Robin IV, or, Wizard Magazine's spilled the beans

[buggery]

I had to get myself a copy of this month's Wizard magazine. It cost as much as two actual comic books, so the magazine-about-comics is not going to become a regular purchase, but this issue (which just arrived in comics shops yesterday) includes a mini-comic, exclusive to Wizard, that spoils the surprise of who the new Robin debuting in issue #126 will be.

(The cover art for Robin #126 has already been released. I found a nice-sized copy at ToonZone. Their server doesn't allow direct-linking to images, but you can copy-and-paste the URL into your browser window: http://news.toonzone.net/images/2004-02/robin126.jpg)

The Wizard website has been dishing quite a bit about the upcoming shakeups in the Robin title, including this article and this interview which appeared earlier this month.

The flames of speculation about what's going to happen with Tim, Robin, and the new Robin have been -- heh -- fanned to fever pitch in some quarters. Me, I maintain that grumping and swearing to stop reading Robin if Tim is replaced, even temporarily, is equivalent to grumping and swearing to stop reading the Bat-titles when Jean-Paul put on the cowl in Knightfall/KnightQuest/Knight'sEnd... it just means a lot of catch-up later. And I was saying so before I got my hands on the Wizard issue.

But rather than going off on a ranty tangent, let me just share what I found inside the magazine.


[This is the full text of the article accompanying the Wizard exclusive mini-comic, "Street Cred," written by current Robin scripter Bill Willingham and both pencilled and inked by artist Damion Scott, who's about to become a regular on the Robin team. Any notations I've made in the text appear blue, or as hyperlinked footnotes.]

---

the wizard preview:
ROBIN
Fabled scribe Bill Willingham teams with rising star
Damion Scott to give the boy wonder a dose of girl power

by DAVE MARSHALL


There's a new boy wonder in town -- only thing is, he's a she. Tim Drake's sometime girlfriend the Spoiler makes her debut as the first female Robin in DC continuity¹ this May in Robin #126. Written by Willingham, the issue also marks the series debut of regular penciller Damion Scott².

When Jack Drake discovers his son's identity as Robin, Tim quits the caped life³. Frustrated with her third-tier superhero career as the Spoiler, Stephanie Brown trades her purple hood for green tights⁴ -- before asking the permission of ol' Bats.

"She breaks into the Batcave with her homemade Robin suit all sewn up -- which actually looks pretty bad," says Willingham⁵. "While Tim showed up ready for the job, Stephanie has a lot to learn."

Although Batman accepts Stephanie as the new Robin, his reactions remain ambiguous. Does he really think she's right for the job, or is it just a ploy to lure Tim back to his post?⁶

"We're not going to look inside Batman's head because I want to keep his real motivations secret for a while," explains Willingham. "All we know about him is from Stephanie's point of view. He's big, he's mean, he screams a lot⁷ and nothing seems to be good enough for him."

Once training begins, Stephanie quickly realizes that running with the Bat isn't all that easy. "Batman's looking for her breaking point," says Willingham. "Can she be provoked into losing it? The greatest challenges facing her will be psychological more than physical."

Worse than any villain she might face, Stephanie's doubts threaten to defeat her. "It's like being the first girl at West Point⁸," suggests Willingham. "She's the fourth in what's becoming a long line of Robins. Is she every bit as official as they were? Is she good enough for this job?"

And, of course, the successes of her predecessor looms [sic] large over everything she does. "Bruce is constantly comparing her unfavorably to Tim," says Willingham. "All through training, he's saying things like 'Tim mastered this in the second week and here you are in week three and you still haven't got it.' For a while, she's definitely going to be under Tim's shadow."

After her training has progressed, Stephanie still sticks close by her Dark Knight. "Stephanie is a Robin who, unlike Tim, absolutely needs Batman there for a while," asserts Willingham. "The whole idea of doing a teenage sidekick is to look at how someone learns to be a hero. At least, that's what's interesting to me⁹."

Yet, even with all the growing pains, there's no question that Stephanie's living a dream come true. "She comes into Robin with a sense that she's been kind of mopey, but once she finally gets the big job, she brightens up and just has a wonderful time," notes Willingham.

But Stephanie isn't the only one joyful over Robin's new direction. Willingham could hardly be more enthusiastic about seeing Scott's pencils for the first time.

"Damion really understands these characters," gushes Willingham. "Getting the art from him is like a constant extension of Christmas -- all of these wonderful things are coming to me."

