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Thinking of doing an issue by issue write up of Batgirl (2009) on this blog after exams. I adore Bryan Q. Miller's writing. It's so clever and careful and deliberate, and there's something new to notice every time I re-read that run.

#stephanie brown #batgirl #bryan q miller

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From vengeful, would-be-murder Robin to hope-inspiring, friendly-neighbourhood Batgirl.

Character Development: Steph Brown didn't just learn to serve Batman's mission, she began her own🥰

Detective Comics #796, Batman and the Outsiders (2007) #13 and Batgirl (2009) #5

Steph at age 16, 18 and 19.

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Contrary to her earlier, angrier vigilante days, Stephanie Brown, as Batgirl, does not accept killing or even death to ANY capacity.

Batgirl (2009) #9

This is Stephanie's reaction to being unable to save a man who had a moment ago pointed a gun at Detective Gage's head and, to her knowledge, may very well have been a horrible murderer. She's very fucking devestated and she's crazy hard on herself because NO ONE's meant to die on this daring defender's watch.

#outgrowing any murderous intent and choosing to instead inspire hope was a huge part of her story as a vigilante #part of the reason i think jason todd would actually have made a great villain for steph #stephanie brown #batgirl #batgirl 2009 #dc comics #bat family #batfam #comics #batman

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Commission | CassKon TimSteph Double Date Twitter | Tumblr | DA | Instagram | Patreon

#i adore this!! #tim being able to fall asleep anywhere #steph worried about the expense unfortunately #cass already chowing down #and kon rocking sunnies indoors

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I feel that the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon has a weird chokehold over a lot of the DC fandom, particularly the parts that don't actually READ or even like COMICS, to the point where this show, whose creators openly admit had to be simple enough for a toddler to follow, largely informs a lot of fans' interpretations of some pretty complex characters, themes and continuity. The show, specifically, can tend to become nostalgia bait, and I think it's due time for a lot of this fandom to take off their rose-tinted glasses and let the show go.

Like I enjoyed the show growing up and I still have a soft spot for episodes like Lightspeed and Hide & Seek, but...frankly it's a simple show tailored to young kids that just does not, and was never meant to, do justice to the Titans' comic canon. This show could never have done Who is Donna Troy? and conveyed the unlabelableness of Donna and Dick's relationship, but it was never supposed to. Characterisations are intentionally dumbed down, themes are broken down into bite-sized morals, half of the show is dedicated to comedy, and character development is purposely few and far between because this show was designed for kids aged 2-11. And all that is fine but it's just not at all a reflection of what the Titans really are in print. It should not really inform any serious reading of the DC comic universe.

On the one hand, I really didn't need to see a Red X comic arc or Starfire talking in broken english in a comic, it's all just cheap nostalgia bait that people need to stop falling for. It's sacrificing theme in favour of cheap references. On the other hand, I do think the fans I'm talking about probably owe it to themselves to a) be a little more honest and critical about their engagement with DC media, and b) challenge themselves more when engaging in media to avoid wallowing in flanderized fluff.

#all i do i talk about THEME but god stop sleeping on theme; especially favour of stupid references to old shit #i actually loved that show as a kid but like idk i kinda...just...like...i grew up you know? #and now i occasionally post trash on tumblr about T-rated picture books :P #teen titans #teen titans 2003 #teen titans cartoon #titans #titans dc #new teen titans #dc comics #comics #dick grayson #donna troy #wally west #raven #koriand'r #vic stone #gar logan #anti teen titans 2003 #anti teen titans cartoon

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ILOVEHERILOVEHERILOVEHERILOVEHERILOVEHERILOVEHERILOVEHER

Batgirl #5

#even the flash's brain couldn't move as quick as stephanie's #stephanie brown #batgirl #steph brown #barbara gordon #batgirl 2009 #dc comics #batman #bat family #batfam #comics #robin #the spoiler

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Don't shoot me but I read Steph/Cass (later on) as queerplatonic rather than anything sexual. Like that's what Convergence: Batgirl screams to me.

#stephcass #stephanie brown #cassandra cain

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Teenage Dick Grayson used to steel road signs and put them on his wall😀

Batman #217

Also Bruce really treated Dick going to college as if he had died.

#dick grayson #bruce wayne #robin #batman #dc comics #bat family #batfam #comics

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ate

#slayyyy🤘 #swift should go listen to celebrity skin

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I was going to write a post next weekend but of course with our silence being held today Hillsborough is a hot topic, so I feel it’s important for myself to continue the conversation and make sure people understand why Hillsborough is still spoken about and why tragedy chanting MUST end. Please click this link and sign the petition to end tragedy chanting and please continue to talk about Hillsborough. It’s hard to talk about I know, believe me as a scouser and a family member of a survivor it’s never easy, but we must continue to talk about that day to ensure it never ever happens again, because sadly for us it almost did. Hillsborough shouldn’t be a scousers issue. It also shouldn’t just be a Liverpool fc issue. It’s down to football collectively to speak about it, to be educated on it and to sympathise with it. You shouldn’t not care just because your club wasn’t involved. Us scousers are tired, extremely tired of having to tell the same tale, not because we don’t care or want to forget but it’s incredibly overwhelming, especially when you feel alone in the matter.

