Cass and Steph get benched in the new DC universe

Crissposted from DC Women Kicking Ass:
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Notes from the DC Roadshow: Well, that’s that, isn’t it?

Bleeding Cool has posted reports from yesterday’s road show in Texas. And here you go:

You won’t be seeing Donna Troy yet in the new DCU, nor the Stephanie and Cassandra Batgirls. They haven’t been killed off though, just benched.

And the new readers they are targeting?

The target audience are men age 18 to 34 though they do realize that they have readers in other demographics.

I’m going to take a few moments.

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MOTHERFUCKERS

Thinking of Steph

Lets look back at when she was awesome, before War Games was ever thought of.  Spoiler and Robin have just broken into an aprtment and are surprised to find out the blonde woman in the apartment has dealt with the intruder.

Batman gets told off

There were a few good moments in War Games.  Only one or two mind.  This is one of them.

There.  That's the best bit of War Games.  Now no one else will have to read it, hah!

This reminds me of a scene with Babs, Cass and Bruce, that I will never ever get tired of:

War Games

I just read it.

Ho. Hum.


Now I see why everyone hates it.

Then I read War Crimes.  Way to go, assasinating Leslie's character.

The only good thing about it is Steph was heroic to the end, and Selina was supportive.

But Batman is still a massive dick.

Who's the new Batgirl?

I'm *dying* to know. I can't get my comics till Thursday at the earliest, possibly not till Monday if I don't get paid till then and I am uber curious.
Does anyone want to leave a reveal in the comments? And leave your reaction and views on the new contender(s)?

I really hope it's not Steph. I want her to move on and away from the Bat family, establish an identity of her own. Moving into the Batgirl identity, would be a step backwards for her, I feel.

EDIT: OK I found out who she is. What do y'all think?

My joy surrounding this week’s haul!

And full of joy it was. Spoilers ahead for Green Arrow Yr 1, Green Arrow/Black Canary #20, Supergirl #27 and #41, Superman/Batman #60 and Battle for the Cowl #3. I have reviewed them in that order so if you don’t want the identity of the new Batman spoiled, just don’t read the last review.

Included as this week’s back up promo stories was a teaser for Batwoman, appearing in Detective comics from June (?). It’s looking interesting. I like Greg Rucka a lot and I trust that he’ll do well with the character. The art is…vampiric, but I’m sure it will grow on me.
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Green Arrow Year 1
The reason for this review is that I finally got around to ordering GA yr 1 #4, which I couldn’t get when it came out – that week my comic shop had a box missing in it’s delivery, or something. Anyway, I got this issue and read it, then read the arc in it’s entirety. One of the first things I noticed was it was originally billed as a 4 issue story, then changed to a 6 issue story on # 3. I don’t know the reasons behind this, but it’s a good thing it was extended by 2 issues as the story could well have suffered for being shortened.

The second thing to highlight is the glorious cover art done by Jock, colours by David Baron )I can't find a picture of the cover for number 3, sorry). These covers make it well worth getting the individual issues rather than the trade. Cover #s 2, 4 and 6 are my favourites. Number 2 in particular is breathtaking. I know I rave on and on about anything I like, maybe my gushings seem like platitudes, maybe because I like so much stuff it reduces the import of what I have to say. But, these covers are really really good!
The inside art is done by the same team, and while not as detailed as the covers, it is also well worth referring to it. There is a sense of depth to the art, of layers, yet there is nothing extraneous included. It’s very well put together.

As for the story, well there’s character growth, there’s referrals to future events in Ollie’s life (“I’d rather die than lose an arm” why hello Zero hour!), there’s the creation of the costume and there’s the development of his defining qualities – determination, recklessness, stubbornness, showiness. He starts off as a useless, empty playboy and ends up a hero. In terms of a year 1 story, this does the trick.

With a different art team this may have been an average story. As it is I think it’s a must for any Green Arrow fan. Now, where’s the Black Canary year 1 story huh?

Green Arrow/Black Canary #20
Betcha bottom dollar this issue is gonna be criticised online. Betcha.

Obviously not by me though, I liked it. A lot. In fact I think this is a bloody massive turnaround, considering the rubbish that’s been produced for earlier issues. The cover art is still foul, but does make a bit of sense considering the arguments inside.

The issue starts with Dinah and Ollie in relationship therapy. The idea of them two being in therapy together is a giggle. Ollie has been dragged there by Dinah and is not really cooperating. Well, with an ego like his he was never gonna think it’s a great idea, right? Y’know, this issue actually has them in character. Which is nigh on a miracle. I can see there being an uproar over Dinah having mother issues, but I don’t get the beef. Ok, I’m not very knowledgeable about her history, but I seem to remember reading something, somewhere, about her going into costume just to piss her mother off, and having Ted (Wildcat) train her in secret because her mother wouldn’t approve. I recall another story from when she was a teenager and she found out who her Dad really was. So, there’s a precedent for mother issues. In addition, Ollie has dead parents, so it’s not like he’s getting away with a trauma free backstory. Lastly, in my ammunition for why this is a good sub-plot, is we are seeing Dinah as Dinah, individual person, not Dinah-wife of Green Arrow.

