Batgirl - Blog Posts

I have nothing to post so I guess I’m talking about how my hyperfixation also bleeds into my apprenticeship

sometimes i think about cass and how to her father figures she has always been a daughter second and the perfect tool first:

david cain, who saw her as The One Who Is All, his perfect assain

batman, who sees her as himself Batgirl, his perfect soldier

Stephanie Brown ACTUALLY having the character arc that fanon pretends Jason Todd had (plus a defence of canon Jason)

What I'm really saying is that Stephanie Brown is underappreciated, Jason Todd is often misinterpreted, and, though it should go without saying, ignoring canon is poor media literacy. So let's actually analyse canon and get to the bottom of what the stories are trying to say and how they use their characters to tell this, as opposed to just which character should we stan.

I'm arguing that Stephanie Brown's story actually features a redemption arc that sees her transform from a violent, almost murderous teenager into the most unwaveringly hopeful of heroes and that Jason's story is about a villain who we're meant to empathise with to expose the cracks in the Batman's heroic facade; a Frankenstein's monster if you will. Here's a numbered list:

Part 1: Outgrowing Violence, Anger and Murder

A big part of Stephanie Brown's growth in canon is her learning not to kill or use excessive force. But it's not as simple as just killing is wrong, don't question it.

Let's begin with the narrative's relationship to violence, anger and murder. Why doesn't Batman kill? Because "[those] who [fight] with monsters might take care lest [they] thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you". If he kills, he's playing god, choosing who gets to live and die. No one deserves that kind of absolute power and absolute power also corrupts. Batman doesn't want to lose sight of himself or his cause. Deliberate murder is treated VERY negatively in the Batman mythos.

Enter Stephanie Brown.

Stephanie was a working class latchkey kid who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. She had an abusive, criminal father, who was in and out of jail, and a mother struggling with addiction, who Steph became a carer for at just 15. Steph also became pregnant with the child of her horrible ex. At 16, she gave birth to that child and had to give her up for adoption. Steph is also a survivor.

The world was never kind to Steph and left this teenager with a hell of a lot of bitterness and rage which her vigilante career became an outlet for. You can tell by the way she fights since Steph fights DIRTY; she'll tug hair and spit in your eyes and strike below the belt and catch a kick to twist your ankle and dislodge your already broken nose. On the one hand; the narrative tells us Steph is resourceful. She's 5'5", 130 lb and has zero powers, but can always find an opening even when going up against Gotham's grizzliest. It's telling that quick thinking, savviness and spontaneity become her thing when she becomes Batgirl; Steph is the wild card. On the other hand, she was a real diamond in the rough and a complete loose canon. In her first arc, it's Batman who stops her from making the biggest mistake of her life; killing her dad. To deliberately kill; to play god, is to lose yourself, remember. Her first arc is about not being defined by who your parents are and about not giving up on yourself. Batman basically tells her, there's hope for you yet Stephanie Brown, by getting her to spare her dad. And she does. And so began her superhero career.

Nonetheless, it's never that simple. Steph is still a bitter, angry teenager, no matter how many jokes she cracks. It becomes a personal crusade when she, now Robin, discovers that The Penguin is using children as runners. It takes Cassandra Cain to stop her from inflicting anything she may regret.

The narrative wants to show us how cruel the world can be and that it isn't black and white, either. The story ends with an angry Stephanie lamenting "why". It's a "why" she is asking herself too. Why does she do what she does? And it informs us that she, and maybe us the reader too, still have a lot to learn. Murder's not the answer but what is?

Stephanie later saves Bruce by almost murdering serial killer Victor Zsasz. Bruce reprimands her and she cries, quite honestly, "I don't get it, I really don't", following on from where we left off in Batgirl. "There are always other options than to kill" asserts Bruce, forget not being on the same page, they're reading different books. The thesis of the story is what Bruce should have told Steph when she was an angry 15 year old about to murder her dad; "[those] who [fight] with monsters might take care lest [they] thereby become a monster". The world's cruel, Steph, but that doesn't mean you have to be too. "Are you firing me?" "No, I'm teaching you".

Over 2 years down the line, an around 19 year old Stephanie, establishing herself as the new, hoping-inspiring Batgirl, is now teaching a brash Damian Wayne what she's learned.

"To murder or not to murder" is just a plot device to the themes of overcoming your own anger at the world's cruelty to contribute good, coming to terms with shades of grey, not giving up on yourself and staying hopeful in the face of adversity and horror. These are Stephanie's arcs and as a consequence, she goes from would-be-murderer to Gotham's cheeriest caped crusader.

