#jaybin content

[mrmanbat]

Ik Jason was a really good kid. That part matters — a lot. He was smart, driven, probably made honor roll. He loved being Robin. For him, Robin was magic — a chance to help people. He wanted to, and did, do a lot of good.

But I also think it's important to remember he was still a teenager. Teenagers do stupid shit. Jason wasn't an exception to that — and he shouldn't have to be. He made rash decisions, and went against Batman’s moral code in the comics. And so have all the other Robins. The difference is, they got to grow out of it; Jason didn’t.

We flatten Jason’s character when we reduce him to just the "angry Robin," but we’re also flattening him when we swing too far the other way — turning him into a perfect martyr. He was a kid with good intentions, a big heart, and a short fuse.

Jason should be allowed to be complex. He should be allowed to be wrong, to make mistakes, to be reckless and still be good.

[shmooseee]

The one thing you should know about me going forward- is that a solid 90% of the time I draw dick grayson she is transfem or has some sorta genderqueer going on- and she is never without a jaybin.

[meili-sheep]

Maybe I am just pessimistic. I have seen the Nguyen art for Jaybin but I'm still not convinced man. It's been like year... and the last news in Jan said possible lunching in April and it's March.... Maybe it meant announcement in April?

And I get Jeff Lemire is doing Absolute Flash but IDK man...

Yeah, DCU updates but it on twitter. But I don't 100% trust all those source who just pull form an artist Instagram. And well It's twitter.

I am also worried because... Well they love that angry Robin narrative. I feel a little better with Lemire's writing but... It hasn't been a year since Robin Lives! I'm still recovering and I can't get my hopes up.

[myeyebagsaredesigner]

Jason and Duke being secretly eachothers favorite person is like, my everything

Jason's kill count is 20% people who were racists towards Duke.

Jason is negotiating with someone as R.H and the person is talking abt the vigilantes yk, and suddenly Jason senses a tone of racism towards Signal and suddenly he needs the guy dead right now.

Omg yes!! There's seriously not enough Jason & Duke content in the world. I feel like they would've instantly connected when they first met, and so they're just always hanging out. Can't find Jason? Call Duke, they're probably together. Can't find Duke? Don't worry about it, even though Jason won't answer the phone, they know Duke's in good hands.

Duke is like one of the people who don't really have any prior tensions with Jason. Dick was there in Jaybin era and had to deal with his post death and post resurrection, Jason literally attacked Tim in the Titan's Tower, Bruce and Damian are.. themselves..

I feel like Duke would just easily accept him and be chill, and Jason would shrug his shoulders and go with it, and eventually find that he's very easy to get along with. I also think Jason would be very protective of him as well. Like, someone even looks at Duke the wrong way and it's OVER

And I feel like Duke would protect Jason as well in his own way. He may not be into killing people, but he's never afraid to jump up to defend his bestie's name whenever people start making rude comments. I imagine that Bruce says something just slightly wrong about Jason, and Duke gets so pissed that an hour later he leaves Bruce dealing with an existential crisis.

Jason & Duke, bffs forever. They 100% have matching best friend necklaces and the worst photos of each other known to man, as a bestie should.

[gaywineauntsstuff]

saw someone say that jason is really the only one that bruce wanted and chose to adopted y’all are playing with right now

Yall Bruce’s babies are his babies even when he’s a shit parent

Like okay

I get it?

Bc Jay is like the ONLY time DC makes sure to preserve the sweetness of the Batman Robin relationship

Like yall remember prime Bruce and Dick og robin run? I don’t bc I haven’t fuckinf read comics from the 40s however I actually started reading stuff from Dicks ORIGINAL Robin run. And they’re adorable, sweet, perfect, 20000/10 (most of the time we ignore mind control and the occasional Talia beef it’s fine)

I finally get good dad Bruce’s Wayne truthers

HOWEVER c o m m a

WHAT I READ WAYYYY B4 THE OG BATMAN AND ROBIN

WAS BATMAN AND ROBIN ALL STAR.

Like????? Be so fr with me you’re gonna sit here and tell me that the pedophilic, weird, abusive Batman just fully and truly exists???? (Listen maybe my media literacy is ass but I read that comic at 14 and I felt so uncomfortable)

Ew

Or like

YALL REMEMBER TIM ANF BRUCE??? THE ANIMATED SERIES?? TIMS ROBIN RUN? ADORKABLE

They were perfect

But DC??? For angst reasons

WILL RUIN TIM AND DICK SND DAMIANS RELATIONSHIP WITH BRUCE A BILLION TIMES

- Dick being fired instead of outgrowing Robin

- Bruce HITTING HIM

- TIMS WHOLE ASS 16TH BIRTHDAY

and like about 5billion ooc bits of nonsense my Bruce Wayne would never

Ever

But Jason?

Well?

His relationship with Bruce is currently awful so the only way to make it even more ouchhhhh is to make it so that they had the perfect Batman Robin relationship (which they did not but like we move)

Right so all the current comics when showing a Jaybin Robin scene just make it tooth rottingly sweet so we all sit there and go

Awww poor Jay Jay my son (but truly poor jayjay I love him)

ANYWAY

It sucks bc?? It does end up coming off like Bruce was a father to Jason and a drill sergeant to everyone else.

- hence why the Dick Grayson is a better parent than Bruce Wayne - tag exists

But like

It’s canon that Bruce literally had empty nest syndrome after Dick left. Bro was sad and missed his small bouncy blue eyed son so he got another one. He also loved this other one and this other one was not a replacement child but like. Empty nest syndrome is 100% the reason that he went and saw small, vaguely Grayson shaped baby must have.

Tim?

