WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #4, available now on Webtoon.
Even in a wholesome, slice-of-life comic series that's fun for all ages, Batman and the Red Hood still have some tension in their relationship. In Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #4, by CRC Payne, Starbite, Maria Li, Lan Ma, C.M. Cameron, Kielamel Sibal, Batman had discovered that someone had been breaking into his safehouses and stealing equipment from him. Only a handful of people were capable of doing such a thing, but his suspicions about which of his enemies were robbing turned out to be incorrect.
As he discovered here, Jason who was helping himself to Batman's gadgets. But the exchange, while meant to be funny and even a little cute, exemplifies how the unsteady relationship portrayed in the DCU even translates to here.
Batman has safehouses set up all around the city, in keeping with overpreparation being one of the hallmarks of his whole persona. So when someone began robbing those safehouses, it set off some alarm bells. To compensate, he set up some new alarms that alerted him to another break-in as it happened. But the fact that someone knew where these hideouts were and was skilled enough to evade Batman's security systems should have tipped Batman off that one of his proteges who was stealing from him.
When they discovered each other, Batman didn't even admonish Jason, who pretended nothing was amiss before swiping another gadget and running off, mentioning that Bruce should take better care of his things. This left Batman to clean up the mess, all the while grumbling that he gives Jason the latest gadgets and upgrades every month.
The interaction, while brief and meant to be funny, is an interesting examination of their dynamic in this series. Typically, Bruce has a hard time trusting Jason because of past misdeeds and Jason likewise still has some hurt feelings over the way Bruce handled his death. This comic sidesteps that by portraying the Bat-Family as much more functional with their relationships being much healthier. And yet, Jason is still something of the black sheep of the family.
Despite Bruce outright stating that he keeps Jason up to date on equipment, Jason still felt the need to break into one of Batman's safehouses and pilfer whatever he wanted. Based on Jason's reaction though, it wasn't one made out of malice or bitterness, but just some genuine fun he was having. Perhaps he wanted to test his skills against Batman's security system or maybe he just broke all of his equipment and needed to restock, but was too proud to ask Batman. Either seems like a valid option considering the kind of person that Jason is.
And he's always been someone to push Batman's buttons. Even at his most civil moments, Jason could rarely resist poking fun at Bruce. In this more light-hearted setting, the antagonism may be gone, but their dynamic of giving each other grief still remains. However, that isn't a bad thing. A large part of Jason's character is his relationship to Bruce and how it affects his character growth over the years.
For an all-ages comic like Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, the classic dynamic of Bruce and Jason duking it out over the lines they can and cannot cross wouldn't sit well. If Jason pulled out a gun and shot a drug dealer in this comic, it would ruin the whole aesthetic. And yet that confrontational attitude needed to manifest in some way. And for a comic treating the Bat-Family as being more wholesome, Jason essentially behaves like a rebellious teenager who likes to mess with his dad.