Today I'm going to throw some thoughts out on a more recent book involving the re-introduction last year of Batgirl to Gotham City. Batgirl Rising collects the first seven issues of the new Batgirl ongoing series by Bryan Q. Miller, Lee Garbett and Trevor Scott.
I didn't plan to buy this book. Not the trade collection we're discussing today and not the single issues which led to the trade. That's because, apparently, I'm not much of a detective.
In the wake of Batman's "death" at the end of Final Crisis (If you don't know why "death" is in quote marks, you're probably not reading this anyway.), DC launched a slew of new Gotham-centric monthly titles, one of which was to be a new Batgril title.
Before those new titles began, however, DC used a couple of bookend titles to preview the new directions for a variety of characters. These books were titled Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead? and Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive? Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive? featured glimpses into the lives of Harvey Bullock, Leslie Thompkins, Stephanie Brown and Vicki Vale. It also seemed to indicate to me that the new Batgirl, whose identity the company had been keeping a closely guarded secret, was going to be Vicki Vale, a truly horrendous choice, in my opinion.
So I opted NOT to pick up the new Batgirl title.
And when the title debuted, sure enough, the new Batgirl was revealed to be — Stephanie Brown?!?
I did not see that coming at all. I approve of that casting, but I did not pick up on that from the Gotham Gazette vignette. Thus, I'm a little late arriving at this party.
Stephanie is the fifth character to wear a Batgirl costume. During the early Silver Age stories, Batman and Robin had female counterparts in the form of Batwoman and Bat-Girl. This Bat-Girl, later a member of Teen Titans West in the late 1960s, was Kathy Kane's niece, Bette Kane. The character was later ret-conned into using the codename Flamebird in Titans history. The second and most famous Batgirl was Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner James W. Gordon. (Pointless trivia quiz: Anybody know what the W. stands for? I do.) Barbara served the longest in the role, debuting in the late 1960s and continuing in the role until being crippled by the Joker in The Killing Joke graphic novel in 1988. Barbara later re-invented herself as the computer-savvy Oracle and continues in that role.
After Barbara, future Batgirls wore the uniform for only brief periods. The all-black costume debuted during the story arc No Man's Land and was worn by the Huntress, trying to gain acceptance by Batman following the earthquake that hit Gotham. Her identity was quickly revealed and she abandoned the guise, which Batman handed over to Cassandra Cain, a young Asian child trained to be an assassin her whole life. Cassandra had a tumultuous run as Batgirl, her behavior always at war with itself as she tried to please both surrogate fathers, the assassin who first trained her and Batman, who tried to redirect her talents in a non-lethal direction. The first issue of this new Batgirl series shows Cassandra handing her costume to Stephanie and vowing to quit being Batgril in the wake of Batman's apparent death.
As far as I know, Stephanie Brown debuted in the pages of Robin's solo title after Tim Drake took over as the third Robin. The teenager assumed the costumed identity of the Spoiler to fight crime as a means to atone for her father's past crimes. Stephanie's father was the third-rate Batman villain the Cluemaster. Stephanie soon caught the attention of Batman and Robin. The older hero tried to disuade the inexperienced crimefighter, but Robin eventually took her under his wing, so to speak, and the two often teamed up, even starting a relationship for a time. That situation was complicated by the fact that Robin knew Stephanie's real identity but could not reveal his own without compromising Batman's real identity.
The two teens became a mainstay in Robin's solo title until a falling out between Batman and Tim, prompting the youth to give up being Robin for a time. Batman temporarily offered the role of Robin to Stephanie to continue her training, and she jumped at the chance, driving a wedge between herself and Tim. But Stephanie's career in the red vest and yellow cape was very short-lived. She sparked a gang war on the streets of Gotham while trying to prove herself to Batman and seemingly ended up dying at the hands of the Black Mask for her mistakes. The young woman hadn't really died, however, and returned some time later seeking to again assume the role of Spoiler, much to the chagrin of Batman and Tim, once again in the role of Robin.
It is at this point that Stephanie finds herself being handed a Batgirl costume, which she naturally puts on and begins fighting crime. Wearing a bat outfit in Gotham City draws a lot more attention than Stephanie bargains for as she not only confronts criminals, but also Oracle, and the new Batman and Robin team of Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne.
My only real complaint with this first trade is the new Batman's initial reaction to Stephanie's role as Batgirl. He is very harsh and critical, which seems a little out-of-character for the former Nightwing, who has mentored a number of younger heroes from Tim Drake to later incarnations of the Titans and even to Damian, a somewhat less than willing pupil when it comes to non-lethal superheroics. I would expect him to be somewhat wary and concerned about Stephanie, but Dick is shown as being quite condescending at first. But over the course of these first seven issues, Stephanie wins over both Batman and Oracle, the latter even agreeing to mentor and work with the new Batgirl.
The inclusion, and mentoring role, of Oracle in this book is part of what I like about this series. Stephanie is shown to be somewhat competent on her own, as she should be to have survived as the Spoiler for so long, and to have won the confidence of Batman and Robin in the past. But there is obviously more she can still learn from a veteran hero like Oracle. Stephanie only tackles street thugs rather than major, recognizable Bat villains in the first few issues, but again, that seems natural for a series just starting out. About midway through this trade, she is confronted by the Scarecrow, then later takes on Roulette and some other major baddies, but Stephanie faces these latter foes with the aid of Oracle, Batman and Robin.
All in all, this trade has shamed me for my own lack of detective skills, but also won me over to following Stephanie's further adventures in this new role, at least for the time being. I've been picking up the single issues since No. 7, now I just need to find the time to read them.