Part 2: Double Standards and Second Chances

Another huge part of Stephanie's story is her overcoming double standards and doubters, to earn her own second chances. Her resurrection and rise to the role of Batgirl were choices made to hammer home this theme; it's never too late to turn things around.

There's some juicy metatext to analyse here too. DC editorial's treatment of Stephanie during War Games was horrific and panned by both fans and writers. To reperate for these harms, Steph was retconned back to life and then made Batgirl during Batman: Reborn. Here's a quote by Batgirl (2009) author Bryan Q. Miller on what his run aimed to bring out of Steph:

The whole point of Stephanie's resurrection and take over of the Batgirl title was to give her a redemption arc.

In text, Stephanie was unfairly treated too, notwithstanding that she was brash and had a massive violent streak in her Spoiler and Robin days. Tim Drake constantly condescends her and tells her to give up vigilante life, even though she was ALWAYS a match for Tim according to Convergence: Batgirl. Cassandra Cain constantly underestimates Steph. Bruce Wayne tells his allies to cut off ties with Steph and then later fires her as Robin for DISOBEYING HIM as if that's not the first thing Dick Grayson ever did as Robin. Barbara Gordon tells Steph she has a death wish. Dick deems Steph too reckless (moments before he resurrects a zombie Batman). And Damian is an entitled brat who gives her a hard time for no reason. Everyone doubts Stephanie and it generally says more about the doubter than it does Stephanie.

Stephanie was never great with authority or criticism so she still went out there and earned her second chance. And it felt rewarding when her doubters came around too.

Stephanie was brought back from the dead to be redeemed and man did she take that chance!

Part 3: What is Jason Todd's Story Meant to Tell Us and My Defence of Canon Jason

Jason Todd returns from the dead as a ghost of Batman's past; he is the living embodiment of Batman's greatest mistake who couldn't stay buried and is back to haunt him. He's a character we are meant to empathise with but he's a villain nonetheless. He's not irredeemable but for the most part his story is not really about redemption. Succinctly, it revolves around the idea that "we are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell” to quote Oscar Wilde.

When we first meet the resurrected Jason, he's a cold-blooded murderer who's slinging guns and using The Joker's old moniker. These choices are made to emphasise that he went down the wrong path; he's breaking Batman's "don't play god" rule and his actions become eerily closer to those of the Clown Prince of Crime than Batman's. In fact Nightwing and Batman spend some quality time together in the next two issues because Nightwing is the foil to the Red Hood; he's what Bruce considers his greatest success. Remember that thing about "those who [fight] with monsters might take care lest [they] thereby become a monster"? Well Jason DID become a monster. And if he's the monster, then Bruce Wayne is Frankenstein.

We're not supposed to think "yes, kill the The Joker, Jason", we're supposed to think "good god, please Jason, it's not too late to turn your life around". Here's Dick and Jason being the exact opposite of each other, an issue apart.

So what was Jason's villainous return trying to say? For one, that people are the products of their circumstance, lest we forget Jason was once an eager and studious Robin who just wanted to be part of something greater when life, but specifically Bruce, sent him awry. This is also a story about Bruce which tells us says that our mistakes have consequences that don't stay buried, and that we will always be forced to reckon with our histories or it becomes everyone's problem. This next panel shows this best. All of Jason's killing and torture and fear-spreading and chaos does not come down to some "murder or not to murder" debate, it comes down to his relationship with Bruce. He is the monster that Frankenstein created who's back to haunt him and no one is safe.

Jason's initial Red Hood arcs were never supposed to pose the question "should Batman kill The Joker or not?". The answer is no and always has been. They are supposed to show us how Bruce's poor fatherhood of and partnership with Jason Todd led to all this horror. And Bruce can't turn back the clock, he has to reckon with the consequences of his actions in the present or more people will get hurt. It's significant that these first arcs don't end with Jason returning to the manor and seeking help surrounded by family.

We then see Jason and his issues with Bruce threaten the lives of others like when he beat Tim half to death twice, tried to blow up Mia Dearden and then tried to become a murderous, gun-touting Batman after Bruce's "death".

Once Dick Grayson becomes Batman, the narrative sheds a bit more light on how Bruce's Frankenstein created a monster in Jason; Bruce wanted Jason to be another Dick Grayson.

The red hair is a perfect metaphor. Jason is naturally red-haired and he is now balding because Bruce made him dye his hair black so he'd look like Dick as Robin. That sums it up for me. Bruce really created his own demon here and Dick, as the new Batman, is trying to make amends with the sins of the Batman's past. Jason's a great choice for a Dick Grayson villain because of their histories, considering Dick Grayson is the legacy Batman.

