The Problems with the Bat Family Part 3

Some (but not all) of the problems.


Red Hood/Jason Todd: I don't think a lot of writers get Jason Todd. Sure some of it looks like it's bias against Jason but I get the impression that many of the problems stem from writers that don't understand the character. A lot of stories outside his own title depict Jason in odd ways. During Robin War for example, his characterzation changed issue to issue based on the writer. King had him picking a bar fight with a civilian, flippantly endangering teens lives (randonly saying he'd blame Tim if they died), getting knocked out by Damian, etc. Which was at odds with not only his usual portrayal but within the same crossover. Notably We Are Robin and Red Hood/Arsenal wrote a more mature Jason that had a great working relationship with Tim.

He's not stupid, not kill crazy or the one note character so many write him as when the Robins are reduced to one personality trait. Jason tried to compromise with Bruce but their relationship is complicated. He doesn't hate anyone in the family. All things considered Jason is surprisingly forgiving when he's wronged by the bat family. When Batwoman decided to toss the Outlaws into Amanda Waller's hands just because Bizarro angered her Jason had every right to be furious with her. But instead of holding a grudge he accepted her apology and moved on.

Writers tend to use Jason as tension within the family without understanding what the conflict is. When Jason struggles to let go of the past it's understandable, the Joker murdered him and it seems unlikely that he will ever get proper closure. He is not the type to always impulsively go in without a plan. Every member of the bat family has moments when they reaction emotionally and act recklessly. Jason is not more prone to it than anyone else.

If I'm being honest I even had a few problems with the way Judd Winick wrote Jason. The core of his personality has always been in his origin and even his pre-DITF days as Robin. Jason is extremely protective of children, so if he's shown dismissive, hurting, corrupting, trying to kill or joking about a kid being murdered he's WAY out of character. Jason is respectful of women and while he will fight them when need be he isn't happy about it. (See his first meeting with Artemis for example.)

While Jason is vocal when he disagrees with something he's not whiny and there are subjects he won't discuss at length. His death is something he'll joke about or use to make a point. It's not something that he'd bring up "all the time", some things that are extremely personal to him aren't mentioned.

There's far more but I already mentioned it elsewhere on this blog.



Robin/Damian Wayne: Every time Damian improves the next writer takes him back in development just to tell the same story. This creates the illusion of growth while Damian keeps making the same mistakes. This is usually the case for his Al Ghul upbringing verus Batman's morals. In some cases it can work with the right explanation. I could potentially see some of the Glass Teen Titans run working under the right conditions.

There might have been a way to show some of Damian's actions feeling more justified. For all the problems with Identity Crisis it had a solid reason why the heroes crossed the line. They feared that Dr. Light would come for their loved ones if they didn't mess with his mind. In TT it felt like Damian and the others just decided to mess with villains minds because they couldn't agree on imprisonment. Since mind control is usually considered worse it's unclear how they came to agree on it being the "right" thing to do.

Showing that Damian is unremorseful for his previous actions also makes it difficult to sympathize with him. When he's informed that his actions led to the death of an innocent he refuses to consider the possiblity that he's to blame. After wrongly accusing and attacking Jason for a crime he didn't do what happens? He does that exact same thing months later with a group of adults as his back up.

There should be a lot of cause and effect in why he makes these choices and what happens. I've seen at least one writer state that a more mature Damian is boring, which I disagree with. Just because Damian treats some people with respect, is trying to not follow the League of Assassins beliefs and attempting to be a better person doesn't mean that he's suddenly perfect.