Regarding the secret identity thing, Ollie lost the mask during the Kevin Smith (?) run but somewhere regained it, so I’m assuming he is no operating under a secret identity again. As for Dinah, I was going to come up with an explanation for why she doesn’t need a mask or secret identity. It was going to go along the lines of only ninja assassins know who she is and she doesn’t move in civilian circles. A bit like Lady Shado doesn’t need a secret identity but she still manages to do ordinary everyday things. Then I remembered Dinah is the chair of the JLA and probably most bad guys and civilians do know her name is Dinah Lance.
Anyone else got an idea as to how her hero/civilian identity works?

Onto the action part, everyone has gone deaf. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I learn British Sign Language and so am interested in dDeaf issues. Hence, this plotline holds a lot of interest to me. The last thing to mention is Cupid meeting Ollie. He is correct, Dinah is gonna have a fit.

Supergirl #27
Great cover, shame it’s got fuck all to do with the story. This is another one I missed when it came out, I don’t know why. Like the GA issue, I decided it was about time I ordered meself a copy from Ebay. Only beef with this cover, and a couple of panels inside is that Kara’s skirt is wrong – she’s wearing what looks like a tight lycra esque skirt – think like Linda DanversSupergirl costume . Kara’s skirt is free flowing and hangs loosely.

That snit over, this is a good story. It takes place in the middle of the saving Thomas arc. Within the book Kara is nearly assassinated and then transported to the future. Apparently in this future timeline she has saved Thomas but then goes about changing humanity to improve us, resulting in humans not being human anymore. She is later transported back to our time with a request that she not save Thomas, in order that future humanity be saved from her good intentions.

There is a wonderful statue of adult Kara in the future, it’s very Grecian in style, I think. I will try and scan a picture and post some images later this week.

Supergirl #41
Well fuck me sideways I didn’t see that coming. Superwoman is dead. Kara killed her, seemingly by ripping the suit to shreds. Obviously Kara didn’t mean to kill her, she was trying to reduce her powers by ripping the discs off, then she ripped the S off declaring that Lucy doesn’t deserve to wear the emblem. Lucy then melts, into a bubbly pile of goo. Next panel is a distraught Kara on her knees wondering if she’s just killed Lois’s sister. We’ve gone from some very colourful scenes, all purple and bright primary colours to a darkened scene which suits the mood exceedingly well. There are talented colourists on this title.

I figure this can go a few ways. The dead Lucy is not the real Lucy and we find this out over the next few months. The dead Lucy is the real Lucy and this has ramifications for Kara and her reception within the Kent/Lane family. I mean, Lois is rather alone at the moment. Clark is off planet and can’t visit with her, she doesn’t really speak to her Dad, and her niece (great niece?) has just murdered her sister. This isn’t going to go well. Regardless of whether Lois likes Lucy or not, whether she approves of her actions as Superwoman or not, she is going to be pretty devastated. She’s got Chris Kent back but he’s got to hide from the authorities – headed by Lois’s father. This is going to be a complicated 6 months.

The last thing I want to note is the way in which Superwoman is legitimately part of the House of El – as Lois married Clark, she became the sister-in-law of Kal-El, and therefore related to Kara and Alura. This is not something I had registered before, and now I’m thinking what would General Lane do if he knew he was firing on his family?

Superman/Batman #60
Fabulous cover. Real moody and detailed, and relates to the story inside. Amazing. The inside art is done by the same team – Francis Manapul and Brian Bucellato.

Kal and Bruce have found themselves in a parallel earth. Metropolis and Gotham have been combined, as have the superheroes. We now have the Justice Titans, (battle cry: Justice Together) and the heroes have been amalgamated too. Starfire/Black Canary (this works surprisingly well), Aquaman/Cyborg, Hawkman/Beastboy, Nightwing/Green Lantern (Hal), the Flash (Wally Allen, blonde hair), Donna Wonder (she has sparkles in her hair!). the bad guys are Deathstroke/Doomsday, Brainac/Catwoman, Penguello (Penguin and who?), Jimmy Two-Face (they can’t mean Jimmy Olsen surely?), and Lex Joker.

I’m really really loving this title. It’s not following any other continuity, it could be set at any time in DC history and it’s just downright fun. As it doesn’t have to relate to the other Bat/Super titles they can send the characters to any time, space, dimension they want. It’s great.

Battle for the Cowl #3
I haven’t read the previous two issues in this mini and I picked this up purely to find out who the new Batman is. As such, I was rather excited by it all and enjoyed most of the story,, but it was self induced excitement, not necessarily story induced excitement. Still, I liked it. You want my reactions you say?

Well, what on earth was Tim doing in the Bat suit? After the incident with the evil future Titans I’d have thought he’d never have gone near the Bat suit. He’s had a lot of shit thrown at him over the years, but he remains optimistic. He’s a gentle soul and being Batman would destroy him.

Dick on the other hand, he’s got the hardness in him, a bitter angry edge that could be put to good use as Batman. But it will probably fuck him up. When Bruce comes back there’ll be one hell of a power struggle between them – I’m thinking back to the time when him and Bruce weren’t speaking and Dick created the Nightwing identity.

Damian is the new Robin. I have no feelings either way except that Damian seems rather ridiculous and petulant. I’d be very surprised if Dick likes him.

Now that Damian is Robin, the cover of Red Robin #2 makes more sense. That would be Damian fighting Steph, and hopefully Tim as Red Robin. Red Robin’s costume looks like a golden age creation, I do not like it. But, as this looks to be Tim’s own title and as Steph appears in it I expect I’ll be adding it to my pull list.