"I tried really hard to be what batman wanted me to be...which is you." Jason tells Dick.

That line is so painful and way more recognisable and relatable than anything fanon has produced.

"But this world...this dirty, twisted, cruel and ugly dungheap had...other plans for me."

Look no further, this is who Jason Todd is.

That's a powerful story if you ask me, and this is why I like Jason Todd as a character; a villain I pity deeply, who is portrayed as a product of their circumstances without diminishing their agency and who makes me see the cracks in the hero's facade because they are the monster our "hero" created. He's also a very nuanced foil to the ever-shining light that is Dick Grayson. The appeal to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein isn't that the monster murdered people. I also would never swap canon Jason out for, I dunno, Wayne Family Adventures Jason who's the amalgamation of 3 or 4 common fanon tropes. This is my two cents.

⭐Wonder-bat Duo⭐

My program crashed on me, right as I was about to finish this. I nearly cried. Thankfully it autosaved.

This was inspired by an old request and took forever. It's been a while since I did detailed shading, so I hope it looks good. I'll go pass out now✌ (Go to sleep)

So I googled Elvis on the DC wiki

It was mostly empty, but I noticed that there was a version called "President Presley" from Earth-1098

Researching Earth-1098 reveals that this is a hypertime variant or something? And I thought this it was like a variant of Kingdom Come universe because it first showed up in the second issue of "the Kingdom" but it's not? Cuz the costume designs don't match at all?

Anyways, after some google-justu and some (un)educated guesses, I've come to the conclusion that 1098 takes place in 2013 - 16

Cuz Supergirl generally arrives at least 20 years after Kal El (he's generally an fully grown man when she arrives) and when I look at the images of 1098 S-Girl I think she looks around the same age as Power Girl(?) maybe? I dunno but power girl is like 30 years old when compared to Supergirl. anyways S-Girl (alt name used 1098 Kara) says that Wonder Woman and the Justice society raised her. Also Batgirl seems to be around the same age as Bruce Wayne (or at least old enough to confide in him about this stuff), and as we all know, Bruce is a 30 something year old playboy. Therefore that means that Batgirl is in her 20s-30s as well. I guess. And when you compare that to the young adult/teen counterparts from the main continuity, this leads me to believe that earth 1098 takes place at minimum 15 years after 1998. Though tbh I think that it's more likely to be closer to 18/20 years as that feels better in my head. Anyways.

With this timeframe I have concluded that Elvis either beat Obama in the 2008 election, or he Beat Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Or maybe he ran Republican. Not much is known about the Kings political beliefs, but what is known (thru very confident google results) is that he was a Democrat back in the days before the parties basically swapped(I think? I dunno political history), and would probably run as a Republican. But not like a modern Republican, more like a "liberal conservative" question mark? Either way I doubt he could be much worse than the orange ogre. At least he can sing. That's a better quality for a president than being an ignorant buffoon, right?

PRESIDENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING-----------------

I dunno what to fill this empty space with

He's hideous. We shoulda gotten Elvis.

Best father-daughter duo

i think one of my favorite underutilized traits about cassandra is that she canonically talks with a very noticeable mix of slang (and most likely a slight accent). she learned a lot about talking and words from listening to others (predominantly gotham citizens, who talk with a lot of slang and a noticeable accent) AND by listening to crappy romance reality shows on tv. she uses “i dunno” “ya bet!” (or just an over abundance of ‘ya’) outdated slang (like cutie patootie, ‘he was totally hot for me..’ etc)

anyways like. imagine being ambushed by an actual gothic nightmare come to life, it is completely indistinguishable against the awful gotham night, its whole face is concealed, nothing to even indicate it could be human….and then it goes “haha that was totes lame loser” in a horribly exaggerated hollywood-esque voice. like we’re missing out on so much here

She's a Batgirl!

Reposting this on my main account

A happy mother's days to the mothers of my favourite Bat Kids, some of you weren't the best for reasons out of your own hands, but I'd be damned if I let anyone tell me that each of you didn't love your special little babies with all your heart & no amount of fanon, classist or racist comics or takes will change that. This is y'all day so lets celebrate it talking about your favourite Bat Mom moment

(P.S anyone tries passing Bruce, Dick, Selina, Alfred or Jason as a Bat Mom will be promptly ignored)

Here’s a little map of the world, on the left of the islands there can be whatever land from FromSoftware you want really, it’s just a small little island. Also, I whipped this up in seven minutes, I promise you that my other drawings do not look this hideous, 😭 I will update it at some point.