April 15th 1989. Liverpool v Nott Forest, FA CUP SEMI FINAL.

97 dead. 766 injuries. Countless of suicides. Leppings Lane. The South Yorkshire police. The Sun newspaper. Parliament. One lie. One cover up. One of footballs greatest tragedies.

Sunday the 15th, 53,000 allocated tickets for a 3pm kick off.

Liverpool fans had shown up to the Sheffield ground early, just as we have always done rocking up hours before hand to create an atmosphere whether it be our ground or someone else’s was our norm. Thousands of fans laced the streets. Kids, teenagers, adults and the elderly all eager to see kenny lead the team to the final. David Duckenfield was in charge that day. He was the match commander. he was also at the pub drinking prior to kick off. Drinking whilst on duty. Drinking whilst being responsible for two clubs, 53,000 fans and his police department. Upon his return from the pub match goers had started to enter the ground, 5000 Liverpool fans were still waiting outside though to get in, and kick off was fast approaching. In order to attempt to ease the thousands of fans waiting outside to be let in Duckenfield, drunkenly, made the decision to open gate c. Leppings lane. A standing pen. Despite Liverpool having a larger fanbase they were allocated the smaller leppings lane end, it consisted of a seated upper tier and a terrace for 10,100 standing fans. Once the gate had been opened, which was instructed to be opened by duckenfield, it caused chaos. Once fans, Liverpool fans, had made their way through the turnstiles they came to the opening of leppings lane and the more people that came through the tighter the pen became. 2000 of the 5000 fans still waiting to get in had been given access to enter a pen, a pen that was already quite full. Liverpool fans had started to be crushed. Liverpool fans were begging and pleading for some help but it fell on deaf ears. The police watched on whilst fans begged for their lives. 3pm, kick off. The leppings lane pen was becoming tighter and tighter, the fence was bearing the weight of thousands. Fans screamed for help, they tried jumping over the fence and onto the pitch to create room. Police pushed them back in. Even as they explained what was happening they continued to be pushed back into the crush. Liverpool fans above in the upper tier started pulling those out the crush to help try and create some room. 3.05pm the match stops. Liverpool fans and leppings lane collapse. People were already dead, people were barely hanging on. Liverpool fans dragged other fans onto the pitch to clear space within the pen. They tore the advertisement boards off the sides to create makeshift stretches, they did everything they could to save their family and friends. That’s the truth. But the truth isn’t good enough. Despite Liverpool fans behaving correctly that day, despite their best efforts to save themselves and other fans they became the villains of the story. The South Yorkshire police had failed, a drunken Duckenfield had failed and after all of that failure they were ready to fail Liverpool some more. Ticketless fans we were. Drunken fans we were. Hooligans. We robbed from the dead. We peed on the dead. We peed on the police. We stopped ambulances from entering the pitch. We stopped paramedics giving ‘the kiss of life’. We spat at the authorities who were giving aid. We caused it all. We forced our entry into gate c. We forced our entry into leppings lane. We caused the crush. That was the story duckenfield, the South Yorkshire police, the sun and Margaret thatcher put together. They wanted that story to be true. They tested children for alcohol, and surprise surprise the result came back positive. But only they didn’t, there wasn’t a single drunk Liverpool supporting child, they falsified those records too. They villainized children to cover their own backs and the country let them.

94 people died that day, 2 more later on and the 97th victim died in 2021. People ended their lives. People never attended games again, and people (mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, cousins, friends, nans, grandads and neighbours) devoted their lives to letting the world know the truth. For almost 23 years I’ve experienced this day as a scouser, as a family member of a survivor and as a Liverpool fan and this year as it draws closer it feels so different. I’ve always sympathised with Hillsborough because of all of the above but after being involved in the Paris CL final I’ve come to understand Hillsborough to be a whole lot different. I now truly understand the fear of those in attendance that day. I now truly understand what it’s like to experience a cover up happening. We always say justice for the 97 and 34 years on we’re still yet to experience that justice. I wouldn’t even know what justice would look like for us. An apology from the sun isn’t justice. Being cleared of all blame in 2016 isn’t justice. No one has paid a day for what happened 34 years ago. So many people lied and so many more died and everyone disregarded them asif they were nothing. They accused the dead and the survivors of doing the most unspeakable things you could ever imagine and the public still to this day laugh and chant about it. Even if Duckenfield and the rest of them faced time it wouldn’t feel like justice because they got to live their lives. 97 people didn’t, grieving families didn’t, the city didn’t. Peoples lives stopped. Scouse lives stopped. The city itself came to a stand and in ways it feels like the city hasn’t ticked a day past April 15th. People dedicated their lives to get the truth and they’ll never get that time back. It wasn’t wasted time but it was time that shouldn’t have ever been taken from them. The coverup shouldn’t have ever happened. They robbed people of their lives literally and figuratively. We never got justice and we never will. Maggie dying was one of the greatest days for scousers but it was bitter. When duckenfield dies we will rejoice but that will be bitter. Their lives went on after Hillsborough, ours never. Everyone involved got to live happy lives, they experienced holidays, birthdays, children being born, weddings etc but scousers had to devote their time and their lives to trying to clear their dead relatives, friends and neighbours names. Nothing will ever bring us justice. Justice isn’t real, it’s a made up term to give you hope that one day it’ll get better. But it doesn’t. You just learn how to keep going despite it all.