My beef with the Oracle mini

Well, I still want to get this off my chest, if only to get the thoughts out of my head (and possibly also the words out of my arse..) so I'm damn well gonna put something down and post it.
Then I'm gonna stop pressuring msyelf about writing.

OK, so I inferred in an earlier post that I thought the Oracle mini was pointless, and I feel I should explain. I'm not so much going to look at the quality of the writing, that's fairly subjective I reckon. Well I doubt anyone's going to say it's a masterpiece but I hear some folks did find it rather enjoyable.

I think my main issue with it is that the mini was set up as an important spin off, or at the least as an important episode in Babs' life. Birds of Prey ended, setting this up to (potentially) be an important examination of Barbara, her life and character. The mini came out under the header 'Battle for the Cowl'. The first issue introduces the anti life equation, so there's also a Final Crisis connection.

And yet, the conclusion of this arc did fuck all for Babs, for the question of who would be Batman or Batgirl or anything for the anti life equation.

What did this series reveal?

• The Calculator is the father of Wendy of wonder twins fame. Then did nothing with this information. It gave the calculator a reason to delve into the internetz and gather the anti life formula, but in the end it wasn't used.
• Babs agonized (again) over the Joker's shooting of her, then didn't get to walk again (which for political reasons I am thankful for).
• Oracle doesn't understand online RPGs - if you would grant me a moment of fan entitlement let me say that I consider that characterisation to be incorrect.
• Fat girls want to play naked blonde bosomy warriors in the aforementioned RPGs. Yes. This rankles with me.
• Oh look, rape threats again. Glad to see they are still common in the DCU. Apparently these drive Barbara into a near homocidal rage ---> on second thoughts if the joker did rape her after he shot her I can see why this incident, coupled with the murder of the cheese fiend and the recent ponderings over the shooting accident, might drive her to a battering frenzy.
• Wendy woke up from her coma, yells for her dad (did she not know he was evil?) and discovers she can't feel her legs.
  

Nothing very important is it?

There is no big Batgirl reveal, there's no big reconciling of Barbara's feelings over the Joker's attack and Wendy hasn't decided to become an Oracle copycat.

I think my point is that for such a hyped series I would have expected something big to come out of it, like a new Batgirl or Barbara being able to walk again. Instead this is just a run of the mill story that could have featured pretty much anywhere and been written anywhen. (OK you might need to remove the references to the anti life equation, but it wouldn't be difficult to come up with something else implausible to replace it.) Barbara is particularly angry and violent in this mini, but there's nothing to indicate this is a permanent personality change for her.

How does this segue into Batgirl? There are no links. You may as well have put 'Next: Batgirl /1' at the end of Booster Gold, or Green Lantern.

So yeah, pointless.

On the theme of Batgirl, I'd just like to add that I really don't think Steph (Spoiler) should be Batgirl.. Before her 'death' she really badly wanted to be part of the Bat family, but in her return I felt that she came back with her own distinct identity - she doesn't need their approval anymore. So I feel that she should be an ally of the Bat- clan not a fully paid up member. I also cannot see Barbara putting herself in the junior role of Batgirl either.

As for who's under the Batman cowl - I will try and buy the comic on Friday, please if anyone writes about who has taken up the mantle please hide the new identity under a spoiler banner!
Me - I'm itching for it to be Alfred.
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;)

Just so long as it's not Tim. That would be very very wrong. But I guess with the advent of the Batman and Robin book it's pretty definitely not gonna be Tim as Batman right?

Share the reading love

And oh, what love this week! (And last week’s too, as I’m late)

What follows is talk of:
Supergirl 38, Superman/Batman 55, Action Comics 874
Green Arrow and Black Canary 17
Booster Gold 17
Showcase 95 #5 (featuring Spoiler!)
A few lines about other old DC books (Fanboy GL, LoSH and New Gods)
Some delight over George R R Martin’s Dreamsongs, a RRetrospective volume 1
Me bemoaning my lack of attention to reading orders, maybe. Possibly also some Buffy thoughts.

That’s a lot to get through. I’ll bolden up each heading, read whichever parts you like.

So, onwards and, of course, spoilers ahead.
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Supergirl #38
Oh my how I love the cover of this. Not so much for Kara, but for Superwoman. The eyes, the eyes. She’s mesmerising. I could look at that cover all day.
About the inside of the book. It seems like a lot of issues have opened with Kara announcing ‘This is my life’ and her getting decked by a supposed friend. A reference back to the earlier issues perhaps? Kara does talk like a teenager in this, which is good for getting the character right, but might be annoying if you don’t use teenage slang yourself. I do take umbrage at the use of the word ‘psyche’. Has anyone ever said that, past about 1994? Honestly.
The fight scene was fun and the colouring lovely – the blues of the ice, the sea and the sky were a pleasure to see. It’s good to see that Superwoman’s gold discs have a use – that of communicating with her bosses.
Focusing on the art once more, the panels with Cat Grant were a treat and really showed her ugly personality. The doll scares me, and I feel trepidation regarding who sent it, I’m certain Kara didn’t, not her style.
The Superwoman mystery depends. Forget what I said last month, now I’m hooked and excited as to who she is. It is revealed (or is that a red herring?) that she’s not Kryptonian, despite Kara guessing at Thara being under the mask.
Now, in a planet full of Kryptonians, how could Kara be given a secret mission? And could Superwoman truly hide her identity? Surely all Kara would have to do is listen hard to everyone on the planet (far less a number than earth’s population) and focus on the familiar voice, then go find her. But I guess Kara isn’t that curious (or creepy).

