And Leviathan was...

...Kind of disappointing.

SPOILERS AHEAD


Was Mark Shaw even built up that much? He has had zero presence in the DCU in such a long time that there doesn't feel like the reveal is a big impact. Bendis wrote the series with the intent on only 8% of readers to get who it was because it's hard to craft a mystery. As a fan of mysteries that is just disappointing, it shouldn't matter if a bigger percentage will figure it out. The reveal has to be worth the wait and if the story doesn't deliver that in a satisfying manner what's the point?

Here's what he said about Jason's part in this story:

Any character that was touched by this story, there’s going to be fallout from. This mystery is solved but, past the mystery, a lot has happened. They were semi-successful in their quest that Leviathan has arrived and is now a power in the DC Universe and that comes with a major shift in how everyone’s doing business; so that’s number one.

Everyone also has to deal with the fact that Leviathan set some of them up, like, why does the Red Hood get set up for shit like this? And that does eat at the character but also lets the character know “You have a job here. You have to take care of Leviathan because they are coming after you and they’ve made that very clear and they’re doing the opposite of what you want in the world.”

As far as Jason goes, I will say I did the most research of all the characters on Jason because I wanted the red herring to be honest and, at the same time, respectful to the character and have the character walk away as almost one of the big heroes of the story. If you really look at it, he kind of walks away the most unscathed and it certainly points Jason in the direction of what he has to do next.

I'm guess with Jason at least he will have this weigh on him because Bruce and Damian keep blaming him for things he hasn't done. I did think Leviathan might make him an offer after proving how easy the heroes can turn on Jason but this makes it clear to Jason that neither side thinks he's suited for their mission.

I'm curious what Bendis read to get his Jason voice, granted he was the best written character in the series that I read even if I didn't think he was perfect. Wait, so Bendis wanted the red herring to look good after the detectives went after him? So they were intentionally written unlikable? I'm a little nervous of what this means for Jason and how he'll go in this direction Bendis wants.