That’s his BABY

HAVE YALL SEEN HOW HE HOLDS TIM??? BE SO FR WITH ME IF YOU DONT THINK THERE WAS AFFECTIONATE IN THERE

And DAMIAN COME ON YALL IK WE ALL LOVE DICK AND DAMIAN FATHERSONISMS BUT LIKE BRUCE IS LIKE A DAD WHO LOVES HIS WEIRD SON VERY VERY MUCH.

Is okay

But like I do get where they’re coming from

I just think they’re wrong

The same way that like I fundamentally disagree with the Dick is an idiot Grayson truthers however, we had new 52 (a Dick who barely knew Donna is bound to be new levels of idiot) and rebirth (lobotomized male feminist Grayson) like yeah if that’s all you’ve read of him??? No shit you’re not gonna think he’s all that bright

It’s the same way I see fans of both of these nightwing runs giving Watters run shit bc “oh is everyone praising this run but Nightwing doesn’t have to be blue Jason Todd” bc he hates cops, is kinder to criminals and is generally more calculating/ broody than the last decade of Nightwing

Like the content is definitely leaning people in a certain way.

Bc lowkey dc babes I love you

But like? wtf is happening

Anyway I’m not judging the fans unless they get in my face about it. I see where they’re coming from but I think it’s a combo of fanons love of violent exaggeration (think oh Damian cut Tim’s line for no reason, Dick threw Jason in Arkham, Dick being fragile and meek) + a writing choice that appeals more to short form angst than for long term character cohesion

Anyway sorry for the rant that’s my two cents on it

[cheeseboi420]

Of A Feather - Chapter One Preview

A/N: hi everybody!!! I am super duper stoked to present u all with the first 2k words of Of A Feather, aka the "what if Jason's bio mom didnt SUCK" fic. Im hoping to have the full chapter ready for publishing in the next week or two! Big thanks to everyone who's talked to me abt this fic so far, and an ESPECIALLY big thanks to @jayladfanpage for basically being my jaybin encyclopedia while i work my way through this fic!!! This warning will be more applicable in future chapters but it should be noted that this fic is NOT canon compliant and does significantly change/recontextualize a couple things about Jason's background, but you the audience get to find out about all that in real time alongside Jason lmao!! Anyways, without further adieu, please enjoy this preview ❤️

You expect this evening to play out like the one before it. And the one before that. And the one before that. Your routine hasn't changed in the last 13 years. Why should it? It serves you well enough, keeps you alive and… Well, that's about all it does for you. Not that you're looking for more! For the most part, you are… content, maybe isn't the correct word. Complacent fits a little better, but still isn't wholly accurate. You're content in the knowledge that your boy is safe and loved, somewhere far away from the trouble that chases you. You're complacent in your own quiet misery. The longing and loneliness had been a bitter pill to swallow those first few years of running, but after this long you've learned not to complain. God knows no one would listen if you did.

You've got a shitty box pizza in the oven. This will be your dinner, tomorrow's breakfast, and tomorrow's dinner. You won't particularly enjoy any of the meals, but they'll sustain you well enough. These days, food brings you little, if any joy. Meal times are a chore to slog through before the distraction that work brings or the sweet embrace of sleep. You look forward to, more than anything, going to bed. Not because you're tired (though there is a bone deep weariness that permeates- that no amount of rest could ever fix) but because bed means sleep, and sleep means dreams, and dreams mean a chance to hold your baby again.

You don't dream of Jason every night, but every morning, you wake thinking of him. Is he still asleep right now? Having breakfast? Is he eating well? Is he happy? Is he happy? Is he happy?

By the time you push your way through breakfast most mornings the cacophony of thoughts revolving around your son quiets to a dull roar in the back of your mind. It's better that way, you think. If you thought about him as much as your mind seemed to want you to, you'd never get anything done.

Life carries on, you suppose. However dreary and dull that life may be.

At one time you'd found the whole thing very exciting- though not in a particularly enjoyable way. The adrenaline rush has worn off over the years, no longer do you feel as though death is nipping at your heels. The paranoia never fades though. Even if your doom does not cast a shadow over you, you're always looking over your shoulder, always ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

You keep a bag packed and ready in the closet by the front door for when you have to leave this place, too. Though, you think it's buried under a winter jacket and your spare blankets. You really ought to dig it out, keep it easily accessible. You should do that but… it's been a long day. You want to eat your shitty pizza, lay down on your futon, and let the sound of tv static fill your studio apartment, lulling you to sleep.

You're getting too comfortable here, you think. You've lived in Michigan for nearly a year now. It is simultaneously entirely too close to and entirely too far from Gotham. The apartment itself was a godsend after spending most of your time sleeping in cars, tents, whatever unfortunate business was willing to employ you, anywhere you could, really- sure it has bugs, and the windows don't close all the way, and you're fairly certain it'll only take one more bad winter storm for the place to come crumbling down, but rent is dirt cheap, and the slumlord you rent from didn't ask for any ID when you signed your ‘lease.’ You're fairly certain that thing's not legally binding anyways- it was written on a cocktail napkin for Christ's sake. That didn't stop you from using a fake name when signing it. You can never be too careful.

You haven't seen your landlord since you moved in anyways. You don't ask for maintenance when things break, you fix them yourself or just learn to live with them broken. You deliver your rent by slipping a cash stuffed envelope with your name (your fake name, the one you signed your lease with, the one you use at work, the one you'd use at coffee shops if you ever went to any) on it through the slot in the office door. You do your best to be invisible. You don't cause problems, and you don't go out of your way to fix them for others. You make no friends or enemies. You've left no impact on the many places you've been, the cities you've drifted through.

The only evidence you've gone anywhere at all in your life is a stack of postcards, held together with a worn rubber band, sitting at the bottom of your go-bag. The only evidence of a life lived before that is in a similarly bound stack of polaroids, held together with a too-small paperclip. Every now and then, you'll buy a bottle of cheap wine to chug as you pour over the old photographs. Only when you leave for a new city do you dare to touch the stack of unsent postcards.

