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Stephanie Brown Reading Order (Spoiler, Robin, Batgirl)

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Stephanie Brown Reading Order (Spoiler, Robin IV, Batgirl III)

Created by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle as a plot device in Detective Comics #647–649, Stephanie Brown is a DC superheroine considered part of the Batfamily. She is first introduced as the vigilante Spoiler, had a brief stint as Robin, and has also taken the mantle of Batgirl.

Pre-New 52, Stephanie Brown had a difficult life, one with some similarities with Jason Todd. Her mother was an addict and her father was the third-rate villain Cluemaster. It was in order to stop him that Stephanie Brown became the vigilante named Spoiler (as she was trying to ‘spoil’ things for her abusive father). She lived in poverty and didn’t have a great track record when it comes to her love life.

She served almost immediately as the love interest/girlfriend for Tim Drake/Robin II, which she didn’t know his real name for a long time. Stephanie’s relationship with Batman was a difficult one, a sort of reflection of the way some people at DC seemed to perceive her– leading us to some mistreatment of her character.

In the New 52 era, Stephanie Brown’s story has been rewritten, making her past and her relationship with Batman way less harsh and complicated than it has been before. Right now, Stephanie Brown is protecting Gotham City as one of the Batgirls, alongside Cassandra Cain, while being guided by Oracle/Barbara Gordon.

The Following is Stephanie Brown’s reading order to discover all her adventures.

Stephanie Brown, the Early Years (1992-2003)

Introduced in 1992 in Detective Comics, Stephanie Brown is first and foremost defined by her mission to foil her father’s machinations, as well as her growing relationship with Robin. She first made sporadic appearances in the Robin title, before becoming more and more present and simply being a recurring presence. After the first few years, she also began to pop up in other series. Most of those issues are not collected, though you can find the entirety of Robin on Kindle & comiXology.

  • Detective Comics vol. 1 #647-649 (her first appearance)
  • Robin vol. 4 #3-5, first team-up with Robin collected in Robin Vol. 3: Solo
  • Robin vol. 4 #15-16, collected in Robin Vol. 5: War of the Dragons
  • Showcase ‘95 #5 (second story)
  • Robin vol. 4 #25-26
  • Robin vol. 4 #35 is part of The Final Night (no need to read the story for Stephanie)
  • Robin vol. 4 #40-41; #43-45
  • Robin/Argent Double-Shot #1
  • Robin vol. 4 #50
  • Batman: Huntress/Spoiler #1 is part of Batman: Cataclysm (no prior knowledge required)
  • Robin vol. 4 #54-55

One of the most notable storylines for Stephanie Brown during all those years was, without a doubt, her pregnancy in 1998-1999. The next few years saw her be a regular character on Robin and being trained by Batman, Batgirl, and Black Canary.

  • Robin #56-61 (pregnancy storyline begins here)
  • Secret Origins 80 Page Giant (backstory)
  • Robin #62; #64-65 (the end of the pregnancy storyline)
  • Robin vol. 4 #68-69, #71-72 are part of Batman: No Man’s Land
  • Batman Chronicles #22 (second story)
  • Robin vol. 4 #74-75
  • Robin 80-Page Giant
  • Young Justice vol. 1 #30 (Stephanie meets Secret)
  • Robin vol. 4 #80, #82-84, #87-88 (She meets Cass/Batgirl for the first time in #88)
  • Green Arrow vol 3 #5, collected in Green Arrow: Quiver
  • Batgirl vol. 2 #20, collected in Batgirl: Death Wish
  • Robin vol. 4 #92-94
  • The event Joker: Last Laugh starts here. This is the first Batman event where Stephanie Brown has a significant role to play. She appears in the following issues:
  • Batgirl vol. 2 #26, collected in Batgirl Vol. 3: Point Blank
Robin #99
  • The event Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive starts here (for more information, check out our reading order). Stephanie is mostly present in the first part, working with the Birds of Prey for a short time, collected in Bruce Wayne: Murderer?
    • Birds of Prey #39
    • Robin vol. 4 #98-99
    • Birds of Prey #40
    • Batgirl vol. 2 #27
    • Birds of Prey #43, the only issue collected in Bruce Wayne: Fugitive
  • Robin vol. 4 #100-105
  • Batgirl vol. 2 #28, #31-32, collected in Batgirl Vol. 3: Point Blank
  • Robin vol. 4 #106-111
  • Batman: Family (2002) #2, #8
  • Young Justice #50-51 (a few panels about Steph/Secret dynamics)
  • Batman: Gotham Knights #37, collected in Batman Black and White Volume 3
  • Batgirl vol. 2 #38
  • Robin vol. 4 #112-113, #116, #119, #120
  • Young Justice #54 (the story concludes in the next issue, but Steph is not present in it)