The Lands of whatever the fuck I’ve gotten myself into. Honestly i just wanted to do a drawing now I’m writing a whole ass back story to a small idea of an AU I had.

The Great City of Gotham.

Backstory-

Gotham, the Great Capital City of the Deathstone Isle, was once a source of riches and landmass. The king, Thomas Wayne, and his Queen Consort, Martha Wayne, were just and fair rulers of the Islands that house Gotham and its few daughter cities. Martha and Thomas had a son, Bruce. However, one day they were found assassinated in their bed chambers, which left Bruce building up anger and resentment to people outside of his personal life over the years.

Eventually, these feelings show, along with everyone else’s as The Plague sweeps across the lands, transforming all life, waiting for you, dear Ronin Soldier, to vanquish them and stop The Plague from spreading any more.

List of Locations in ‘Greater Gotham’-

•Wayne Family Manor

•Crime Alley

•The Reapers Harbour

•Church of the Bat

•Church of the Flame

•The Crawling Cathedral

•Arkham Asylum

List of locations in ‘Outer Gotham’

•Old Gotham

•Lower Gotham

•Wastelands

•Blackgate

•Iceberg Tavern

•Academy of Gotham

•Ace Potions and Magic

Total numbers of ‘Bosses’ within the Great City of Gotham:

23

Hi, I’m pretty new here.

Would anybody be interested at all if I posted my Batfam x pretty much any FromSoftware designs over time? Like, genuinely, if this gets any attention, I’ll post them when they’re finished, or I might just post them anyway.

the reality is that every character in the history of writing has been edgy as shit at least ONCE and it’s high key important that they are bc it’s realistic. people evolve and devolve, they’re flawed and imperfect.

for example, saying that a ‘happy’ or ‘charismatic’ character being portrayed occasionally as ‘depressed’ or ‘angsty’ as ooc feels sooooo immature. because it just doesn’t make sense for someone to be, and feel, ONE thing ALL the time.

let characters be angsty, let em be depressed!! fuck, let em be embarrassing!! let them be flawed and make mistakes as if they were real people!! it makes for better writing anyway!!

Yah ever take a break from reading a comic and kinda dread reading the rest? That’s Batgirl year one for me rn. I put it down a week ago and I haven’t picked it up again.

Oh yay misogyny and sexism wooooo~!

Not gonna lie I like reading it for Barbara’s half but knowing it was written around when in the mainline comics Dick and Barb just got together, his actions in it give me the massive ICK why did they write him like that?! I know Dicks two-faced at times, usually those cases have a reason and I accept them cuz Dicks not perfect. But, it’s low key creepy when you know what was happening in other comics during this one and then this one.

Like, am I supposed to feel grossed out? I know the main idea is to so how much sexism Barbara faces on a daily basis, but from the guy she’s supposed to be dating later? I don’t think I am? Maybe I am? Like if that’s the idea, yah failed to make me like him so far from her prospective or the reader. He doesn’t come off as “coy” or “cute” it’s just something about his behavior in how it’s as a cis female reader in 2024 just gross.

It’s not reading what? 14? 13 year old boy at this point? It’s reading I don’t respect you at all and you might as well be a toy to my own ends.

Note: these are my personal thoughts and they are subject to change, thank you… also no I’m not dropping it just taking a break cuz reading that stuff can be tiring even if writing it can be therapeutic.

Edit: Also this isn’t a hate post for Dicks character just SPECIFICALLY this comic presents him as a character. Robin year one was great but then you read this one and your like “what the fuck happened?”

So as someone with glasses with VERY poor eyesight I actually want to know if this is acknowledged in the older comics, Barbara’s eyesight. Babs is honestly a badass already but I want to know if the comics acknowledge her eyesight, at first I thought her glasses were like computer or reading glasses then I remembered Barbara never really takes them off unless she’s Batgirl.

If someone like me with a lazy eye and horrible astigmatism, you know you basically kinda are flying blind without your glasses. Honestly it’s not as bad as some shows make it out to be but it’s still hard to see. I also assumed if she has bad eyesight maybe she was wearing contacts but that would mean she could never let anyone punch her in the face because they’d get in her eyes.

In like shows like the 2004 series Babs has the white out lenses like Dick and Bruce so I assume she has lenses in her mask. But in the comics the batgirl suit doesn’t have that so I can only guess she’s not wearing anything.

If that’s the case Babs has become like 10x cooler for me and kinda a missed opportunity to see her struggles with poor eyesight on top of her legs.

Idk if anyone really cares just me as someone who struggles without my glasses thinks it’s really cool. Just because you have glasses doesn’t mean you’re magically fixed but your not helpless ether, and I love it when stories acknowledge it.

