Batgirl

19 years ago - Stephanie Brown is born, the daughter of Arthur Brown.

18 years ago - 1-year-old Stephanie's father Arthur spends his entire fortune to create and star in his own game show.

16 years ago - 3-year-old Stephanie's parents move from their large home to a tiny apartment after her father's show fails and he must get a job in a warehouse.

12 years ago - 7-year-old Stephanie's father Arthur Brown goes to prison for the first time. Her mother hides the fact that he was a costumed villain.

10 years ago - 9-year-old Stephanie's father Arthur Brown is released from prison but winds up going right back in less than a year, making Stephanie begin to lose her trust in him.

6 years ago - 13-year-old Stephanie sees what looks like a change in her father when he's released, but when he is back in prison within a month, her frustration with her father leads to her begging her mother not to allow him back into their lives.

4 years ago - 15-year-old Stephanie Brown discovers that her father Arthur Brown is the Cluemaster. She becomes Spoiler, perpetually hounding her father while he attempts to restart his criminal career until she gets him re-arrested and out of her life. She meets Robin, and begins assisting him.

3 years ago - 16-year-old Stephanie Brown becomes pregnant. Tim Drake helps her have her baby, which she gives up for adoption.

2 years ago - 17-year-old Stephanie Brown confronts her father Arthur Brown when he stages a massive ploy to take his revenge on Gotham and on Batman, revealing her identity as Spoiler to him, and swearing to never stop her life as a hero. She volunteers to become the new Robin when Tim Drake quits, but when open warfare breaks out in the streets of Gotham between the Penguin & Tobias Whale she ignores orders to stay safe and steals the command code for the Penguin's weapons, leading to her being chased by a city full of criminals. She eventually sacrifices herself to fight Lester Buchinski to save Leslie Thompkins and is nearly beaten to death before she is saved by Bruce. She spends four months recovering before she returns to her role as Spoiler.

now - 19-year-old Stephanie Brown accepts the mantle of Batgirl when it's given to her by Cassandra Cain. She starts working with Barbara Gordon, who helps her design new equipment and trains with her, becoming a part-time member of the Birds of Prey. She moves into her own place in Burnside, becoming roommates with Alysia Yeoh. Arthur Brown begins setting up franchise Cluemasters from prison, giving her her first real challenge.

soon - Stephanie joins all of Bruce Wayne's proteges to rescue him when he's located by Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, including Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, and Luke Fox.

Stephanie Brown might not be a flagship character in DC, or even within the Bat Family at large, but she is a huge, huge part of this particular mythology. She's had major parts to play for years, suffered some really egregious treatment from the Bat editorial staff, had some huge comeback moments... in many ways she might be one of the most misused characters in DC, but she keeps coming back because people love her. We want to put together a timeline that focuses on the best of her.

Stephanie's Comic History

Stephanie Brown first appeared in 1992's Detectice Comics #647 created by Chuck Dixon in a story about her father, long-time C-list villain the Cluemaster. She's clearly being introduced as a new supporting character fov Robin, but her introduction is executed exceptionally well by Dixon, giving us a character that immediately finds her own footing and feels like she's carved her own place in Gotham. She even works alongside Batman himself in this story arc, which goes miles to establish her as a character worth following. Soon, she started appearing regularly in Robin's ongoing series, her character quickly becoming a major part of Tim Drake's mythology.

It's during Tim Drake's series that Stephanie actually discovers that she was pregnant with an ex-boyfriend's child, and chose to have that child and give it up for adoption. Depictions of teen pregnancy were unheard of at the time (although I believe Milestone comics had also done it with the character Rocket), and to have Tim helping Stephanie as she made responsible decisions and maturely handled her pregnancy was all pretty groundbreaking.

Tim Drake's father finally discovered that he was Robin in 2004, and confronted Bruce Wayne about it, leading to Tim quitting as Robin. Stephanie quickly stepped up, making her own costume, and in a moment that didn't receive anywhere near the fanfare it should have, became the fourth Robin. She was fired for insubordination pretty quickly, and combined with the death of Tim's father during the interminably dour miniseries Identity Crisis, Tim was quickly back as Robin.

