Stephanie Brown. Spoiler. Robin. Batgirl. A girl by many names, and eager to fight crime. She was the first female Robin in normal continuity, since Carrie Kelly was from an alternate future of Batman. She had a short stint as Robin before she was captured and tortured to death by the Black Mask until it was revealed that somehow she survived. She became the third Batgirl and had her own comic series.... before the New 52 happened and she was wiped from existence. I never had a problem with Babs regaining the use of her legs and retaking the mantle... I just didn't like how her appearance suddenly erased the existence of Stephanie (and Cassandra Cain) as if she was one and only Batgirl ever. Today let's step back in time and see some of Steph's adventures during her brief stint as the fourth Robin.
Robin # 127 starts off 'Girl Wonder' with Batman and Robin doing what they do best, kickin' ass and taking names on some street punks. Based on Steph's 'Robin War Journal' narration, these guys are low level street punks that change their gang name often (currently calling themselves Bloodbath Inc). However, this time they're trying to torch Gotham City landmarks. Batman questions one of the guys to find out who hired them. After a few threats, the guy named out Henry Aquista, which sends Batman and Robin on their way.
As they drive off in the Batmobile, Steph asks when she can drive it and Bats says til she's old enough. Steph already has her license but that's not changing his mind. Then she asks when she can fly the Batplane, and Bats says sometime before her 35th birthday.
Meanwhile, Tim Drake calls the Brown residence, but her mom tells her Steph is out studying for her GED. Tim is saddened since Steph's been avoiding him (they used to date when she was The Spoiler) and his college buddies tell him that kinda thing happens to everyone.
Meanwhile a woman in some sort of high tech suit is confirming she just killed a 17 year old named Warren Koestler, who she thought might have been Robin. She heard Robin is back in town, so she thinks it's a matter of time before she finds him.
Later on, Batman and Robin are facing a flying super villian named Tiger Moth who has captured some children, and due to her being to fly, she's out of their reach. Steph is surprised that even Batman is having trouble laying a hand on her. Batman accidently legsweeps Robin, but as she falls, she managed to grab onto Tiger Moth's leg. As the villianess tries to fly with Steph still holding onto her, Robin manages to shoot a grappling line to the ground, tying her down so she can't escape. As Robin returns to the ground, Batman makes sure the kids that Tiger Moth was after are ok.
Back at the Batcave Steph complains about all the cops that got lucky breaks due to Batman catching the bad guys for them. Batman says the kids Tiger Moth captured are safe at their homes, and congratulates Steph for her good work. Batman mentions that Tiger Moth, just like the insect she's named after, has electronics in her outfit that sends sonic signals to confuse and screw up the aim of her enemies.
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| Little in the middle, but she packs much back! No serious, look at her tiny waist and DAT ASS. |
At college, Tim watches a big dude heading off to flush a kid in the toilet. Tim talks him out of it, convincing him that those kinds of computer geeks run the world now, including the sports teams. Tim's female friend Darla is impressed by how Tim defused the situation without violence. Just then another classmate, Bernard, brings in a newspaper announcing that Batman now has a female Robin, much to the dislike of Tim.
Bernard is into all kinds of conspiracy theories and is convinced Batman owns lots of secret orphanages to train Robins to replace them whenever they get killed off. Darla says she's just glad a girl got the job, and Bernard says not to get used to her since he hears Robins last about 3 days.
In the Batcave, Steph continues to train, punching and kicking the hell out of a punching bag, and then doing push-ups, while being supervised by Oracle (Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl) through a video screen. Steph thinks to herself about the better he does, the more Batman and his group ask of her. She tells Babs the Cave has all sorts of fancy equipment and she has to resort to doing push-ups, so Babs sends a machine to put a barbell on her back.
She gets a phone call, and it's from Tim. He says he finally knows why she's been avoiding him. He tells her to meet him on the rooftop of his house in an hour. He hangs up looking sad.
Batman drives home sending Cassandra on an important mission. Steph, dressed as Robin and ready to go see Tim, runs into Batman who says she can't go out alone as her costumed persona since she's still under probation. He says there's a serial killer working under their noses, going out killing entire families that have children between 14 to 18. He shows Steph pictures of the victims and she says they all kinda look like Tim. Batman says it seems the killer is out to kill the previous Robin. They dash to the Batmobile.
Tim waits for Steph, but sees Batgirl instead. Cassandra tells him Steph's not coming but figures he could use the company.
Meanwhile the woman from earlier is dressed in her full tech gear (kinda like a beetle) and sneaks into the home of 17 year old David Fitch, ready to kill him while his family is away. Instead she finds Robin waiting, and Batman soon steps out of the closet (har har) to surround her. Robin asks herself why Gotham suddenly has so many female insect themed villains.
This was an entertaining read and took me to an era I missed out on since I wasn't into comics at this time. Or at least not the Batman comics. There's a lot I missed as we see here, Steph as Robin, Cass as Batgirl and Babs as Oracle. Makes me wish the New 52 didn't suddenly say these characters, and by default, these stories never happened. I never knew there was a Robin comic series that lasted over 127 issues. I wonder if Tim quit just last issue to pass the comic over to Steph, or how this all worked.
The weird cartoony art style is also weird. Tim and the college kids all look weird, Robin looks very cartoonish, but at least Batman himself still looks bad-ass.
I like Stephanie as Robin. Her little war journal takes us into her head, similar to how Tim also had a lot of internal monologue during his first official outing as Robin. I also liked the fact that despite being a girl they didn't play up any stereotypical 'like OMG, I'm so totally Robin!!!' overly-girlish behavior. Sure, she's happy and excited to be a Robin, kicking ass alongside Batman himself, but her attitude and teenage spunky humor could have also worked if it was another male Robin. Good job.
The story itself is interesting, with this mystery woman going around and killing anyone that could have been a Robin. It does kinda make sense, since all he wears is that domino mask. You still get a basic idea of what his hairstyle and general facial features look like. Batman on the other hand could be blonde or even bald under his mask for all we know. This woman is obviously after Tim, who stopped being Robin to finish college, I suppose, so we'll have to see what happens.
I did like the bit of Bernard throwing in all his little theories of Batman working some sort of shadow black-ops government that has lots of secret orphanages designed to raise and train Robins. I also like how he flat out assumed the old Robin must have died to make way for this new female Robin, leaving Tim to ask where exactly did it say that in the newspaper. It's funny to hear how different people throughout the city feel about the Caped Crusader.
However, Bernard's line about Robins lasting about 3 days is closer to truth than fiction. Sadly, Steph didn't last long as her stint as the first official female Robin. I'm going to follow up on this with part 2 of this tale... and another issue I found in which she appeared in an issue of the Cassandra Batgirl series.
Although not all hope is lost for Steph, I just found out she will actually return in a new series called Batman Eternal. It seems she will return as The Spoiler, but hey, it's something. Let's see where the New 52 takes her.
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