Robin's Comics Log

Batman

I'm not sure how to name or categorize this, I was only reading most of Jason's time as Robin, post-crisis. As I'm writing this I'm missing A Death in the Family and A Lonely Place of Dying. Which I've read before but still plan on re-reading. Maybe I'll continue reading more early 90s Robin Tim after it.

I feel like people often misunderstand Jason's time as Robin. It is very clear, at least post-crisis, that he has always been depicted as "the angry Robin". Going as far as having Bruce saying that if he didn't take him in he'd end up dead. Oh the irony.

I find Bruce to be very hypocritical. In one issue he is yelling at Jason because he lost control of himself, got too emotional during a case, and Two-Face escaped. The next issue Bruce himself gets too emotional during a case because he knew the victim personally, and he never manages to catch the bad guy.

Batman: Three Jokers

I'm not gonna lie I read this because I saw someone complaining about the JayBabs ship. I really like Babs, and Jason is my blorbo, so I was intrigued by it. After skimming on tumblr it was brought to my attention that JayBabs was also a thing back in Batman Eternal. Which I had read back when it was still ongoing. And uh I fully forgot that even happened. I certainly didn't care for it back then lol.

I do, conceptually like the juxtaposition of Jason's and Barbara's stories. And how they each react differently. They're very different people. I do think an actual /srs relationship between them would only fruther contribute to Barbara's character assassination, but I did enjoy how it was handled in this comic for the most part.

Jason really is that annoying guy who mistakes any girl being nice to him as romantic interest. The letter is insane. He is such a loser. I love him. Barbara should never have to be the one to "fix" him. Okay enough yapping.

Plot wise, I really don't care enough about the joker to care for what this story proposes. Does it even matter if he is three guys playing one role? What even was the point of all of this? The Joker is more of an idea than a person. However it would make Batman a horrible detective if he never figured it out by himself.

TLDR. Not the worst Joker comic ever but I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't for Red Hood and Batgirl.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House

Another of my favorites so far! The art is so beautiful, the coloring gives it a 60s vintage look. But it never feels flat or "boring", it's so bold in its color choices and in its compositions. Absolutely loved it. Even the lettering flows super nicely with the art. Reminds me of why I love comic books in the first place. The story was very interesting as well. Loved everything about it.

Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner

(vol 1 - tpb)

I had so much fun reading this. I've read some GL Rebirth era before, but it was years ago and I've never read any post-crisis GL comics. So I appreciate that this TPB includes the necessary context for Parallax.

I really like Kyle. He is a fun guy, and he is very reletable. I am after all, too, a kinda lost early 20s artist. Part of me is glad I didn't read this when I was a teen.

That being said, I fully forgot this contains the infamous scene that named the trope "Women in Refrigerators". Jumpscare. Classic comic book misogyny what else is there to say. Besides that I really enjoyed this and will continue to read more of Kyle.

Batwoman: Elegy

One of my favorite comic books ever alongside New52 Batwoman. I first read it when I was 13-14.I recently got a physical copy for my birthday. I finished re-reading it in doctors' waiting rooms.

The art is simply stunning. I love the coloring, I love the unusual compositions. I love how it uses a very different graphic language for scences where she is Kate Kane vs scenes where she is Batwoman. I love the shading on her suit, she looks like she was painted on with watercolors.

On the not so great part, I read this as a young teen, when I was dealing with a lot of external homophobia all around me. I found a lot of comfort in looking up to this openly lesbian character, there weren't that many in DC at the time. But there it was this cool batman-esque lesbian character. I loved her.

Now as an adult with critical thinking skills I have more conflicted feelings about it due to the whole USA-army involment. It deeply shapes who she is as a character. I can understand why some people don't like her or this comic. But I think I'll always have some emotional attachment to it. You know how some people still refuse to stop reading/supporting Harry Potter even if JK Rowling is a radfem transphobic weirdo? Yeah I fear I'm the same way with this comic.

Me reading this in public, shaking my head so people know I don't support the military.

Heroes in Crisis

I wasn't gonna go out of my way to read anything focused on Harley Quinn but I'm trying to catch up with the main events of recent years.

I did enjoy this as a story. Surprisingly I don't have many negative things to say. I'm intrigued by how this affects the characters involved. Like wtf happened to Wally after. I didn't particularly like the Batgirl/HQ team-up, felt too OOC in my opinion, but what do I know. I did like the ending. And I've been liking reading stories where speedsters are aware of the universe changing around them.

Outsiders

I really enjoyed this!! Maybe I'm biased because I already like Batwoman and I haven't properly read Gotham War yet (and never read Planetary), but this is one of my favorite reads so far. I liked the mysteriousness around Drummer, and I liked the way the story developed. A few things felt a little rushed. But that's to be expected, I guess, considering how short this series is. I kinda wish it was longer. I wasn't a fan of how the whole Nocturna thing was handled. They could've made her a lot more of an actual Villian and less of "Kate's ex". I really liked Jenny Crisis, and it was nice to see Jinni Hex again.