Thanks to Wizard, wonderful things are also coming to you. For a peek into a night in the life of the Spoiler -- and a first-ever look at Scott's art on these characters -- check out this seven-page original story¹⁰, written and drawn exclusively for Wizard!

---

Notes:

1 "the first female Robin in DC continuity"
Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns featured a girl Robin named Carrie, but is not in continuity -- it's a story of a Batman of another time and place. (Though not quite as distant a time or place as the female Robins in 1996's Detective Comics Annual #9 and Robin Annual #5, both part of an Elseworlds "Legends of the Dead Earth" theme: EARTH IS DEAD. Those who once might have called it home are long scattered to the stars. But in that scattering, on a thousand different worlds, by a thousand different ways... Earth's greatest heroes live on. These are... LEGENDS OF THE DEAD EARTH. ) Bill Willingham's Stephanie-as-Robin story will have ramifications in Robin and a dozen or so other titles, probably Batman: Gotham Knights and Teen Titans most particularly, for years to come.

2 "regular penciller Damion Scott"
Scott previously pencilled Batgirl for a couple of years, up through issue #36 or so. [If someone with the relevant issues can tell me the exact length of his run, I'll add that information here.] Scott has also said, as reported by Brian Cruz of toonzone.net, that he will be both pencilling and inking on Robin.

3 "Jack Drake discovers his son's identity as Robin, Tim quits the caped life"
That Jack would find out Tim is Robin has already been spoiled in various places; the usual wording suggesting Tim would be "forced" to stop being Robin is absent here.

4 "the Spoiler, Stephanie Brown trades her purple hood for green tights"
A lot of people had leapt to the conclusion that the new blonde female Robin would be Stephanie. DC had said "it's not who you think," and I fell for it, ruling Steph out because she was the obvious blonde. But it turned out to be exactly who we thought.

5 "Willingham"
Before we all start burning Bill Willingham in effigy, consider what he said in this interview with PULSE webzine's Jennifer M. Contino...

THE PULSE: What role will Spoiler have in your run? She seems to have been fleshed out a lot with Jon Lewis's work, are you going to keep her an active part of Robin's life?

WILLINGHAM: Future plans with Spoiler were pretty much locked in, before I came onboard. For that reason I don’t think it’s my place to comment on them. Sorry for the cryptic answer, but there you go.
In other words, Tim's (temporary?) retirement, and Steph's debut as Robin IV, were editorial-level decisions. Which seems like it should have been obvious, really, but there it is in black and white. Also, Willingham spoke of his intention to write about Tim's "home life" -- which doesn't necessarily mean he'll keep telling that story once Tim's girlfriend takes over as Robin, but it makes much more sense that he would do so.

6 "or is it just a ploy to lure Tim back to his post?"
I have no idea, but I'm looking forward to trying to figure that out. Colour me fascinated. ::happysigh:: I love my fucked-up Batfamily.

7 "he screams a lot"
I'm trying to give Willingham the benefit of the doubt. Why does he have to say stuff like this?
Because Batman? Anger management issues out the wazoo. But. Not a screamer.

8 "It's like being the first girl at West Point"
Now there's an interesting comparison.

9 "The whole idea of doing a teenage sidekick is to look at how someone learns to be a hero. At least, that's what's interesting to me."
That's nice, Bill, that that's what interests you. I haven't been bored with Tim even when he wasn't 'learning to be a hero' -- which is a good thing, because that's not what most of the Robin run to date has been about.

10 "check out this seven-page original story"
I don't have access to a scanner right now, but if nobody else gets the "Street Cred" minicomic scanned in and put up within a week or so, I'll at least transcribe the captions (and describe the art) from this Wizard exclusive Spoiler-&-Batman story. To sum up, for now: Steph is doing some good work, despite being hamstrung by her lack of backup and name-recognition... and Batman is watching. The story is set while Tim is still Robin (or as far as Steph knows, he is, anyway).


Yes, I put in ten footnotes. Yes, I'm anal.

Edited: Gah. GAH. I'm really sorry if anyone was inadvertently spoiled by my jizzing up the cut-tag. It's fixed now, as is the toonzone direct-linking issue.

Comments

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

...meh.

man, DC, why must you do this to me when I LOVE YOU SO?

of course I'll buy and read it anyway, I'm a total whore, but. but. --and I LOVE the idea of a girl robin! I am all ABOUT that idea! But not...this girl.

whine whine whine. yeah.

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least it's not Jean-Paul...

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

heh. yes. there is that.

I think DC just has problems making interesting female characters, *especially* female characters who are Good Guys. I mean, there's Barbara, and...yeah. (If I'm wrong, PLEASE point me!!)

