Here is a "map" of intersecting comic covers for the upcoming "Gotham Underground" --
And here is a close-up of the bottom middle cover:
This would not surprise me in the least. They could kill two birds with one stone (metaphorically, of course) by saying that Leslie Thompkins lied about Stephanie and actually put her in hiding, making everybody else think she was dead.
And still -- no trophy case! For legitimate reasons!
It's diabolical I tells ya!
Or, y'know, Superboy punched something. We can never overlook the idea that Superboy punched something.
ReplyDeleteAh yes -- the punching.
ReplyDeleteOr cosmic butterfly eating stuff. Can't forget that, either.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, while I'd be happy Steph was alive again, I doubt they're clever enough to try to stop the talk of the memorial case that way.
Or she could be from Earth-Whatever... or she could be a clone... or she could be a twin of some kind...
ReplyDeleteBut you know what it'll probably be.
A flashback to a "hidden" adventure.
Actually: I'm dead fine with the double repair fix you propose. It is how they would fix a similar fuck-up with any other hero. Heck, now you've all gone & gotten my fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it's Moon Knight...
ReplyDeletewould az-bats come back too as he is in the frame as well?
ReplyDeletei wish they would give the 90s (well to make it fair, 90%) batman comics a spot in the trophy case. so much promise wiped away by editorial mandated crossovers and the like.
Less facetiously, that looks an awful lot like Azrael in the window behind her, which would make this sometime in the past...
ReplyDelete...unless Superboy punched another universe and revived HIM ,too...
Well, good.
ReplyDeleteOn how to do it: So your idea is that Leslie isn't really a derelict physician, she just wanted Bruce to quit using youth?
Hm. I really don't like Leslie anyway, so I suggested that she left Steph to die & then somebody else patched her up. Your idea might be less offensive.
Cosmic Butterfly eating stuff is so much better than Superboy punching things. I am so much more interested in horrifying monsters of time and space than I am in what super-powered teens do to relieve angst when they haven't heard of livejournal.
ReplyDeleteEither way, I think the best fix for everything is to pretend that horrible story never happened. It allows Leslie to be redeemed from a moronic creative choice, restores Stephanie, and even lets Didio keep his precious bat-boys club. Everybody wins, everybody learns a lesson and hugs.
Behind Spoiler- that isn't Phantasm (or whatever their name was- memory flakey) from Mask of the Phantasm is it? I would like that.
ReplyDeleteI would certainly like it much more than Azrael. No offense, but, he had wrist-mounted Batarang gatling cannons. There is no forgiveness for that.
Wait -- all this wailing and gnashing of teeth and no one ever saw a body?
ReplyDelete(And Chuck Dixon has mentioned that he has a surprise coming up with will rock Robin's world.)
Don't see Cassie Cain anywhere in that picture ...
ReplyDeleteCould it be that she's the new, and more lethal, spoiler, since the one-time Batgirl actually mourned Stephanie's death?
Be a good way to get back at Batman AND Robin.
Wow. I was mildly interested in this series because I like Tieri and Califiore -- both underrated creators that usually do a pretty good job -- but the idea that DC is going to make lemonade out of the steaming pile of lemons they made out of "War Games" is enough to make me ask my local comic shop to hold copies of the series so I don't miss an issue.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'll won't be too disappointed if they don't bring back Stephanie and Leslie Thompkins since the idea seems to good to even have been considered by DC. I will be disappointed if they kill off Lock-Up though. And how messed up is it that I'm afraid to see obscure characters I like appear anymore since it seems like they only show up to get bumped off.
Have a good day.
John Cage
It might be kind of cool if it was Stephanie Brown's daughter, grown up and filled with almighty vengefulness over how Batman has treated her mother's memory.
ReplyDeleteRob...there was a body, yeah. This is comics, though! COMICS. As long as it makes a LITTLE sense, it'll work. That is the beauty of the cape & cowl; the reader is willing to suspend his disbelief a little more.
ReplyDeletefort keeper: man, I hope it isn't Cassie. I still hold out that maybe she'll be Batgirl proper again. Such a sad Mordicai!
& lexi, that isn't a bad idea. The thought had occurred to me, too. It would work fine, but the double-fix is really smart.
The Cassandra Cain as Spoiler thing rings true - DC doesn't want ethnic characters in the Bat-family in the same way it doesn't want gays (bye-bye Batwoman), so this would bring back Spoiler, turn the legitimate fan complaints into a storyline - as DC have done in the past with it's continuity-fetishising - and finally leave the Batgirl cowl vacant for yet another Bat-honky to fill.
ReplyDeleteI hope she's dead and never gets a trophy just because I think the outrage is funny. It's a piece of trash fiction - a comic in every sense of the word - who cares????
ReplyDeleteBatgirl is there
ReplyDeleteShe is under Huntress and Oracle and on the same landing as Matches Malone and Catwoman.
Plus Batwoman is above Nightwing.
Also I dont think that this is necessarily a flashback cover.
The new Ventriloquist (female version) is there.
Nite-wing Dudley Somes and the rest of Dicks old supporting cast of villains isn't there.
And as for Azrael... he looks to be the costume that he was wearing when he retired soon after the Officer Down story arc.
The problem with Batwoman is that she ISN'T in the family; so far, only...Nightwing has even met her, right? Anyhow, I'm not a Batwoman fan because it screams stunt stunt stunt from the beginning. Maybe Rucka can turn that around, but I remain unsold. I sure would like Renee-Question to get weirder, too. The Question should be weird! Anyhow, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Cass-as-Batgirl, & for a Not-Flashback for the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteWell, as for Batwoman:
ReplyDeleteShe HASN'T made it into the Batfamily. Now, that's not A Dealbreaker when it comes to calling herself Batwoman. You can't copyright bats any more than you can copyright fish. BUT, she has established herself as a partner for the question.
Why not REPURPOSE HER AS:
Question Girl!
What on EARTH would be cooler than a FEMALE superhero simply called The Question, and her FEMALE Sidekick called The Question Girl?
It's ironic and meta and insane!
As for Steph? All I've EVER wanted was for them to make it so it never happened! PLEASE, PLEASE, LET IT ALL HAVE NEVER HAPPENED! *ahem*
While i would love it that it was really Stephanie, and the Leslie is redeemed, I think it's actually Ariana(Tim Drake's old girlfriend) taking up the mantle of Spoiler upon Chuck Dixon's return.
ReplyDeletehere's hoping!!
ReplyDelete