#I don't know I like the idea of only Batman and the Batgirls having capes

[abrakuxas]

As a batfan, personally, I really wish I liked Caped Crusader, but it's such a nothing show to me.

There's nothing there that BTAS hasn't done better and that shitty Robin fanservice where they are all just random ass kids in a single episode just left a very bad taste in my mouth and 100% lost me.

Idk, I feel like every new batman adaptation is less and less interested in being a Batman adaptation and more and more just trying to be the Bruce Wayne year 1 show. There are so many interesting Batman concepts and arcs and characters that they ignore to retell fucking year 1 again and again and again. It feels like someone did a very bad deal with the devil where the person asked to have new Batman shows every fucking year but and the devil just went "alright but it will be the same shit every fucking time".

I was kinda hopeful that like, yeah, season 1 was gonna be a year 1 thingie but maybe they will finally tackle it Robin by Robin, Batgirl by Batgirl. Maybe we'll see Dick grow into Batman with Damian as his Robin in season idk, 8 or 9, something like that. But no, Dick is an afterthought, a random kid in a fanservice. So is Jason and Steph. They left Tim out and who knows, maybe we'll get a Tim Drake Robin, but is it really Tim? Tim is very specifically the kid who saved Bruce from grief over Jason, a younger brother to Dick, boyfriend to Stephanie, a Tim Drake that has nothing to do with any of this characters isn't really Tim Drake. And here's the thing: a Batman with no Batfamily is also just 1% Batman. Bruce is defined by his relationship to family, not only the parents his lost, but the kids he got, the parent he became. A Batman show that isn't interested in his family is only interested in Batman as an aesthetic and I have enough of this, I don't need to watch more.

Also, if we're going to make everyone so different, why keep Bruce the same as ever if not even less interesting? Why not make a Batman cartoon set in medieval times where he is an actual vampire and the villains are dark fantasy versions of themselves? Why not a cyberpunk Batman or a Steampunk Batman or any other idea instead of a forever incomplete and inferior comic version? If you're gonna do your own thing every single time, then go all in.

I know everyone complains that Batman is the only one getting anything but honestly as a guy with a stupidly big hyperinterest in Batman I wish we didn't, because every single Batman thing is the same Batman thing again and again and again.

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #21

Ghost / Batgirl #1-4 Words: Mike Kennedy Pictures: Ryan Benjamin Additional Work: Randy Emberlin, Howard Shun

One impression I used to have that going back to look at ~all~ of Cass's early appearances has forced me to reconsider is the idea that she didn't appear outside of her own books very much. While later on that is more the case, early on she does have a fair few guest appearances and cross overs, including in this bit of non-canon dual publisher cross promotion with Elisa Cameron, aka Ghost, a Dark Horse character with a solo that had been running since 1995.

The miniseries pits long time Batman villain Harvey Dent against brand new Ghost antagonist Malcolm Greymater - a (fictional) confederate general turned zombie libertarian corpse reanimator - in a conflict over Greymater poaching some of Dent's employees (ie reanimating goons that Dent killed). Babs, Cass, and Elisa get caught in the middle and are forced to work together after following separate threads of a bombing by Two Face and bodies stolen by Greymater only to be sold off into unsavory employment after failed reanimation experiments.

I don't want to go through the whole thing with a plot summary - it's four issues of non-canon stuff after all. But as a stand alone story it works fairly well, worth a read if you're a fan of early Cass. In particular there's solid characterization of Harvey Dent and what it's like to work for him - pretty bad actually. You can see why he'd get upset at someone trying to poach his guys, working conditions for goons in Gotham are terrible, if word got around of better conditions in Arcadia (Ghost's hometown) or wherever else then Batman's villains could easily find themselves suffering a labor shortage. The mere idea of that is funny enough to me that I can't help but like this little mini series, and it's an idea I'd love to see brought back. Goons On Strike - now there's a solid idea for an ongoing Gotham event crossover.

Anyway, Ghost/Batgirl is definitely a higher fantasy story than we usually see from Cass, at least back in the early days, but there's a focus on the individual lives and humanity of the underlings working for the villains that's very grounded and down to earth. That fits in really well next to the "street level" focus of Cass's early solo title. As for the book's cross-promotional function, it does make me curious about Ghost, though probably not enough so to go back and look at her solo title. I like her villain here, but Malcolm Greymater and his crew seem to be more or less exclusive to this crossover? Comicvine is telling me he maybe appears in a single issue outside of this, so that's kind of disappointing.