Lex and the City

Lex's story was funny. Harley/Ivy's had gorgeous gorgeous art, it's not too interesting as a story but the art more than makes up for it. I liked Mr. Freeze's story! Poor guy just loves his wife and is insane about it.

Titans Together was cute, but it annoyed me so much that the artist didn't even try to differentiate Garth and Dick besides eye color. I'm 50/50 on the Robins story. I can't get over that crazy Steph is too female comment. I still have to read the more recent Tim stuff but why do all of his civilian romantic partners know his secret identity as Robin?? Anyways Riddlebat. The Raven/BB story was cute too but again not too interesting. And no opinion on Hawkman sorry lol.

Overall it has nice art but nothing too engaging plot-wise.

Young Justice

Honestly idk why it took me so long to read this. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I even liked most of the new characters. At one point it did feel like there were too many characters, but I get why they did it. I just wish we saw more of Cissie.

The story was fun, and I really loved the moments between Bart and Kon, and the references to YJ '98. I like how they introduced every character with a small story within the comic. And I like how they used different artists for that, and to represent the multi-verse traveling. Nice art overall. It had some really beautiful pannels.

Young Justice: Dark Crisis

You know all the nice things I said about YJ '19? Yeah none of that applies here. I can understand what the writer was trying to do, but mocking the same fans who are supposed to buy the comics isn't the smartest decision imo. Are you trying to sell nostalgia or not?

Overall plot aside, my biggest issue with it is how it tries so hard to call out sexism (and racism, and homophobia, etc etc.) that it goes right back into being sexist towards its characters. Did Cassie and Cissie ever had a conversation that did not involve the guys? Either in a negative or positive way. Reducing Cassie into being boycrazy is just as bad as what sexist writers have done with her character over the years.

And ignoring Cissie's character completely just to make her seem like the voice of reason, like she is a "girls girl" unlike Cassie. While also not caring at all about people who are supposed to be her friends? I think genuine arguments got lost in the way it was presented.

Wonder Woman: Donna Troy

I'm gonna be honest, I'm not very familiar with Donna but I liked this story. I loved the art and the storytelling. The way it goes back and forth between the fight and the present. Her monologue inside the church. Her feelings.

Technically I read this as part of the Wonder Girl - Adventures of a Teen Titan (2017) collection but this was my favorite issue.

Batman: Under the Red Hood

I couldn't tell you what was my opinion on this comic the first time I read it (over 10 years ago?), but it was nice to revisit it. Jason is such a dear character to me, yes he is a villian at worst and an anti-hero at best, but he is interesting to me!! The hurt, the resentment, the selfishness, him and Bruce never being able to reconcile, the stubbornness. They'll never be able to change or "fix" each other no matter how hard they try. They're fundamentally different.

Birds of Prey

(vol 1 - tpb)

I'm still on the fence if I should read the entire Birds of Prey (1999) series or if I should just pick up from where Gail Simone's run starts. So in case I do the later, I'm posting this as a review of Dixon's writting.

Kinda insane that every single conflict has somehow something to do with a romantic interest. That's all. Maybe I'm too ace for this but how is it incomprehensible to have one storyline where Dinah doesn't have the hots for the bad guy. Just once please.

Robins: Being Robin

Yes, I very artistically picked the Jason variant cover as the reference pic. He is my favorite, what can I say?

Anyways this was an easy enough read to start with, and I do find interesting the whole idea of the Robins wondering if being Robin was a good thing for them or not. Even more so if you think about the inherit power dynamics Bruce has over them.

However this is not something that can truly be answered in a 6 issues run. Not in a meaningful way at least.

Red Hood & the Outlaws

This is at least is better than n52 Outlaws. But that's not saying much. The art is much better though, until you get a random issue drawn by Rocafort and oump jumpscare!! It's a shame because I like how he draws faces, but the moment you see how he draws women... yikes. I do like how Pete Woods in particular draws Jason. And I really like the new suit. His old mask didn't translate the best across different artists.

Art aside, the story does have some interesting moments, mostly the Prince of Gotham arc.

Red Hood: the Hill

I really liked the art, very different from the Outlaws run, but fitting for the theme.

I like the implication that Jason knows how to speak spanish. Latino Jason has been my headcanon since forever. That being said its evident the people working on this comic don't know how to speak spanish. Just loose words here and there but no grammar whatsoever. How difficult is it to get a spanish speaker to just proof read it before publishing it. But that's just a pet peeve of mine lmao.

Red Hood feels more like a secondary character in this but it is an interesting enough story. Shows more realistic sides of Gotham. The lifes of regular people dealing with villians and vigilantes.