Sadly I have to remind everyone to please not engage with the sun. I still see people on football tumblr engaging with them and there is no excuse for any of you that continue to do that. When we say don’t buy the sun it also means don’t read their articles online, don’t share their posts, don’t save pics uploaded by them. Fuck the sun means fuck the sun on all accounts. You can hate Liverpool during the 90 mins your teams plays ours but after that a sense of compassion should be withheld. That also being said stop the chants. The ongoing chants “always the victim it’s never your fault” and others like it enable other disastrous events to occur and not only that it is incredible insensitive. Many people have stopped attending the games because of the chants and now they can’t even watch the games on tv because the chants can be heard, if you don’t call out the behaviour you’re just as bad as those that chant what they do. I’ve seen plenty accounts on here making harmful statements in reference to us Scouse Liverpool fans and there is only a select handful of people that call it out. Hate us scousers all you want and hate our club all you want, but that hatred shouldn’t extend to 97 dead people, those that took their lives, those who survived and those who are family and friends of all of the above. At 3.06 on the 15th the city of Liverpool will come to a familiar standstill, lightly in the distance we’ll hear the faint sound of you’ll never walk alone and we’ll all sit in silence thinking of the family members and friends lost that day. I can only ask that if you can do so that you join us in doing that. Spare a thought to our ever growing death toll, because realistically 97 doesn’t even begin to cover how many people we have lost. Spare a thought to think about why you shouldn’t engage with the sun and why you shouldn’t remain silent on the relentless chanting. Spare a thought to how it took 27 years to clear the dead and those in attendance that day of all blame, April 26th 2016 was the day the blame and the false narrative was lifted off of our shoulders.

God bless our 97 angels and those that decided it was their time to join them to watch us play footy from the clouds. You are all incredibly missed🕊

April 15th, 1989 Liverpool V Nottingham Forest FA cup semi final was how the day intended to play out. April 15th, 1989 Liverpool V the media V the police V the court system V Parliament V the entire United Kingdom is how it ended.

#jft97 #ynwa

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I think other than Jason, Steph is probably the Batkid who understands the value of money the most as her family’s struggle with money or Steph’s lack of money can be seen throughout her history as a character.

Steph & her mother are forced to live with their abuser because they can’t afford a lawyer to get Arthur’s name off the mortgage, when Steph goes to college she’s the only person in class who uses pen & paper because she can’t afford a laptop & has to take a job at the campus library so she can afford to go to college.

She even jokingly quips that she can’t afford a DVR & looking it up they’re like $30-50.

In Valentine’s Catwoman run when the characters had to dress for a party Valentine jokingly stated that Steph’s outfit was the hardest to pick not because it was hard to find an outfit that fit Steph’s style but that it was hard to find an outfit Steph could afford

#“what is free will” asks steph’s professor while stephanie is the only student who uses pen & paper cuz she can’t afford a laptop circa 2009

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there’s a pattern of behaviour in emergency services wrt police — meaning if emts or firefighters report police misdemeanours or unlawful actions against civilians then police might retaliate by not answering emergency calls from said teams that reported them. this is an established thing, at least among people i know.

reworking nightwing 96’s cop plotline (beloathed) to be dick grayson taking on the role as an emt to investigate a number of suspiciously timed murders and the police who are trying to cover up is a lot more interesting to me than just…. him being a cop. he’s still doing tangible good in bludhaven. he’s able to directly witness how the system has failed the people it’s supposed to protect. it adds an actual, proper investigative element as dick is forced to tactically gather evidence and build alliances. his ability to lead and think rationally during a crisis is a lot more valuable when performing life saving medical care vs kicking down a door with an assault rifle. let him drive an ambulance!!!!

#op i could kiss you omg that’s so clever

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Bat Timeline vs Bat Publication Timeline

I kept my receipts and citations here. Also, I used cover dates.

