I decided to give this a try.
What's with stories adding never before mentioned friends of Jason's ? Wasn't he supposed to have been a lonely kid that couldn't trust easily thus why his relationship with the Outlaws was so special? In fact I recall Jason telling Artemis that he doesn't really have male friends except for Roy and Bizarro. In some cases I can excuse the inconsistency because Jason kept someone at arms length or the person did him a solid that he appreciated.But changing someone's origin to force in a friend that was supposedly like a brother? Saying that Jason was stealing to help Max when he met Bruce? This feels like a very forgettable story, not helped by the fact Max is already dead so there's little chance of him being mentioned again anyway. The writing doesn't capture Jason's voice, it comes out a little clunky. The art isn't a style I like although I will give the artist credit for making Jason move more like a Robin even if a couple moves look like something Dick would do.
Scarecrow injecting Red Hood full of toxin? That's exactly why the exposed skin between the gloves and rolled up sleeves bothered me.
While I like the concept of exploring Jason's fears, such as being buried alive, the voice and tone of the story doesn't work. The fear doesn't get a chance to linger and the narrative makes Jason more annoyed. Sure, we get told differently (literally in this case by the fake Batman) but it would have been better to be shown this instead. I've wanted to see this scenario for some time and this is disappointing. We're being beaten over the head with these supposed fears meanings instead of letting the visuals do the talking. The attempts at humor don't really help and I'm never fond of giving nods to bad stories like BFTC. Or the random white hair that's not always present. This doesn't read like a canon story but I wish it could have been stronger anyway.
Say What?: Really? Jason tells everyone that he died? Also, why does everyone think he's Batman's sidekick if their constantly at odds?
The sad part is that Bruce pretty much said what the fear toxin illusion said.
Did anyone ever call him Jace? Is this the first time in canon anyone called Dick Golden Boy?
Hey, good to see you again.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't having high hopes for this story (even though the writer claims to be a huge Jason fan on Twitter) and I was still disappointed.
As you say, creating childhood friends for Jason just because seems to be a crutch now since is the the third time I see it happen: Tynion's Zero Year, Orlando's Gotham Knights and now Tremmel.
Add the completely unnecessary callback to BfTC and Tremmel is doing the exact same thing that bad fanfic writers do: throw away everything Lobdell did because "ew", regress Jason to the UtRH mentality, let him wallow on his angst and self pity because Bruce is mean to him.
Is very tiring and Urban Legends isn't that much better so I fear for Jason's future. I don't want him to go the way of Bane and endlessly repeat the same UTRH plot beats.
Hey!
ReplyDeleteYeah, after Fabok I'm leery with any creator claiming to be a Jason fan.
It's one thing if the person is just someone he knew but wasn't a close friend of. Like Gabby, a neighbor or a classmate. Claiming that Jason had a buddy that he considered family that's in trouble or killed while linking it to his origin? That's lazy writing.
I know Jason's death will always be part of his story but the other stuff? It's not needed and is just baggage holding the story down. Say what you will about Lobdell but at least he evolved Jason's character. Everyone else tells the same stories or doesn't get the character.
Apparently Bruce is allowed to be mean because everyone will forget what he did and blame Jason anyway. Yes I'm still annoyed that plot was completely skipped over.
I'm waiting for my pre-ordered Urban Legends issue to come in but I've been fearing the direction for awhile. I think it should be simple but apparently not since DC still keeps going back to what failed.
It's sad that right now I'm hoping that Bendis follows up on Jason's plot. As badly written as his story was at least Jason kicked ass and came across better.