Aidan Diamond
(Memorial University of Newfoundland), ‘Cross the line’: Vigilante Justice and
Batman on Trial in Under the Red Hood
In this paper,
I argue that the character of Jason Todd (the second Robin, Red Hood, and
unexpected survivor of the infamous A Death in the Family storyline)
performs an incisive critique of and challenge to Batman’s system of justice in Batman:
Under the Red Hood (2006).
Before
engaging with Jason Todd’s three main narratives of juridical critique (‘The
Second Robin’, Red Hood: The Lost Days, Under the Red Hood),
I will contextualise Batman’s system of justice and regulation as exemplified
by the enduring conflict between Batman and the Joker, using Michael Smith’s
reflection on the Joker’s relationship to ‘Evil’ and Michel Foucault’s ‘About
the Concept of the Dangerous Individual’.
I will then
address Jason and the narratives in which he indicts Batman’s approach to
justice, revenge, and punishment. In the context of the perspectives offered by
Foucault and Smith, I argue that Jason poses a challenge to Batman’s juridical
system from within the comics-world. Further, though this challenge is
ultimately unsuccessful, I argue that it is significant in that it attempts to
hold Batman accountable for his system and its failings, in a mythos that otherwise
privileges Batman’s juridical system over any and every challenge.
Aidan Diamond is
finishing her Master’s in English at Memorial University of Newfoundland. She
has presented in Canada, the UK, and the US; co-edited a special issue of the Journal
of Graphic Novels and Comics (Sept. 2017); contributed a chapter to
the forthcoming Essays on DC’s Harley Quinn, and an essay to ImageText’s
forthcoming publication of the Mixing Visual Media in Comics conference, which
she co-organised and moderated.
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