Stephanie Brown on Tim Drake

[auggie18]

Well, it looks like Tim's been reading the DCnU.

Comments

[lbd_nytetrayn]

"Best known" to who, though? Is this a bid for mainstream attention?

In the way people know Clark Kent is Superman, I imagine most people on the street have some idea that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Sure, I get that.

That Robin is Dick Grayson? I imagine significantly fewer, and we won't even touch on his successors.

That Batgirl is Barbara Gordon? I imagine the number is far, far less. Maybe people who remember the Adam West series.

Having Batman & Robin change that probably doesn't help matters, either.

[icon_uk]

Is this a bid for mainstream attention?

Most of the DcnU marketing decisions seem to be trying to go for mainstream attention, including using new websites for previews and the like. Frankly, more power to them for that, the niche market of comic fans isn't getting that much less niche-y, and only an influx from outside will be able to keep the industry going in anything like the shape we know it.

And as for profile, it depends where they remember from I suppose. The 1960's series is still the most broadcast Batman related TV program around the world, so if they know Batman is Bruce, odds are they know Robin is Dick, and quite possibly Batgirl is Babs.

Ditto for BTAS (Perhaps the second most circulated TV version).

The question could be perhaps reversed. In terms of wanting to make as high profile a female character as possible, who would the public associate most with Batman? Cass, Steph and Kate just aren't that well known at all (no non-comics appearances for one thing, unless you count one episode of YJ where Steph is an "extra" only named in the credits), Barbara, one way or another, is.

So if they have a female identity to fill, and don't want to risk dilting the brand, she's the obvious choice.

So even if it disappoints me, I can definitely see logic to it, marketing based logic rather than creative based one, but logic nevertheless.

[msrobin]

Nonetheless, Smallville the TV series included Bart Allen and Mia Dearden. Neither are the most recognizable versions of Flash or Speedy. And Barbara Gordon isn't the most recognizable version of Nightwing. In fact, she never WAS Nightwing in the comics. DiDio stepped in at the last minute to remove Steph after Steph had already been approved for use in a non-canon digital comic. Also, Grant Morrison wanted to use both Cass and Steph in the second volume of Batman, Inc. He was told he could not include them.

Besides, a new character like Talon has gotten an ongoing series. So I suspect marketing isn't the only factor here.

[icon_uk]

At the time Smallville was shown, Bart was still Impulse, the closest to a Kid Flash DC had had since the mid 1980's. Impulse was also the codename he was given in the show, never Flash.

Mia was covenient, she was the then current Speedy, a name Roy hadn't used in ten years plus, and of course she added an active costumed female hero to the show (Did Dinah show up before or after Mia in the series, I honestly don't know). Plus, and it pains me to say this, having a female sidekick might assuage some of the innuendo that still haunt the original Dynamic Duo to this day.

And in fairness, neither Kid Flash nor Speedy had any real media presence beyond a handful of Filmation cartoons of the 1960's, the other characters we've discussed have had more recent presence and ARE better known, at least than those two.

And Talon getting a series over Steph makes more Marketing sense than anything IMHO. Introducing Steph means fitting her into an already crowded timeline where things have only just been starting up. With so much of Tim's past changed, and neither he nor ever having been Robin (or presumably "dead" etc etc) her origin may well be changed beyond recognition. They've only vaguely started to outline his past, so having Steph around would lock elements in place they possibly don't want locked yet in Nu52 Tim.

Talon is an entirely new character so is more of a blank slate. With Steph there would be expectations (And doubtless annoyance over changes being made to fit her into the DCnU), with Talon there aren't any, so the creator gets more freedom.