Scans_Daily

We have now entered Jon Lewis's run!

HERE IS A SECRET. The first Robin comic I ever got was #102. That's how I was introduced to Steph. That's where I first thought "Hey, she's cool".

Then I of course, proceeded to collect Robin comics like a madperson and became obsessed with Steph, but you probably guessed that.

So I have an affection for Lewis's run. His plots may have been....really out there, especially for a Robin comic, which should be more focused on street level Gotham-y crime, but I absolutely adore his characterization. Focusing on Steph, he wrote her as a smart, strong young woman. He wrote a Steph who had matured and learned from her experiences, without sacrificing the spunk and spark that made her so endearing. He had her develop and grow. And as for Tim and Steph's relationship, he dispensed with Dixon's method of creating conflict by having one or both of them act like jerks. He wrote a (relatively) healthy relationship between two kids who obviously really cared about each other, and had the conflict come in and organic and natural way, maintaining the interest without making the characters look like asses.

So, complain to me about the sci-fi plots all ya want, but it's his adorably geeky Tim and smart, spunky Steph that win me over.

Now, onto his first arc (the first few pages are actually Dixon, he and Lewis split writing duties on Robin 100) which is 100-105.

Last post Steph had to deal with a lot of stuff. Now we cover Batgirl #38 and the rest of Steph's appearances in Jon Lewis's run. Post Riddler beatdown, Lewis had Steph take a break from being Spoiler, so we only see her as Stephanie Brown for the rest of his run. I imagine (and I'm jumping to conclusions here like a hurdler whoa) plans for Steph's death were already in the works at this point (they make have been in the works since that Gotham Knights issue where Bats fired her, considering how incredibly forced and non-sense making that was) and Lewis was retiring her in hopes of being able to spare her until it all blew over. No such luck, as soon as Lewis left, Willingham had her back in costume with no explanation, because her death was in the editorially mandated cards. It just seems a likely explanation to me.

But we will not dwell on that. On to the Steph goodness.