November 27th, 2019
When you start looking into the Robins, you tend to categorise each of them in just a short phrase. Dick Grayson is the original, Tim Drake is the young detective, Stephanie is the girl, and Damian is the assassin. Jason is always boiled down to being a hated brat and the one that died in battle. It is hard to get these stereotypes out of your head when you do start diving into the stories of those characters. I feel this is especially true for the Jason Todd Robin. He’s infamous for being the one fans voted to have killed. A Robin who was introduced Post-Crisis by trying to steal the tyres off the Batmobile.
Jason’s run as Robin is incredibly short compared to Dick and Tim. He does have a bit of an attitude and a violent streak. However, reading things from his perspective and the events he does have to go through during his short tenue, you can kind of understand where he is coming from. This is the Robin who fought through The Cult, discovered his father was killed by Two-Face, lived on the streets from an early age and when he is put into care, they ended up being criminals. Jason is more than a little hot headed and quick to act, but it is informed by his background. Through it all, he does show a good heart and a sense of justice.
The story that truly compounds this is Batman #424: The Diplomat’s Son. While on patrol Robin hears a woman’s scream coming from an apartment. He breaks in to be met by two men threatening him. When Batman bursts in to assists and the men are subdued, Robin goes looking for the woman who screamed. He opens the bedroom door to find a woman beaten black and blue, and implied to have been raped. In the police station, the woman is identified as Gloria, with her assailant identified as Felipe Garzonas, the son of a diplomat. Given his status, Felipe has diplomatic immunity and can’t be charged without enough evidence. Even if they had it, it would still be difficult. This enrages Robin to an incredibly noticeable degree. While Batman and Robin talk on the roof, Batman points out that Felipe had dilated pupils and was shaking, he was most likely on drugs. Given his father’s anti-drugs stance, they decide to tail Felipe until they have enough evidence to at least get him deported. Eventually they do manage to bring him down and into police custody, but his lawyer manages to get him off. Robin is again furious, which is made worse when Felipe makes it very obvious that he is calling Gloria and is going to do it again. When he’s gone, Gordon, Batman and Robin try to call Gloria to make sure she is ok, however, they get no answer. When Batman and Robin arrive at her apartment, they find that she has committed suicide, hanging from the ceiling. On his own, Robin confronts Felipe on his apartment balcony, the next page simply shows Felipe falling to his death. When Batman arrives his only words are “Robin, did Felipe fall… or was he pushed?”
While I don’t agree with killing Felipe, it’s incredibly easy to empathise with Jason in this position. This is a person who abuses his diplomatic freedom and does terrible things to people, and Jason wanted to bring him to justice. Even when they did do all the right things to stop him, he still ended up walking free and it cost the life of an innocent girl.