You can't bear to look at the photos too often, a painful reminder of your own failings. A reminder of the stupid, reckless little girl you'd been and the shell of a woman you'd become in the aftermath.

It's all your own fault, really.

At least that's what you keep telling yourself.

It's easier to swallow than the alternative: that you were a vulnerable and unloved thing, eating from any hand that would feed you, until the hand that feeds decides to beat.

This, you think, is why you shouldn't think too hard about the past. It doesn't do you any good to dwell on it.

You force yourself to focus on the present, on the here and now. The scratchy polyester blend of the futon cushions, the scent of cheap cheese melting in the oven, the distant sound of sirens, and howling wind outside your apartment. There's no sense in thinking about Gotham now, not when you're so far from it.

You sit up on the futon, no longer content to lounge and let your mind wander. Instead you task yourself with flipping through channels on TV, seeking something mind numbing enough to distract you from your unusually strong urge to reminisce.

The Wonder Years? No, you don't want to watch anything about a family.

Alf? No, that puppet creeps you out.

Cops? Fuck that.

You're about to resign yourself to another night of murmuring the (mostly incorrect) answers to Jeopardy questions at your tv, when you're startled by a knock at your door.

A… knock… at your door.

No one ever knocks on your door. You don't get mail, you don't have friends, if your landlord wanted something, you're willing to bet the greasy bastard wouldn't be willing to haul himself all the way up to the fifth floor at nearly 10 PM.

Oh God… Did… Did he find you? Is this it? Are you going to die in the upper peninsula of Michigan, of all places?!

No, no. You have to stay calm. This could be anything. It's just a knock at the door. It could be anyone!

Oh lord, it could be anyone.

You keep the tv on, hoping that the sound of Alex Trebek grilling folks on useless trivia will cover your footsteps as you creep towards your front door. You hold your breath as you press yourself against it, double checking that all three of your locks are secure before you risk a glance out the peephole.

When you look out into the hall you're surprised, and frankly a bit confused by the sight before you. Standing at your door is a boy, dark haired and bright eyed. He stands straight but not particularly tall- he can't be more than five feet. He's glancing around the hall, rocking back and forth on his heels. He's wearing a red sweatshirt and jeans, with a backpack slung over one shoulder. Despite his small stature he holds an air of determination that makes you think he must feel quite old for his age- you get that, you were the same way in your own youth. A chip too big for your shoulder.

You're so focused on studying him that it startles you when he leans forward to knock again. You jolt, accidentally kicking the door (with your bare feet too, damn does that hurt your poor toes) and responding to his knock-knock-knock with a solid knock of your own.

“Hello?” The boy calls. “Anybody home?”

“I don't have any money!” You call back, cursing yourself for the shake in your voice. You should not be this rattled by a random adolescent on your doorstep. “So, if you're selling popcorn, or cookies, or whatever, you should try next door.”

The boy rolls his eyes.

“I'm not a boy scout!” He says. “I'm looking for-”

And then the shoe drops; he says your name. Your full name. Not your fake name, that you use at work, and on envelopes, and in hypothetical coffee shops. Your real name.

It takes every bit of emotional regulation you can muster not to spiral into a full blown panic right then and there because good God, did He send a child to finish you off? The cruel irony is not lost on you. Come to think of it, this boy on your doorstep does bear an uncanny resemblance to-

“My name is Jason Todd,” the boy continues. “And uh… well, I might be your son?”

He could be lying, the logical part of your brain insists. This could be a ploy to get you to open the door, don't open the door! But your hands are moving on their own, shakey as they may be. The first lock twists unlocked with ease, the second takes a fair bit more of your fine motor function, and by the time your shaking hands reach up to unhook the chain on the door, you're struggling to see through unshed tears. You attempt once, twice, three fucking times to get your hands to cooperate and unlatch the damn chain.

Fuck it.

You open the door, yanking it inwards, towards yourself as hard as you can. It should probably unnerve you that the flimsy chain breaks at the first sign of real resistance, but that's not what's important right now.

What's important is the boy standing before you- your boy. Your Jason.

He looks as surprised as you feel, his eyes flitting between the broken chain, and you.

For a long moment the only thing you can do is look at him, reacquaint yourself with the sight of him. Of course, you know that he did not stay frozen in time, the way your memory of him is. It's been many years since you've held that babbling toddler. But knowing and seeing are two different things.

He's small for his age, is your first thought. Your own fault, you're certain. Between a premature delivery and your own malnourishment during that first trimester, it's a miracle he'd survived in the first place. Small, but well fed. His cheeks are full and flushed. Despite his size, he seems healthy. Good. That means Will's been feeding him. Hopefully, it means they got the hell out of The Alley, into a nicer neighborhood.

His hair isn't as curly as you'd pictured it- too short in most places to hold a curl, save for his bangs, which seem to almost form the shape of a heart over his forehead.

“Jason?” You can barely manage to say his name through the lump in your throat. You find yourself suddenly struggling to focus your gaze on him, the haze of tears welling up in your eyes makes it difficult to see. You try to blink them away but instead they roll down your cheeks.

God, when's the last time you cried?

You reach out to him, cupping one of his cheeks in the palm of your shaking hand. He leans into the affectionate touch, and you're reminded of puppies, overeager and seeking love at every opportunity.

“Mom,” he says back to you, his tone just as reverent as your own. “Mom,” he says again, voice crackling. And then, in unison, the both of you have pulled each other into a crushing hug. You can't tell if the sound you make is a sob or a laugh. You hold onto Jason like he'll vanish into the ether if you loosen your hold for even a second, one hand clutching at the back of his sweatshirt, the other at the back of his head, petting his hair as he buries his face in your neck.

Finally, at long last, your heart is home.

