"Read Banned Books" A New Full Page Cartoon Essay Published In The New York Times Arts & Leisure Section

"Read Banned Books" a new full page cartoon essay published in The New York Times Arts & Leisure section today.

Frowny do you think in the future when Bruce is gone, Clark interacts less often with Jason because he looks a lot like Bruce and it makes him miss his best friend? (His "almost" but too late)

(Jason just thinks he's Uncle Clark's least favorite...)

Oof. Yeah, I think that would be really hard for Clark.

the other kids sound like Bruce, sometimes they act like him, but Jason sometimes has all three in those rare, strange moments -- he leans over a computer, scoffs at something on the screen, and it's just this barely-there exhale through his nose, but he looks so much like Bruce for a moment, that it's like he's right back there in the Cave. he even squints the same way, leaning closer to look at the screen, and his hair falls over his face, sweaty from patrol, and it's the same, it's the same but it's not.

and then Jason looks up and swears, or does something else Bruce wouldn't do, and the illusion is broken. but Clark is left standing there, staring, trying not to let his shock and grief show on his face all over again. because Jason won't like that, doesn't like the glimmers of Bruce people see in him, even though deep down they still mean something to him.

so yeah -- Clark makes excuses, doesn't come by as often, doesn't help him as much as the others, even Damian, because it hurts too much to be caught unaware by those strange halfway moments.

a concept, brought to you by my love of bruce whump + batfam meets the jl fics, and no small amount of irritation that bruce seems to be the only one taking project cadmus completely seriously in jlu:

bruce has to call in the rest of the batfam (dick, tim, cass, and steph - jason hasn’t come back yet which also means no damian) for some battle or catastrophe or something, and the justice league is super excited to meet his ‘associates’, so afterward they’re all kind of jabbering questions at the batkids, but bruce, who is paranoid, traumatized, and hasn’t slept in three days, throws himself between his kids and the league in flat-out terror (bc if the jl could kill him without thinking about it, his babies don’t stand a chance). maybe j’onn is the only one who recognizes why batman is projecting ‘one more step and i’ll rip your throats out with my teeth’ which somehow leads to the revelation that batman is a baseline human and maybe makes the jl consider why ‘we’re the good guys’ is not much of a reassurance for world governments.

(‘i’m scared of what you could do if you lost control bc i know exactly what you’re capable of. imagine what someone without that knowledge would think, and remember that humans are very good at coming up with/planning for worst case scenarios’)

I always think of Bruce seeing Clark or Diana reaching to shake Dick’s hand (Robin Dick, or even freshly Nightwing) and literally throwing himself in front of Dick because sure, Diana broke his arm the first time she shook his hand but that wasn’t her fault, she didn’t realize he wasn’t a meta and Bruce never corrected her. but. she’s about to do the same thing to Dick and no one knows what’s about to happen except Bruce—

Okay so wait you guys all know that thing that teachers or parents do were they forget that they don't have to speak in like a baby voice all the time and accidentally interact with grown adults in the same manner they do with a child right? Okay so imagine that- but with Batman and the Justice League

Like-

Hal and Barry are arguing and suddenly Batman goes, “boys, thats not very nice is it?” in like a kid voice

Or Oliver is complaining about getting patched up after a fight and Batman chides, “You take the hit you gotta take the stitch baby,” 

Or Clark is mumbling something and Bats goes, “Speak up sweetheart, lets use our speech properly yeah?”

Or Diana accidentally punches a man in the face when hes already down. Batman tsks, “Come on darling, what did we talk about? One hit only.”

Or Oliver is leaving for a mission and Dinah kisses him goodbye and then he walks away, only for Batman to go, “Say bye bye!” 

AGDJFDYSGUKSRHGBDF

Just please imagine their faces for me.

And Batman grimaces lightly afterwards every time and just leaves and the League is flabbergasted

About your post the other day. Bruce thinking of a broken back as "annoying" because he can file away his horrific injuries as plain records of facts. Sometimes he accidentally distresses his loved ones about something he's totally minimized. He's comforted that his kids aren't used to forcing themselves to walk on broken bones, sleeping in the snow with infected stab wounds. When they're hurt, they get care. When they fall, there is a net to catch them. They've endured so much, but most of them grew up in a kinder, more supportive environment. If nothing else, the ones forced into training from birth were treated as valuable, every injury carefully tended so they'd always perform with full physical ability. They can't imagine their fingers not responding enough to form a fist, or crawling into a muddy ditch to rest through the night.

Then there is Jason. Instead of horror, Jason has understanding. He reacts to Bruce's old injuries like they two of them share an inside joke, or his gaze goes distant and he changes the subject. Fractured skull, limbs swollen with compartment syndrome, ruptured kidneys, shattered ribs. Sleeping on the streets. Bones healing misaligned, cold seeping into pins and screws. Bruce thinks of carefully putting bandaids on little hands, how those hands carefully turned the pages in his books, how in the end every bone in those hands was crushed. Ever since, when Bruce is injured, he thinks of Jason's autopsy report, his thoughts are a spiral of "This pain is what he felt. This is what he felt. This is what he—"

Outwardly Bruce looks fine. Inwardly he's spiralling about being a worthless failure who never deserved the honor of being called a parent. At this point, Bruce gets pulled out of his head by Dick desperately asking for help on a case that he he already knows how to solve, or Cass tackling him at her full velocity and using him as a pommel horse for a gymastics routine, or Jason showing the younger kids that Bruce can identify which Gotham water bodies you fell into in the last six weeks if you stick your boot under his nose.

"the only person who comes closest to understanding what Jason went through is Bruce" and "Bruce is the last person Jason wants to see most days" are two, beautifully conflicting facts. How much of Jason's distance from Bruce is a desire to not be known, to be perceived? and yet, by putting that space between them, he deprives himself of someone who understands that kind of trauma and has made it out to the other side. and I think a part of Jason knows that Bruce should've died by now, could have died, and has come so damn close with some injuries and torture that the line isn't even definitive. and yet. and yet...

Vulcan teen on Vulcan [tiktok] saying "I have just lost track of my father in the grocery store." The camera turns to show the viewers the grocery store in which almost every single older middle-aged man has a bowlcut and long robes. Camera turns back to show the teen's face which is expressionless and yet communicates all it needs to.