KAY my take on Stephâs most recent appearance in the preview for Wonder Woman #23:
Now, you might be thinking: âTumblr user a-bad-case-of-the-stephs, what POSSIBLY could you have to complain about! Youâre always saying âI miss Stephanie Brownâ and âWhere is my daughter Stephanie Brownâ and such things. Now sheâs here! You should be rejoicing!â
Well, for one, I am! Stephanie brown, on her own, not in a panel of miscellaneous bats, speaking lines of dialogue, in 2025!! Iâm happy for her!! Iâm overjoyed at Proof that Steph has a degree of remaining relevance!! However I would be even happier if she was a smidge more in character!
Now, you might be thinking: âbut tumblr user a-bad-case-of-the-stephs, how can that be? Didnât Steph act a very similar way in the Robin 80 Page Giant when she meets Black Canary for the first time? How about her similar attitude in Gotham Knights #22? you Love Gotham Knights #22! Donât you remember Gotham Knights #22?â
I do! I promise I remember Gotham Knights #22! And the Robin 80 Page Giant! But I still think thereâs a few key differences in play here! Letâs break it down.
When Steph meets Black Canary for the first time in the Robin 80 Page Giant, sheâs immediately starstruck. But sheâs also still distinctly Steph! Almost immediately after meeting her, Steph tries angling to be Black Canaryâs partner and then, when rejected, to be her apprentice. Steph has a purpose, and her admiration doesnât render her too shy to act like herself: sheâs just as gregarious and outgoing and forthright as always.
And this continues on when Steph completely uninvited returns to Dinahâs the next day, and makes her case to learn from Black Canary again. And, when rejected again, she keeps pushing, and when Dinah brushes her off again, Steph is still at it, offering to do her errands. When Black Canary finally assents, Steph leaps to start, asking âWhat do we do first?â. Noticeably, Stephâs core characteristics (her stubbornness, her defiance, and her determination) are intact and in play. Her admiration of Black Canary makes her giddy and overeager, but she is never cowed and her actions are all rooted in who she is.
âBut tumblr user a-bad-case-of-the-stephs!!â You might cry, âthereâs a big difference here! Steph doesnât already admire or even seem to know of Black Canary until they meet! Sure sheâs awestruck by meeting a female hero she looks up to, but itâs not the same situation at all!â
And youâd be right to say so. Damn, if only we had an example of how Steph acted when meeting a hero she looked up to since childhood and who had massive significance to her.. Oh wait! The Batman!
It isnât really useful to analyze Stephâs first meeting with Bruce in Detective #648, because from a doyalist POV, Stephâs childhood admiration of Batman hadnât been established yet. But in the retelling of her backstory and where her childhood admiration of Batman is established in Secret Origins 80 Page Special, we also see a retelling of her first meeting with Batman, and lo and behold: turns out she is able to form a complete sentence!
âAh, but tumblr user a-bad-case-of-the-stephs! You still have forgotten Gotham Knights #22!â
Fine, letâs talk about Gotham Knights #22 then. On first blush, the style of Stephâs dialogue seems mostly the same! She flounders with her words briefly, she rambles, and she is overeager. But letâs take a closer look at whatâs different. In Gotham Knights #22, Steph is not overly apologetic. This makes sense, Steph is a character who deals with self doubt but who does not show it very openly. She is self assured and blunt and makes her decisions quickly. While she has, and does, apologize when she thinks sheâs done something wrong, I wouldnât say shes the type to apologize for a faux passĂŠ in a social situation, and I canât see her doing so three separate times in between her handful of sentences like she does in the preview.
Additionally, although in GK #22 Steph trips over a word once or twice, she is never downright stuttering and she isnât nearly as shy. This is another strong element of Stephâs character. She is not bashful, she is not nervous and sheepish. Even as she is obviously somewhat nervous in GK #22 sheâs also distinctly herself. Steph doesnât become any less bold.
âSo sure, maybe Steph isnât the most in character she could possibly ideally be in this - what - one page of a comic thatâs not at all about her. Is that really such a big deal? If you agree she has at least acted nervously and ramble-y in the face of other heroes sheâs looked up to, whatâs the big fuss about?â
Well, first and foremost, I love Steph and again, am super happy to see her in something current! I wanted to break it down a little, and would probably be making a similar post talking about Stephâs history with meeting heroes she admires even if I agreed 100% with the execution here!
But also, well, because Iâve neglected to mention one little tiny detail. Context.
When she meets Black Canary, Steph is 15 years old. Sheâs a scrappy, fresh, a new-to-vigilanting high schooler who is desperate for some real training from someone who will take her seriously. Black Canary is the third superhero Steph had ever met at that point, the second to give her the time of day, and the very first to give her the time of day who was also an actual adult instead of a teenaged boy a year younger than her. That influences how she acts- a fucking lot.
Same goes for Gotham Knights #22: context plays a big role here. Sheâs been struggling to prove herself to a cold and aloof Batman since she met him, and now is her chance! Sheâs also still only 16, with, again, still limited experience with other heroes.
Today, Steph is no longer 15, and Sheâs met quite a few more heroes and sheâs been a vigilante for quite a few more years. Besides that, sheâs also met another childhood favorite superhero - and we all know how that went - and the disastrous result likely shouldâve by all means instilled in her an inkling of a âdonât meet your idolsâ notion. At the very least a degree more caution, or a degree less hero worship.
Iâm not saying itâs impossible for Steph as an adult hero to look up to Wonder Woman, or be a little shell shocked in her presence, but I do think the execution works and fits better for the character she was at 15 than the hero in her own right she is (supposed to be) today, and for the reasons Iâve gone into above, I donât think the characterization is quite right even for that 15 year old. So if itâs too meek, too shy, too untethered and aimless for 15 or 16 year old Steph characterization, I really donât think it works well for an older, more experienced Steph.
And I think it matters especially because Stephâs age is still weirdly in flux, as unfortunately some comic authors (Batgirls.. cough cough) have thought of her and wrote her as a young teen instead of the adult she should by all means be.
Again, I donât think the concept is totally flawed, and I donât think my small nitpicks mean Steph is being written HORRIBLY out of character or anything, but I do think it could be better, and I wanted to provide my thoughts on why, given how rare a focus on Steph is nowadays!