SO. What do we think folks. Are you hooked? I hope youre hooked. Please be hooked. I wanna talk to people about this fic so damn bad. Please send anons or dms or literally anything. When the chapter is complete I'll be putting it up here as well as on my ao3, which I'll link to! Thanks so much for reading and i hope yall are enjoying yourselves so far! Send me an anon or a dm if you'd like to be included on the taglist for this series!

TAGLIST: @leirobles

[necrotic-nephilim]

bro come back we need your commentary more than ever. Jayhelena canon event

AHAHAHA I'VE BEEN LOSING MY MIND FOR DAYS ANON HOW'D YOU KNOW. perfect moment to show off the shitty meme i made based off a random message i sent in a discord server a couple of weeks ago.

jokes aside: i do have a LOT of thoughts on all of this, and even more thoughts on the reaction to it so ty for giving me the chance to rant.

as far as the comic itself goes: i am? cautiously optimistic, personally? hopes are high but expectations are grounded. Gretchen Felker-Martin is a *fantastic* trans horror writer (i highly rec her novel, Manhunt) but she's pretty new to the comics scene. she's written a single issue with Jason, a Beast World story that's pretty polarizing. most fans i know dislike it, my personal opinions on it are... it's a bit lackluster? i think some parts of it miss the mark on Jason's psyche, but the overall theme it's trying to convey about cycles of violence enacted on victims like Jason and police brutality are interesting. while it's not a great start for GFM with Jason, the Beast World event was so shit overall, and the whole concept of all these characters being "not themselves" mentally, i'm willing to overlook it. (idk if there are any good BW stories but all the ones i've read are shite... Helena's BW story has her literally being beaten by Cass using a laser pointer on her so... i will take *anything* over that personally lmao at least GFM seems genuinely interested in exploring Jason's inner workings, yk) it could go really well, or really poorly. i don't think we have enough info on GFM's writing to know how she'll handle an ongoing with these two, but my fingers are desperately crossed.

the main concerns i have about the comic are firstly the plot itself: which is described as Jason tracking down a cop-killer, and how that could so easily become copaganda. however, the Beast World issue GFM wrote was incredibly anti-cop. (and she even said on her bluesky that ppl shouldn't be worried about this run being pro-cop) so, i do think there's hope there. my other worry is the history of these characters GFM can't control- this story is happening right after H2SH which is frankly, a fucking disaster for Jason. and Helena's biggest Rebirth feature was Batgirl & the Birds of Prey, which was an even bigger disaster for her mythos. neither of these characters are standing on great foundations, and i haven't cared for either of their current characterizations for the past decade or so. it's an uphill battle for even a fantastic writer to try to meld good characterization with the current state of these two, and i could see it screwing GFM over, which rlly sucks she's not getting as fair of a shot as she could be.

all that said, the aesthetics look fantastic (tho, i'm not personally the biggest fan of either suit redesign) and i do love getting Helena and Jason out of Gotham, bc it means we won't have the everlooming Bat presence hanging over their actions. and as for the romance? i'm CACKLING. i've *always* suspected that if we ever were lucky enough for a Jason/Helena team-up, they were bound to end up fucking, and i'm DELIGHTED to be vindicated. this ship is one i do adore in concept (mostly as a hatefuck sort of thing) but could see go horribly. i trust GFM to write women, so i don't think Helena's going to get sidelined as a one-dimensional love interest, which is the biggest fear i've seen expressed. it's not *entirely* unlikely she'll be OOC (i don't think we know enough to comment either way atp, given GFM has never written her) but i do think she's going to be dynamic in this run. and honestly? with the shit content Jason has been getting recently (Robin Lives, the current fuckass Jaybin comic) and Helena having her backstory mutiliated and getting sidelined to hell as current comics don't seem to know what to do with her, i want this to go well *so* badly. i'm rlly hoping it will! and i do think the romance can absolutely work in a fun and interesting way. wouldn't be my top canon pick for either character, but i love the intrigue of it and how these two could (and hopefully are going to) challenge each other and find solidarity in their respective victimhoods.

that said, i certainly don't begrudge Helena fans for being pessimistic about this comic, or disliking the concept in principle. i'd far prefer Helena be getting a solo than be a supporting cast/love interest for a man's run. that said, i think calling this run a "power fantasy" and "wank content" (takes i have seen) is absolutely asinine. we don't have it in our hands yet, we literally can't say until it's out. (and tbfh- these takes are transphobic against GFM, even if unintentionally.) but at this point, i think anything is something for Helena, and i am not going to insult the concept until i've seen the story. if Helena fans don't want to read this bc they don't like Jason or just don't want to see her sidelined, i get that entirely.

beyond that, the take i am *not* a fan of is that this is bad bc Helena has been Dick's love interest. anyone who says *that* loses all validity to their argument for me. Helena has been a dynamic character long before she met Dick and to *only* view her as an extension of Dick and thus define every future relationship she has through Dick is the most ass backwards misogyny i've seen. also. it's comics, man. everyone's going to team up with everyone and fuck everyone. it's just the nature of these characters getting used over and over and over. it's so wildly degrading to Helena to pretend you're protecting her dignity and honor by not wanting her around Jason, or by treating her as just "Dick's love interest". (when she and Dick never properly even *dated* and have never been right for each other. that was sort of the whole point. but i digress.) i also think some takes from Helena stans about Jason are made in incredibly bad faith, just because some Helena stans find some sort of superiority complex in liking her and hating him. it has always read incredibly performative to me.

in summary: i have been deserpate for *years* for these two to interact, and i'm genuinely looking forward to reading this comic. i have reasons to be a little doubtful of some issues that *might* come up, but GFM is a great novelist and i hope that translates to her ability to write a great ongoing. did i ever *actually* want this ship to go canon? no, but under a queer woman whose pretty solid at exploring intersectionality and leftist politics in her works, i'm willing to hear it out.

and just so we're clear: the *second* this comic is out i'm putting the Robles variant cover where Jason and Helena are almost kissing straight on my wall. even if the comic is shit. i'm forever immortalizing it as a giant win for me personally, one of the few ppl capable of liking Jason Todd and Helena Bertinelli at the same time and being cool with the idea of them kissing, lol.

