Status Updates From Batman: Under the Red Hood

"The father had lost a son, and now the son had lost the father."

oh my god. and joker's just smiling all the while.

"I'm talking about him. Just him. And doing it because... because he took me away from you."

NOOOOOO right as he tells bruce "-and if you want to stop it...you're going to have to shoot me. right in my face." you can see he's crying!! and bruce's anguish!

i'm now realizing how much the movie omits, at least i think this whole subplot with blüdhaven getting vaporized and jason, for SOME reason, not caring about dick's potential death (!!!?!??!) wasn't there.
oh, the anugish! the heartbreak! he's crying—jason—you can see!

"I know I failed you. But I tried to save you, Jason. I'm... I'm trying to save you now"

"You don't just know him, you know him. This is one of your people who's stepped off the reservation and traded handcuffs for flatlines...

exhibit a!! god, i can't keep going. the symbolism of "the east end. you know where." MY GOD!!

black mask excelling with the psychoanalysis, as always. i noticed this in RHATO as well; he's able to, funnily enough, read jason and his motivations and desires like a book, and does so with regard to his and bruce's relationship here with the latter.

i was convinced i'd hate the joker in this, but unfortunately for me, he is... hilarious.
also, i love that that actual main plot is picking up when we have so little left.
also, again, the debut of jason's daddy issues.

which leads me to, i think, the main issue with this "book's" formatting. it's basically a collection of all the little serialized comics issues that early red hood in, which destroys any semblance of good pacing it might've had. i've not even truly watched the movie yet, and i'm ready to venture out onto a limb and confidently declare that it's better than this.

also, the pacing of this is SO strange. i thought i was done only to realize i was barely halfway. a lot of moments that would've been SO chilling and impactful at the end lost a lot of that punch when placed in the middle. i'm fairly sure i'm almost done, and we've only JUST started the joker subplot. which is supposed to be the main conflict of this whole novel! if you can even call it that...

he's a GOOD GUY, your honor!!!
oh my god!
i've seen people say that 'under the red hood' has done a lot of damage to jason's character, which i can definitely see (a lot of things that are at odds with the way i've known him to be characterized) but i genuinely believe the opposite. i've never agreed with his motivations and everything he does so strongly until now.

my god. i definitely wouldn't have expected it, and indeed went into this ready to vilainize bruce, but the chapter im on rn (family reunion part 2) does a very (unfortunately for me, a red hood glazer) heartwrenching job at portraying bruce's humanity. especially before what i know to be a very difficult conflict for him.