[windwoodrose.livejournal.com]

Catwoman's sort of a good guy now.

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Well, I *totally* love the new Batgirl (Cassandra.) And I always kind of liked Steph, too, so I'm willing to give Robin!Steph a shot.

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

hmm, yeah, I'm fond of both cassandras. I retract my statement. *g*

and we can call this one footnote 12

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Well, different people find different characters interesting. DC does have a bunch of women characters in the DCU. Off the top of my head (and with the ones I find interesting in bold):


Barbara as Batgirl (no, she didn't interest me as much then)
Barbara as Oracle
Cassandra / Batgirl (and even if she's not Batgirl, actually)
Helena / Huntress (never did much for me)
Dinah / Black Canary (enh, though she's growing on me)

Detective "Josie Mac" MacDonald (you didn't specify capes, and Gotham's got some cool cops)
Detective Renee Montoya (more so than ever since Gotham Central outed her)
Lieutenant Sarah Essen-Gordon
Captain Maggie Sawyer (Gotham Major Crimes Unit; formerly of Metropolis)
Captain Amy Rohrbach (Dick's first partner on the Blüdhaven PD)

Dr. Leslie Thompkins (There are few better examples of how a civilian can be a hero.)
Sasha Bordeaux
Lois Lane (bores me silly, but that's a minority opinion; Lois is interesting enough to have had her own title, way back in the Silver Age)

Jennie-Lynn / Jade (I first got interested in Jade during Judd Winick's run on GL, and I'm delighted she's joined Dick's new Outsiders.)
Grace Choi (Another Outsider, and just guh.)
Anissa / Thunder (Black Lightning's daughter; how cool is that?)
Indigo (the remaining 'female' Outsider... who may yet grow on me more)

Koriand'r / Starfire (I'm actively resisting liking her at this point, actually. I can admit when I'm being petty.)
Cassie / Wonder Girl
Cissie / Arrowette (retired, but this doesn't actually make her less interesting)
Raven (not grabbing me yet, and her Wolfman incarnation scared me in ways other than, I think, the ones intended; but I see this changing)
Donna / Troia (dead now, but again, still interesting, and something tells me we'll see her new incarnation again)
Lian Harper (hardly ever seen or even mentioned, but I'm interested just the same)

Diana / Wonder Woman (Not my thing personally, but -- Wonder Woman. Iconic.)
Zatanna (I am interested in her, I just don't know anything about her yet...)
Power Girl
Hawkgirl
Supergirl (She's had enough incarnations that one of them has to interest most fans.)
Katma Tui (the GL who trained John Stewart)
Killowog (hey, fanon says she's a she)

Selina / Catwoman (I don't follow Selina's adventures well enough to second windwoodrose's characterisation of her, but I have heard much the same description from other people who are reading Catwoman.)
Talia Head (currently occupying a similarly grey moral middle ground)

Lady Shiva Woosan (Not a good guy, though seeing her next to Cheshire over the last few issues of Birds of Prey has made her look a lot 'gooder' by comparison. In any case, a woman who can defeat Batman hand-to-hand? Yeah, interesting.)
Cheshire (I find her annoying, but I suspect I'd be intrigued if I got to see more than a couple issues of other people's books with her in them.)
Poison Ivy (not interesting to me personally, but objectively? interesting)
Harley Quinn (ditto)


Plenty there to choose from, I'd say. And somewhere there's a site all about the women of the DC universe -- I think liviapenn pointed me to it originally, back when speculation started about female heroes who might join the Justice League cast next season. Also, have a look at Women of Gotham.

Re: and we can call this one footnote 12

[ladytimedramon.livejournal.com]

Be careful posting livejournals to other boards ;)

Technically Barbara Gordon was the 2nd Batgirl The first one, Bette Kane (Flamebird), was the niece of the original Batwoman. Batwoman was retconned out of existance and Bette was transferred into becoming Flamebird from the start.

Around Geoff Johns board, it's already out that Donna is on her way bac,. I'm actually very anti-revivalist and not happy about that.

I preferred the pre-crisis daughter of Earth 2 Batman version Huntress. Long story to explain all that.

Here's for the "DC majorly sucks" big news. I don't know if you've heard me mention it, but they're rebooting Doom Patrol. While that means some great characters are coming back, they're coming back at the expense of other characters (especially Beast Boy) and other comic book series (such as Titans and all of the later Doom Patrol series). What's really annoying is there have been posts about John Byrne saying he'd love to start Doom Patrol over again, but he's claiming its not his idea, it's an editorial decision. However, Byrne's been caught in lies before....