[glitter-stained]

Saw people get attacked for not wanting jaybin to be villainized I’m afraid we’re never getting a good Jason story he will never get to grow past that endless cycle of Batman and joker because of dc/batman fans and no writer is willing to take a risk and come up with something good when they all want their issues to sell therefore what’s popular will be the conon, man wish it was easier for me to lose interest 😭

What the hell, people in fandom get mad about defending jaybin 🤦 the world truly is turning wrong

Idk if that reassures you, but while Jason haters are many and very loud, he's also like, super popular (i think that's part of what gets the haters so mad lmao). I think Jason's biggest enemy wrt dc nowadays isn't the fandom (that may have been the case at the very beginning kinda naturally because people loved Dick and were so used to him). Mostly the issue with Jason is that the best written stories about him don't paint Bruce in a great light... But that's way more true about Red Hood than Jason. Mostly DC just needs to abandon this silly idea that victim-blaming Jason absolves Bruce of blame for his death (when it's pretty much the opposite) and we could totally have good Jaybin content. I don't trust DC as far as I can throw them, but to be honest, Jason's entire resurrection was due to a writer being very willing to take one very big risk and winning with an awesome big swing. In the meantime, may I encourage you to check out poisonivory's lost titans on ao3? We very rarely get canon adjacent / divergent plot fics to satiate our frustration with the lack of good stories (working on it 🫡), I really liked seeing Jason work with a team and seeing the focus on some less-known heroes, hopefully you'll like it!

[mollone]

Everyday i search for some jaybin content -bc he’s my precious baby- then i remembered it…. It ended when he died 😐

Honestly idc about red hood. I want my son…. my JAYBINNNNN 😫

[nopejustnoped]

Jason wasnt a killer right off the bat like that just did not happen. He got more aggressive and shit later on just as the comic world changed and got darker in the 80s. It feels ragebait-y when they look back on a teenager reacting to extremely dark situations and go "he was such an angry kid" he really wasnt like that and even later his behavior was understandable. I wish theyd have more patience writing stories about robin jason bc getting to his later stuff you could realistically write how his reactions in the diplomats son reflect his ideas from uth etcetera etcetera. Rewriting 12 year old jason every two minutes and portraying him as a feral child is just not interesting 😭😭😭 jason is simply unlucky that hes been written in the comic decade of agony and despair but its so funny how modern writers try to twist his personality like theres a limited amount of jaybin content. His characterisations didnt fluncuate like that.

[ghost-bxrd]

I keep thinking of Jason Todd and the song if I die young by the band Perry. And I keep imagining him listening to it and crying at the part

Lord, make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother. She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors. Oh, and life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no. Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby. The sharp knife of a short life.

Oooo yes I know that song!!! I used to listen to it all the time watch the music video 😭💚

That song strikes me as “Jason’s pre-resurrection thoughts about his death”. You know, comparatively light hearted, happy and content with the life he got to live, etc. All the soft Jaybin things 🥹😭

Post-resurrection Jason is strikes me as something more… sinister. More the horror of “I clawed my way out of my own coffin and six feet of dirt only to get drowned again in a pit full of Magic” 👀👁️

[moon-ayyye]

You excited for the new jaybin content?

I am filled with dread. It is 100% gonna be some dogshit "Jason was always violent and reckless" revisionist story. And the art style is kinda weird.

Like

He looks like a character in a shitty R rated cartoon. Which sucks because Dustin Nguyen drew this, too:

Big man is one of my favourite Jason Todd artists, but unfortunately rent is due.

New jaybin content is always gonna be trash. Look at robin lives ffs. If it's not infuriating off rip, then it's gonna go to hell by the third issue.

Ok so I actually looked it up, and

The hype is over before it started LMFAOOOO. Right on the money

[galaxymagitech]

Guide to Jaybin: The Origin Story

Pre-Crisis — Batman #357 to Detective Comics #526

Featuring Pre-Crisis weirdness, adorable Jason, and analysis of Bruce and Dick's arguments.

I am reading all of Robin!Jason Todd's comics in order, starting with his pre-crisis origin. Here are thoughts, mostly characterization and relationship focused, on this set of comics. (In the future, I might break stuff like this into multiple posts, because this ended up being pretty long).

Not-So-Serious Summary: Killer Croc, a new mobster in town, teams up with a disgruntled spy with a speech impediment (Squid), who he eventually kills. Croc tries to take over Gotham's crime scene and kill the Batman. Joker takes issue with this, and tries to play Croc and the other Gotham Rogues against each other. A family of circus acrobats, the Todds, get in the middle and end up fed to crocodiles. Meanwhile, Jason Todd is taken to Wayne Manor for his safety, where he finds the Batcave and stows away to help. Batman, Robin, and a vengeful Jason defeat Killer Croc.

Most Unhinged/Funny Moments

Batman breaks into a shooting range, beats people up, kidnaps a man, ties him up in the Batcave, and tells him that no one knows he's there and he has no rights. Meanwhile, Robin's sitting there, grinning and talking ominously.

I'm sorry, but this sounds very gay.

Characterization

Bruce — Refers to criminals as “creeps,” “thugs,” and “scum." Throws himself into danger and displays cartoonish righteousness. All fairly typical for 1980s Batman, unfortunately, and he still seems pretty human and warm in this arc. Although he believes that Squid maybe "deserved to die," because he's "scum," he doesn't allow that in Gotham. Oh, and he makes puns, complete with a "get it? I think he got it."

