Batman 368
Detective Comics 535
'A Revenge of Rainbows'
Welcome to the team Robin, hope you
survive the experience. Spoiler: It's just barely.
 |
| Nooooooooooooooooooooo! |
But wait, Jason Todd isn't Robin yet,
he was coming up with all kinds of other nicknames: Cardinal, Red the
Acrobatic Kid, Green Robin! As we're aware, Dick Grayson had recently
taken up the new identity of Nightwing
and while he succeeded in saving the Teen Titans from H.I.V.E. And
Deathstroke the Terminator, his debut could have gone better. Death of a teammate
notwithstanding, and much to Jason's joy, Dick still finds the
opportunity to show up just at this time to not only return the Robin
costume to Bruce but also give Jason his blessing in taking over the
role. Considering this was Bruce's major hurdle
as far as Jason taking over the role, it looks like we have a new
Robin!
In an
amazing coincidence, D-grade psychopath Crazy Quilt has escaped from
Arkham Asylum and is back on the streets. Crazy Quilt is a dream of a
premise: He was a painter by day and a crime-lord by night when an
assassin from a rival syndicate up and shot him in the head, blinding
him. Doctors were able to partially restore Mr. Quilt's vision, but
only so that he could see in bright, vivid, primary colors. Ironic
injury alert! Because of this injury, Quilt decided on a stupid name,
a stupid costume and a stupid gimmick (a helmet that produces a
strobe effect of primary colors that screws with people). I'm not
sure who's worse: Crazy Quilt or Rainbow Raider.
I think there's a story at some point were they team up. I'm giddy at
the prospect.
In an event that
can be seen as indicative of Jason's Todd life and career as a
superhero, Crazy Quilt has it in for Robin. Dick Grayson as Robin
caused an accident that struck C-Quilt blind completely. In wiring
his optic nerves to the super-special color-strobe helmet, vision was
yet again restored to the pigment-obsessed villain, a boon Quilt
wants to use specifically to kill the shit out of Robin.
 |
| Robin takes glee in blinding the mentally ill. |
After
all his guffawing about Jason not being a superhero, not being a
sidekick, not wearing a costume, and specifically not being Robin,
the last few stories has seen this stance lessen and lessen
until finally we have the debut of Jason Todd as Robin. Jason has
been staying with Bruce for a while
a this point, and has been training Jason, but I'm uncomfortable with
how easily he forgets the reason he didn't want Dick Grayson, an
18-year-old man, being Robin anymore in the first place: The Joker
shot him and, oh holy shit, kids can get killed doing this crap. This
story does deal with the consequences of a child fighting crime, to
both Jason and Batman, because Crazy Quilt, straight-up almost kills
Robin. He ambushes Jason in an alley and smashes the kid's face again
and again. Only the appearance of Batman saves Robin's life.
Robin recovers
fairly quickly, shrugging off the injuries as not as serious as they
looked and taking the fight back to Crazy Quilt. Robin blinds the
villain again, for what must be the fourth time in his life, and
proves to Bruce that he can hack it as Batman's sidekick.
 |
| I don't know who to be more embarrassed for. |
This all seems a
fairly unbelievable about-turn in Batman's stance on the existence of
Robin. I don't understand, when benching an adult for being injured
on the job, why Bruce is allowing Jason to continue on this path.
This story ultimately fails for not being clear or providing good
reasoning for the resolution of the central conflict. Regardless of
what reservations the characters or readers had with the new Robin,
everything is swept neatly under the rug. Too bad for Jason.
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