Stephanie Brown: Spoiler, Robin, Batgirl Appreciation 2020

[millernumber1]

Im just gonna imagine in my personal headcanon that in the new timeline. Bruce was nicer and less of an arse!

Who DOESN'T want to live in this timeline?

Also, Batman did not originally allow Stephanie to know his identity during her time as Robin, which this story ignores. Intentional retcon for the new continuity?

It was never outright stated that Steph didn't know his identity. In Robin #126, he says "none of the big secrets", but it's possible that she did know. I think the intent was that she didn't, since he wore the cowl in her training scenes - but I have no real difficulty thinking she did know. She still wouldn't know about Matches Malone, which is the only key piece she needed to be ignorant of.

[GaryFisher]

I just took it as "this is a Robin issue." It's not great, but I'm not worried. I'd rather just celebrate how fun Steph's little story was!

Really have a bad feeling about this. Remember Steph's Batgirl era wasn't mentioned in the 5G chart?

Also, the Robin!Steph is great, but it doesn't ‘fit in’ the present timeline, where Steph was never a Robin.

[Digifiend]

That's the New 52 timeline, not the present one. It seems to have recently changed. In the Red Robin story, which is set just before Detective Comics Rebirth, Tim says he's not yet 20. That implies he's now 19. But he was 16 in that Detective Comics run, meaning saying he wasn't 18 yet would make more sense. That looks to me like a pre-Flashpoint continuity restoration related age up. Which in turn should also restore Steph's continuity. She already regained her memories of that timeline anyway (so did Tim, by different means).

[Blue22]

Also, Batman did not originally allow Stephanie to know his identity during her time as Robin, which this story ignores. Intentional retcon for the new continuity?

Didn't she interact with Alfred during her time as Robin? Kinda hard to not know Batman's ID when Bruce Wayne's very well known butler is hanging around the Batcave.

[millernumber1]

Really have a bad feeling about this. Remember Steph's Batgirl era wasn't mentioned in the 5G chart?

Also, the Robin!Steph is great, but it doesn't ‘fit in’ the present timeline, where Steph was never a Robin.

I don't want to borrow trouble just yet. Just want to sent positive vibes because of the new Stephanie Brown content, especially as Robin, one of my favorites who never got enough stories. Not that you're wrong, but I hope that it's just the last gasp of Didio's misguided reign, and hopefully wiser heads will prevail.

I don't think it was really trying to fit into the timeline today - all of these stories were love letters to specific things, and this was a love letter to Steph's time as Robin, which was very rooted in 2004.

Didn't she interact with Alfred during her time as Robin? Kinda hard to not know Batman's ID when Bruce Wayne's very well known butler is hanging around the Batcave.

She did! I think that the original intent was that Steph didn't know Bruce was Batman, but it was never said outright, so I'm okay with this slightly retconning it. As long as she doesn't know Matches Malone, that's all that really matters to keep it in continuity.

Also, Damion Scott has commented on his original Steph design:

https://twitter.com/DamionScott2/sta...68495349014531

"I usually don’t respond to stuff like this but I have to. If my version of Steph is a bit busty it’s because when I drew her back in the day she was Batgirls(Cassie)sidekick. Batgirl being on the waifish side I decided to make Steph more busty for contrast and nothing more."

[sunofdarkchild]

Steph first met Alfred a long time before she became Robin. There was a period where both Tim and Alfred left Bruce and Alfred went to work for Tim instead of Bruce, and she first interacted with him there.

As for her knowing who Batman really is, on the one hand she knew exactly how to get to the batcave, which I don't understand how you can do that and not realize it's right by Wayne Manor. On the other hand she did not understand why everyone was so concerned with Bruce Wayne's innocence in the 'Bruce Wayne: Murderer' storyline. But when she came back, Everyone acted like she just knew Bruce was Batman all along. I guess by that point, since Tim had been officially adopted by Bruce, there really was no way she couldn't have known, but she was never shown actually finding out or figuring it out.

[Digifiend]

I don't think it was really trying to fit into the timeline today - all of these stories were love letters to specific things, and this was a love letter to Steph's time as Robin, which was very rooted in 2004.

I'm not so sure about that. In Tim's first story, he mentions being into eSports. Did people call online gaming that twelve years ago? Just doesn't feel like something he'd have said at the time.

[sunofdarkchild]

In 2008? eSports were already being televised at that point, and not just in South Korea. Even then, I'd start with the assumption that any story is working with a sliding timescale and took place sometime in the last 10 years no matter the era it came out.

