Batgirl #24 You will be missed Stephanie Brown.

Batgirl #24

It all ends here, for now.  Someday Stephanie Brown will return as Batgirl I believe.  Like her I have hope.  The cancellation of this Batgirl is a sad event.  This has been a bright spot in the DC Comics line of books.  I fell in love with this title because of the humor and light-hearted banter that was so well done in the book.  It was funny without losing the action and excellent story-telling I want in my reading.

The history of Stephanie is and always will be part of the ongoing struggle between DC (and the comicbook industry as a whole) and the segment of our group of readers known as Fangirls.  The issue of why she didn't have a memorial case in the Batcave after her death made heads ache at DC.  The character was the first in a long line of Batman's sidekicks to be a female.  She lead a long character life as Tim Drake's love interest as the Spoiler.  Then Bryan Q. Miller brought us Stephanie Brown, Batgirl.


DCnU is eliminating all this of course.  But, what Miller did here was some of the best story-telling from any comicbook producer in years.  He took years of Bat-history and boiled it down to one lone girl and her journey to become the hero she was destined to be all along.  We have a character that we can see grow and struggle with her past as she stepped into a future of helping others.  He allowed us to fall in love with her as we watched her make friends across the DCU.  Her older sister vibe with Damien was brought to a nice close here in a simple act on the annoying boy wonder's part.  We had a slumber party with Supergirl that ended up being a monster movie night.  Klarion the Witch Boy was even overcome by the magical personality.

The use of the Mercy Flower to give Stephanie and us a glimpse of what might have been was a nice way to end the series.  It also allowed Pere Perez to have seven pages to give us some wonderful images through his art telling a decades worth of Batgirl stories.  It is a nice farewell.  I have lost many a title to cancellation or company implosion (CrossGen) and I can say that even though I am sad, I am satisfied with the good-bye the creative team gave me.

So long for now Purple Gal.  I will miss your bright and shining stories in a dark and grim world of comicbooks.

BDS