The Stephanie Brown 'Batgirl' Appreciation Thread

[The Man From Room X]

By Greenapplefreak

[Galcyon]

I went reading through Volume 1 of the new Batgirl this week and realized just how poorly it stacks up versus the first volume of Steph as Batgirl. Not a knock on Gail, but I really miss Steph's upbeat and cheery attitude.

[The Man From Room X]

Time for some more art.

By Marcio Takara.



By Saintyak



By Emmshin. Steph is 20, right? :D

[sunofdarkchild]

I went reading through Volume 1 of the new Batgirl this week and realized just how poorly it stacks up versus the first volume of Steph as Batgirl. Not a knock on Gail, but I really miss Steph's upbeat and cheery attitude.

At least Steph's series showed a lot of improvement over the first volume (it was issues 1-7, right?). The current series still has terrible internal monologues, a depressing tone, an incompetant Babs, no memorable villains except for the Joker in a story that turned out to be a waste, ect. Simone's writing skills would have to be on a whole other level to turn such bad ideas into a good product.

To me the real test for Steph's Batgirl would be how it stacks up to quality series, like the first Cass series or the early Dixon Robin days. I think both series were at their best in the issues where Steph was around, the pregnacy storyline, the 'same time tomorrow' issue. I'd put it slightly above the first Batgirl seires, and somewhat below Robin.

[Whip Whirlwind]

Any teen hero book being slightly below Dixon's Robin is pretty high praise imo, and that's probably where I'd put BQM's steph series. Well for DC anyway. Although the first BB series was pretty great too.

[Chickfighter]

Any teen hero book being slightly below Dixon's Robin is pretty high praise imo, and that's probably where I'd put BQM's steph series. Well for DC anyway. Although the first BB series was pretty great too.

Yes, those three series were all in my recent top ten personal favorites ever. Stephiness rules.

[sunofdarkchild]

Any teen hero book being slightly below Dixon's Robin is pretty high praise imo, and that's probably where I'd put BQM's steph series. Well for DC anyway. Although the first BB series was pretty great too.

I was trying to be careful with my words, with 'somewhat' connoting a greater difference than 'slightly.'

[Whip Whirlwind]

I was trying to be careful with my words, with 'somewhat' connoting a greater difference than 'slightly.'

Yeah sorry if it seemed like I twisted it. For me its slightly , or whatever's slightly more than slightly. Somewhat sounds too harsh ha.

But its hard for me to compare the two due to differences in length.

[The Lucky One]

I went reading through Volume 1 of the new Batgirl this week and realized just how poorly it stacks up versus the first volume of Steph as Batgirl. Not a knock on Gail, but I really miss Steph's upbeat and cheery attitude.

I haven't read the current Batgirl series so I can't comment on its quality, but I very much miss having a lighthearted, upbeat monthly series to read. X-Factor gives me humor, but it's a somewhat darker, more cynical humor. Li'l Gotham is great, but the stories are self-contained and the release schedule unpredictable. Aaaaand... that's pretty much it.

From a business standpoint, I get it -- melodrama sells, and any business in the world would choose to double/triple their profits on a particular product even if it means losing the people who liked the original version. But then again, I'm not sure that actually happened... plenty of people who bought Steph's book are probably buying the current one as well, whether they're enjoying it or not. So what on earth is there for DC to regret?

-D

[Bluebow]

I haven't read the current Batgirl series so I can't comment on its quality, but I very much miss having a lighthearted, upbeat monthly series to read. X-Factor gives me humor, but it's a somewhat darker, more cynical humor. Li'l Gotham is great, but the stories are self-contained and the release schedule unpredictable. Aaaaand... that's pretty much it.

From a business standpoint, I get it -- melodrama sells, and any business in the world would choose to double/triple their profits on a particular product even if it means losing the people who liked the original version. But then again, I'm not sure that actually happened... plenty of people who bought Steph's book are probably buying the current one as well, whether they're enjoying it or not. So what on earth is there for DC to regret?

-D

It is a double edged sword, as long as Barbara Gordon's Batgirl is selling so well there is less chance of Stephanie returning to that rolé, but also if what DC regard as the iconic Batgirl sales drop badly would they even consider having Stephanie return?

[Ed Sizzers]

By Emmshin. Steph is 20, right? :D

[The Lucky One]

but also if what DC regard as the iconic Batgirl sales drop badly would they even consider having Stephanie return?

No. What would be their motivation? No matter how we feel about it, DC's decision makers, from everything we've heard from credible sources, consider Stephanie Brown's Batgirl series a commercial failure. They might (or might not) love it critically, but that will only take you so far. Even if your replacement show is a failure, you don't replace it with the previous show that you also considered a failure. You try something new. If American Idol suddenly, inexplicably tanks, Fox is not bringing back Arrested Development. (Netflix is, but that's another story.)

All of which is moot, because Barbara's series is not going to tank, at least not to sub-Stephanie numbers. Barbara is a Silver/Bronze Age character who has appeared in most cartoon iterations of the Batman mythos, plus lunchboxes, toys, etc. There was a time when she was out of the spotlight, but (ironically) Chuck Dixon, among others, took care of that. There are as many people who will read a book just because she's in it, regardless of quality, as would read a critically-acclaimed Stephanie Brown series; just as more people will read a godawful X-Men book than will read I, Vampire. Could DC get Stephanie to that level of public consciousness over time, by featuring her in cartoons and action figures and t-shirts and the like? Sure. But they've shown no interest in doing so.

My daughters' daycare has a teacher in it named Stephanie Brown, and if I walked up to her one day and said "Hey, like the comic character!", I guarantee she would have no idea what the eff I was talking about. If her name were Barbara Gordon, she would have been hearing Batgirl jokes all her life.

-D

[Bluebow]

No. What would be their motivation?
-D

That was my point, with their current thinking they would not bring her back. Sometimes however things do much better the second time around, Battlestar Galactica for example was both a more commercial and critical success than the original which came out in the post Star Wars era. A problem with a lot of commercial creative businesses is that they try to re-make and repackage the last big hit, no studio executive expected the original Star Wars to be the success it was, which is why George Lucas retained the commercial rights to the merchandising. From another angle the James Bond franchise is doing better that ever after several actor changes, although beforehand a lot of people said it was finished and a blond Bond would never work. A BBC executive with a dislike of Science Fiction cancelled Doctor Who seemingly for ever, but a considerable time off screen apparently revitalised interest. DC is a business and must seek profit, but following conventional business thinking may not be the only way to do it in a creative industry.

[Sunbird]

Slight tangential but BQM has a Kickstarter for a project that hits all the same notes as his Stephbat run, insofar as it is kid friendly. In space!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...oin-the-search

[Blacksun]

LOL I voted for Sphanie/Kara on DCwomenkickass couple tournament

DC made their choice on Barbara Gordon, they want her to represent batgirl brand.No chance for Stephanie now.