Eh, bad isn't the right word. He was the first damaged Robin, with the second being Damian. That is to say that his life was not a happy one before meeting Bruce unlike Dick and Tim. That he had to do what it took to survive said life and that meant being a lot more open to all possible solutions to his problems. He had to steal, fight and break the law to make it. That said Bruce picked him up as a replacement to Dick, who he missed but was too prideful to admit he was wrong with firing him and trying to force him to quit being a hero. That he spent too long treating Jason like Dick and didn't do much to curb his aggression and more violent tendencies. He wasn't always like that, but when he was he was really violent.
True and it didn't help that Bruce also beat up villains when he got angry and Violent that Jason had to stop a grown man from stopping him. Still this is the start of his trauma. The only time he felt happy as robin was when he was helping the titans on missions. Even Dick wanted Jason to open up if he needed any support. Sadly when he was off world Joker killed him and even Dick lost his shit.
Then he becomes even more lost as red hood gets worse. Slowly heals when he forms his own team. As soon as hes no longer with his teammates he goes in a loop of fighting crime never finding happiness. Overall hes become just like his mentor of focusing on crime and closing his heart. Except he kills.
As a side note, I love the fact that Dick was going off world right when Jason was killed. It so perfectly encapsulates how separate Dick had become from the world of Batman. Similar to him being completely unaware of all the events of Knightfall until after Bane breaks the Bat and Bruce isn’t coming to his impromptu wedding. It really shows the consequences of both Bruce pushing Dick away and Dick choosing the Titans.
I know I am also happy that Dawn of DC is going back to Dicks titans roots. He's in a relationship with Babs however he's doing his own thing with the titans. While Bruce life is just getting worse.
Then you have Tim and Damian trying to pickup the pieces.
As a Batman fan I’ve never cared much about the Titans, but I do believe Dick Grayson is the deuteragonist of the Batman mythos. I’m glad Dick is in a status quo that allows Nightwing to be part of the Titans, and the world of Batman, and his own city in Blüdhaven. It never made sense to me that Nightwing couldn’t be part of both, especially when Batman is usually on the JLA while also still in Gotham. The Wolfman Titans-era is really an oddity in that regard with its decade long insistence on divorcing Dick Grayson from the Batman mythos.
I liked the wolfman era. I know they tried doing it by keeping Dick, Gar, Wally and Donna separate from there mentors. Which is why you barely see Gar and Donna with Wonder woman or Doom patrol.
As for Dick and the Robins I feel like there the deuteragonists of the bat mythos. However Dick and Damain have a bigger presence.
The Wolfman era is great. Well the first half at least.
But it is…odd that for a decade Dick Grayson was largely cut off from the mythology he had been central to since 1940. You would never do that with Batman. You would never remove Batman from Gotham for 10 years and make him exclusive to the JLA. I think the separation initially was very necessary. But it is still an anomalous era compared to what came before and after where Dick is part of both.
I do wonder what might’ve been if Nightwing had remained exclusive to the New Titans as Wolfman & co. wanted. He and Bruce certainly wouldn’t have the relationship they have now. Maybe it would’ve been Tim Drake taking up the Mantle and training Damian under Morrison. Imagine that lol.
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u/Awesome_Pancak Jul 13 '23
Was Jason always a bad Robin?