Re: Origins and omens. Looks like there’s interesting stuff coming up. I’m glad to see that Lana is looking after Streaky (love the origin of the name) and I’m looking forward to the future love interest.

Best line in the book? ‘I’m so going to kick you in the face!’

Superman/Batman #55
I KNEW it. Batman is insane. This proves what I’ve been saying (thinking?) all along. Power hungry messed up in the head idiot. He beat up on Selina! And Dick! I reckon Kal’s powers brought out the urges he’s been burying.

Kara as Linda Lang comes to see Clark at the hospital, and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t recognise her immediately. I’m a bad fan. The scene was wonderful though. In fact, this whole story arc is great.

Favourite panel? Where Bruce is laying into Clark and GL, Flash, Zatanna and Lois are all holding Clark back.

Action Comics 874
Good opening page. Very good. The Zod, Ursa and Non problem is coming along nicely and we are promised more of Nightwing and Flamebird next month, which is a plus. The destruction of the phantom zone is very intriguing, as is the question of how Mon-El will survive on earth.

Booster Gold 17
Booster ensures Barry has his accident and then Booster interrupts a younger version of himself. Not as good as last issue, but good enough.

Green Arrow/Black Canary 17
I love this cover – it’s the shades of green they’ve used and the detailing on the shadows I think.
This is a vast improvement on previous issues. For one, the deliciously evil bad guy attacks a building with a truck. By driving into the top floor from another high storey building. That, is ace.
Secondly, Dinah gets to fight. She helps herself, she doesn’t get rescued by Ollie and they work as an effective team. We also get to see more of the action from Dinah’s point of view. Now that means that the issue lives up to it’s title, for once.

Re the origins and omens segment, we see Dinah’s discovery of her powers and the aftermath of the guy she injured last issue – he’s been deafened and he’s not happy about it. Speedy has been given a black costume, but doesn’t look evil and I think that one of the pictures shows Ollie pointing an arrow at Dinah, but the positioning is off. And it looks like the future is going to centre around Ollie, as usual. Which would be fine, if the book was named Green Arrow.

Showcase 95, #5
A Spoiler story! Steph finds out her coach is dealing drugs to schoolkids, in her school. One of them dies in a car accident the inference is that it’s because they were high. This incident teaches Steph that yet again, shit happens and she loses a little more faith in adults. Poor kid.
This issue also features a Thorn story, and a Firehawk story. It’s worth getting for the Thorn and Spoiler sections.

Assorted DC books
Legion of Superheroes #43 – the intruder to their HQ calls Drura ‘Infectious Lass’. This may have been a joke but is an entirely plausible name for a member of the LoSH. Good issue, I’d kinda like to read more of this run now.
New Gods #1 – I should have read this before Final Crisis.
Fanboy – GL of the lunch room sector# 2. Odd. I hadn’t come across the fanboy mini before. Features half of Hal Jordan’s ass.

Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective book one
Well I finally finished reading it, and I can definitely say it’s the most enjoyable and gripping collection of short stories I have stumbled across. You won’t find a huge amount of diversity in the stories, but they are so well crafted and so powerful I don’t really care. To be fair, in Martin’s future worlds sexuality doesn’t seem to be an issue although all his couples are heterosexual. Anyway, onto specific stories:
If you pick this volume up I wouldn’t bother with the 4 colour fanboy section. Instead, head straight to the filthy pro, sci fi, fantasy or horror sections. With Morning Comes Mistfall is beautiful, The Ice Dragon is about a small child discovering her humanity and empathy, Bitterblooms uses Arthurian legends and In the Lost Lands deals with how it is sometimes unwise to get what you most desire. I found the horror section the most powerful though. Meathouse Man displays deep misogyny, yet also condemns it, and The Monkey Treatment is a story of how the fat man gets his revenge on diets.

After finishing reading this volume I felt at a loss for what to do next. I ended up going to Waterstones and spending £31 on 4 more books, including the 2nd volume of Dreamsongs and an Ursula le Guin book which I discovered was the 3rd in a series. I've read number 1, not number 2, and have been waiting to read Powers for months and months, and now have to get book number 2 first. Arggh. I could have been getting more reading action done months ago if I’d known. I’m a dumbass.

I found this post about the Buffy comics (via WFA). The writer has a very good point. Where are the normal sized ladies in Buffy? Where’s the variation we saw in the last episode of season 7? ‘Tis a crying shame that hasn’t been carried through.

Is Steph as girlRobin a gimmick?

And does it matter?

Disclaimer – I have only read Spoiler’s appearance in Robin and Birds of Prey. What I have to say relates to her appearances in Robin; however I would welcome feedback on her appearances in other titles.

I guess to answer this you’ve got to think about what a gimmick is, and then decide if gimmicks are a problem, and if so why.

The Oxford English dictionary* defines gimmick as:

A trick or device, especially to attract attention, publicity, or trade.

So I guess the decision at an editorial level to turn the Spoiler into Robin for a short period, was a gimmick. I wasn’t reading comics at the time, so I don’t know if the trick worked. Did they get more publicity from this? Did they get more sales? If anyone knows, please let me know, or if you know where I can find the info, please point me in the right direction.

