So, Red Robin was pretty much awesome.

[nevermore999]

And here's my favorite part. Scans courtesy of weaverandom from livejournal!

So Prudence, the League of Assassins chick, sticks a gun in Steph's face and is all "I was sent to kill Stephanie Brown.





"Whoa, hey, we just met!"



So Tim, because he is Tim and we love him (Well, I love THIS Tim. This is the Tim I remember. The Tim I wish to hug and punch at the same time. Hug-punch, as Steph would put it) immediately turns on the drama. "Oh noes, I have killed my darlingnest Steph!  I have no time to save her because I must narrate now! She was always far too unsuited for this cruel, cruel business, but I let her smexiness and how pretty we're both drawn in this flashback cloud my judgement, and now she will die and it is all my fault! She will die for reals this time I bet! I am just going to curl up in a ball somewhereand cry emo tears about how my poor delicate flower has been cut by my cruel weakness, everything I love dies, oh woe is me!

Meanwhile Steph is all


"Bitch. Please."


Tim's O-O Expression is the BEST EVER, Oh, Tim. You dork.

I'm betting this was a Babs thing. "Hey, Steph, if someone points a gun at you, pound their face into jelly. Zero hesitation. ZERO! Even if they show up in your door suddenly. GOT THAT?"

"Sure..."

"Now I'm going to stick a gun in your face until you get it. GUN!"

"What the-"




Dude, Steph could have done that even when she was Spoiler. That's just my opinion here, though! Man, I miss Cass and all, but I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that becoming Batgirl has finally somehow gotten Steph some goddamn respect. And now Tim is dorky and not broody anymore and I can buy his title....

Of course, just as I'm beginning to enjoy it, they have to change writers...whatever. Nicieza, don't screw my Timmy up again.

Turns out Prudence was faking it for some reason and the gun wasn't loaded. Why she stuck the gun in Steph's face in the first place I have no  idea. Who cares. Steph kicked ass. It was awesome.

And here is an awesome panel of Steph and Tim kicking ass in formal wear (I will admit to loving when people do that. It's almost a kink. I love it even more when women rip up their pretty dresses so they can roundhouse better, which Steph. DID.) Because Marcus To is a good artist, Steph is not wearing a strapless gown held up by magic and sporting the most common superpower. But she is still wearing eggplant. Because she's Steph. Duh.



"...scourge of the League of Assassins in high heels and dress shoes!"

They are so adorable! I want to marry Marcus To's art so hard. Much better than the crap they had in Batgirl this week.
But the point here? Tim. Steph. Love. Me. Squee. Happiest person ever. I love it.

tags: char: spoiler/robin/batgirl/steph brown, char: robin/red robin/tim drake, title: red robin, creator: chris yost, creator: marcus to

Comments

[roibenrye]

I motto everything in this post.

[kamino_neko]

I love many things about this scene.

Tim's reaction at the end is priceless - definitely worth the price of the book all on its own.

But then we've also got Steph going from 'Whoah!' to game face to ass kicking before Pru can do much of anything - and, come on, even Bruce would be all 'whoah!' if he suddenly had a gun jammed in his face with no prologue... Sure, he probably wouldn't show it, but he'd feel it.

[shadowpsykie]

you must create a scene based on the above observation :) (babs training steph on gun reactions :)

[omgwtflolbbqbye.livejournal.com]

That is a pretty awesome gag.

Sort of reminds me of that scene in JLU where Batman explains to Wonder Woman that he can't date her cause his enemies would try to hurt her.

Then Wondy just nonchalantly uses one hand to crush the head of the concrete gargoyle she's leaning against.

Nice, but...

[jfurioso]

I like the scene a lot, except for... using a high kick when someone holds a gun before your face? Hands are faster, and an ura-mawashi-geri from the looks of it? Ho-hum. It would look better if the gun had fired, while she twisted away preparing the hip torsion, using the right hand to deflect the gun-hand.
Less overstated, but even sillier, you don't deliver a downward elbow strike as follow up to a shotei-uchi that threw the opponents head up and back. A bridging technique like a body blow would have been needed to make her double down, or show a grab of some kind to establish the control necessary, or...
Geez, who teaches these people????? One would think they have only bad movies as budo schooling!

Re: Nice, but...

[xammax]

Gun wasn't loaded.

[shadowpsykie]

I'm betting this was a Babs thing. "Hey, Steph, if someone points a gun at you, pound their face into jelly. Zero hesitation. ZERO! Even if they show up in your door suddenly. GOT THAT?"

"Sure..."

"Now I'm going to stick a gun in your face until you get it. GUN!"

"What the-"

OMG this made me laugh so hard i teared up! BLACKCAT you need to draw this scene!

yeah i LOVED Tims reaction, he was mentally speechless.

[promethea4]

Yeah, I must say that that the commentary about this being a Babs thing made me laugh and was my favorite part of the whole post.

[bluefall]

I like the way she's all glaring and "she had a gun, Tim." It comes across like "your dog is shitting on my lawn, Tim." It's not that it's a problem that Tim's pet assassin just stuck a lethal weapon in her face, it's just that it's really rude of Tim to have let this happen.

[shadowvalkyrie]

Very fitting way to put it. "X-D

[kingrockwell]

This really was the very best scene.

