Spoilery Stuff

By which I mean, different thoughts about Spoiler, not spoilers in various comics. Or something. I just had a lot of different thoughts, and the fact that Spoiler popped up in a dream Friday night, is probably my subconscious telling me to post said thoughts.

- As to this Gotham Underworld project, that both Spoiler and Azrael appear on one of the covers for, I think it's going to be a story that shifts between past, present, and future, showing how all this different stuff is interconnected, in one big, nefarious plan, that somehow is related to the return of the Multiverse. So we'll see Spoiler and Azrael in some flashback issue. It'd be nice if Stephanie Brown were somehow back from the dead, but I'm not expecting it. Azrael can come back too. Batman's supposedly nicer these days, so maybe they could chat politely. Or Azrael's return can infuriate Bats. Whichever, I don't care. Annoyed Batman is fine with me.

- And no, I won't be buying Gotham Underworld.

- I think there were a couple of reasons I always liked Spoiler (if I had submitted lists for Comics Should Be Good's Top DC and Marvel Characters list, she'd have been in the Top 5). One reason, I like the outfit. I like purple, and as has been previously established, I like hoods as part of a superhero costume (I cannot believe I forgot Spoiler when I made that post). The other reason I liked Spoiler was, she didn't seem to care what others thought of her prowess. The first time I saw the character, she was talking to Robin, and he was telling her he wasn't thrilled she was doing the vigilante thing again (Robin #4). Batman's told her to stop. The Birds of Prey stopped training her, as far as I can tell, to try and convince her to quit. Which seems like a pretty stupid move, if that is the reason. Stephanie was fighting crime before they started training her, why would not training her make her stop? Besides, who died and left Batman (or Oracle) to decide who gets to be a costumed vigilante? If during Batman's first year (but not necessarily Batman: Year One), Alan Scott descends from the sky and tells Batman to quit, because he's going to get hurt, or get someone else hurt, you think Batman would have listened? I don't.

So she didn't listen. She enjoyed fighting crime, even if she wasn't the best at it. Enthusiasm counts for something with me. It seemed like she kept Tim from dwelling on things too much, from getting too bogged down in the seedy world he spends half his time in. Yes, she tried something a little too big to accomplish alone, and it blew up in her face, and people died. I imagine if she'd been given a chance to survive, she'd have felt terrible about what happened, and tried to make amends, but oh well. Everyone screws up, Batman included. Tower of Babel? Brother Eye? Blowing off Ted Kord in Countdown to Infinite Crisis? OK, everyone except Diana's guilty on that one. It's just that some characters get a chance to atone for their mistakes, and others get killed off. Which is true in real life as well, I suppose.

- I've often heard people say no one wants to hear about someone else's dreams. I disagree. I like to hear about other people's dreams, and share what I dreamt about. I don't know what they mean, but they can be fun to talk about, or to spend time dissecting. Which is a way of letting you know I'm going to talk about a dream. You can jump to the next paragraph if you'd like. The dream involved me (which isn't always the case), back in my old neighborhood, in the dead of night. I found Spoiler in the basement of my odd neighbor's house (Note: he wasn't "odd" in the sense of tying people up in his basement, but he did like to mow his lawn during thunderstorms, which always seemed off to me). Anyway, I helped her out of there, she was pretty confused, a bit like Jason Todd after he dug himself out of his grave, and we started walking (away from my old house, and the home of my friend Alex for some reason). I kept looking back over my shoulder, because I kept feeling like I was being followed/hunted. Probably by Didio. Or Willingham. Or Meltzer (I know, he never did anything negative to Spoiler. Doesn't mean that I'd want him anywhere near the character if she were to return.) There was also a cat.

- I've never chimed in on the "Give Stephanie a case!" issue. There are a lot of people who want a case in the Batcave for her, since she was a Robin and all. Makes more sense than keeping one there for not-dead Jason Todd, who has spent time running around with heads in duffel bags (or did Infinite Crisis wipe that out? Hell if I know.) Devon and Scipio have raised the subject of Orpheus (who I know zilch about) as being more deserving of a case than Spoiler, and Diamondrock just yesterday brought up Azrael's case for, well, a case. I already posted a halfway joking response in the comments there. It's joking in that I'm drawing from a Simpsons Halloween Special, but not joking in the sense that I really don't care who does and doesn't get a case.

What I mean is, I liked the character Stephanie Brown/Spoiler. Whether DC Editorial decides Batman should have a commemorative case for her, or anyone else, doesn't change that. Whether writers have Batman remember Stephanie fondly, or with disgust, or not remember her at all, doesn't change my opinion of Spoiler. Honestly, if Batman didn't like her, that would probably only solidify my opinion of her, since Batman has had the attitude of someone whose opinion wouldn't matter much to me, for roughly the past decade. Yeah, he treats his friends better now, but that doesn't wipe away the disregard he displayed towards them for quite some time prior. Case, no case, whatever.

- However, I do wish Robin didn't have her costume up in his cave under Titans Tower. Why? We've already seen him try and clone his best friend, and if those future Titans are who they appear to be, then at some point he successfully cloned his two best friends (assuming that Batman is Tim, I suppose). How hard would an ordinary human be to clone, compared to a half-Kryptonian? I just really don't want Tim going down the Miles Warren path, and it might be better not to have that reminder around. I'd like for Tim to remember Spoiler, but the presence of the costume makes me nervous.