I Dont Understand How People Think “but They Killed People!” Is Everrrr Going To Convince Me To Hate

authors jason todd can talk about who are NOT jane austen or mary shelley

okay SO. a couple of people indicated they would be interested in this which was honestly all the encouragement i needed. my credentials are that 1.) i love jason todd 2.) i love literature 3.) i got my bachelors degree in english like a week ago and am now in that awkward space in-between school and employment and am looking to fill my time with inconsequential geeking out. amen.

incomplete list of authors and works (romantic to modern) you could write about jason todd being invested in under the cut!!:

SOME DISCLAIMERS:

this list is not even a little bit exhaustive and there are authors big and small i elected not to include because i either felt like i didn’t know enough about their work to comment or i felt their work didn’t relate to jason todd, who is ostensibly the subject of this post

there’s also not a whole lot of detail on the history and context behind these authors and their works, because again, this is a silly tumblr post about the hypothetical reading preferences of a comic book character

while i do have a brand spanking new bachelor's degree in english i cannot claim expert knowledge, especially because most of my education was broad strokes in literature survey classes. i just have access to a lot of overpriced lit anthologies and a dream

also i need to say i LOVE jane austen and mary shelley. i’ve written jason referencing them before and will do it again but come on. there’s a whole world of english lit out there and most of this post is a transparent excuse to get people–including myself–to read more cool poems and stories 

NOW LETS FUCKING GOOOOO

william blake: (1757-1827) blake was a weird fucking guy. he was an artist and poet and he was very preoccupied with religious and esoteric imagery. check out his paintings; they’re all bleak and occasionally grotesque but deeply evocative and honestly?? rad as hell. i think jason would really get a kick out of them. blake’s most famous poem is probably "the tyger", but "london" and "holy thursday" from songs of experience do a great job of invoking a really grimy urban feel that would slide right into gotham. 

lord byron: (1788-1824) a guy described as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know;” which he certainly was. this guy got up to so much dark and broody bullshit that they named a whole character type out of him–byronic hero, anyone? he’s mostly on this list because jason could certainly be called byronic and the connection is too good to pass up, but i do think jason would really vibe with the apocalyptic imagery in "darkness."

okay FINE this doesn’t really have anything to do with jason but "ozymandias" is one of my favorite poems ever and well worth reading

john keats (1795-1821) possibly one of the most romantic out of all the romantic poets, right down to dying tragically young of consumption. i mean, just look at "bright star." i am personally of the opinion that jason is secretly a HUGE romantic, so he’d probably dig keats quite a bit. i would also be remiss if i didn’t nod to “ode on a grecian urn.” 

note the biographical links for the victorian authors direct to victorianweb.org, which is kind of an old reference but it is one i got directed to in one of my first lit classes, so i feel comfortable linking it as a jumping-off point. 

elizabeth barrett browning: (1806-1861) i actually already wrote a fic where jason referenced barrett browning but i’ll reiterate here. barrett browning was HUGELY influential within the victorian time period, probably best known for her verse novel, aurora leigh, about a brilliant young woman working to become an artist against the strictures society has placed on her. lots of really fascinating stuff about womanhood, art, and the intersections thereof within the victorian era. sonnets for the portuguese is another big work of hers, written for her future husband robert browning (a very talented and influential poet in his own right) during their courtship. sonnet 43 is probably the most well-known out of these, but i’m personally a big fan of sonnets 14 and 24. sonnets are great for if you need to write about jason being a weird sappy romantic or just if you want to read cool love poetry. 

alfred, lord tennyson: (1809-1892) there’s a LOT i could say about tennyson’s influence and impact on the victorian era and on poetry at whole that can’t fit into a tumblr post about the reading preferences of a semi-niche comic book character. for jason specifically, "in memoriam", written over the course of about three years after the sudden death of tennyson’s close friend, is a deeply moving meditation on grief, loss, and recovery that jason would likely find really impactful. cantos 54 and 56 are particularly impactful. how am i not supposed to resonate with a banger like “nature, red in tooth and claw”??? huh???

charlotte brontë: (1816-1854) charlotte brontë is best known for her 1847 novel jane eyre which, as a personal aside, is one of my absolute favorite books of all time. jane eyre is the one about the governess and the madwoman in the attic. (obviously, it’s more complex but i’m not getting into that in a tumblr post). jane eyre and brontë’s other two novels, shirley and villette deal with emotionality and strong feeling in ways jason would find very compelling, even if he probably spends most of jane wanting to (rightfully) punt edward rochester and st. john into the sun. jane is the most famous out of the three, but i think shirley is very underrated–i’m still thinking about shirley keeldar saying, and i quote, “bon voyage” after she rejects a proposal. shirley keeldar queen of my heart <3<3. i can’t mention charlotte without also mentioning her sisters emily and anne, but i’m less familiar with their work and can’t comment on it (but probably jason would be a big fan of the gothic leanings of wuthering heights). 

gerard manley hopkins: (1844-1889) hopkins does some REALLY fucking fascinating things with language in his poems. he plays around with sound and meter in ways that dip into modernity. "god’s grandeur" and "as kingfishers catch fire" are particularly good examples of this. "carrion comfort" is the kind of poem everybody should read at least once, and it’s also the kind of poem that jason todd would read and then lay down for a really long time about. 

william butler yeats (1865-1939) an extremely influential modernist poet, deeply associated with the modern irish independence movement and identity (for example, see “an irish airman” or “easter 1916”) which i just think is neat. yeats also wrote a lot about cycles of time and history and idk. i think that would really resonate with the guy who died that one time. i especially recommend checking out “the second coming” and  “sailing to byzantium.” 