Stephanie felt, correctly so, like she had been cut out, and initiated one of Bruce's theoretical plans to try to take out lots of organized crime at once as a way to prove her worth and re-earn her place in the Bat-Family. She unfortunately didn't have enough information to trigger the plan correctly, setting off the crossover event 'War Games' which led to some irrevocable changes in Gotham, and tragically, to the death of Stephanie herself.

Or at least, so we thought. For several years it was understood that Stephanie had died, her loss constantly felt by Tim and by her friend Cassandra Cain... and during that time it continued to appear that Bruce had cast her off almost callously. She didn't even get her costume in a glass case in the Batcave. Eventually, however, we discovered that she was in fact alive; Leslie Thompkins had taken her out of the country to heal from her near-fatal injuries.

At this point it was late in the 2000's, and DC's continuity was rapidly collapsing inward on itself, but when Stephane came back and took over the role of Batgirl from Cassandra Cain, we were treated to one last hurrah of truly delightful storytelling. Stephanie had EARNED the right to be Batgirl. She thrived in the role. Reading her adventures felt incredibly satisfying because we knew and loved Stephanie, and this was unquestionably where she belonged.

Of course, this was all wiped away with the introduction of the New 52. The absence of Stephane Brown and Cassandra Cain was one of the most commonly cited problems with the new timeline. Both characters eventually appeared again, with Stephanie returning to her Spoiler costume before both of them became Batgirl at the same time... which is a nice gesture, at least, even if it doesn't really manage to capture the fun of her original persona.

Our Batgirl Story

Notably, Stephanie got done pretty dirty in actual comic continuity. Despite being a hugely popular and beloved character as Spoiler, Stephanie was made Robin only to be stripped of the role a few months later and then kiled in the Wargames Crossover. This was actually the PLAN... it was set up as a fake-out by the Batman editorial team, and several creators were notably against it. It went as badly as can be expected, and a few years later she was back.

We're not doing any of that. We're making her Robin while Tim steps down, and we're having her lose the role during an approximation of Wargames, but in our timeline this event happens on its own, rather than being her fault... and she loses the role as Robin specifically because she refuses to stay back and stay safe. She launches herself into danger, making her the target of the entire city before she sacrifices herself to save Leslie Thompkins... before she's saved by Bruce. We wanted to make sure it's Bruce who saves her, because the comics depicted him being so cavalier and uncaring toward her, we wanted to very deliberately show that that wasn't the case.

Batgirl's Costume
(aka Batgirl of Burnside)

We're all huge fans of the evolution of Stephanie's Pre-52 costumes; from Spoiler to Robin to Batgirl. They all did a great job of giving her her own unique identity and detailing her place in the world. Her Post-52 costumes aren't BAD, they just don't innovate at all on the original designs, other than being seeming incapable of giving her a full face-mask.

The reason we bring this up is because of the existence of the Batgirl of Burnside redesign of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl; a story that re-imagined her and her costume. It's a very good series, but at the time I remember thinking; 'in order to make Barbara this character, you have to retcon decades of history, remove her career as Oracle, miraculously heal her paralysis, and de-age her. To make Stephanie this character, you have to dye her hair slightly.' We're keeping Stephanie's Batgirl costume, but you could do worse than to borrow some of the little details of this costume. the detached cowl, the boots, or even the buttoned-on cape. One reader comissioned artist Sketchatron to try this costume combination, and I happen to think they did a great job.

Batgirl's Future

In the comic where Stephanie becomes Batgirl, she starts out wearing Cassandra's hand-me-down costume, and Barbara starts out not fully approving of her. In time, however, Barbara realizes just how much like her Stephanie really is, and they actually share a moment together, lighting a candle in the Batcave the same way Bruce and Dick did years earlier, committing to working together as partners. This is what made Stephanie's turn as Batgirl so great; she was part of the natural succession of these characters.

As we leave our timline, Stephanie has only JUST been given the mantle of Batgirl. We absolutely love this direction for her.. not just for her, but for the entire Bat-Family. Cassandra was an amazing Batgirl, but she's also possibly the ultimate loner of those heroes; she was supremely self-sufficient and off on her own adventures. Stephanie, by contrast, thrives as part of the family. She is a superhero to her core, but she's also a lot more vulnerable, has a great sense of humor, and a healthy sense of her own limitations. She's someone who welcomes help, and the entire Bat-Family is invested in helping her become the hero she has the potential to be.

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