[millernumber1]

Steph first met Alfred a long time before she became Robin. There was a period where both Tim and Alfred left Bruce and Alfred went to work for Tim instead of Bruce, and she first interacted with him there.

As for her knowing who Batman really is, on the one hand she knew exactly how to get to the batcave, which I don't understand how you can do that and not realize it's right by Wayne Manor. On the other hand she did not understand why everyone was so concerned with Bruce Wayne's innocence in the 'Bruce Wayne: Murderer' storyline. But when she came back, Everyone acted like she just knew Bruce was Batman all along. I guess by that point, since Tim had been officially adopted by Bruce, there really was no way she couldn't have known, but she was never shown actually finding out or figuring it out.

I agree that her not knowing by the point she became Robin seems silly, which is why I don't mind the retcon. I'm pretty sure that it was ambiguous, never directly stated that she didn't know, but heavily implied.

I'm not so sure about that. In Tim's first story, he mentions being into eSports. Did people call online gaming that twelve years ago? Just doesn't feel like something he'd have said at the time.

Eh. I think it's not as big a deal to get some aspects of modernization wrong, given the sliding timescale.

[Restingvoice]

Tumblr's angry because Stephanie's story is about her protesting 27 times that her costume doesn't fit, because she's a girl so her story is about clothes instead of a heartfelt story like the boys, and she got the worst artist in the book

[Dataweaver]

Yeah; well, while Tumblr had a point I'm getting tired of the outrage. I'm with millernumber1 on this, and just want to celebrate Stephanie getting a decent story for once.

[Gotham citizen]

I think some fans have a very childish way to express their (not always) well motivated complaints, but in this way it seems they are wrong even if they are right and in my humble opinion this could be one of these cases: her story seems to me the most childish of all. Maybe it is the art, maybe it is the emphasis on the clothes puts int the first pages of the story, but I have had this (maybe wrong) feeling.

[OBrianTallent]

Um, Steph did get a heartfelt story about her determination to prove to batman she was capable but also that she wasnt like the other Robin's. It was a fun quirky story which personified Stephanie Brown. Yeah it had a couple of pages about her clothes...but the reasoning in that was also to highlight she was NOT ZDick, Jason or Tim...she is different. I thought it was a great little story.
On the art side, Damion's art is more stylized than when he originally drew her, but it wasnt bad at all.

[millernumber1]

Tumblr's angry because Stephanie's story is about her protesting 27 times that her costume doesn't fit, because she's a girl so her story is about clothes instead of a heartfelt story like the boys, and she got the worst artist in the book

I'm really distressed. I'm also on tumblr, and I was really hoping that people who embrace this story and love it as much as I did. I don't think Scott is the "worst" - he's just got a very different style, and I found it very appealing. And to say that this story is just about clothes is...almost a deliberate misreading.

Yeah; well, while Tumblr had a point I'm getting tired of the outrage. I'm with millernumber1 on this, and just want to celebrate Stephanie getting a decent story for once.

I feel like there's a lot to celebrate! Steph turning the tables on a villain! Getting a room of her own!

I think some fans have a very childish way to express their (not always) well motivated complaints, but in this way it seems they are wrong even if they are right and in my humble opinion this could be one of these cases: her story seems to me the most childish of all. Maybe it is the art, maybe it is the emphasis on the clothes puts int the first pages of the story, but I have had this (maybe wrong) feeling.

I wouldn't say "childish", but rather cartoony. I don't want to invalidate people who felt uncomfortable with the story - you can't control your experience and how it affects the way you read - but I don't like the implication that if you love this story you're only doing so for morally bad reasons.

Um, Steph did get a heartfelt story about her determination to prove to batman she was capable but also that she wasnt like the other Robin's. It was a fun quirky story which personified Stephanie Brown. Yeah it had a couple of pages about her clothes...but the reasoning in that was also to highlight she was NOT ZDick, Jason or Tim...she is different. I thought it was a great little story.
On the art side, Damion's art is more stylized than when he originally drew her, but it wasnt bad at all.

100% agreed! It just dripped with Steph's personality, and her central conflict of not being able to fit in with the Batfamily. I really loved how Damion's art had evolved a bit - it's still very much the same artist, but it feels fresh in the new angles and looks he chose to give Steph.

One of my podcast co-hosts mentioned that this feels very much like a cartoon short, which is appropriate given Wolfram's writing background - but I don't see that as a negative at all. Steph would fit in a lighthearted cartoon very well.

[Jackalope89]

I thought it was a fun little story. Steph trying to be a Robin, and Bruce getting used to having a girl as Robin. Honestly liked the lighter story it told (same with the Super Sons one later on).