Stephanie Brown: Fugitive.  For about a second.

We open on Stephanie running from the police.  They chase her down in a helicopter, but she manages to get away by falling through a skylight.  Fiendishly clever!

When she hits the ground, Detective Nick is there.  How is he this prescient about crime-fighter whereabouts and yet unable to catch some hooded college students?  A question for another time.  He hands her a batarang that was found on the body and pops her shoulder back into its socket.  She says she could kiss his . . . cheek.  Barbara is listening to all of this and is not amused.  Stephanie escapes in her incredibly silly-looking batpod. 

The next morning Stephanie runs into Francisco in the hall and he talks to her about her running out on the study group.  They walk outside and find Jordanna holding an anti-Batgirl protest.

“I saw Newton that night before Batgirl murdered him.  And my grief is so great that it’s affecting my studies.”

She reveals to Stephanie that she doesn’t care what happened.  She just wants to get a pass on her test. 

Okay.  Yeah.  It’s college, Stephanie.  There are more than two people there.  If a person sucks, or if a person is connected to someone who suck, move your seat and find someone else.  Come on!

Stephanie heads over to the Oracle cave and talks to Babs.  They have a discussion about how, for once in her life, Stephanie was earning approval from people, and it sucks that it got taken away by some hoodies.  Barbara says, kindly enough, that it can’t be about getting approval.  Oh, trust me, if there’s one person who persevered without approval it was Stephanie.  And maybe Helena, too. 

Meanwhile, Babs is analyzing the blood and a trace radioactive element on the batarang and proves Steph’s innocence in about five minutes.  Hmmm.  So this either means that the GCPD did no tests on a batarang that the officers on the crime scene immediately and correctly knew was placed there *after* the murder AND that Nick handed over the one thing that could prove Stephanie’s innocence to a person who could neither testify nor be believed in court.  So.  Not a strong showing by the GCPD.

Fortunately, Wendy’s there to save everyone’s ass.  She grumbles to ‘Marvin’ that she’s completely left out of the Steph-Babs team up as she hacks into the Gotham University computer system on the Gotham U campus.  She gets caught by security, and bickers with the guard for a while.  The guard points out that they’ve got her on camera, and she asks if the cameras are on all night. 

Stephanie heads over to a site in Gotham that shows a concentration of the radioactive isotope that was on the batarang.  It’s a warehouse full of boxes and hooded guys.  She fights the hooded guys, but not the boxes.  An oversight, I think.  Suddenly, the police march in.  Steph gets ready to run, but they’re not here for her.  Wendy checked the cameras on campus and sent over footage of the hooded guys chasing the murder victim. 

So.  The GCPD.  Did not check the cameras.  That captured the murder victim.  On film.  The night of the murder.  That’s it.  You guys suck.   No wonder you need, like, 18 costumed crime fighters.  You’re terrible at your job!  That’s just embarrassing.  Come on.

Oracle tells Stephanie that the isotope is spiking in her area, there’s a flash, and all the hooded guys are gone.  Now, it’s personal.  Later, Stephanie celebrates her victory by taking a shower.  The hooded guys celebrate theirs by playing video games.  It seems they’re developing high-tech crime suits, including one speed suit, which helped them get away from the police.

Only the Grey Ghost can save us now!

Conclusions:

Suckiness Advisory Warning:  Seriously.  Stephanie needs to get new friends.

Overall Awesomeness Level:  Well, there’s no Grey Ghost/Johnny C, but the triangle between Steph, Nick and Barbara is interesting, and the relationships are strained without being awful.  I’d say it’s moderate awesomeness this issue. 

Random Irrelevant Detail:  The ultra-high-tech-suit-makers-of-the-future hoodies have those ancient stand-up console arcade games.  You’d think they’d get a Wii or something.

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Posted in Batgirl Play-by-Plays by Esther Inglis-Arkell |