[dimwit90]

Tim. Steph. Love. Me. Squee. Happiest person ever. I love it.

Yes, this *high five*

[mcity]

I was just thinking that opening with a kick like that would realistically get someone shot, when you said the gun was unloaded.

[bj_l]

Still don't get the Steph love.

[nevermore999]

...thanks for your input.

[perletwo]

"...scourge of the League of Assassins in high heels and dress shoes!"

What's even cooler is that in the Batgirl 8 version of that scene, she had ditched the heels to run with Leslie and by this point, was kicking the assassins to pieces with bare feet. :D

[lbd_nytetrayn]

What was your avatar from? I think I may have missed it...

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[flidgetjerome]

Turns out Prudence was faking it for some reason and the gun wasn't loaded. Why she stuck the gun in Steph's face in the first place I have no idea. Who cares.

Prudence is contractually obligated to have her nose broken every 2 to 6 issues?

[koschei]

Courtship ritual?

[3goodtimes]

Fuck yearh!!

This is the Tim I love. This is the Steph I love. *does the dance of characterization joy*

[magus_69]

...

...

... was it good for you, too?

[queen_marshed]

You know Tim just creamed in his pants RIGHT THERE.

[bariman]

Someone needs to 'shop in a word balloon with Tim saying "I am SO hot for you right now" after Steph beats up Prudence.

[stig]

I quote Niecza from the DCU blog:

"Having the opportunity to close out Tim Drake’s Robin series was bittersweet. He’s a character I’ve always wanted to write, but it was a tumultuous, dark time for him and I was writing the book knowing the series would end and evolve into Red Robin.

“...To unexpectedly get the chance to come back at this time, with Tim Drake in a more positive place mentally, stepping into his own as a young adult and better prepared to develop his own distinctive approach to crimefighting — both in Gotham City and across the world — only means the hundreds of stories I’ve always wanted to tell with the character now number in the thousands!

“What lies ahead? Adventure, mystery, complex moral issues, an evolving rogue’s gallery specific to the character, romantic triangles (maybe quadrangles!), fun and humor all ripe for the picking! I can’t wait for readers to see this excellent character’s continuing development into something unique and special in the DC Universe!”

Don't worry. Be happy!

[aulayan]

Romantic Triangles and Quadrangles?

Superboy will guest star every issue, and we'll have to deal with Tim's jealousy whenever a hot (anything) walks by?

[jelly_ace]

Steph's GUN followed by that disarming kick always gets me. Had an Elsa/Tabitha feel to it.

[cloud_wolf]

Dude, that dress Steph is wearing is tons better than the dress in the last Batgirl post. So cute!

[zordboy]

I'm still not a huge fan of Steph, but I do love me some Tim, and by gosh this was an awesome scene.

[psychopathicus_rex]

That 'Eep!' face of Tim's is pretty classic, all right. It's made more classic by the artwork, which clearly shows that the cowl is restricting his facial movements, frozen as it is into that perpetual scowl - underneath it, he's looking EVEN MORE surprised.

[retro_nouveau]

There it is. I had no trouble with the kick - I figure it was preceded by moving her head to the left and a cross with her right fist there. The kick was then Steph's trademark and the start to a beatdown.

Who cares why Pru brought out her hardware? I kinda care, I'd like a reason for (a) pointing in the most rude manner imaginable and (b) why a trained assassin would run around with an empty gun. I say jealousy of the OTP, she wanted to bring Steph down in Tim's eyes. Oops! Opposite effect. XD

I love your translation of Tim's internal drama. XD

Also loved the Robin/Spoiler flashbacks in BG/RR. I would have iconned the RR one, it's pretty ... Except the artist committed major sin in forgetting thigh bandolier! ARRH.

[perletwo]

Pru had been explaining about Ra's' assassination contracts, and when Tim asked 'so why are you here?' she replied 'Because my assignment was...STEPHANIE BROWN." dun dun dun GUN! Cue the Angst of Tim!

[alienist]

I LOVE THESE PANELS. And I love your commentary almost as much. Babs' special brand of gun defence is totally canon now.

There...aren't a whole lot of things I'm look forward to when I catch up, but Steph as Batgirl? Totally one of them. People actually acknowledge how badass she is now!

And I always long for those moments when Tim realises "hey, Steph is fucking awesome, I'm being stupid".

[math_camel]

This week was a great one, that's for sure.

(I love his little *suprise* face!)

[sarno001]

This week's Batgirl made me un-ship these two. This week's Red Robin made me re-ship them.

It's a very confusing time for me right now.

How does Yost keep getting better and better? Seriously, his writing has just grown in leaps and bounds over the course of this title. I'm sorry to see him go - although Nicieza was the guy responsible for the hair-kissing, yeah? Hard to be upset if we're getting him to repair Bat-family relations.

[elf]

Yes, Tim, you killed her. Because, of course, Steph has *never* faced anyone pointing a gun at her before.

Oh, wait; this is someone from the League, and their trigger fingers are much faster than anyone else's. Um.

Love Tim's o.O expression when he catches the gun.

[sarno001]

And wasn't Steph shot in the head at, like, point blank range right before Christmas (publishing time)? She was fine next issue. If Timbo hadn't been off growing as a character he would have known that.