Dick — He's kind and compassionate, and prone to guilt. He's also very involved in Gotham's social sphere, and is able to competently host a reception.

Jason — Fairly generic. He's friendly and polite, but is way too willing to pick up an old Robin costume to help. When his parents die, he's vengeful and has to be restrained, but he quickly devolves into shaking and crying.

Relationships

Bruce & Dick

Bruce is naturally paranoid and wants Dick to be more cautious as well, which is a point of contention between them.

He knows he and Dick are drifting apart and is afraid of this.

For most of the arc, they're warm and friendly with each other.

However, near the end of the arc, Bruce randomly blows up at Dick and starts yelling at him, before pushing Alfred’s tray to the ground. Real mature, Bruce. Dick angrily says Bruce is “getting to be a stranger” to Alfred.

To Bruce's credit, he immediately regrets his actions.

I am tempted to make an analysis about this panel, but this read is supposed to be about Jason. So just briefly...

Bruce is partially to blame for the Todds' deaths.

Yelling "to hell with you!" is pretty nasty but okay.

Alfred, telling Dick "I'm sure he didn't mean it, Master Dick" is really unnecessary.

Dick was really not doing anything wrong, from his perspective Bruce just blew up unpredictably out of nowhere.

Bruce is really resentful about Gotham's citizens.

Bruce uses "Richard" instead of "Dick" to display his anger.

Mitigating Circumstances: The dramatic comics poses probably make the argument seem worse than it is. Also, Bruce is having a crisis right now over how Killer Croc saved his life and he subconsciously let Croc go in return.

Dick & Jason

Dick becomes friendly with Jason's parents and Jason, partially because Trina Todd reminds him of his mother.

Gordon blames Dick for the Todds' deaths because he had them investigate (despite him stating that them following Croc wasn't ever the plan, and him trying to convince Bruce to stop using the Todds for the plan and getting yelled at in response).

Dick feels responsible for the Todds' deaths and has grown to care about Jason, so he wants to adopt Jason. Bruce offers to adopt Jason instead, because "if it's anyone's fault it's mine".

Dick is happy about this and voluntarily tells Alfred to put Jason in his old room.

Notes/Trivia

Jason-Related

Jason comes from the Flying Todds at the Sloan Circus, (run by a guy named—you guessed it—Sloan) and Dick is friends with one of their clowns, Waldo.

His parents are Joseph and Trina Todd. Their uniforms are red or pink, depending on the panel.

The Todds are the finest trapeze troupe in America or Europe, according to Dick.

Upon meeting Robin…Jason immediately asks about Wonder Girl. Dick’s response? “You’ve got taste.”

Other

Commissioner Gordon is 60 and has a high blood pressure

Waldo calls Dick “Dickie Boy,” so that’s a known nickname for Dick

Croc is displaying fairly reasonable planning skills? He’s certainly not a brainless brute in this.

Bruce and Dick wear their costumes upstairs in the Manor. Alfred brings them refreshments without questioning their costumes, so this is a normal occurrence.

Killer Croc is fixated on the sanctity of his home. When Batman breaks into, he decides it’s “ruined” and has to start over.

Talia says Bruce is “the one man [she’ll] never go against—never!”

Alfred does indeed give comforting hot cocoa.

Characters sometimes call the Joker "Harlequin."

[fieldsofred]

congratulations of graduating <3333 the internet is so proud !!!!! relating to that, do you have any hcs or ideas abt jason's relationship with edu or higher edu bcs i love the idea that he truly dreamed of college and breaking the cycle so much, and even after dying it's always something on the forefront of his mind. but what are your thoughts?

Hi!! Thank you!! This took me forever because I really had to think about it. I don't even think that I answered your question, sorry! (?)

(These themes might show in itaot, but I am trying to answer this without itaot in mind)

Okay, Jason and higher education. I think that as a kid (pre-Bruce), his school attendance was sporadic at best and on the back of his mind. It's hard to go to school when you don't have a parent that's able to take you, when you don't have a stable support system, and when you are worried about things that aren't school. So for Jason, Willis going to prison, Catherine's health, and where his next meal would come from would all be more important that trying to get to school.

post-Bruce, as Robin, I bet the lil guy loved and hated school in equal measure.

Hated, because if you've ever been behind in a class then you know how bad it sucks. Not understanding the content, feeling behind and dumb in comparison to your peers, missing foundational pieces of education all make school suck. It is impossible to have fun learning when every single homework assignment makes you feel dumb and behind.

Loved, because school is fun! learning is fun! especially when it's something that you've been denied (intentionally or not) for a long time.

So I would hope (i don't know the canon lore) that Bruce and Alfred took the time to fill in the missing foundational pieces before he started school, or put him in classes that would help bridge the gaps.

(personal hc that might show in itaot: Alfred made Jaybin practice his handwriting for months until it was neat and legible. he was not going to tolerate having an illiterate, illegible street rat in Wayne Manor)

School is a really fun experience when it's about learning and exploring curiosity and not about achieving a set of expectations. Bruce seems (i say this with love) like a parent that cares way more about the Robin/training side of things than the 'getting all As' side of things. Especially post-Dick? That man is just glad Jaybin isn't hanging off of the chandelier.

All that to say, I would like to think that his Robin-era school experience was a positive one that made him feel like a normal kid and gave him the chance to learn new stuff.

Then he died.

I would imagine that Jason didn't expect he was going to die young (at least not after he became Robin and got magic) until like, the bomb was ticking. So pre-death, I would bet that he imagined himself going to college some day. I bet he imagined growing up and becoming his own vigilante (like his aloof and reluctant but so cool big brother Nightwing). I bet he watched Dick grow up and thought, "I'll get that tall some day too."