So setting aside the story, how's our girl in this? Well, first of all, she's being drawn by new hands. In costume she's mostly fine.

Sleek and spooky, glossy black. The details of her form are sometimes lost in the darkness, which loses some specificity in the action panels, but in a way that mostly works aesthetically. My only real complaint here is that her facial expression doesn't really show through the mask. You don't get a sense of what she's thinking or feeling in costume, she's just this dark angry spooky form, not so much a person or a character. As I've said in the past, though, that's as much or more a criticism of her costume design as it is of how any particular artist draws her in it.

It's also worth noting that, as with Cass's early pairing with Azrael, her costume contrasts very nicely with Ghost's. White with round hood and billowing cape vs. Cass all black and pointy. Aesthetically it's a great fit.

Out of costume, though...

I don't know. Just doesn't quite look like Cass to me? I know, I know, comic character facial features don't have the same specific canon as their costumes do, different artists have different styles so characters will look different, and there's definitely a stylistic element here that isn't gelling with me. The overall shape of the head is too thin, maybe, making her look a bit older than she should, where I'm used to Scott's more rounded face, stronger jaw, bushier eyebrows, shorter, poofier hair.

Scott's style, at least at the time, also just packs in more emotional expression, which is absolutely critical for a silent protagonist.

By contrast Benjamin's Cass, when she's not in costume, is often just standing a bit behind Babs with a sort of blank, neutral expression while Babs interacts with other characters or the audience for her.

...

Which also kind of brings us to the writing for Cass here. Ghost / Batgirl is probably the best example yet that silent Cass was a mistake, because yeah, the creators of this book just do not know how to convey her character to the reader without words. The first image starts with Cass looking out over the wreckage of a bombing, and of course there's pseudo noir internal monologue all over it, because how else do you start a bat-book, only Cass can't narrate so Babs provides the narration even though she isn't even in that scene.

Babs goes along on the adventure mostly so the writers have someone who can talk for Cass, or even in some panels quite literally talk over Cass.

Cass is an intimidating physical presence in costume, but in this book she functions more as an extension of Babs than as a person in her own right.

...

It's not all bad, though. In particular there's this one bit introducing an additional ability for Cass that makes perfect sense with her backstory and yet sadly I don't think is ever mentioned again in a canon Batgirl story:

Cass gets poisoned, but she survives, and recovers remarkably quickly, because she has a natural resistance to many poisons and venoms built up from repeat exposure to tiny amounts when she was a child, because of course that's something David would do. You could just imagine little Cass and David having drinking contests to see who could take the most poison before passing out, or even sneakily poisoning each other as a little game of escalating pranks.

...

So yeah, overall a nice little stand alone series with maybe not the best depiction of Cass, but one that is illustrative of why the major change to have her start speaking, while I still don't like how it was done, was probably for the best.

[alaffy]

Batman: Caped Crusader

This is going to be some general thoughts about this show. There won't be any spoilers about the plot (mostly because I'm only half way through the season), but there will be some about the characters the cut (although it's probably nothing that people don't already know unless they've somehow avoided any characters references since before the show began).

This show is created by Bruce Timm; the same person who created Batman: The Animated Series (among others). While this series has the same aesthetic as Animated; it is not tied to the original (which is probably for the best as a sequel would be hard to watch without Kevin Conroy).

Like X-Men '97, this show has clearly been "aged up" as the most likely viewers are those who watched Animated. That being said, unlike X-Men '97, this show only had to make a few adjustments because Animated really was geared toward...well, kids could watch it, but the target audience probably was teenagers and young adults. (Honestly, instead of making it more kid friendly with The Adventures of Batman and Robin, WB should've bitten the bullet and made it a prime time animated series). However, like both X-Men and X-Men '97, this show has more of a storyline running throughout the season.

Getting into the character of Bruce/Batman...so, I wouldn't go so far as to say this is a year one Batman; but it's clear that this is closer to the beginning of Batman. Maybe a year two. As for the voice actor, I feel like he's trying to match or he's been told to match Conroy (which he kind of does when he plays Bruce). If that is the case...not a fan.

There's some differences with the characters. Some I like, some not so much. Catwomen was so cool in Adventures and they've turned her into a whiney little brat in this show. Harvey Dent...has become a real asshole. I like Barbra as a character, but are they going to make her Batgirl? I mean, actually call her Batgirl...cause that would be demeaning.