t.s. eliot (1888-1965) pretty easily one of the defining modernist authors and critics of the era. “the love song of j. alfred prufrock” is another one of those poems everyone should read at least once and another one of those poems that jason todd would read and then lay down for a really long time about. “the waste land” is long but also really worth reading; but if you’re reading for jason todd specifically, you should take a look at sections i and v. 

there are so SO many more but this post is ah. long enough as is!! if you have any comments or thoughts or questions please feel free to reach out to me!! i’m not ever going to claim to be an expert on the subject, but i do love talking about this stuff :))

The Jason Todd fic I’m working on right now. Did he kill a lot of people? Yes. Is he going to stop? Probably not. Am I going to give him the softest happy ending I can? Yup.

characters have to be a little bit awful in ways that you cant defend. its good for the ecosystem. your honor he did do that. He did in fact do that

God help the day I actually learn how to properly animate I'm gonna become so insufferable

Dick: Oh, Jason and Tim are getting along so good lately. I am happy that, well, things didn't go awry after The Incident Jason, popping out behind Dick: What incident? Dick: Uh-- Bruce: Well-- Jason: What? What are we all talking about? Tim, appearing next to him: What is happening? Jason: They mentioned some Incident between us, I am trying to find which one Bruce, awkwardly: The Titan Tower one? Tim: Like, when Jason hacked all speakers here a week ago, and started streaming his Spotify playlist? I mean, it was kind of fun, why would I be mad at him about it? Jason: Wait, maybe they mean that one time, a few months ago, when we fought about who is the Player One and Two, when trying to play a game on the console? Tim: Worse things happened, though Dick, flabbergasted: ...We... we meant that one time. With slit throat, and stuff. You know. Jason and Tim: ... Tim: That snoozefest? Lol Jason: Jesus, that is the last thing we would think of, fr Tim: Jason fought like a pussy, anyway Jason: Oh, and you were better??? Dick and Bruce: ...What is wrong with you two?

why do I suddenly want to write a 20 chapter fic....

The only acceptable trans Tim headcanon would be Tim introducing himself to the batfam as a boy from the get-go with such confidence that no one questions him. Then, his first solo case as Robin is investigating the disappearance of Jack and Janet Drake's "daughter," so he pretends to have a twin sister by forging a bunch of documents and photoshopping family pictures. He then fabricates evidence of her death, committing multiple crimes in the process, and holds a fake funeral at the end. Because if his previous name is dead to him, he's gonna kill it the Tim Drake way

I am not normal about these two

after my brother’s death, i reflect on the illiad // secret files and origins: nightwing // batman #416 // nightwing #62

Robins are weird about stairs.  And I think that’s a learned behavior.

(Also, I think Jason knows that his way is not effective in a fight.  But, I also think he wouldn’t be able to resist trolling the other Robins.)

Based of this scene:

All characters belong to DC Comics . Artwork by Meredith McClaren

ok sorry I just have to yell about this real quick -

Nightwing (Vol. 2) #139 - The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, part 6 Dick: "I let you make the choice for yourself...because I knew you'd make the right one."

Dick didn't know shit, lmao!! "Because I knew you'd make the right one" my ass lol.

Let's rewind two minutes shall we:

Dick: "Tim... Listen... There are no easy answers... But you have the right to make the choice for yourself." || Dick (internal narration): "No-win. If I stop him, I don't trust him. If he goes through with it, I shouldn't have trusted him. C'mon, Tim..."

He doesn't know what choice Tim is going to make, whether his grief will overcome him and he'll take the Lazarus water or not, and has in fact been physically fighting Tim this entire issue to stop him by force. But ultimately he knows it's Tim's right to choose for himself, and decides to hope, and have faith in his brother.

And he has that faith rewarded, and reaffirms it afterward, despite the fact that he wasn't sure.

And paralleling that moment of "yes of course I knew you had it":

Red Robin (2009) #12 Dick: "How'd you know? How did you know I'd be there to save you?" || Tim: "You're my brother, Dick. You'll always be there for me."

TIM DIDN'T KNOW SHIIIIIIIIT HGKLJDKFLSD

At least not consciously! Being caught by Dick is certainly not something he planned for, as he seems to be trying to imply.

Again, rewind:

Tim (internal narration): "I did it. I saved the people he loved. I saved everything he worked so hard to build. No compromises. He won't say anything, he never does. But I know. I know that Bruce will be proud of me. Not a bad day." || Tim: (in the midst of pASSING TF OUT) || Dick: (swoops in and catches him)

Tim may not have actually known that Dick would be there. But that catch... A falling Tim being caught by Dick is a motif that occurs over and over and over across the years of their relationship. Why do I feel like there's a part of Tim, faint as he faded out, and much stronger when he woke up, that went, "Oh, it's Dick - of course if it was anyone, I knew it would be Dick"?

After their conflicts and miscommunications in this arc, after Tim sweeping back into town and explaining not a single thing as he races to thwart Ra's, despite Dick's frustrated pleas, after cutting Dick off with a simple, "Batman...trust me," and Dick's responding, "Of course"....

Tim feeling like he knew, even if he didn't know, or plan, or expect. Because that's his brother. And choosing to express that trust, after Dick chose to trust him...

Just. Dick and Tim. Verbally reaffirming their faith in each other, even after in-the-moment doubts. BROTHERS. My emotions.