Back on Track

Here I was, all set to talk about the hideous new Batgirl costume when Warner Bros. goes and reorganizes DC (likely in response to the Disney acquisition of Marvel) and...

You know what? Screw it. That sort of stuff isn't really my cup of tea anyone. I'm sure smarter people than me are already talking about it. Let's go ahead and talk about the hideous new Batgirl costume after all. Take a look:

Good Lord, that's a hideous costume. Poor Stephanie. I mean, really. Even if you didn't like Cassandra's Batgirl costume (and let's be honest, most of the people who didn't like it hated it because it wasn't Barbara's Batgirl costume) have to admit that Cassie's made a lot more sense.

I get that they're trying to tie it back to Stephanie's old Spoiler costume. But there were a lot of practical aspects to Cassandra's Batgirl costume. The fact that it was all black sure helped. And let's not forget that Cassie (and Steph as Spoiler) kept her hair tied up so as not to allow any villains to grab at it. Didn't Dick Grayson recently admonish Batwoman for this? Isn't that why the Question got her hair cut?

All the practicality has been thrown out the window in what I would see as a misguided attempt to tie Steph's Bargirl costume to her Spoiler costume. The purple just doesn't work. The leg pouch is all 90's "anti-symmetry." It just looks bad. And again, the free flowing hair is just going to get in her way. Couldn't she tie it back in a ponytail or stuff it in her cowl like she did with her hood? Honestly, how many women athletes do you see competing with their hair loose? If a runner or a soccer player doesn't do it, then a vigilante certainly shouldn't.

In conclusion, I'm sure you can gather that I think the costume -- to put it frankly -- sucks. Despite my love of Cassandra I'm really hoping Steph can be successful as Batgirl. But that costume sure ain't gonna help...

Prospects

Well, Stephanie is back to life. Or rather, it's been revealed that she was never dead to begin with. Know that I am pleased with this development. Not only did I like Stephanie from the few times I've interacted with her, but her return from limbo bodes very well for my prospects.

Consider this: You-Know-Who didn't have a case for Stephanie in his Cave. There was a great deal of anger about this (and rightly so). But now it has been revealed that she didn't get a memorial case because You-Know-Who always suspected that she was actually alive. Do you know who else doesn't have a memorial case in the Cave?

And that's only one good point for me. Consider this as well: with Stephanie's "death" we saw a body. And honest to St. Dumas body! And not only that, but we also saw her ghost a couple of times! And this was all with her never having been dead to begin with.

I should note that my ghost has never visited Batgirl (or anyone else for that matter). Further, they never found my body! I mean, it's not like they looked for it. But I was riddled with bullets and then thrown from a window. My chances of surviving that sure were slim… But there was no corpse to prove it!

All this leads me to one conclusion: there's a chance that maybe DC will consider thinking about bringing me back at some point in the indeterminate future. And that gives me hope for the future.

Spoilers

Okay, so is there anyone out there who was actually surprised by the revelation in last week's Robin? It seems to me that they've been telegraphing just this sort of reveal for months.

Now, I would've been surprised if it had been Cassandra Cain's evil twin under that hood, or if Stephanie had been a zombie or something. That would've been a shocking twist. But Stephanie's return has been in the cards for quite a while in my eyes.

Still, I am happy about it and everything. I never read much Robin in the old days, but Steph was a semi-recurring character in Batgirl. They had a great relationship, and Stephanie was the only character out there who actually seemed like she was friends with Cass. Steph even offered to teach her to read at one point. Batman never offered that.

I just hope that Spoiler gets used appropriately from hereon out. I don't want it to be a case of "hey, she's alive -- you can all stop complaining now." I can see them doing that. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if she disappeared off to limbo again now that she's definitively not dead.

I hope that doesn't happen, and I hope she and Batgirl start hanging out again. It would raise my happiness quotient by a huge degree. And it would be a good excuse for Cassandra to start acting like herself again...

Employment Policies

It seems that in the pages of Robin a former ally of you-know-who may be returning from the dead. I should say that it is not me.

But what I will say is that if poor Stephanie Brown is returning from the cold embrace of the grave, I will not begrudge her that. I know the pain of brutal, violent death. And then the indignity of being largely forgotten by those who called you an ally.

Indeed, I hope that Stephanie's return (if that is indeed what is happening) will lead to you-know-who reexamining not only his hiring but his firing practices.

Consider this: my former employer hired Stephanie on as Robin. Then he fired her. She proceeded to start a gang war and then get tortured to death. Recall poor Cassandra Cain, who was cut adrift and then began to speak in tongues (Navajo) and try to kill people. And let us not forget myself. I went crazy, was fired, then went crazy again. And then got shot. Right after I went crazy.

Were these things you-know-who's fault? Perhaps they are. Or perhaps they merely could be. All I'm saying is that I'd like to come back from the dead too.