Batgirl Week - Stephanie Brown

Ninja attack!

Three women have held the mantle of Batgirl. Each wore the mantle very differently, each have brought something new and different to the role, each were most assuredly Batgirl. This week we’ll highlight each of the three.

Stephanie Brown

Once upon a time, there was a very lame Batman villain named the Cluemaster. This thief and scam artist was very good at his job, except for one problem: he would always leave a clue behind. Unlike a very similar sounding villain, he did not do this as a game or to prove he was smarter than Batman, but it was an uncontrollable compulsion. This compulsion led him to be easily caught and imprisoned. In prison, he learned to overcome his compulsion and when freed returned to a life of crime without the need to leave easily traceable clues. Deciding enough was enough, his teen daughter began following him during his crimes, leaving behind the clues that he once left himself to “spoil” his crimes. After successfully stoping her father, Stephanie Brown decided to continue her fight against crime and The Spoiler was born.

Spoiler continued in the Batman universe for some time, a constant annoyance to Batman as another untrained, inexperienced person in a costume interfering with His City. Stephanie also had a strong infatuation with Robin with an equally strong liking of Tim Drake, for the longest time never realizing they were the same person.

Stephanie’s superhero career was one filled with tragedy and mistakes. When Tim retired as Robin, she briefly became The Girl Wonder, finally gaining acceptance as a costumed hero, only to be subsequently fired for disobeying orders and putting herself and Bruce in jeopardy. Trying to prove herself, Stephanie attempted to control the gangs of Gotham, but only succeeded in creating an all out gang war that almost destroyed the city. Getting captured, tortured and apparently killed, it seemed that Spoiler was no more. Of course, you can’t keep a good girl down and it was later revealed that her death was faked to escape the clutches of the Black Mask.

Fighting alongside Cassandra Cain in her final fight, Stephanie picked up the discarded cowl and became the new Batgirl. With the precocious and witty spirit of Babs combined with fight training from Cassandra Cain, Batman, and Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown’s Batgirl has become the perfect amalgam of both the Batgirls before her. The twelve issues of her new series have consistently been one of the best stories of the last year as Bryan Q Miller has taken the inexperienced, troubled girl from before and turned her into one of the most compelling new characters. The first of the two trades collecting this Batgirl Rising
chapter has already been released and it definitely should be a Comic You Should Read.

Kris, what’s on your pull list?

* Adventure Comics #517 - Some fun teen drama, but it’s not as enjoyable as the main Legion book. I’m loving the Atom co-feature though.
* Batgirl #13 - Another amazing issue from a series that has yet to have a miss. Batgirl is one of the most charming characters in the DCU.
* Birds of Prey #4 - Gail Simone proves why she is one of the best. This issue is well paced, well written, and absolutely gorgeous.
* Booster Gold #35 - I miss Ted Kord. It’s a little depressing that I fell in love with a character because of the issue he died in. I hope he continues to have cameos in Booster’s time traveling adventures.
* Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #1 - Guy Gardner is a great character. Tomasi writes him better than anyone. Add that to the use of several awesome minor characters from the Sinestro Corp Wars/Blackest Night and this is going to be a hell of a book.
* Justice League: Generation Lost #7 - Judd Winick keeps it up. This issue ups the action and intrigue. Also, I love Rocket Red.
* Superman #702 - I’m still unsure about this storyline. It has some good moments, but seem a little shallow.
* Titans #26 - This book contains several characters that I’m very fond of, so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt. This issue is better than the last, and I think it’s going some where great. I just hope the road isn’t too rocky.
* Zatanna #4 - Paul Dini loves Zatanna and that really shines through in this issue. He wants people to love her as much as he does and is writing a book to make that happen.

Since Trav is on vacation, he won’t be giving his thoughts on his pull list. But he’ll hopefully share them with you some time next week.