Lobdell teases an encounter in issue 8 between Jason and Tim Drake, another former Robin and current Red Robin, where it’s awkward for a moment because Jason feels badly about how he has treated Tim in the past. Tim’s response: “Look, you got murdered, you came back to life, you were mad, I get it. It happens.”
- Scott Lobdell via USA Today
I have several issues with this statement and while I know that the shippers will go wild over this, I can’t help but express my discontentment.
Jason hates Tim. It is a fact. But before somebody starts to argue, please, hear me out.
Jason hates Tim because Tim represents something crucial for Jason: That he could be replaced. That his death did not have as much of an impact on Bruce as he believed it would. At least in his eyes. When Bruce took on Tim as his new Robin, Jason felt betrayed because he assumed Bruce simply moved on. For him, Tim represents a simple yet painful truth: That Jason was something that can be replaced, like a broken toy. Just get a new one and that is what Bruce did in Jason’s eyes.
It is not about Tim as a person. It is about Tim being a symbol (together with Bruce) for everything that went wrong in Jason’s life.
And while Bruce readily accepted Tim, treated him as a son basically, Jason was always the black sheep. The failure. How can he not hate him? And what is maybe an even more important question, how can he be sorry for that? What can Lobdell possibly write to convince me that Jason has moved on? That it is not bothering him anymore? To put it simple, he can’t. Lobdell has, so far, completely failed to show any progress regarding Jason’s obsession with the Bat. We do not know why he moved on, or how he managed to move on. His infatuation with Bruce was always his biggest motivation. It was certainly not healthy but that was how he was.
Lobdell simply tells us that he is over it and expects us to believe that without any canon material. He simply does not bother writing an explantion on the how and when.
Now he is doing the same with Jason’s and Tim’s relationship. And I can’t and won’t accept that.
Neither on Jason’s part, nor on Tim’s. Because lets please keep in mind that Jason tried to kill Tim. Just like Damian did once, and Tim is still not over that. So if Tim can not get over the 10-year old making an attempt to kill him in an ill-conceived assumption that this would lead to Damian gaining the mantle of Robin, I really can’t see Tim getting over Jason’s killing intents. Jason who is not a 10-year-old bred assassin, indoctrinated by his mother. Jason who is fully aware of the consequences of his actions and who should therefore be held responsible for his actions. More so than Damian.
So the question remains, what makes Jason seek out Tim’s forgiveness?
And what makes Tim actually forgive him?
I don’t have an answer for this. At least not one that does not sound like a bad fanfiction. I fear Lobdell doesn’t have one either.
^^^^^^^^ All of this
(Source: staticraining, via monkeyscandance)
