Stephanie Brown: Spoiler, Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman Appreciation 2021

[Digifiend]

Ouch. spoilers:

Steph had her ass handed to her... by Ryan Wilder, TV's Batwoman.

end of spoilers

[Frontier]

Ouch. spoilers:

Steph had her ass handed to her... by Ryan Wilder, TV's Batwoman.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Which is weird when she got her butt handed to her by Kate on the show.

end of spoilers

[Konja7]

Curiously, Cassandra calls Stephanie as Batgirl.

So, I guess they will act similar to Batgirls Future State, where Cassandra and Stephanie call the other as Batgirl.

[ohfellow]

Ouch. spoilers:

Steph had her ass handed to her... by Ryan Wilder, TV's Batwoman.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Which is weird when she got her butt handed to her by Kate on the show.

end of spoilers

I thought she wrote "Ruan". Is there anything else to tip off her identity? Is this consistent with her behavior on TV? What is she up to?! A vigilante earlier in her career?

Can this story be understood by people who don't follow the other character? Did I read somewhere that Bennett has written (the other version of) that other character a lot before? And if so, is that a reason we should know what she's writing about here? Or is this simply as opaquely written a story as I personally think it is?

I admit I always have trouble following Bennett's storytelling. What even is the point of Barbara talking about the dog incident? Is Barbara simply rambling? It's not a lead she needs to tell the Batgirls about. It's irrelevant to their mission.

Does Cass have a USB port embedded in her left forearm? Why is there even a USB stick at that site? Does our Red Villain expect to be discovered this time so she puts the stick on the table? Or does she always leave USB sticks around and it was missed at the dog fighting scene? Or -- is this maybe a plot hole?

Bennett's Future State: Kara Zor-El was bad, wasn't even mostly about Kara, and was quite depressing. It was some other story of Bennett's that I guess she just wanted to tell.

Her Bombshells was interesting in concept but most of the time the stories were strange.

I don't think Bennett bothers with coherent plots.

I hope it's not inevitable that the Batgirls book we anticipate will be written by Bennett (or probably worse, Castellucci). That's a book that I swear would have awful sales. But I can see DC thinking it's a property they should offer to one of them.

Sweeney Boo's art was good - overly cartoonish at times but that's their style. Steph looks 12, but that's how she often looks and sounds these days. I do love the panel where she wraps her cape around herself, bat-like, even though her dialog - "Backflip! Kick!" - is juvenile. But in keeping with what a 12-year-old might say, right?

Anyway, those are my thoughts and I'd be open to hearing alternative views about this story. Maybe I can be convinced it's really much better than my impression.

[Aahz]

Can this story be understood by people who don't follow the other character?

I'm following most Batman books, and I'm also kind of confused about what is going on in this story.

[ohfellow]

I'm following most Batman books, and I'm also kind of confused about what is going on in this story.

Thanks for the vote of confidence . Also, many reviewers who looked into this seriously were not happy with this story.

There's one more story element I had trouble understanding the first time through, but what I think Bennett is saying, through Cass, is that video games, consequence-free in the game world, teach bad lessons that lead to overly violent consequences in real life, and you could end up injuring yourself (as Steph did). In the end, paraphrasing, she says to Steph "See what I mean, Steph? Those fake battles in video games that you like so much just had a bad real-world consequence."

Ultimately - is that the main or even only theme to the story?

Given comic books, and Bat Family books in particular, are filled with video game-like violence, she's essentially criticizing the very comic book her story is being published in, without saying it directly. But she's criticizing both comics and action games.

I suppose she's not the first comic book writer to do so.

Or maybe I'm misreading this.

[ohfellow]

Also, does this appearance suggest Ryan is going to be a significant factor in a Batgirls book? Then it won't exactly be a Batgirls book. Do people want to see an even bigger team-up book? Our Batgirls are already supporting characters everywhere. The bigger the team, the less anyone gets the spotlight. Maybe with the major appearances of Huntress in Detective, we can expect her to join too? So maybe it's actually going to be a Gotham City Sirens book.

[sunofdarkchild]

Thanks for the vote of confidence . Also, many reviewers who looked into this seriously were not happy with this story.

There's one more story element I had trouble understanding the first time through, but what I think Bennett is saying, through Cass, is that video games, consequence-free in the game world, teach bad lessons that lead to overly violent consequences in real life, and you could end up injuring yourself (as Steph did). In the end, paraphrasing, she says to Steph "See what I mean, Steph? Those fake battles in video games that you like so much just had a bad real-world consequence."

Ultimately - is that the main or even only theme to the story?

Given comic books, and Bat Family books in particular, are filled with video game-like violence, she's essentially criticizing the very comic book her story is being published in, without saying it directly. But she's criticizing both comics and action games.

I suppose she's not the first comic book writer to do so.

Or maybe I'm misreading this.

I took it the opposite way, that Cass is coming to realize that there is a value in 'fake' violence because it's not as fake as she thought. She goes from thinking it's worthless because there are no consequences to saying 'fake battle: still had consequences.' She's the one who comes to a 'revelation.'

[ohfellow]

I took it the opposite way, that Cass is coming to realize that there is a value in 'fake' violence because it's not as fake as she thought. She goes from thinking it's worthless because there are no consequences to saying 'fake battle: still had consequences.' She's the one who comes to a 'revelation.'

Could be! Though Cass had said the problem is she would hurt someone, and Steph gets hurt.

Of course she had warned Steph to stop, called her "so bare-knuckled, always brash," then Barbara told them to "Stop!", Cass said "only the aggressor was harmed" - and Steph is the only one hurt (or would be hurt but for her gloves). Cass seems to be admonishing Steph the whole time, and Steph's direct attack actually did turn out to be the wrong approach.

Steph seems to be the one who needs to learn the lesson - to think more and not act first.

What does Cass mean by "fake battle" - the latest "non-battle" vs. Red Villain who never really fought? Or is she referring back to the video game violence? Who knows! It's not like anyone else would talk like that.

It's interesting we can come to opposite conclusions, maybe because the message is delivered in Cass's weird English. Which is to say, in Bennett's writing style, which I find opaque.

Thanks for chiming in. I wonder what other people think.

[adrikito]

Ouch. spoilers:

Steph had her ass handed to her... by Ryan Wilder, TV's Batwoman.

end of spoilers

lol...

How unexpected. I thought that it would be a comic SPOILER

[Digifiend]

It is. The two posts before mine were about Batman Urban Legends and that's what I was referring to. The Batwoman show finished it's season a couple of weeks ago.

[Hypo]

Cass and Steph will be in the backup in Batman #115:

Back-Up: Batgirls Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown have each other’s backs no matter what—even if it means punching some Magistrate soldier butt, and putting an even bigger target on their backs. Meanwhile, a mysterious Anti-Oracle character finally makes contact directly with Babs and has a few things to say about the unethical nature of Oracle’s powers, and what they think should be done about it.

[Frontier]

Cass and Steph will be in the backup in Batman #115:

Time for the girls to have a run in with the law and fight the Magistrate...

[ohfellow]

Cass and Steph will be in the backup in Batman #115:

It will be interesting to see if Cloonan and Conrad can write a good Batgirls story.

[Frontier]

It will be interesting to see if Cloonan and Conrad can write a good Batgirls story.

Who will end up writing the Batgirls book? That's the million dollar question.