I do like the new Harley Quinn. I mean, the original Harley Quinn will always have a special place in my heart; and what they were able to do with this character was nothing short of amazing (Mad Love, just the fact that they were able to produce that episode...). At the same time, Harley Quinn wasn't made to be this iconic character, it just sort of happened. I kind of like the idea of the creator of the character going back to the drawing board, removing the Joker factor, and seeing what he can do with her. Look, this version will not replace the original; but she's an interesting alternate version.

As for The Penguin, they chose to make her a woman. Personally, I liked this version. That being said, they also gave her sons. And this is early in Batman's career. Wouldn't surprise me if, come season 2, another son shows up and he becomes The Penguin. either way, I'm cool with it.

I

[arabian-batboy]

Looking at all of my redesigns in one post together I just realized that I went all Edna and made everyone except Stephanie cape-less

[dailytimdrake]

Hello! Thanks for answering my reverse-robin ask, I love your ideas! If you don't mind, I'm really interested in the idea you mentioned at the end about what it would be like if Tim and Nightwing teamed up! Thanks! :D

Hello, I’m glad you like my ideas! I’ve been pondering over how to answer this ask, because I’m not familiar with Nightwing at all outside of his limited interaction with Tim.

In the previous response, I mentioned:

“He might find himself as Red Robin after getting fired, but he might also become Nightwing’s sidekick. I think this verse’s RR and Nightwing would be a formidable team - maybe the more synced counterpart to Batman and Robin.”

To expand on this, I’d say that considering Jason hadn’t been Red Robin prior to Tim getting fired, Tim would have to take on a new identity of his own. I don’t see this happening. Throughout his history in superheroing Tim has always taken on another’s name and costume and made it his own. Both Robin and Red Robin were never his to begin with. So along that line I’d say Tim might look towards a cape that recently stopped using their alias: Batgirl.

Obviously he’s not going to call himself Batgirl, but he might take the costume and modify it a little. He might call himself Batboy? Batkid? Or something along those lines. His costume would have more armour, more belt-pockets, a shorter or maybe retractable cape, but the colour scheme would remain: black, yellow, blue/purple. (If I were more artistically inclined, I would draw this, but as it stands the only thing I am adept at is coming up with ideas for comics I’ve barely read.)

Now Tim has never had much experience fighting crime completely alone, seeing as he started off stalking his heroes and then working with Batman. So this is completely new territory for him. He goes to Barbara to ask for permission for the Batgirl colours - because I feel that Tim should have some level of respect for Babs at this point - and asks for advice. (I’m not sure about Barbara’s storyline, but for AU purposes let’s say she’s Oracle by now.)

She points him towards Dick Grayson, because he’s the one who dropped Batman and went off on his own to forge his own path and identity in the first place. If there’s anyone to ask about leaving the Bat and going solo, it’s him.

The thing is, Tim doesn’t know Dick outside of his stalking and that one meeting in the circus before it all started. Tim only knows what he sees. This necessarily means that Tim is, in fact, a tad apprehensive about seeking Dick out, because his recent personal experience with Dick has been very much centered around Bruce and anger. And we all know how vicious Dick can be when he’s angry.

“So if Tim were the 2nd Robin, I’d say Dick and Bruce would have had a really bad falling out, and Dick must have left possibly indefinitely, and Bruce reacted as if Dick were dead.”

So, Tim would have the idea to go to Dick for help, but he’s held back because he thinks Dick might not want to see him, seeing as he did replace him as Robin. And because Tim still feels associated with Batman more than with Nightwing, despite being “fired” and essentially brushed off.

Tim and Dick would have to really build their relationship together first, I’d imagine. With Dick off in Bludhaven and Tim patrolling parts of Gotham on his own (not to mention staying away from Batman and Robin), this won’t happen until Barbara sends Dick a tip-off: one of Batman’s birds is out of the nest. And Dick, as resentful as he is towards Bruce, feels responsible for his successor as Robin, in a way. So they start talking, I guess.

“[…] Tim is effectively kicked out of their circle both by circumstance and personal choice, but I imagine Dick would seek him out and offer advice as a former Robin. (Ah, I love Dick & Tim bonding. I find their differences and similarities really complementary.)”

After some time though Dick finds that Tim is really, really good at detective and tech things. At least, he’s much more tech-savvy than Dick is. They’re both good at detective work, but Tim is better - the kid figured out Batman and Robin’s identities when he was like, 5, come on. So they work cases together, and it’s a fun time, because Tim’s "big picture” line of thinking and Dick’s attention to detail fit with each other nicely.