I would imagine that sales may have spiked for a short period, and I imagine that it helped promote the Wars Games storyline. Steph was only Spoiler for a few (4? 6?) issues of Robin, so I am speculating that the intention of making her a girlRobin was to generate interest in the Bat clan comics and also to provide a lead in to War Games. As opposed to, say, generating (inter?)national publicity and awareness of both the DC and Batfamily brands, amongst the non comics community.

Of course, this is just speculation. DC may have wanted to raise their profile in non comic reading circles, but I can’t imagine having a girlRobin for just a few months would be a very effective way of doing so. Then again, were there any Batman movies or other media coming out at a similar time? Because that could have tied in quite well. I could research this myself but for two reasons: Firstly, I am writing this on a non internet enabled laptop. Secondly, my internet enabled pc is in the coldest room in the house and Norfolk is going through a very cold snap. I cannot stay in that room for too long, I don’t cope well with the cold. Damn Victorian draughty houses.

So. I am going to assume that Steph became girlRobin in order that a major event** could then happen. I am going to assume setting events up for War Games was more important than the wow! factor of having a female Robin.

Over the last year or so, since reading blogs like When Fangirls Attack, I have seen plenty of discussions about the treatment of Steph as girlRobin. How it was disgraceful, how it meant that DC didn’t give a stuff about their female fans, and how it demonstrates DC’s arrogance in thinking they can make a token gesture towards women readers and our desires. I’ve probably written similar posts myself.

But if you argue that the motivation for Steph-as-Robin was to set up War Games, and not to produce a girlRobin, then I think that the last two problems become irrelevant, in this context. If it was never about making it ok for girls to take on traditionally male roles, then I would imagine that what DC’s female fans wanted didn’t really figure at editorial/plotline meetings.

Which could be seen as a crushing disappointment - DC don’t care about us. Well, no, I’m not convinced the female demographic is who DC want to court. They have had some stunningly great not- sexist books out last year, but I think that’s more to do with them hiring decent artists and writers, and not specifying that boobs need to be the focus of every panel. In other words, they’ve focused more on producing good stories than on producing porn-lite. Which is as it should be. Do good stories and the fangirls will cometh. As will the fanboys.

Anyway, back to the point. Was Steph’s treatment as girlRobin shoddy? Did it show disrespect for the character (and by proxy, her female fans). In my really-not-humble opinion, to work out if she was disrespected and treated in a sexist manner we would have to ask the following questions:
Is Steph both as Spoiler and as girlRobin treated with respect and dignity? Is her character believable? Does she mature and do changes taking place make sense within her given history? Do the other characters behave, both directly towards and when discussing her, in a believable way?

To me, and this is where it is gonna get really personal and I fully expect people to disagree with me, I don’t think DC did disrespect her.

Everything I read about the Spoiler showed that she was impulsive and passionate. She was dedicated to the vigilante cause, dead serious about succeeding at it, and refused to back down even after she had repeatedly been told, by many different people, to give it up. She’d go out with Robin on patrol, he’d advise her to hold back, to watch, to gather info on a scene, and she’d say screw this and dive right in. It’s how she found Black Canary and how she convinced Dinah to take her on as apprentice. She wasn’t automatically gonna change as girlRobin.

The way in which she became girlRobin also worked. Tim had quit being Robin, Batman needed a new partner, (he doesn’t work well by himself, which is how Tim got the gig), and Steph had proved how determined she was. She’d been popping up again and again for a really long time, each time Batman met her he told her in no uncertain (and probably quite growly) terms that she didn’t belong and she had to stop, effective immediately.
There are grown heroes in the DC universe who don’t dare disobey Bruce as Batman – Guy Gardener for one.
(EDIT: Ok, I'm a dork and should read more Guy stuff. I was basing the above comment on the (admittedly not many) JLI books I've read where Bruce keeps Guy in line, Kalinara has kindly pointed out that my assumption is wrong, please ignore that and insert your own character that does what Bruce says. )

Yet a 16 (15?) year old has the courage and the arrogance to tell him to piss off and keep on doing what she loves and has got a knack for.

So yeah who else was Bruce gonna take on? He does admire courage and dedication. He’s got this need for everyone to prove themselves to him before he takes them on. Steph got the gig after making herself a fancy new girly costume, and Bruce told her if she disobeyed him even once she was out. Well she disobeyed him and she was out. She knew the score, but she was impulsive, she thought she knew better, so she was kicked out. Nothing I’ve seen so far looks out of character of her.

Of course, a relevant question now would be did the boyRobins ever disobey Bruce like this and if so what was their punishment? And if it was different, is there a suitable in context explanation for this? I don’t know for definite the answer to this, I seem to recall reading Tim disobeying orders and not being sacked, but I cannot say for sure.

In the case of Steph however, she had to be kicked out, in order for War Games to commence. She had to be emotionally hurt and so try to get back in Bruce’s good books. Unfortunately this ended in Steph starting a gang war thereby wrecking most of Gotham and getting herself killed (or so we thought). I can imagine the DC meetings where War Games was dreamt up – TimRobin would never have triggered the gang war, yet it has to be someone close to Bruce who does so. This will also mean that Bruce gets to deal with feelings of betrayal, guilt and angst after the event- even if it’s only mentioned in a couple of issues. A Robin seems ideal for this.
So, to engineer the event, they have to get rid of TimRobin. Who to fill the space? Why, the obvious choice is Steph! Already known to Bruce, already a vigilante, desperately wants to be accepted by the Batfamily, and, crucially, impulsive enough to start a gang war by mistake. It fits her character. It is believable.