And then he didn't. And then he....kind of did? Taller, even. But he came back different, and the kid he used to be was dead but he was still walking the earth. I would put money on Jason letting his dreams of growing up and becoming something more die with him.

And now he's alive again. He's a walking corpse. He's alive (reluctantly and despite his best efforts). He's doing what he thinks he can to help Gotham but Jason Peter Todd Wayne is dead and Jason is going to leave him in the ground.

But then he's 20 (so young) and he's Red Hood. And he's in Gotham doing his thing. And then he's 22 and he's still Red Hood and he's still in Gotham and he's still alive. And then he's 23 and he's still in Gotham and he's still alive and...fuck. Huh. Guess he really is alive, isn't he?

But Jason Todd is legally dead. So he can't go to school because dead kids cant fill out the FAFSA. He reminds himself that dead kids don't graduate and remembers that he didn't even finish high school and comes to terms with the idea that there is no way he will ever go to college (even tho it looks cool in the movies and sounds cool in the books)

But maybe he's tracking a drug dealer (or what have you) and the guy is in college. And Jason just has to follow him around (it's called being a good detective) so he...follows him to class. Because he's a detective. No other reason.

So Jason sits through a Macro Economics class 10 rows back and then watches the guy sit on his phone in the library for an hour and then follows him to a Eastern History lecture and then follows him to his dorm. And it was a good research day. Nothing else.

He definitely doesn't people watch all the kids his age. He definitely doesn't sit in the grass next to the Student Commons Building and listen in to people talking about their majors or their volleyball rec sport team or their book club or their fight with their roommate. He definitely doesn't get in line at the library coffee shop (for...research) and then pay with cash instead of a student card like the girl in front of him (because he doesn't have a student card, because he doesn't go to college, because he's dead) and he definitely doesn't come back the next day with a book and sit in the library and pretend to be a college kid (he's blending in with the civilians for research, okay?)

And eventually he gets the college kid that's been doing something wrong and the case gets closed and it's a good thing. Its a good thing that he doesn't have to waste his time at the university library and he doesn't have to go sit in the very back of a Macro Economics lecture and it's a good thing that he doesn't have to spend an hour every day sitting outside in the grass reading a book and waiting for his mark. It's a good thing.

So why does he have the itch to go to that library coffee shop (even though it's more expensive than the one just two blocks from his apartment)? And why does he want to go sit in that grassy area (a further drive than the small park down the street from his place) and why does he miss wasting an hour of precious time listening to some old guy talking about the economy?

And then it's the end of May and he sees a gaggle of kids his age in graduation gowns and he reminds himself, Dead kids don't graduate. He pushes the idea of sitting in the grass and reading a book between classes out of his head. He's dead. His future died with him. He's a living corpse and sneaking into random college classes doesn't benefit his crime-lording activities.

But if on his off days, when his calendar is suspiciously empty and the sun is out, he finds himself in the college library coffee shop (their drinks tastes different, he swears) and sits in the grass with a book in his hands, that's no one's business but his own. (And if he keeps an eye out for suspicious cases on the Gotham University campus, then that is also nobody's business.)

(and if someday, after many years of healing, he reintegrates with the bats. and if someone makes him a new, real identity without asking. and if someone sends him a fake high school transcript and a blank college application and never mentions it to his face. then maybe, maybe, he might let a dead kid try to graduate.)

((he majors in literature and gets a part time student job at the library, just because he likes being in there))

[tjmsteph]

hi! ^_^

i was wondering if you could help me get into dc comics! i’ve always leaned more towards the movies/shows, video games, and fanon content.

if you have any reading guides at your disposal, i’d really appreciate them! even just naming a few starter comics would be cool.

i hope you don’t mind me asking this of you! i discovered your acc on tiktok and your edits made me wanna get more into the comics when i was formerly disinterested. your characterization takes are also pretty spot on!! :D

thank yew

IM GONNA CRY AND PUKE THANK YOU OMG getting into dc is not difficult but its also pretty challenging depending on which era you wanna read and which family you wanna get into. unfortunately im mainly a batfam-head so i have mostly suggestions about batfamily characters, i hope you wont mind :3

batman: year one is a must in my eyes but i dont see batman: ego advertised nearly as much and it pains me, its a very interesting read on the duality of bruce wayne and batman and an excellent analysis on purpose and motivations

after that, if you wish to continue reading batman related things, i suggest reading about the robins!

batman: year three (batman #436 to #439) serves as a retelling of dick and bruce’s first encounter and its the most used retelling, since it also introduces tim drake but i digress

year ones are your friends! robin: year one and robin/batgirl: year one are stories you should check out but, for the love of christ, keep AWAY from nightwing: year one. i dont know what they were thinking there. if you liked reading these, dick grayson could be the guy for you but, warning i guess, he has lots to read about so make sure to find a good reading guide for him.

after dick quits and becomes nightwing, jason todd is next and luckily the easiest read since he didnt do much except for dying (rip). he is super straight forward, batman: #408 to #425 and detective comics: #568 to #582. a good read for jason and bruce is also batman: the cult!

alas jaybin must die and so here comes a death in the family, batman: #426 to #429. im not a red hood fan personally but batman: under the red hood is kinda a must read. if you liked jason todd, i’m really sorry you’ll never see good writing again

after a death in family, you can read a lonely place of dying when that freak tim drake appears, batman: #440 to #442 alternating with new titans #60 and #61. TOOOOO GOOD. sorry.

tim drake is kinda complicated because the 90s were annoying but you can read detective comics: #618 to #621 and then after batman: #455 to #457 for the important things and him becoming robin most of all. after that the three robin miniseries, robin (1991), robin: the joker’s wild and robin: cry of the huntress are next and finally theres a big one, robin (1993)

if you like tim drake i plan on making a proper reading guide #soon so stay tuned i guess LOL. you cant have tim without stephanie brown, which kinda appears shortly after tim’s initiation as robin. detective comics: #647 to #649 are her origin story, showcase ‘95 #5 is a really underrated stephanie story and then you can just read robin (1993) since she is in there a lot.

