jason explains that their not a normal class, does roll call and Devour wants to get to their actual lessons to become super villains. Which Jason takes as his cue to begin teaching by asking them to attack him and whoever wins will teach the class.
Flashback two weeks earlier where Jason wonders how Lex Luthor managed to talk him into this. I'm glad this isn't being brushed past because Jason seemed a little too eager to take the offer. We get to see that Jason didn't immediately say yes. The ATM card and location he gave Jason takes him to the center of the Earth where smartest woman in the world, Dr. Shay Veritas, greets him. Despite being a friend of Superman she's working with Luthor for the science of it and doesn't judge things in terms like good and evil. Jason doesn't want any kids to die like he did. He tells Veritas that if he doesn't do it Luthor will give the kids to someone more dangerous.
In the present Devour takes the challenge thinking it will be easy. We get a display of the students powers and personalities. Devour is overconfident and can make his body into metal weapons like a missile launcher. Cloud is like her namesake in terms of her personality and powers. DNA can manipulate their body and is very polite about attacking. Babe in Arms is...weird, she's a baby in control of her dead mother.
Jason wins the fight and later on the team have a mission that deals with a rebooted Doomed.
Artemis and Bizarro have Pup Pup but he remembers someone else. Maybe Ma Gunn.
For the most part I really enjoyed this issue. It was fun in a way the series hasn't been for awhile. There were interesting characters, settings, designs and character moments. I liked Jasons' motives and the morally grey Veritas especially since solicits of Year of the Villain over simplify things. There's more than black or white morality.
Jason came across as someone in control with the students even if he keeps questioning how if got talked into being their teacher. He sees himself in the students and sees where they need help. His advise to never apologize for trying seems like something he needed to hear as Robin.
Cloud 9: Kind of reminds me of a less insane Duella. She just does what she feels without a thought of things going wrong. I have no solid opinion of her at the moment.
DNA: Is one of the stand outs but the only thing that holds them back is the oddness of being a sentient strand of DNA. The character would have come across stronger if this was a meta.
Babe in Arms: Is just so weird. I don't really like the concept at the moment. She's the mastermind that seems to be playing everyone. Using their exam to study the other students and their teacher rather than show her hand. She seems to be planning something and unlike Devour she never tells anyone what she plans on doing. I'm not sure what her powers are. At first I thought it was to control the dead, then I assumed she was telepathic. Sure she's super intelligence but is that all? The "mombie" does seem to be in some containment suit.
Devour: He became my favorite of the students in this issue. He came off as the strongest student in terms of powers and being able to think on his feet. But he also thinks he's smarter and better than the others. I could see him potentially being the one with the most in common with Jason.
Way back at the start of this volume we saw a flashback of Batman lecturing Ma Gunn about children not being weapons. She had used them as her private army and hadn't given much thought of their welfare. Batman himself has used and in some cases abused those he has taken in after bringing them into his war on crime. Jason is reluctant to be in the mentor position here for a good reason. We kind of had glimpses of him in this role before with Duella and the "mentorship" with Damian. But he hadn't fully embraced the teacher role. Jason doesn't take over to recruit these new kids, it might even be impossible to get them to turn away from this path at this point. But he knows he can do everything in his power to prevent them from being killed. That's the only motive he has here.
Technically speaking Jason doesn't gain anything from this "gift" Luthor gives him. Did Lex know that Jason would want to save them or does he think he's solely playing into his vanity? The deal gives him a former Robin that has experience on both sides of the track. That's a win for Lex Luthor without arming Jason with any advantage. I'm also wondering if this plays a little into the "I'll call in a favor since I saved Bizarro" card he has. Probably not since he asked Jason to decide after he met the students. But except for Caden that was two weeks after the fact. Was Jason just training with Caden for two weeks?
I'm still behind since I haven't gotten around to listening to the podcast interview so I'm curious which character isn't an original character. While Doomed is a rebooted version of an older character he's still technically an original character Lobdell created. I don't think anyone else has ever written him. If he's not who he meant then who's not an OC in the group?
Say What?: The holographic classroom Jason created was designed to look like a M.A.S.H. unit. It's an interesting choice more so meta wise since Ma Gunn claimed she was a surgeon in Korean. Of course Jason doesn't know that.
Who put together the roll call list? Their handwriting must be bad if Jason can't read nine and assumes it's girl.
DNA is "a genetimorphic sentient strand of DNA."
The baby has a crush on Red Hood? Eww. Why? Cloud 9 was bad enough and even that seemed to be teasing since she tried to kill him.
Devour says that Red Hood is too soft and lacks the killer instinct. I find this ironic considering how heroes view Jason.
Questions Raised?: Where is Caden/Vessel? The character sheet says he's an artifact given a human form. Is he there in his non-human form?
Did You Notice?: Jason preparing to for trouble before he even says his students names in roll call.
Cloud Nine is reading a romance novel...upside down.
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