I think it is worth pointing out something that Selina Kyle (Catwoman) mentioned in a War Games issue. She had found Steph-as-Spoiler in some Gotham ruins, and Steph’s guilt and anguish led her to explain to Selina what she’d done. To summarise, she found plans that Bruce had made for eradicating all crime in Gotham. This was to be done by engineering a meeting between all the crime bosses in Gotham, Batman would be in attendance in disguise as a criminal - Matches Malone. Unfortunately, Steph didn’t know this, didn’t tell Batman of the meeting, and so Batman-in-disguise didn’t turn up and a full scale gang war erupted because of this.

Anyway, after hearing this story Selina asks herself how Bruce could ever have had a Robin who didn’t know that Batman was Matches. I read this as removing all blame from Steph and placing it squarely on Bruce’s shoulders. Selina is an important person in Gotham life and in the Bat family, and I think her opinion and views carry weight. She was reproaching Bruce.

Maybe Steph didn’t need to have died – but then we’d lose a sense of the personal tragedy. And tragedy drives dramatic events. I have no problem with deaths in comics, but I love a bit of senseless tragedy and desolation. I admit that I haven’t read all of War Games, but I have seen the panels of her supposed death and the last conversations she had with Bruce. It didn’t strike me as inappropriate or disrespectful.

I’m not going to touch upon the lack of a trophy case issue – I haven’t read enough Batman books to know who he’s got a memorial too, I thought it was just Jason Todd. Suffice to say, Bruce’s explanation to Tim, regarding not putting up a memorial sucked – he suspected Steph was still alive. Really? And you didn’t want to mention that to Tim? Ever? I know I know, it’s an explanation dreamt up by writers, Bruce isn’t real etc etc, but that explanation is still going firmly in my Batdickery file.

I have written before on the importance of having female Robins and what they mean to me, as symbols of women in the real world, and women in the comics world. When I wrote that previous post I knew of the girlRobin in the Dark Knight Returns (and shock horror, I don’t believe she was a prostitute, Frank Miller, you astound me), But I was not aware of girlRobin in the Robin 1996 annual, Legends of the Dead Earth. This is a Robin who saves the lives and futures of an entire civilisation. It’s set on a vast spaceship which has lost it’s destination and ruled by tyranny. Batman is out to set things right and rechart the course. He dies and it’s Robin’s responsibility to set the right course. She does so and saves thousands and thousands of lives. Now that’s a girlRobin to be proud of.

I don’t want Steph to be Robin. She works better as the Spoiler. She’s too independent to be under Bruce’s thumb, and he’d just fuck her up. She don’t take orders and she likes to have fun – you can’t have genuine lighthearted fun as Robin. It’s better for her if she’s the Spoiler. She needs her own sense of identity and not to be dependent on another’s approval.

So I’m quite glad I’ve properly discovered her and I’m very glad she’s back. Any chance she’s gonna join the Teen Titans?


Constructive criticism welcomed.

*Yes, the Oxford English dictionary is my definitions bible.
**I know, I know, compared to today and the multiple Crisis’ crossover stuff happening, War Games isn’t very major, but lets just call it a major event for now.


Christ almighty that’s nearly 2000 words. Why did I find it difficult to write essays of that length at Uni???

The Spoiler, assault, motivations and what could have been horrible clichéd, yet somehow works

As some of you more regular (ha! All 4 of them anyway ;) ) readers will know, I worked my way through the Robin series last year and I have been promising a couple of posts on the Spoiler. What with Christmas, New Year and work madness I’m only just now getting round to writing the damn things.

This first post will be looking at when Stephanie revealed her abused past to Robin, and I’m going to praise the way it was handled. Both the art and the writing, I think, did a pretty damn good job of examining what is a difficult subject area. By and large, the issue managed not to fall into cliché and was (mostly) sensible about it’s approach.
I forgot to take a note of the issue number so if anyone can confirm which issue this story is from, I would much appreciate it. It was written by Chuck Dixon, but again, I forgot to make a note of the art credits.

EDIT: Not written BY Chuck Dixon, actually written by Jon Lewis. Thanks to Nevermore for letting me know.

Now, the guy in the story is a paedophile, but I think the viewpoint given in the story is applicable to all people who rape or assault others. Not just men, and not just paedophiles, because I think all assaults are wrong and equally horrific, no matter the age of the individual victim.

WARNING: The story is potentially triggering. The guy in the story is a paedophile, but I think the viewpoint given in the story is applicable to all people who rape or assault others. Not just men, and not just paedophiles, because I think all assaults are wrong and equally horrific, no matter the age of the individual victim.

Context: Tim and Steph are out on a date, chatting and have ended up in a music store. Here follows the 7 pages (click to enlarge):


Lets look at the problems first. The 5th page, Tim’s response:
‘It’s just that you’re the second girl I’ve known who something like this has happened to! The only answer I can see is that all men are scum…’
Only two? Count your other female friends lucky then because I reckon 50% of my female friends have been assaulted at some point in their life.
And really? You think all men are scum? Do you count yourself in that bracket? Bruce? Nightwing? Ollie? Wally? Clark? Stating that all men are scum is an example of hackneyed dialogue and demonstrates a common kneejerk reaction that doesn’t help anyone or anything. I can understand why people do it, but it’s a stupid viewpoint.

