Sometimes the 52/One Year Later/Countdown timeline plays tricks on my ol’ noggin. Has it really been almost three years since Judd Winick and Doug Mahnke introduced the mysterious new Red Hood?  It’s been over two years since Superboy punched Jay back to life in Batman Annual #25.  (I have to say:  what a bizarre, and almost certainly unintentional, inversion of the Tim Drake/Kon-El relationship.) Since then, the “middle child” of the Robins has been keeping a relatively low profile. Fans looking for him in 52 saw him, however briefly, in World War III. He appeared in Nightwing’s first One Year Later storyline. Now he’s in Countdown, running around DC’s fringes with fellow ex-dead-Titan Donna “Pick A Codename” Troy.

Naturally, his resuscitation does raise some issues.

First, the whole no-codename, no-costume thing seems to be shorthand for the degree to which Jason (at least in his current Countdown-affiliated macro-plot) is presented as a cipher. Presumably, if and when he becomes “Red Robin,” this might be a moot point, but right now, he’s just a horribly generic wise-guy. (Also: if he’s using his real name, why is he still wearing the mask?) You’d hardly know he was once a Boy Wonder (the most recent Atom notwithstanding), or that he’s seen Donna at one of her lowest points. He’s been through the first Crisis; he’s probably met most of the original and Detroit Justice Leagues, the original Outsiders, and the New Teen Titans; and if “For The Man Who Has Everything” is back in continuity, he took out Mongul with a pair of heavy-duty gloves and an extraterrestrial plant. Heck, he’s probably even a passable detective.

As for his previous experience with Donna, he served on her short-lived “Original Teen Titans” team back in the immediate post-Crisis period. They only shared one adventure, but it was a disaster. Donna fell apart under the strain of leadership (and other pressures) and looked, mistakenly, to Jason/Robin for the kind of steady confidence she was used to getting from Dick Grayson. Now that Jason and Donna are both more experienced, and closer to being equals, I’d like to see that past relationship revisited.

Over the past couple of years, the main Bat-titles, and therefore The Man himself, have been pretty quiet on the subject of “Jason Lives.” Clearly Paul Dini and Grant Morrison (and their guest creative teams) want to tell accessible, standalone stories, into which the Jason subplot might not easily fit. The end of the Judd Winick Era already sort-of addressed Batman’s feelings (if I remember right, he told Alfred “this changes nothing”). Even so, Jason still knows a lot of people and vice versa, and you’d think word of Jason and Donna’s expedition would have gotten back to Oracle, Nightwing, Superman (wasn’t he tracking Jay earlier in Countdown?), et al. Thus, the lack of reaction, whether in Countdown or elsewhere, is puzzling in its own right.

Well, maybe it’s not that puzzling. The post-Infinite Crisis Batman was supposed to be a bit less grim, a development which probably helped spare Dick Grayson. Bill Willingham, who as Robin writer lobbied for Stephanie Brown to get her temporary “promotion,” alluded to a similar mindset last year: 

“[DC said,] ‘Just make sure she’s out of the Robin costume and back to being Spoiler before [the "War Games" crossover] because the one thing we don’t want to do to poor Batman is put another dead Robin on his conscience,’” the writer continued.

Regardless, with Jason back, Batman has one less dead Robin on his conscience, no? What does the infamous glass case symbolize now — the “death” of the Jason Bruce adopted? In the context of the Batman chronicles, the case must have some sentimental meaning. Otherwise, it’s just a museum piece (“ROBIN, costume, 1940-1989″), and as such opens the door to exhibitions of various Batgirl and Nightwing outfits — and yes, Stephanie’s Robin suit.

Playing devil’s advocate for a minute, I think it’s easier logistically for DC to maintain Jason’s uniform as the only Robin memorial in the Batcave. Taking it down and/or adding Stephanie’s would mean another detail for artists and editors to check, and of course it would “take new readers out of the story” by making them ask what happened to the girl Robin. DC has enough problems with accessibility and late-shipping books — it doesn’t need any more hassles.

More to the point, though, DC seems interested in keeping Jason “dead” almost as a matter of course, regardless of what he does in Countdown or its affiliates. The fact that neither he nor his writers go out of their way to remind us of his Robin-hood (sorry) may speak more to his current positioning as a cosmic square peg. He’s not the Winter Soldier, producing all kinds of conflicting emotions in his mentor. He’s Tasha Yar, returned to life via cosmic accident and subconsciously aware of the wrongness of his existence. I predict his memorial will continue to stand alone, because at the end of Countdown, he’ll get an heroic fate which (one way or another) kicks him off whichever Earth DC claims for its main line of superheroes. The post-Final Crisis status quo, at least as far as the Robins are concerned, will look a lot like the post-”War Games” status quo. Ultimately, it’s all about Batman, and “another dead Robin” would be one too many. 

Now, this is not to say that a Robin IV memorial would be inappropriate, or that Batman shouldn’t remember Stephanie — because it’s eminently appropriate, and he should remember her. “Robin” isn’t just Batman’s most trusted associate, s/he’s the No. 1 kid sidekick in all of comics.  As Spoiler, Stephanie was a supporting character; but as Robin, she was a headliner — a minor-leaguer “called up.”  This distinguishes her from her predecessors, each of whom became Robin based at least in part on an emotional connection to Batman.  Still, a lightened-up Batman can appreciate the distinctions, mourning both the son he “lost” and the girl he promoted. In fact, I’d say that a Stephanie Brown memorial would help illustrate the newfound sensitivity that 52’s year off was supposed to give Batman.  Since, y’know, it’s all about Batman.

… Although, if DC insists on keeping the “three Robins, one memorial” mindset going, maybe it could have Jason encounter Stephanie, alive and kicking after being squirreled away to that remote village where Leslie Thompkins exiled herself.  Wonder what sales on that issue would be?…

 

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