Oh, Jesus fucking Chris, can't Jason ever get a win?
This issue is perfect. It's a brilliant tour of Bruce and Jason's emotions, a portrait of Bruce's grief and Jason's suffering. Bruce is so insane right now that he's blind to the emotional impact that taking Jason to the spot where he died would have, hoping that the location will spark some memory of how Jason returned to life. Meanwhile, Jason is incredulous that he put himself in a situation to trust Bruce again only to have Bruce betray him in the worst possible way, conforming for him that he's never been the son that the other Robins have been for Bruce. It's horribly well done and it's so completely why Tomas is one of the best writers of emotion that I've ever read.
But...
...we were almost there. We were almost at the moment that Jason was going to be part of the Bat-family again and Bruce threw it into the gutter. My one consolation is that Jason is in good company, with the rest of the Bat-family not speaking to Bruce either. Plus, even if they start speaking to Bruce again, it's not like they're going to take Bruce's side on this one. I don't see Dick dismissing his actions here as justified given the harm that they do to Jason. So, maybe a better way of phrasing it would be to say that Jason's part of the Bat-family, but it doesn't matter because Bruce isn't. I'd actually love for Jason to appear in "Batgirl" or "Nightwing" and show us that the rest of the Bat-family cares about him. (In fact, Barbara would have to get off her high horse and admit that she's no less a killer now than Jason is, something that would be great to see.)
In other news, Carrie Kelly returns in a great sequence and Tomasi is making it clear that JT might be right: we might soon have enough Batgirls to have "Batgirl, Inc." At the very least, I'm glad that someone'll be keeping Titus company.
So, all in all, this issue is brilliant, truly brilliant. But, I'm extremely disappointed in Bruce as a result. I absolutely believe that he's so mad with grief that he'd do what he does here, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.
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