Red Robin Batgirl crossover

The beginning of the crossover that reunites Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake came in this week and to say that the pair has some issues to work out is an understatement. I thought I’d take a look at both books and how the different writers handled the characters. Although I found the storyline to be interesting both writers Bryan Q Miller and Chris Yost seemed to have a slight different take on the Stephanie/Tim Drake relationship and it’s current status that was noticeable right away. I’ll talk about Batgirl first and then Red Robin so get ready for some Spoilers and I don’t mean Stephanie Brown’s old identity.

Last issue Red Robin had entered the Batcave in search of Dick Grayson’s help; Ras Al Ghul has decided to kill everyone in Gotham remotely related to Tim Drake. Realizing he is in over his head Tim Drake returns home to the Batcave to instead find Stephanie Brown there in her new guise as Batgirl. This is where this issue of Batgirl picks up with Tim interrupting her training session. He is surprised to see Stephanie in any uniform at all and especially the Batgirl one since asked her to quit the hero business. This is not a reunion of old friends who are glad to se each other and it quickly turns nasty as Batgirl informs Tim that Oracle has now set up shop in the Batcave with her. Wanting to know where Grayson is, Tim blurts out “He needs Stephanie not to be useless right now!” Ouch, Tim seems to have as low an opinion of Steph’s ability as everyone else if not lower. They haven’t given us much to counter his opinion yet in this book, which will be contrasted against Chris Yost view of her that I will get to later.

Both agree that what they are doing is none of the other’s business, as an alarm goes off that Leslie Thompkins’ clinic is being hack into and Red Robin rides off knowing that it is probably Ras Al Ghul’s handy work. Drake tells Stephanie to let the professional handle it, insults her new ride provide by Oracle last issue and tells her to stay put. Of course if she did what she was told she wouldn’t be Stephanie Brown so she follows him anyway. Meanwhile Oracle has consented to another lunch with Detective Nick, which seems to be going well until interrupted by the entire electronic grid in Gotham going down. Both Nick and Barbara make excuse to leave to investigate, and it is implied that Detective has something to hide like Barbara does as Oracle. An interesting turn here, we’ll see if it amounts to anything as the series goes on.

At Thompkins’ clinic Tim Drake fights off some assassins while Stephanie watches, and the pair finds that Leslie is nowhere to be found. Tim still doesn’t want Stephanie around but can’t get rid of her as they track her to a fund raiser, but they can’t go in costume or blow their connection to Leslie to the general public. They will have to switch to civilian identities and clothes to retrieve her, which Tim provides by breaking into the local garment district that is nearby. The plan is for Drake to distract everyone with is sudden return to Gotham’s social scene while Stephanie grabs Leslie. It works until Ras’ men show up and Steph and Tim reunite to take them out. At the end of the fight Steph accidentally hits Drake in the jaw. Really? What is it with Bryan Q Miller and his main character? He continues to write her as incompetent and a screw-up, I get that she is still learning and Oracle is training her but was that really necessary? Must she constantly screw-up? She never seems to get a break in her own book, which surprises me. Also surprising is the Chris Yost doesn’t seem to view her this way in the Red Robin book. Drake is also cold towards Stephanie throughout the Batgirl book. I realize that he has been though a lot and has been changed by it but Yost also has him be a little softer towards Stephanie. The Iceberg Tim begins to thaw at the end of Batgirl as the two almost share a kiss but Stephanie realizes that she can’t do this right now and it’s not good for her. Robin and Batgirl seem destined to love one another but kept apart no matter who wears the costumes. The issue ends with them being interrupted by Pru the assassin, I’m not familiar with this character since I chose not to follow the Red Robin book but they will bring us up to speed in the second half which we will discuss next.

The tone of the relationship as seen by Chris Yost changes right off the bat if you will excuse the pun. In Red Robin, we get to hear Tim Drake’s thought and the relationship is not as contentious as in Batgirl. The story begins with Ra’s ranting over the failure to kill Thompkins and ordering everybody to kill Brown and Drake. Back at the rooftop, Prudence tells them there are twelve targets, which prompts Brown to ask, “Who the hell is this chick?” Prudence announces she is a member of the league of assassins and she was assigned to kill Stephanie Brown and pulls a gun on her. Drake is frozen and can’t react quick enough, and we hear his thoughts and regrets on not stopping Brown from becoming Spoiler, not stopping the assassin Prudence when he had the chance, and his costing Brown her life. You can see in this book he does care about her but it looks like we might be in need of another Batgirl already.

Hey here’s a real curveball, Stephanie Brown comes to her own defense and disarms the assassin, and takes her down quickly and confidently. Quite a change from her own book in fact if Miller were writing this book, I’m sure Stephanie would have been wounded somehow or done something half assed to save herself. Tim marvels at Batgirl's ability to take out a league of assassins’ member so do we the reader. Where has this Stephanie Brown been? Certainly not in her own book and I’m glad someone is finally giving the new Batgirl some respect. Turns out the gun wasn’t loaded and that Prudence is here to help Drake like he did her when he led the League of Assassin. Batgirl like the reader who hasn’t been following Drake’s exploits is like “excuse me?” Although the gun not being loaded takes the threat level down a little bit, I still like that Yost felt that Batgirl could handle the situation herself with confidence. Miller could take a few pointers on that.

After a interlude where Vicky Vale confronts Alfred on the missing Tim Drake’s whereabouts that she has been investigating and Ras Al Ghul confronting imposter Tommy Elliot who has been posing as Bruce Wayne we get back to Stephanie asking Tim if he has lost his mind? After a lengthy rant about what went wrong between them and what Tim has been doing by Steph, Drake finally lets up on her and says he is sorry for the way he has treated her and that he made mistakes and was in a bad place. He says he is better now and takes responsibility for his actions and asks for her help. He needs it to save the people they love. Now this seems like the Tim Drake I know. The one that was running around in the Batgirl book seemed like a stranger or a Batman clone. Tim has always had heart and it seemed displaced or totally removed in the Batgirl book but here he seems like his old self. Batgirl agrees to help but admits she doesn’t know who Drake is anymore.

We get interludes that tell us Tam Fox is in danger and Ras demands everything Bruce Wayne has from the imposter Elliot. The trio has moved to a Red Robin’s hideout in Gotham and Tim has gone back to being zoned out as he tries to figure out how to stop Ras, which neither girl seems to understand what is going though his mind. Steph discovers a bomb in time for Drake to trigger his own explosion to save then by blowing out the floor first. Unfortunately it is out the frying pan into the fire as the trio find themselves surround by colorfully clad assassins. I’m assuming that readers of Red Robin are familiar with this bunch but none of them ring a bell with me. They all have guns or knives so that can’t be good and our team are out number 7 to 3. The issue ends with Tam Fox and Vickie Vale also in the sites of a gunman outside Wayne manor, don’t know who is going to save them. Maybe Alfred will have something up his sleeve.

Overall, I found the tone to be better in Red Robin; the characters acted more like I would expect them to than in Batgirl. Miller continues to write Batgirl as a klutz and a screw-up that is frankly getting old now eight issues into the series. I feel the team of Oracle and Batgirl has gelled and I am enjoying the direction the book is going but Miller really needs to cut Batgirl a few more breaks. The Red Robin seemed the better of the two and I am regretting not picking it up. The art has certainly improved and so has the mood. I’m looking forward to the next parts to see if Tim and Stephanie can pick up the piece of their relationship while stopping Ras Al Ghul.