Anyway, Steph answers:
'I’ve thought about that. I honestly think that men who have this…poison..in them are only a small minority. But each one who does it hurts a lot of different girls and boys.’

OK, so she’s pulled him up the all men are scum line, but in an equally crap way. I realise this could be Chuck Dixon’s personal political views getting an airing, and I’m all for seeing more politics in comics – it means I get to respond and debate. So, my response –
All the evil abuse in this world is not carried out by a small amount of evil men who then hurt many different kids. There are lots of people who do this shit, and guess what, they look normal, they look like you and I. They are not visibly monsters, we cannot easily distinguish them. I think that making out it’s only a small amount of evil men who do this ‘others’ the perpetrators and draws a line between us and them. Which is not very useful when you’re trying to stop this crap happening. Also, women rape too. But the way female attackers are treated would be a whole other topic and we could be here for days.

That simplistic viewpoint fails to take into account the structures and culture that allows this to happen. Look at the abuse in the Catholic church – someone high up made a decision not to investigate or bring to light instances of abuse, thereby giving implicit consent to what was happening. That means that everyone at every level of the church who didn’t speak up, who didn’t get the police involved, also gave consent to either what was happening, or the totally inadequate ways in which the attackers were dealt with. That’s a lot of people.

The message of ‘small numbers of evil men’ seems to be at odds with other (positive) messages in the text, that of Steph holding her Dad accountable. More on that later.

I can forgive the story the clichéd grooming dialogue provided by Jim Murray. It’s a fictional text and the comments re modelling, boyfriends etc codes the guy as a creep and lets us know what’s coming. The reaction from the man in the piano shop on the last page I can’t forgive though, because that’s just bad and lazy writing.

So now onto the good.

1) This assault is not used as a motivation for Steph becoming the Spoiler. Yes, one of her first jobs was tracking down the guy, but it has been stated time and time again that Steph became the Spoiler to get back at her Dad.
A woman’s experience of (in this case near) sexual assault was not used as a motivation for her becoming a crimefighter. Halle-fucking-lu-iah. That’s a bloody rarity.
And yes, I realise her dad was abusive, both to her and her mum, but I still think it’s worth highlighting that her near rape wasn’t what motivated her.

2) She holds her Dad accountable! She doesn’t blame herself! Damn right. I am so glad this was explicitly spelled out. There isn’t enough media out there where this happens. I am sure this is partly because she was a child of 11 when it happened, and maybe if she’d been an adult there would be dialogue surrounding the way she was dressed or acted, but that doesn’t make this specific instance any less valid.

3) She got away. She fought back and she got away. She fought back and she’s not a ninja, she was just an ordinary, scared little girl. I’ve written before how I hate the overuse of rape in fiction, it can seem like it’s a constant reminder that women are in danger wherever we go, and we should always be aware that at any minute someone might rape us. Fictional women don’t usually get away under their own steam, they always seem to be rescued (unless they’ve got powers, and even then that doesn’t always help, see Black Canary) and they don’t often seem to have much agency.
That doesn’t tally with my own experience. Women can fight back, we are not automatically gonna get raped if we go out at night and we’re not helpless.

So, for Steph to fight back, get away and take some sort of control I think is bloody fantastic.

4) Steph knew her attacker. Most people know their attacker. It’s nice for a story to recognise this.

5) I think the art and dialogue captures Steph’s terror and feelings wonderfully. From where she’s in school and hears male voices, to hiding under her bed (resourceful lass), to when she hits the piano in the store, and on the last page when we can see from her and Tim’s conversation that she has dealt with the incident and is able to move on with her life. A portrayal of someone who’s not been irredeemably scarred for life? That’s needed as much as portrayal’s of people who have been damaged for life.

So yeah, apart from the crappy evil men lines, overall I think this is a fucking awesome story and I think was handled really well. All the individuals are treated with dignity, and as well as working on a political level it also works on a story level too. Which is probably the most important plus point actually – it’s no good a story being a vehicle to showcase your political viewpoint if the story itself doesn’t flow and work. And if a story has questionable politics, well I’ll be turned off by it, offended and probably have a bitch on here. ;)

Holiday leavings

I'm off to Kent to see the folks and friends for an early Christmas get together tomorrow. So no updates from me for a whiles. I aim to get completely up to date with Robin over the weekend, barring a few annuals and specials, and want to write about Spoiler when I'm back.
Spoiler has become one of my favourite characters, nearly as loved as Bart Allen. How surprising. Does she cropped up a lot in the main Batman titles? Is she worth checking out in those ones?

Robin is mean and shock horror, letter writers are wrong

Currently listening to: Tori Amos - Under the Pink.

Batman has sure taught him how to fight dirty. The scene takes place in a park, a production of Macbeth has been put on and Tim and his school mates are attending to gain extra credits, (does that really happen? You get points just for attending a show?), and Tim spots a crime in progress. So he changes to his Robin getup and starts giving the criminals a beat down. One gets away.

That’s a portaloo, the grossest things ever. Ever been to a music festival? I’m not entirely sure the criminal deserved that.

