Originally Posted by
godisawesome
I think part of the issue with Steph’s death, and with how much it fed into the “Didio hates her” storyline was that, due to scheduling issues, her death almost got immediately overshadowed by the death of Jack Drake in Identity Crisis.
I mean, wasn’t the “funny” thing about that one-two punch the fact that Steph had *just* been kicked out of the Robin identity in time for Tim to be Robin in Identity Crisis *just* in time to have his dad killed? And then Geoff Johns went and used his Teen Titans run to have Tim shook up and mourning Jack’s death, before the escalation toward Infinite Crisis kind of closed the window for mourning opportunities for Steph’s sake... in part because Tim then lost Conner... and his stepmom... and then Bart...
Like, in a weird way, you could tell just how strong the character shield was around the Robin Identity, because of how vicious Didio’s shotgun spread of character deaths was around Tim, not to mention the entire city of Bludhaven as well (right around the time Didio was trying to gun down Dick as well and had to get held back by Johns and co.)
However...
...One of the very few gems that emerged from War Games directly, that I think maybe deserves a spin-off conversation in this thread, was the Batgirl/Robin crossover in Bludhaven. Not because the plot was stellar - the main conflict was mostly just relying on a big gotcha with a stuffed Blockbuster - but because of the scenes between Cass and Tim, particularly the scene where they just sit by each other and awkwardly drink coffee before discussing their differences.
That stuff was always the strength of this era.
Like...
Cass and Tim sharing coffee and mutually mourning Steph’s death and discussing how Tim doesn’t want to be Batman and Cass does...
... Dick and Tim running along the tops of moving trains while blindfolded, with Tim trying to throw off Dick’s confidence by sprinting Steph’s pregnancy on him...
...Steph and Cass teaming up and figuring out that as bad as Steph’s childhood was, Cass’s was worse, and sharing a laugh over how Steph can’t get even that over Cass...
...Dick getting patched up by Babs in the Clocktower after regaining control of Blackhate, and their tension spilling over into a make-out session before Petit and Huntress break it up...
...Bruce unmasking himself in Gordon’s backyard to try and get back agordon”s trust, but Gordon insists on a serious talk about their issues instead...
...Bane popping open a beer and lounging back while trolling Batman with how he totally could fight him now, and Batman reminding him that Luthor is giving Bane Santa Prisca, so why pick a fight?...
...Steph becoming Damian’s babysitter and big sister...
...Dini figuring out how to write Catwoman and Batman in a way that took Jeph Loeb and others’ approach and making it more refined...
...ALL THAT STUFF.
Seriously, that was the kind of characterization gold that could redeem bad plot conflict.