I’m not sure if I answered your request adequately, if at all, but here’s a really well-written meta by @theflyingwonder on Dick and Tim’s relationship in canon. I imagine their relationship in this reverse-robins verse wouldn’t be much different, just that the circumstances have changed. Hope this response made sense!

[kayclau]

Damian/Helena sibling rivalry AU

Ok, I've been holding on to this for a while now. And in honor of pride month, I'm gonna let it out for all of you here.

I headcanon Damian Wayne as non-binary. Specifically agender.

It all started with a desire. I wanted Damian and Helena to be siblings from the same universe, about the same age, constantly fighting over who gets to be Robin each night. And the other one can be the other Batman sidekick, Batgirl.

But then, I struggled to make it work, because while Robin has being played by at least 3 different girls, Helena being one of them, there are no precedents of a male batgirl, for what seemed like obvious reasons.

So I tried to find a solution, a replacement. Batboy wasn't an option, Damian had made that explicit in Batman and Robin annual 1 and I wanted to keep that.

Actually, it all started with the idea of Damian dressing up as Batman when Bruce isn't around, but now Helena accompanies him as Robin. And that evolved into this because she also wants to be Batman when Bruce isn't around and to stop the fighting the decided to take turns. And then I thought that they should do that all the time with the Robin mantle as well. And then I realized that Helena can be Batgirl while waiting for her turn, but what can Damian be?

So I had nothing. But then, I asked myself, "well, hang on a second. Would Damian actually care?"

I mean, work with me for a second. I'm trying to come up with a story that would interest me. And for Damian, that would be a story in which he has to work through his superiority complex. He thinks he's better than anybody, he hates everyone that isn't his parents and he thinks he has the birth right to the mantle of the Batman. But here's Helena, who's at most a year older than him, but is newer to the batfam than him. What would Damian think of this situation?

Well, he showed up first, but she's older. He sees the Robin mantle as the promise of one day becoming Batman, something he thinks he deserves by blood, but Helena is also blood, and she is older. But he's more skilled than her! But if that's all he got he'll have to prove it. Which means that he'll have to accept and take turns with Helena. The winner get to be Robin forever and the future Batman and the loser is Batgirl and, basically, the second ranked sidekick, the one who is under Batman's care, but will never inherit the mantle. From Damian's point of view. And Helena's too, let's not kid ourselves around here. I'm centering this around Damian because that's where it had the issue, be she's as much of a character in this story as him.

But there I was with the problem again, what should Damian be when he's not being Robin?

And at some point I started to play with the idea of him being okay being Batgirl. "Would that make sense for his character?" I thought. And then, I answered to myself "sure, why not? There's no reason for Damian to look women down in particular. My Damian will not be sexist. He hates everyone equally!" So he shouldn't see this as a humiliation or degradation.

Besides, he was raiced by the League of Assassins, which was ruled by his mother which he also believes he deserves by birth right. Until he doesn't want it anymore after being part of the bat-family for long enough.

But that didn't mean he would be okay with carrying the Batgirl outfit. I still needed a reason for him to not care to wear it for gendered reasons.

And then I realized "I can make Damian non-binary!" problem solved! Now, when he shows up in the Batgirl outfit for the first time, Helena can say something like, "that's not what I thought when we decided to take turns." to which Damian could say "well I'm not changing! If you're gonna be Robin tonight, I'll be Batgirl!"

And she'll say "Don't you have to be a girl to be Batgirl?" and he responds "It didn't matter with the Boy Wonder, I see no reason I can't be Batgirl. Maybe Batgirl is the true successor to Batman, she is the only one of his pupils to be also a bat after all." (because, you know, he's a little narcissistic, so he has to feel like he won anyways) "What about Batwing?" "His international affiliations don't count. They aren't his sidekicks, they're his colleagues."

All of this, just so Dick becomes Batman first.

Now, how would their customes be like?

The Robin part was easy, it could be a redisign of their original customes.

But Batgirl? None of them have ever be Batgirl before.

I could take inspiration from Bertinelli's for Helena, since their basically the same character. But we're talking about an 11 year old Helena and I don't have a base for that. I don't know if there are any comics with her that young.

So I thought I would be better to start from scratch. Taking inspiration from every Batgirl and from every other costume they've wore before. And then I saw this little jewel.

