"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does? - Gaff Blade Runner
"In a short time, this will be a long time ago." - Werner Slow West
"One of the biggest problems in the industry is apathy right now." - Dan Didio Co-Publisher of I Wonder Why That Is Comics
Yeah, Bruce failed that day. For somebody like him, that’ something that would stay with him until the day he died regardless of Jason remaining dead or not afterwards. So what purpose does Jason remaining dead actually contribute? It’s not like he was held in high regard after he died.
Jason Todd was never a revered corpse. He was viewed as the screw up that caused his own death or the bad seed that would never turn out well. Very victim-blamed. It was very hammered in that it was Jason's own fault he died, and more than once referenced that he was the failure. I wondered if it was to avoid giving Bruce any blame. Especially after another kid donned the tights - had to say the kid was the problem, so it was okay for another to do it.Unlike Bucky Barnes, both Barry Allen and Jason Todd had much more utility as revered corpses than as current characters.
I must have given up reading Batman comics by the time that change happened. When I was still reading them, the sense was that Batman blamed himself for Jason's death--and that he had too quickly taken Jay on as a partner, without enough training. He had put a young man in harm's way, for the sake of his personal war on crime. Of course, that itself was a retcon, because the red-haired Jason had proved his worth to Batman and had Dick's backing in becoming the new Robin.
When I found out that Jason had been brought back to life through some harebrained plot, I was very disappointed in the fandom that assumed the stewardship over the Batman franchise, that I abandoned. This was not the kind of thing that should happen in a Batman comic. The Dark Knight was supposed to have grounded stories, not ridiculous plots that brought characters back from the dead just so a new writer could use a character to create drama. In the old days, fans would have revolted against that kind of twaddle.
[I'm being a bit hyperbolic for controversial effect, to earn my keep on this thread.]
"until Tim showed up"??? You make it sound like there was a significant time period in the comics between Jason's death and Tim's arrival. It was literally 6 months. Jason died in Batman #429, and Tim was introduced in Batman #436. So the behavior you describe was just setup for Tim's intro story, which they already knew was coming the minute they published Jason's death.
Just re-reading my old collection, filling in the occasional gap with back issues, not buying anything new.
Currently working my way through 1990's Flash, Impulse, and JLA, and occasional other related stuff.
Maybe we didn't read the same stories, but that's not how I saw it. I know that among fandom he wasn't very revered, but I remember Jason's death definitely weighed on Batman as his failure - not Jason's regardless of whether or not Jason was the problem child /possible murderer.
And on the other Jason topic, if Jason had simply lived through "Death in the Family" but had still be beaten and traumatized by the Joker, the rest of his journey to become the Red Hood still could have turned out pretty much the same, imo.
Just re-reading my old collection, filling in the occasional gap with back issues, not buying anything new.
Currently working my way through 1990's Flash, Impulse, and JLA, and occasional other related stuff.
I do not really think there are any boring characters, but some supporting characters might as well just develop a costumed identity at this point.