On another note, the first letter from a Nicole resulted in a facepalm for me (click on the picture and it should enlarge):

Can you guess what part I’m talking about?

The subplot Nicole is referring to is Ariana bleaching her hair and changing her clothes to look hotter, (presumably because she thinks Tim will like her more this way). Anyway, she gets in a car with Jake the jerkwad who then attempts to assault her – apparently he can read the signals(!). She clocks him with 4 cans of beer (or possibly lager as this is America and I don’t think you have real ale there ;) ) and legs it.

Nicole thinks Ariana’a reaction was over the top and thinks that this incident gave Ari the opportunity to think long and hard about what she wanted to do with her life.

*headdesk*
At least the editor of the letter column has got a clue.

In other Robin thoughts, the poor kid really carries a massive guilt complex over his ability doesn't he? Poor sod. Bruce is a crap surrogate father.

I am enjoying Alfred, a very likeable sardonic (?) chap. I haven't seen much of him before, he didn't feature heavily in Nightwing or Batgirl and I've only read very odd (as in not read very often, not as in weird) issues of Batman. On a gender related front, I'm choosing to believe that this panel shows that Alfred thinks Batgirl is an unfair and inappropriate name for a woman, especially when the male sidekicks don't get called Batboy:

Go Alfred! Can anyone tell me the difference between a valet and a butler? Alfred has recently stated (around about issue 60 or thereabouts) that he is most definitely a valet, not a butler.

Oh mygod, I so want this little toy:

TURBO POWERED SKATEBOARD! That Tim made from scratch. It is official, everyone needs a Tim. or failing that, lots of money, time brains, resources and equipment with which to build similar things.

Last image, thrown in for fun:

It made me laugh.

And lastly, Stephanie Brown AKA the Spoiler is wonderful! She rocks! So extra double sized yay for her being brought back earlier this year.

Due to an imminent possibly traumatic Dr's appt to be attended this afternoon, I bought Shadowpact trade and two JSA ones. The Shadowpact one - Cursed, is very very good.

Linky Linky Spoiler time

Interesting. I got into comics after Spoiler 'died'. I have never been a Batman fan, in fact I think Batman sucks. Recently I've come round to thinking that his supporting cast are awesome, but he still sucks. Unless he's in a group book, like Superman/Batman, JLA or Trinity. But for a long time I thought Batman and his family were utter rubbish. I had zero interest in reading about him. And even thinking that, when I saw a Batman comic in the library, with a female Robin, I was really really impressed. Because to me, it means that women aren't sidelined. It means we are not treated as the (inferior) 'other' and we are as good as and can achieve those roles traditionally reserved for men. That is important. It means a breakdown of elitest patriarchal ways of thinking.

I don't hold that female versions of male heroes are automatically second rate rip offs, as some of my (non comics reading) friends think Supergirl is. (Unless you've got a Supergirl who can't fly, can only take large leaps, and isn't as strong as Superman, then they're a second rate rip off and I have no interest in reading about them). Female versions of male characters are characters in their own right.

So, back to Spoiler and the female Robin. I think having a female Robin is especially important because, whether I like him or not, Batman is one of the premier superheroes. And for him to have a female sidekick speaks volumes. I don't mean to say that what I aspire to do is to be able to break into the boys club, to be treated as an honourary man, because I think that the frame of thought where men are the pinnacle of all expertise and the ultimate-best-thing-ever is wrong. I don't want to prove that I'm as good as a man, although for a long time whilst growing up I did want to do that, because that frame of thought assumes that men are better than women, and that we should treat the two sexes differently, because they are inherently different. And I think that's a flawed way of thinking.

This isn't about having female role models. I don't need women to be my role models. Growing up, I wanted to be Spiderman and Superman. Their sex didn't come into it, I just wanted to be them. They were the awesomest characters ever. I didn't feel the need to have a female superhero to look up to, but I recognise that other women do want female role models.

I think what I'm trying to say is that it's important that women are visible in traditionally male arenas. Whether that be in the engineering industry, the chef-ing industry, goverment or the superhero arena. If we didn't have a female Robin, or a female Superman, or a female Batman, or a Wonder Woman, or a female Question, or a Buffy, or a Power Girl or female Speedy, or Lady Flash, think how bad that would be. For women to be always excluded from this area. For women to not be allowed to take part, to not be good enough, to hero. To ensure that this doesn't happen, women have to be 'allowed', at leats initially, to take on a male role. Allowed is the wrong word. It assumes that those in power are trying to beat down on women, are being tokenistic about including women. I'm sure there are some who think like this, but I'm equally sure there are many many more who don't. Tokenism sucks. Tokensim is having one woman on an otherwise all male team, just to be polically correct and right on - I'm thinking Cheetara and Smurfette here.

The good thing about having female equivalents of (big name) male superheroes is that it (should) mean that they are in the big leagues. The danger of having brand new female superheroes is they could be seen as small time stuff and not taken seriously.

So as to the return of Spoiler, I say yay. I didn't buy the Robin issue where she returned, but I have the Robin/Spoiler special on order. When I can afford it I'll pick it up. But she still should have gotten a trophy case. And Tim should have insisted on one.

EDIT: This seems to be on similar lines to my post. A bit.

2nd EDIT: As always, other people's thoughts and comments are appreciated!