Neat things I noticed:

Nothing much happened in Gotham until Robin arrived both in continuity and in print history. Sorry but your lone wolf Batman doesn't exist :P

Dick permanently becomes Batman at the same age Bruce was when he became Batman; 25. Kinda poetic if you ask me.

Babs was Oracle longer than she was Batgirl in both continuity and publication history!!

Completely forgot that Dinah was literally her own mother once upon a time. Weird stuff.

There's not enough Jason!Robin stories to fit the 3 years some fans claim he was Robin for. Also the 3 years idea doesn't work if you track Dick's age. My guess is he was originally younger than 15 when he died but DC aged him up so he could be an adult when he returned as Red Hood.

It's pretty clear that Helena's integration into the group began the expansion of this complicated "family unit". She set the precedent for those noirish vigilante work relations.

Tim has to be a vampire if he's meant to be 17 three whole very explicit in-continuity years after he had his 16th birthday.

Stephanie has basically been in this gig as long as Tim! And almost as long as Helena too. Proper seasoned ass-kicker who Damian should look to for pointers.

Also remembered that Cassandra's Batgirl run is the best thing to come out of Gotham in the early 2000s.

I dunno I think the One Year Later timeskip was just unnecessary.

Kate and Renee are almost as new to the vigilante gig as Damian!

Bat-adjacent Rose Wilson was said to be 14 during her first appearance around Year 15 so she's the same age Tim.

Not Bat related but Lian Harper's age works with my timeline so yay! Born early Year 14, she's 5 during Cry for Justice in Year 19.

I have a theory, based off of Batman #416, that Dick graduated high school at 17. He says he was Bruce's partner for 6 years and that after he was fired; he left college after the 1st semester, then moved around the country, had his own adventures, and "eventually" ended up with the Titans. Also, he was 21 during the Titans' 3rd anniversary (New Titans v2 #71) and 19 when he became Nightwing (Tales of the Titans #44) so the Titans (re-)formed when he was 18. This means he probably only turned 18 in the academic year he began college (or has a summer birthday). So he was Bruce's partner from ages 11-17, did his own thing for a while as he did in the 70s, eventually joined the Titans at 18, and became Nightwing at 19. Jason comes into the picture soon after Dick retires the Robin identity.

#“what's the point of a timeline; it's not meant to make sense that way; no one ages” STFU #the point of a timeline is solidifying that characters do age and that time is able to flow! Cuz time's an interesting theme to explore! #this is examining continuity as the literal history of these paper people and enabling them to grow (up) issue by issue #batman #bat family #batfam #dc comics #comics #timeline #bruce wayne #dick grayson #barbara gordon #dinah lance #jason todd #helena bertinelli #tim drake #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #kate kane #renee montoya #damian wayne #robin #batgirl #black canary #huntress #nightwing #the spoiler #oracle #red robin #red hood

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“steph deserves to kill” “give steph a gun” SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU DONT GET IT YOU DONT GET IT YOU DONT GET IT

#one of her biggest arcs was accepting that killing people doesn’t make anything better at all!! we’re not gods!! #her whole thing as batgirl was CHOOSING to spread HOPE in gotham instead of FEAR

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Interesting that Stephanie Brown reminds Dick of a young Barbara Gordon but reminds Bruce of a young Dick Grayson. So much to read into there.

Batgirl (2009) #7 & Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl

They’re both projecting. They’re impressed by what they see in Steph so they liken her to the person they hold in the highest of regards; for Dick that’s Babs and for Bruce that’s Dick.

On the other hand, Stephanie, current Batgirl and former Robin, does in fact draw parallels to both Babs and Dick; the first Batgirl and Robin!! And Dick and Bruce recognise this. Her spirit is relentless and fucking unbreakable and she’s independent to a fault; qualities associated with Babs’ strong character. More technically, she’s light-footed, agile and always pinging around the battlefield, and she’s also cunning, always using her words to throw off her opponents; skills and techniques particularly associated with how Dick operates.

Another important thing to note is that that Dick, now Batman, has come to know Stephanie as the Batgirl, and so likens her to the original Batgirl, while Bruce still remembers Stephanie as his Robin, and so likens her to the original Robin.

Nevertheless, despite what a lot of the bat fandom may tell you, people can be more than just one thing.

#the duality of stephanie brown #bring the nuance of preboot back into this fandom i beg you #stephanie brown #steph brown #batgirl #robin #dc comics #batman #bat family #batfam #comics #dick grayson #barbara gordon #bruce wayne #the spoiler

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Justice for the 97!❤️

#you’ll never walk alone #liverpool #liverpool fc

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tim your swag is too bodacious. tim they'll kill you

#AVRIL!! #tim steph and cass are such avril lavigne girls