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Sketchbook doodles

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DC robbed me of Vampire Jason, so this has to do :/

They really have to kill him just before he turned, uh 😒

He and Dick could have bonded over killing people but noooooo

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Trying to figure out how to draw him

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Jason has been living with Bruce for 6 months. Has he just been calling him Mr. Wayne this whole time? Did Bruce not tell Jason to call him by his first name before, or has he told Jason to call him Bruce before but Jason didn't listen? Does Jason feel like he "earned" the right to call Bruce by his first name by going out as Robin?

This is just plain weird to me. I get that people were more inclined to call adults by "Mr. So-and-So" a few decades ago, but it's been six months! That's Jason's foster dad! It must've been really awkward for Jason to constantly be calling Bruce "Mr. Wayne" at the dinner table and stuff.

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Strange Tales (1951) - #109, 111

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Hello is this anything

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Spider-Man by Julian Totino Tedesco

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Happy bday you runt

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Major bummer that "emotional brick wall/hyper-masculine" Jason ended up as some of the prevailing characterizations because both of those things are like notably not things that he particularly is. The closed-off thing I understand (outside of Lobdell's characterization) to be an extension of general bat-family behavior, which is an extension of general Bruce behavior, bc in everything pre-Lobdell he's just trying and trying to form bonds and even post-Lobdell its the less prevalent of the two, but I have trouble pinning down the hyper-masculinity. I think realistically (beyond questionably-written stuff like NW:BIB) it's probably a mix between his physical appearance of being a big strong man, the pragmatism-centric Red Hood identity, and being mean/punk and seen as more hotheaded/violent than the others due to the killing (with the aterisk that his hand to hand fighting style isn't actually much more brutal than any other bat,) but idk I feel like we're overplaying it a little. I'm not saying he's the fem-est beast to walk the earth, I'm definitely not getting into Jason-is-woman-coded discourse, but. He's referred to as a drag queen (derogatorily) at one point, every worthwhile platonic connection he has outside of Bruce and Dick (and as of N52, Roy, which isn't done well but something that would have potential imo if it wasn't done awfully) is with a woman, he takes a recurring interest in victorian culture/fashion, he tends to be REALLY theatrical, is emotionally open as much as he's emotionally self-aware (which is still more than most bats, even if it's the lowest of bars,) and cries like, a noticable amount, none of which super gives tropey macho meathead. And although gendering personality traits is arbitrary and pointless, I could get it if he actually had any real stereotypically masculine interests (besides weaponry,) or was a gym bro, or one of the guys, but he isn't, really. You know who is sporty with a close friend group of other men? Tim Drake, who never gets hypermasculine allegations despite that. And I'm not saying Tim should get them, I just think it's a little weird that Jason does so much!

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I see so much of "is post-crisis Robin Jason an innocent little sweetie-pie or a mean aggro delinquent" and after reading through all of his batman and detective comic issues post-crisis I think i can safely say he's... an introverted and distrustful, but altogether friendly teen boy who has convinced himself to the deepest level that he is an Adult Man, and also does not hold a particularly good view of adults.

The sweet little babypie characterization falls a little short (assuming we aren't being too silly with it, there's plenty of that in the comedy issues of tec) because it disregards the part where he's a jaded teenager who is constantly going off and trying to take care of his own problems like "his own man" and reacts negatively to any breach of trust or move to take care of him. But negative doesn't mean "violent and rageful." The delinquent angle is incorrect because not only is his disposition peppy, silly, and agreeable most of the time, but assuming the problem upsetting him isn't a predator or the guy who killed his dad (and three out of four canon instances it is a predator to be clear) he reacts to emotional turmoil with Bruce by bedrotting, sulking, communicating through notes, and overall being avoidant. The only times he lashes out are when Bruce is calling him out or after Bruce told him to his face that he chose to look for the Joker over looking for him, and that case of "lashing out" is just getting a little snarky.

More than anything his main personality trait (besides being silly, a robin staple) is kinda coming into this parentified as fuck. Not that it's Catherine's fault, but it really shaped his character, like one of the first things he says to Bruce (after he promised not to turn Jason in to the foster system) is that he kept her fed and warm as long as he could like he wasn't her ten year old child when he started. It's why he views himself on the same level as adults and why he gets all closed off at any insinuation that he needs to be taken care of, both of which heavily inform his dynamic with Bruce. He's constantly checking in on Bruce's wellbeing, like half of Batman: the Cult is just him taking care of Bruce while he recuperates from being brainwashed. (Side note, he's also constantly asking Bruce stuff like "what's your relationship like with this woman or this rogue or the concept of religion, how did that play out, how do you feel about it?" he is Very chatty like that.) The first thing he does when Sheila tells him her (revised to exclude medical malpractice) life story is hold HER and try to affirm her struggle. After a while he starts to act more childish with Bruce (although he doesn't really stop trying to brush off attempts to care for him) but as soon as Bruce admits he prioritized crimefighting over Jason and didn't show up to look after Jason like Jason assumed he came there for, Jason snaps back to acting very independent and rejecting any attempts to be looked after on any terms other than some kind of "equals" thing, which he isn't, as he's a 15 year old boy. Like. He's very sweet to his former neighbor, but also he refers to being a homeless child and the sole provider in his condemned building living situation as "getting by" to her.

He's definitely not. some bloodthirsty delinquent, at least to anyone who's not an uber-misogynistic predator, and he like demonstrably is a pretty sweet kid. It's just that when people say he's a sweet kid they kinda just jump to "untraumatized eight-year-old who grew up in a loving family and just got a new puppy from Santa" instead of "good hearted and curious teenager who has trust issues and is deeply uncomfortable with being taken care of, so kinda just compromises by pretending his dad is a Friend Doing him a Solid and acts like his kid only when he has plausible deniability so he can't get the rug pulled out from under him." Of course. He does kinda get the rug pulled out from under him despite all that. So there's that.

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Anyway I love Jason Todd forever no matter how annoyed I get at his comics, his haters, and his fans. I don't care how delusional I gotta be, the version of Jason I read/interpreted will always be the real one to me.

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Just a playing card…

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Red Hood in Position

Based on this post

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I like to draw a Jason who got saved from the warehouse explosion from time to time

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@jason-todd-week

Day 5 P: Jason Meets Damian in the League of Assassins

Sketchier style but i couldn't decide on a pose

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watched the movie.. feeling very hopium..

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💔💔💔💔