Damian's Batgirl costume must have a skirt. And Helena's must not.

Also, since Helena is Selina's daughter. Her Batgirl costume should be more akin to her while her Robin is closer to Bruce.

Maybe I can play with that as well. Damian's Robin has a lot of the League of Assassins essence in it, maybe his Batgirl can be completely detached from them. Maybe closer to his Batman outfit, just a little more femenized.

Take out the coat, keep the cape, replace the big gloves and boots for something more slim and add the skirt and we're ready with Damian. Maybe make his hear visible.

That's all I've got for now.

I hope you liked this silly idea I couldn't get out of my head. I want an AU with Damian and Helena as siblings fighting over who is Robin and who is Batgirl and Damian is also non-binary.

[redrobin-detective]

Don't know if this had been asked before but how would resolve/explored/develop the batfamily dynamics pre 52? I don't know if it was you or someone else, but it was brought up that the idea of Damian being more Dick's kid than Bruce's would be a neat idea to explore. Bruce would still bond w/Damian but he'd have to deal w/Damian seeing Dick as his real dad and Dick staying Batman for Damian's sake. Tim and Dick repairing their bond while the former and Damian would learn to accept each other.

Sorry, I know, I’ve held onto this for nearly a week but this is such a big ask I’ve been thinking about how to best describe and format it so I’ve been doing it bit by bit. Because I’ve given quite a bit of thought to how to integrate the ideas of pre-Flashpoint smoothly into N52, using the plot lines and developments from the later without sacrificing the former. I think it could have easily have been done and been more interesting because DC dropped off on some intense plotlines. *Also to save my fingers, Pre = Pre-Flashpoint/N52

Dick/Dami- I have done a few posts about how close they were pre and how Dami and Bruce really weren’t. Bruce was not the best father before he came back from the dead and had no interest in working with Damian in order to help the boy heal. In my fantasy, this would have played out. Damian would have refused to leave Dick’s side as his partner while now Bruce is hurt/confused on why his son now doesn’t want to be with him. I want Damian and Bruce to have a relationship but I want B to have to work for it. Nightwing and Robin shows Dick and Dami together with Batman and Red Robin has Tim and Bruce teamed but slightly at odds with each other, the once close relationship showing strain while Dick and Dami are going strong. Eventually Bruce earns Damian’s love and trust and begins patrolling with Bruce but he still remains immensely close to Dick and, no one says it aloud, but everyone considers him more Dick’s child than Bruce’s. By the time of Damian’s death, it should be Dick who is outraged and inconsolable with grief barely able to function while Bruce goes into his angry/panicked mode because he’d barely gotten any time with Dami and now he’s gone.

Tim- Just Tim in general would need a lot of work done and I’m not just saying that cause he’s my favorite. Red Robin left us with some pretty massive loose ends not to mention Timmy had be been bent and twisted by his experiences to the point that he was different and not always in good healthy ways. In Batman and Red Robin, we see the strain slowly start to show. B is still mad for Tim almost killing Boomerang at the same time he’s upset at how much Tim has grown-up and grown away. He’s also lowkey upset about Dami and, I don’t want to say he’s using Tim to fill in until Damian comes back but it’s implied. He also becomes increasingly concerned for Tim’s mental/physical health. Tim meanwhile is a slow, steady downward slope of depression and feelings of isolation and hurt/anger/insecurity over how the batfam treated him the past few years. First half would show the two fighting and generally slipping down, maybe Tim has a bad health scare with spleen and finally enough is enough and they focus on pulling Tim back. Also like to see a resolution to the Ra’s arc in which Ra’s comes in and tries to sway Tim over to his side which becomes more possible as Tim slips further away from the batfam. The whole fam/Titans get together and help get Red in a better place. (also wishful thinking, as all this occurs, Tim begins to realize his love for Conner and is dealing with that on top of everything. It spills out one night and is delighted/terrified to find his best friend has felt the same way for a long time. they agree to put any relationship on hold until Tim is in a better place but they sneak a few kisses and the support really helps Tim get back together)