RED HOOD: NEON ELEGY

(raygun learned how tumblr reblog formatting works edition)

JASON TODD: A REVENANT LEFT UNAVENGED

SCARLET: A BROKEN DOLL

CRAZY ED: A MASTER OF RIDDLES

CASSANDRA CAIN: A WARRIOR ALONE

MAGPIE AND ZEBRA MAN: A CRIME DUCHESS AND HER THRALL

TWO-FACE: A MAN DIVIDED

DEATHSTROKE, AN ASSASSIN CONSTRAINED

RAS AL GHUL, AN EMISSARY

El Flamingo

some miscellaneous thumbnails:

some cover drafts:

a villain:

and a resolution.

more red hood stuff this time featuring black mask, his q hayashida paramilitary goons, and the man himself snorting a comically large line of coke shaped like his own name

cassandra cain

brown recluse and killer croc aka slades prison buddies

professor pyg in the world's most unsubtle brazil reference

kgbeast, flamingo, and lady shiva

and some more jason and scarlet

I'm also thinking about deleting the original thread and reposting it as one long post, that way my blog isn't filled with a bunch of identical reblogs. May add some story notes and a playlist I made for this thing too, lmk if this is a good idea.

until next time friends :D

I really like the hc of Bruce giving star stickers for those who behaved well (as well as they can be) and taking them if they misbehave, the kids make a competition out of it and make fun of those who lost a star.

Bruce: this week's stars goes to...

Batkids: *all looking at Bruce*

Bruce: Dick, Tim and Cass.

Damian: Father! I do not approve of such thing!

Bruce: you don't have to approve anything damian. Dick did a great work in Blüdhaven and didn't threaten more than 3 people, Tim completed his homework and helped me Crack two cases without any stalker tactics, and Cass helped Alfred bake which was very sweet.

Jason: I don't understand the rules to receive a star, but I'm with demon brat.

Duke: *raising his hand along with stephs* we didn't do anything wrong!

Bruce: you skipped patrol the whole week.

Steph: I was busy!

Bruce: *adding the stars to their cards* no you weren't, you were just lazy. *turns towards Jason and damian* you two do get one star taken away.

Damian: unbelievable! Father I will not allow it!

Jason: I behaved pretty well this week in my opinion.

Bruce: you threaten every villain we saw, waved your gun around like a maniac and had to be stopped twice from using the crowbar.

Jason: like I said pretty well behaved.

But this also extents to Sups. Clark has little stars that he gives batman when the man passed a whole JL meeting without insulting, indirect insulting and looking condescendingly or glaring at someone. He also has them taken away when he did those things.

Bruce: that wasn't a glare, I was merely looking.

Clark: B u scared Bart for the third time this week, and yes that was a glare.

Bruce: *crossing his arms* I think you are being unfair about this thing.

Clark: I'm sorry Bruce, but I have to take a star from you today.

Bruce: no.

Clark: *raising a brow* no?

Bruce: *starting to lightly jog away from clark* no! It's my star!

Clark: Bruce come back here!

got 100 problems, and 99 would be solved by going to the dance club from batman beyond 🦇

why want a batman when you can have cass cain instead? **questioning whether i wanna be her or be with her**

(no offence to bruce but there's no way i'm gonna go one-on-one with selina or joker to take him)

inside me, there are two wolves..

(I feel like Jason would look at this and go hell naww and then stick a poster of this on his wall)

She tiny

Damian: Who the fuck added me to a fucking group chat?

Cass: >:O

Dick: language

Jason: Yeah watch your fucking language

Tim: Okay, who taught demon spawn the fuck word?!

Stephanie: 'The fuck word'.

Duke: Are you stupid? You guys use the f word all the time

Tim: Oh my god they censored it

Stephanie: Say fuck, Duke.

Jason: Do it, Duke. Say fuck.

Bruce: What happened?!

Stephanie: Do you want the long version or the short version?

Bruce: Sh-short??

Stephanie: Shit's fucked.

Bruce: Okay, long.

Stephanie: Shit's very fucked.

Duke: You shouldn't be using a straw.

Stephanie: I know, I know, it's bad for the environment and stuff.

Duke: Yeah, but I mean... it's a weird way to eat spaghetti.

Barbara: I’m proud to identify as morosexual. I’m attracted to dumbasses and dumbasses exclusively. Someone asked me what the Spanish word for "tortilla" was once, and now I dream of kissing them under the moonlight.

Dick: Babs what kind of animal is the Pink Panther?

Barbara , already taking off their clothes: God, Dick, you’re so fucking stupid.