suddenly struck with thoughts about the devastating concept of Jason Todd

because he was good. because he had a bleeding heart despite every reason not to. he loved school and was good at it. he was the first to be adopted, with little pretense of guardianship. he did everything he could to be a perfect Robin and live up to an impossible ideal. he only ever wanted Bruce and Dick to like him.

because he met Bruce in the same place and on the same day that Bruce's parents died--the single defining moment of Batman's existence. and he made Batman laugh. he hit the Dark Knight, Terror of Gotham, with a tire iron. he wasn't afraid of the man who turned fear into a weapon.

because he couldn't save his mother from herself, but he tried. because he was too good not to try and save the woman who gave him up. too good to play the Joker's game. the crowbar didn't kill him, the bomb did. he died knowing he wouldn't make it and tried anyway. he died a hero.

because other Robins have died, but none of them put an irrevocable tear in the mythos of Batman. because Jason Todd always dies, in every universe. he dies for the sins of his father. he was put to death by popular vote, sacrificed by the crowd. doomed by the narrative and doomed by the audience. the boy who only ever tried to prove he was good enough--wasn't good enough.

because he has every reason to be angry. because he didn't ask to be murdered, didn't ask to be brought back, and when he did everyone acted like he was better off dead. Bruce tried to kill him and nearly succeeded. he's blamed for his own death and blamed for his resurrection. he can never come home because the house is haunted by his own ghost.

because he's been the hero, the victim, and the villain. because his family and his writers and his universe don't know what to make of him. they don't know how to look his tragedy in the eye. and how can you?

it hurts to look at the hero who cannot be good enough, the victim who will only ever be angry, the villain who can sometimes be right. the audience hates to feel complicit and, in this exceptional case, they are.

it's december so it's time for me to stare at everything i drew this year and judge myself

some environments that im ok with! would like to draw more of them next year

"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. [EDIT: I SCREWED UP! This was created in 2019 by the guy who runs the Midnighter-Core page on Facebook, and Joey just reposted it!]

So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe is fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/

- Midnighter-Core, 2019

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0bU6TrKdX6QgMLnUFk64jResHMVwiSyENASvJk7efasgZ94G4c81XJCVgGcLFPgPsl&id=594855544368212&mibextid=Nif5oz

in honour of his birthday my list of jason todd crimes. hes my special guy despite all of this.

-mass murder -serial killing -the thing with the severed heads -organized crime -trespassing -gun trafficking -assault -assault of a minor (tim drake so it doesnt count) -mutilation -death threats -unlawful possession of firearms -torture -identity theft -impersonating someone and killing people as them so they face the consequences (defamation?) -kidnapping -petty theft -attempted cannibalism (as a large monster) -destruction of proprety -grand theft auto -vandalism -underage drinking and smoking

im probably missing a few but??? oh well.

Something about how Jason Todd’s core character trait is how he lost faith. He lost faith in Shiela, in Bruce, in the entire concept that someone else can care about him and actually have his best interests at heart.

Something about how Catholic priest Flashpoint Jason Todd is someone who has such intense faith, who trust so heavily in someone basically unprovable. Something about how without Bruce, without being Robin, it was his faith that was his core character trait.

Something about how being Robin and the life he was led into changed him in such a tragic and deep seeded way. I don’t know

the thing about robin kon that really gets me (well. one of many things.) is how intense that display of devotion is. that's really why i want him to get his tim back because like, imagine being the most repressed little freak and then finding out one day from your best friend that, yeah, he loves you so much that when he lost you he walked away from the dream he centered his entire life around (to be superman) to try and honor you and uphold your legacy instead. literally how do you even begin to react to and process that? how do you wrap your mind around someone loving you that much?

my heart is breaking

"What's the point of Tim Drake? There's nothing he brings to the table that the other Batfamily members don't have" buddy, I don't know how to help you understand that 7/8ths of those other people WOULDN'T BE THERE if it weren't for Tim Drake

huge news for my fellow fictional map enthusiasts. i think i just found a (semi-)canon map of wayne manor

Tell me why you picked yours in the tags!

The bots are evolving!!

Now I’ve seen bots with firstname-lastname combo with numbers in the middle, but even more odd are the ones without numbers at all… Some jumbled up almost-words that at first glance could be actual tumblrs. But when you click through to see their blogs, they look just like the old bots.

Apparently at some point the bots starts to leave comments with malware links on your posts if left to their own devices. I saw that in the wild today on someone else’s post.

Remember to report as spam and block!

Is it weird that I put multiple drawings in one post. I feel like I accidentally overwhelm people. I just have sooo many doodles though I need to load them off in dumps you know

Jason Todd has never half-assed anything in his entire life, he puts 110% effort into absolutely everything he does, even the dumb or silly stuff, he goes all in, and he’s so committed to every bit. And he makes it look effortless

ur telling me batman (a hero whose power is like 65% fear 35% money) has a villain who is all about weaponizing fear and he’s not the main villain? ur telling me batman (man with a secret identity so strong that there are questions of who the real person is at the end of the day and whose entire creed is about stopping One Bad Day™️) has a villain who is his childhood friend that has physically separated his dual violent-nonviolent nature and is all about duality and chance and he’s not the main villain? ur telling me batman (man with strong ideas about the Right Way to stop crime and who emerged from the destruction of his own family structure) has a villain who is his undead son/former sidekick who he couldn’t save and now disagrees with the way to address crime in gotham and he’s not the main villain? ur shitting me about this clown guy right

@pscentral event 10: best of 2022 | 2022 tumblr memes.

Genuinely 2022 has been an amazing year for tumblr memes

I mean we had so many good ones:

#girl ban

Lennon Asscrack

Horse Plinko

Blorbo from my shows

The variations upon blorbo(glup shitto, skrungly, poor little meow meow)

Eeby Deeby

It's me boy, the PS5 inside your brain

Live Slug reaction

Crabs

Eurovision Pussy

Tumblr Blaze Launch ft. Catholic evangelism and My immortal

Twitterpocalypse

Dracula Daily

Thank goodness he's straight actually

Pikaman

July(Shinso Abe's death, British gov collapse)

Gougar

September 8th(Queen dead, sansweep)

They unbanned tits- wait no they didn't

The Lettuce is Pm now

Twitterpocalyspe 2 he actually bought it this time

Tits are legal for real this time

2nd Anniversary of Nov 5th ft. Ryan Reynolds

And Now

Goncharov

In general something has definitely been in the water this year when we look back at the memes.