Um... what?

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Be careful posting livejournals to other boards

Huh? I haven't posted on any boards except TWOP, and I haven't even lurked over there for more than a year. Is someone impersonating me somewhere?

Batwoman was retconned out of existence

Yeah, I deliberately ignored pre-Crisis continuity because... well, those characters and/or those versions of the characters are no longer current. And I generally prefer the post-Crisis versions and characters. There are only so many "happy accidents" that can come out of the crack the creative teams smoked back in the Silver Age.

Around Geoff Johns board, it's already out that Donna is on her way back.

Hunh. I hadn't heard anything about that; I'm surprised it would happen this soon. It was pretty obvious from the way "Graduation Day" was resolved that they were leaving themselves a reasonable way to bring her back, though.

I preferred the pre-crisis daughter of Earth 2 Batman version Huntress. Long story to explain all that.

I didn't, at all; short story why. I much prefer a continuity where Bruce has never so much as slept with Selina. (And I don't mind his not having slept with Talia, for that matter, though I do think Ibn made an interesting character.)

Here's for the "DC majorly sucks" big news. I don't know if you've heard me mention it, but they're rebooting Doom Patrol.

Nope, haven't heard anything about that either. (Do I know you...?) But then, I don't have the investment in Doom Patrol that you seem to; I've ridden out reboots of my favourite characters' (Bruce, Dick, Jason) origins enough times that I'm mostly at peace with it. But then, I usually agree with the creative teams in question that the changes wind up being for the better.

[karabou.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this.. I actually think it sounds kind of neat as long as Tim comes back.

[skalja.livejournal.com]

Ditto, though I'm mildly twitchy about Spoiler because she seems so uninteresting.

Then again, I liked Carrie Kelly, and no one else seems to.

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Steph's never been a favourite character of mine, but I think she has definite potential to become more interesting if she's written that way. We'll see, I guess.

And I didn't mind Carrie so much in DKR -- though the Bruce/Carrie implications were enough to squick me without being anything more than suggestive. I wonder how much of people's resistance to her was that (and/or the absence or vilification of Dick) rather than simply objecting to a female Robin?

[skalja.livejournal.com]

I didn't actually pick up any implications - he seemed really fatherly. But I could just be oblivious.

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Aside from the fact that ::shudder:: it was taken from implied to overt in the sequel... well, here, look at this. Aside from a sling fashioned from the torn-off bottom of her cape, the only thing Bruce is wearing is... Carrie. She's clinging gleefully to his naked body, and he's got a look on that says 'everything normal here, Alfred, please ignore the small child on my genitals.'

This is what I meant by disturbing. And I hope you don't still find that 'fatherly'...

(scan put up by daletnomiko in this post)

[skalja.livejournal.com]

Oh. I assumed when I read that part that he was wearing briefs or something. *cringe* Okay, now my brain is scarred.

"Everything is normal here, Alfred, please ignore the small child on my genitals." BWAHAHAHAHA.

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. I will be a very unhappy Jack if he doesn't come back. But I'm hoping for the neat plot arc and character development and all that good stuff.

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

*hee* I'm rather happy now. Steph as Robin? Sure, the poor fool girl doesn't deserve to be in the green tights (and Willingham better pull off a tight tight plot line to make it plausible that it's just that easy to assume the Robin persona), but you know. At least it's just Steph. It's not some new girl and we know Steph and love/hate her and...yeah.

I'm kinda complacent now. Tim will come back, this is a for sure sign that he will. It's gotta be. Um...how many issues was JP around for? I only have the Knight books in TPB. *G*

Thank you so much for posting this, luv! Including all the fantastic footnotes. That rules. *G*

we'll call this footnote 11

[buggery.livejournal.com]

It didn't sound to me like Willingham's going to make it easy on Steph -- quite the opposite. I expect that whatever happens, fans are going to come out of this storyline either loving Steph or hating her, but strongly; if nothing else, she's going to get some real character development and fleshing-out.

How long was Jean Paul around for? Oy. That's a tricky question, and rather than dig out issues to see exactly when he took over and was ousted again, let me offer this storyline timeline:

April 1993
Batman #491
"Knightfall" prologue. Bruce's back doesn't get broken until later in the storyline, of course, but this was where everything started.
January 1994
Batman #500, Detective Comics #666, etc.
"Knightfall" ended this month, with Jean-Paul still in his gundam-matic clawed Batman getup -- that #500 cover is burned in my brain.
February 1994
Batman #501, Detective Comics #667, etc.
"KnightQuest" storylines; Bruce is still away, and Jean-Paul is getting worse.
October 1994
Batman #509, Detective Comics #676, etc.
"KnightsEnd," finally... Bruce comes home, but still doesn't take up the cowl again quite yet.
January 1995
Batman #512, Detective Comics #679, etc.
The "Prodigal" storyline, with Dick being called home to become Batman while Bruce does some further soul-searching. Good Bruce.
March 1994
Batman #514, Detective Comics #681, etc.
At the end of "Prodigal," Bruce is finally Batman again.