i have a stephanie brown reading list ready to be reposted so trust it will be soon! finally damian wayne :3 read batman: son of the demon since its a way better origin for damian over the racist ‘talia is abusive and a r@pist’ morrison retcon.

damian is a really difficult character to get into cause unfortunately most of his stories are racist dogshit but the good stuff is GOOD. robin: son of batman will change your life 5ever. another fun read is robin (2021). to get hooked on daminika.

on the topic of batman’s supporting cast lets go with the batgirls. acknowledged as batgirls, we have barbara gordon tho she is largely more interesting as oracle! i wish you no harm so please don’t read the killing joke, it’s such a lame story and downright misogynistic towards babs.

just let it know that (sigh.) the joker left barbara gordon in a wheelchair. batman: chronicles #5 is genuinely one of the best stories ever, will make you weep and choke and die. after that, birds of prey (1999)’s yuriful antics will charm you.

the current batgirl, cassandra cain, is currently having an ongoing serie! her origin story is in batman: #567 and detective comics: #734. warning: she appears right in the middle of an event called batman: no man’s land so i suggest looking up batman: no man’s land reading guides if its too confusing for context. im really sorry. after that PLEASE read batgirl (2000). too good.

stephanie cheated and managed to be both robin and batgirl so you should read batgirl (2009) which is fairly context-less? or better, they explain most of the context in-comic so it should be fine.

these are the main batfam characters but, throughout reading, you might meet some new and maybe lesser known characters like azrael, huntress, anarky etc. etc.

a read that kinda exists outside all this is also gotham: academy which is quite new reader friendly and genuinely very fun.

hope you have fun :)

[spiritsglade]

🐝🐞🦋 and 🕷️ (request: anything with connor hawke and/or mia dearden?)

[fic recs ask game]

hi jar !!! due to the fact that i pretty much only read fics that involve jason... nearly all of these are very jason-centric. sorry :p

🐝 Recommend a fic with great symbolism, or themes, something really clever, or like. just something you could write a whole literary essay about!

think i'm going to point to Ghost Story by InsaneTrollLogic.

It starts with the phantom sound of laughter, glimpses of motion just out of sight, a boy in a tattered Robin suit, and the sneaking suspicion that not all of Jason made it back from the dead.

augh i am thinking about this one all the time. i don't really have more to add to it than what the summary says it's just. red hood jason vs. jaybin and how he's remembered and something about broken connections and knowing a person who has changed. it makes me sad and yet there's something cathartic about it too.

🐞 Recommend a favorite fic or several from one of your friends, or a fic author you really look up to!

head in my hands i have too many people i want to shout out. we're going with @liedownquisition for this one, or Axel_Knochenmus on ao3.

in particular i think everyone in the entire world should read Seldom (The Best of All Lost Arts).

Jason had taken some time to himself after the confrontation with Joker & Bruce. He’d managed to find his own team and was doing great. He didn’t need any of the so-called family that he’d left behind. But, that didn’t stop the siren’s call of his home city from pulling him back for a visit, alone, or the practically inevitable reality that trouble found him immediately. Because that was obviously his luck. He couldn’t deal with the aftermath by himself, couldn’t risk spilling secrets to his subordinates, and he couldn’t call the Outlaws for help in Gotham of all places so soon after they’d decided to take a break. The last thing he wants to do is rely on Batman & whatever he's got going on these days while drugged up on some alien truth serum, but it’s not like he’s got much of a choice.

really interesting & refreshing take on the truth serum trope, along with some fun background worldbuilding to make the situation come together.

(i also am deeply enjoying In-Thighed My Head & everything else axel has planned for that series but it is jayroy + an explicit rating. so not for everyone.)

🦋 Recommend one or three of your own fics!

compound fracture is the kind of fic that i forget that i wrote. i love it a lot sometimes i need to just curl up and bask in the agony of it a little bit.

When Batman arrived at the warehouse too late, after the bomb had already gone off, he chose to cover up the crime instead of solving it. Years later, Jason finds out. Funnily enough, it doesn't change anything.

also i think on principle i need to point people to lies of omission, my monster of a multichaper that is !!! nearly done !!! (not really but it feels so close i can taste the end) because although my feelings on it vary i am proud of a lot of scenes in there. also it's just the longest thing i've ever written by like a ridiculous margin and i think i should get some credit for that.

Red Hood kept his distance from the Bats. They had something akin to a truce, but they always maintained a healthy level of mutual wariness and animosity. None of them knew him, not in any way that mattered, and he was content keeping things that way. Unfortunately, secrets had a way of coming to light.

🕷️ Recommend something of the asker's choice--a fix-it, an alternate pov, an episode coda, etc.!

okay it's incomplete but i'm extremely in love with mia's characterization in Stable Relationships by @glitter-stained !! slowburn jayroy no capes horse movie au but the arrowfam features very heavily and i love all of them so much. although, unfortunately there's not much connor (yet!)

Roy doesn't know what to make of the new guy working the summer at the family ranch. He's mysterious, clearly hides a dark secret, and has really pretty eyes… The exact kind of bad idea Roy has a tendency to crash into. Meanwhile, Jason is just trying to do his job, and would very much appreciate it if the beautiful, kind ginger at work stopped making it so easy to fall in love with him. Then Jason meets Red Hood, a traumatized mare who refuses to let humans close, and the two men get an opportunity to learn how to reach out, trust, and the perilous leap of faith of believing in dreams.

also a big fan of no god can give you your purity back. by lazarusfell, which is mia-centric, but i think i found that one through you lol :p

a study in want.