Tim/Jason- Just as an aside I’d really like to see this (brotherly/friend) relationship develop. I like that N52 had these two be friends but it drove me nuts that after 6 years of Jay wanting nothing more than Tim’s death they’re besties? I’d like to think Jay would be one of the first to see how bad things have gotten for Tim because he’s been there, he know what it’s like to be the forgotten Robin. And Jay is still angry but his head is finally starting to clear from the Pit and he acknowledges that what happened with him and B wasn’t Tim’s fault. And as he watches Tim slowly spiral downwards with seemingly no help, Jay decides he won’t see another Robin die. Jason approaches Alfred, then B about Tim’s health and ways to help. It’s tense and awkward as they test the waters but they agree to, separately, help get Tim straight. It’s slow going but between Outlaw missions, Jay stops by Tim’s apartment and hangs out with him. They patrol when B is with Dami, they talk and properly get to know each other. They find they have a bit in common and actually like talking. Tim finally talks about some of the messed up things that happened and lets Jay know how bad things got and Jay finally talks about his traumas and comes to terms with them. As Tim is still angry at Dick/Bruce, Jason becomes a confidant in the batfam.

Jason- Actually RHATO Rebirth Jason is a pretty good idea of what I’m thinking of. We have a Jason who, after a few years finally is able to move past the Pit’s influence and think clearly for the first time in a while. It makes him realize that most of his actions were done out of anger so he re-evaluates. B sees this and takes the opportunity to reach out which Jason appreciates and returns by telling B about Tim. That’s where B and J start making things right, when they’re talking about how to best help Tim, they’re also covertly talking about how to deal with what happened. It gets out that Hood is a Bat and Jay is forced to ally himself properly with his family in order to avoid being torn apart by the criminal community. Jay will never be the golden son, he agrees that he won’t purposely kill but he toes the line far more than Bruce is comfortable with. The trust between them is razor thin but they’re trying. B hates it but he uses Jason as an agent who does the things B cannot/will not do. Jay spends only about half the time in Gotham, the other half with the Outlaws (NOT Kory/Roy, Jay needs his own team not hand-me-downs, Artemis/Bizarro?). He gets on better terms with Tim, but is still at odds with Dick even more so on Tim’s behalf for replacing the kid when he was down. Eventually learns to like Dami and becomes a proper big brother with him. I’d like a side arc seeing Jason going back to school? Going to GCU maybe with Steph under a false ID, that’d be nice.

Cass and the BOP- Having read Cass’s Batgirl run I think it’d be a natural progression that she’d fit in with the Birds. Cass loves her new family but she also needs space for herself to grow and she remembers Bruce was rather suffocating with her. She moves in fulltime with Barbara on the excuse she’s there to help/respond quickly but honestly she’s working on bettering her people skills and needs that constant human interaction. Babs teaches her to read when not on missions and the other Birds are very supportive of Cass. Cass also trains the other Birds in techniques and really hones the Team’s skills. They become just as formidable and respected as the Bats. They learn to coordinate better so they each can have more times off. The Birds would have their own section of Gotham as “theirs”, their own rogues gallery, get involved in the ladies’ personal lives. Barb is still struggling with her on again/off again relationship with Dick, now complicated by children in all but name, Damian and Cass (lol Bruce lost two children to other people). Cass is working on being a person and not a weapon but trying to keep up her impressive skills. Steph is a reserve member, available if needed but she’s really trying to ally herself with the Bats. She and Cass though retain a strong relationship, Steph because her relationship with Tim has soured and she needs someone and Cass because Steph was her first friend.

Stephanie- I’d basically like a continuation of her Batgirl run which was marvelous and go read it. Stephanie is still trying to prove herself to that Bats that she’s worthy of the cape and cowl and, for the most part, she’s earned it. Bruce now grants her the Batgirl title and keeps her on the roster and her belt equipped. But there’s always gonna be some tension between them and he’s undeniably harsher on her than the others. She patrols often with Dick and Damian who like/trust her more and, a lot of times, if Dick is working or whatever it will just be her and Damian. She relishes the big sister role and the feminine influence is good on Damian (though he’ll never admit to it). Continues her classes at GCU, nearly falls over when Jason sits next to her in her English Lit class. The big problem for her is keeping up with the other more confident/well-trained heroes and also repairing her relationship with Tim. She messed up, he took it badly, she moved up in batfam, he started spiraling out of control. He’s still angry about what went down but recently has been trying to repair the relationship. But too much has happened and they’ve both changed so much. Neither likes admitting how different from Robin and Spoiler they are. Her and Jay discuss how to handle Tim while studying poetry. As Tim’s health improves, he lets Steph in more and they start their friendship over. Also very close to the BOP/Cass and while she’ll hang out with them a lot out of costume, she’s determined to be a Bat. Maybe after she gains some confidence, she might switch over to the BOP for good.