Counting from the beginning of the "Knightfall," that's two full years -- though Bruce was in costume for the beginning of the story arc, and Jean-Paul wasn't masquerading as Batman for more than half of it. I think Jean-Paul went on/back to his own book, Sword of Azrael, but I disliked him intensely and only have as many issues of that title as necessary for crossovers.

Thank you so much for posting this, luv!

I made Glock happy! Glock dug my footnotes!
Who da man? ::bouncy bounce::

Re: *creates folder for you*

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

I naming a Memories folder after you! Awww, they're like my babies and you're like, special to me.

Thank you SO MUCH for the timeline thing. I don't have all the Knight tpbs (frankly, a lot of them were kinda boring) so this really really helps me out for reference. Thank you!

I really hope he makes me love Steph even more, I really do. *crosses fingers*

[windwoodrose.livejournal.com]

Yay, you linked to Toon Zone! I approve.

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Well, I do try to at least credit my sources whenever possible. And links are what makes the interner go 'round.

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

Thank you bundles and bunches for the info; I'm actually, at this point, kind of looking forward to seeing how Steph handles the pixie boots. In fact, I was more annoyed when Bruce *initially* let Steph into the Batfamily -- now that she's already in, they might as well use it to their advantage. And I don't for one minute believe that Tim's gonna stay away from the mantle, because while he always intended to quit it wasn't supposed to happen this *soon*.

Because Batman? Anger management issues out the wazoo. But. Not a screamer.

Definitely not a screamer. In fact, I think his monstrously INSANE control might make having sex with Bruce kind of unsettling.

...oh, wait. That's not what you were talking about. *g*

All in all, it might be fun watching Steph try to be Robin because she's so *eager* to prove herself and because she'll be working closely with Batman, which is always an interesting time!

[buggery.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

And I don't for one minute believe that Tim's gonna stay away from the mantle, because while he always intended to quit it wasn't supposed to happen this *soon*.

::nodding along madly::

I think his monstrously INSANE control might make having sex with Bruce kind of unsettling.

...oh, wait. That's not what you were talking about. *g*

Of course that's what I was talking about. I can't think of a time when I've talked about Batman and not been speaking at least subtextually about sex-with-Batman.

Mmm. Sex with Batman.

it might be fun watching Steph try to be Robin because she's so *eager* to prove herself

There's been a lot of bitching about how it makes no sense for Bruce to accept Steph now, after he's been so adamant that she give up the cape in the past (to the point of forbidding Tim and Cassie to patrol or even train with her)... but actually they've set the characterisation up really well for this. He was right to warn Steph off before, for her own safety; she wasn't up to the work she was trying to do.

But she's gotten better, on her own, since then. And I don't think it's at all out of character for Bruce to acknowledge that, and then insist that she train with him until she's good enough that his concern for her safety won't keep him from letting her go out.

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

I guess...I just wish she weren't a blonde.

I mean, Bat family types should be dark, symbolic, you know?

[buggery.livejournal.com]

Well, all the other [canon continuity] Robins have looked exactly like little Bruces, with their blue eyes and black hair, to the point of being a little creepy. (But then, creepy's in character for the Batfamily...) Even Huntress (Helena) has the Bat-colouring. And Cassandra is dark-haired -- but Barbara's a redhead. So there's been one redhead among the Gotham capes. (And Dinah's been doing her Birds of Prey thing with Babs, and she's blonde, though that only kind of counts.) I think one blonde can work for balance in much the same way. And, well, Spoiler has always been blonde under the hood.

As for the dark-and-symbolic... that's the Batman. Robin was always supposed to be the bright spot by his side. Hence the gaudy colours on that suit.

you're right, but....

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

It's probably just my "blonde" issues, caused by all those years of Barbies being shoved in my (Asian American) face. Or the Southern ideal of womanhood, big blonde hair and all.

You know, not that many people in the world are naturally blonde, and I have to say, I question the use of it for the new Robin. What, brown hair's not special enough?

Just ignore me. I have issues. ;)

(And you know now why I love Cassandra.)