The OS Hot Ten For 2/7/08

10. Firestar (because David & Rich asked for it)















9. Zuda's Strangle/Switch



8. Barry Kitson on Amazing Spider-Man





















7. Bedard Back On Birds Of Prey (or so they say this month)



















6. Dirk Deppey Vs. Girl Wonder
















5. Gail Simone Vs. Dave Sim
























4. Colbert Vs. O'Brien Vs. Stewart












3. Doctor Who Season Four Trailer
















2. Iron Man Superbowl Trailer














1. Wolverine and the X-Men Trailer

Batman #673: Requiem For Stephanie Brown?

Okay, I know everyone's talking about the (sort of) cameo a certain Robin-suit made in the latest issue of Batman.

But is this indeed a victory for Stephanie Brown/Spoiler/Girl-Wonder supporters? Or, because it's really a dream sequence, is it just much ado over nothing?

Here's why I think it is all damn significant:

1. Grant Morrison wrote it (as opposed to expendable young writer #5).

2. Regardless of the fact that it was a dream sequence, it shows what Batman really felt, if only too stubborn to admit it.

3. Regardless of the fact that it was a dream sequence, it shows what DC probably recognized as a mistake about at least a year ago, if only too stubborn to admit it.

4. Batman gets menaced by a power-drill at the end of the issue, just like what happened to Stephanie Brown -- indicating that the trophy-case/Stephanie thing wasn't just a cheap gimmick, but part of the texture of the story

5. It's damn hard to get DC to admit they were wrong on anything, so I have to consider this a major victory on the part of Girl-Wonder.org.

That said, a possible return of Spoiler in Robin kind of waters down the emotional impact a bit.

But folks, with Batman #673 we might just be seeing the beginning of the end of DC-dickery.

Stay tuned.

Post-Script: I wrote this before reading Dirk Deppey's scorching commentary on the topic this morning...

Spoiler Spoilers

Stalwart OS reader *Sammy* tipped me off to the latest "Robin" solicitations (#171). The copy reads as follows (emphasis by yours truly):

"Violet’s shady spoils are piling up as fast as Robin’s girl troubles…and he’s dealing with some spoils of his own. His all-nighters are sending his relationship with Zoanne off the rails — literally — and his visions of Stephanie around every corner have to be just that…right?"

Welcome to the school of subtle ad copy, folks.

So judging by the cover and the copy, what do you think? Is this setting up the return of Stephanie Brown?

I wouldn't want to spoil it for you...

(Oh, go buy this book. It's Chris Batista pencilling it fer gods sakes. He's gonna make Robin look hawt -- like John Stamos in his prime with a touch of Tom Welling. And if it follows the previous pattern of Robin and Nightwing comics, there should be at last 5 shower scenes of either Tim or Dick in this arc alone.)

The Return of Stephanie Brown?!

Comic by Comic points out a...Spoiler warning, of sorts...

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!

Reflections On Stephanie Brown's Inability To Stay Dead

design by Joel Carroll

Looking at these awesome Stephanie Brown/Robin/Spoiler costume designs on the Project Rooftop blog, I cannot help but think the following:

The more you try to bury or deny something -- pretend it never existed -- the more it reasserts itself.

Let's face it: had Stephanie Brown gotten her trophy case, or didn't die horribly but cast off the Robin costume for one of a number of banal reasons, she wouldn't have captured the imagination of so many fans as she did.

But by making it a point to deny her the case, and by having Batman be so incredibly dismissive of her, and by doing so much to marginalize her and "make her go away," she's now drawn and redrawn, talked about, redesigned, reimagined, and discussed and discussed again. And not just by comic readers, but comic creators.

There is a law of physics somewhere in there.

design by Dean Trippe