Stephanie Brown (Spoiler, Batgirl, Robin) Icon Reading Order

Stephanie Brown, The Girl Wonder and War Games (2004)

After Jack Drake discovered his son was Robin, Tim Drake hanged up the cape in favor of a normal life for a few issues. During that short period, Stephanie convinced Batman to train her as the new Robin and she endured intensive training (Robin #126-128). But for whatever reason, Batman fired her when she ignored one of his orders, and Steph was determined after that to prove her worth. This leads to the event War Games (see reading order), during which — spoiler alert — poor Stephanie is tortured and killed and blamed for everything. It was, pure and simple, a character’s assassination.

  • Robin: Unmasked!
    Collects Robin (vol. 4) #121–125.
  • Batman: War Games Book One
    Collects Batgirl #53, #55, Batman #631, Batman: The 12-Cent Adventure, Batman Legends Of The Dark Knight #182, Batman Gotham Knights #56, Catwoman #34, Detective Comics #790-797, Nightwing #96, Robin #126-129 And Solo #10.

    • Batgirl #54 is not collected here, but the issue can serve as a transition between Stephanie’s tenure as Robin and the official launch of War Games.
  • Batman: War Games Book Two
    Collects Batgirl #56-57, Batman #632, 633-634,642-644, Batman Legends Of The Dark Knight #183-184, Batman Gotham Knights #57-58, Batman Secret Files And Origins Allies 2005, Batman Secret Files And Origins Villains 2005, Catwoman #35-36, Detective Comics #798-800, #809-810, Nightwing #97-98, And Robin #130-131.

Following the tragic end of War Games, the next issues of Robin and Batgirl deal with the characters’ grief in a crossover story.

For Cassandra Cain, Steph will be a sort of haunting presence after that, as Stephanie will appear twice, in Batgirl #62 and #72-73, each time when Cass is close to death. Tim’s life at this stage is just a series of tragedies.

Stephanie Brown, The Return (2007-2008)

Spoiler makes her comeback during Grant Morrison’s run on Batman. Her return takes place after The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul. When a purple hooded figure appears in Gotham, Robin and Batman track her down only to discover that the person imitating Spoiler is indeed Stephanie.  After some explanations, Steph resumes her life in Gotham, reconnecting with her mother, enrolling in high school, and saving lives as a member of the Bat-family.

Stephanie Brown as Batgirl (2009-2011)

Bruce Wayne is “dead.” Who will be the new Batman? Stephanie Brown is not directly implicated in the events taking place in Battle for the Cowl, but the conclusion of this arc set up a new status-quo in Gotham. Dick Grayson took the mantle of Batman, and choose Damian Wayne as Robin. Hurt by Dick’s choice and convinced that Bruce is still alive, Tim assumes the identity of Red Robin and leaves Gotham to travel the globe looking for a dead man. And what about Stephanie, you ask? After being pushed back by Tim just before he leaves town, she finally headlines her own title, becoming the new Batgirl (written by Bryan Q. Miller) after Cass left her the costume before vanishing.

Stephanie Brown’s run as Batgirl has since been reprinted in two trade paperbacks:

Stephanie Brown during New 52 (2014-2016)

The New 52 era was launched in 2011 but it took a few years before Stephanie Brown made her comeback in the DC Universe, where her new history is introduced and developed in Batman Eternal where she’s still the daughter of Cluemaster who stumbled into a meeting between her father and his criminal associates and decides to ‘spoil’ her father’s plans. For more context, you can take a look at the Batman New 52 Reading Order.

Or in trade paperbacks:

Stephanie Brown/Spoiler by Dustin Nguyen

When the Joker makes his comeback for one last gag during the Endgame story, Spoiler helped other teens fight the Joker’s chaos in Detective Comics: Endgame #1, before being trained first by Selina Kyle and Eiko Hasigawa in Catwoman, then by Barbara Gordon in Batgirl.

The three former male Robins — Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and Tim Drake — deal with an enemy from the past in Batman and Robin Eternal, a follow-up to Batman Eternal where Spoiler makes a few appearances to help the group fight their enemy. This is also in this title that Cassandra Cain resurfaced, as the character was absent from the New 52 era until now.

Stephanie Brown Rebirth (2016-2020)

This time, Stephanie Brown was present from the beginning of the Rebirth era, as a member of the Gotham Knights (with Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake, and Clayface), a team supervised by Batman and Batwoman in Detective Comics, by James Tynion IV. After that, she took the road with Tim Drake and joined the Young Justice by Brian Michael Bendis.

Or in trade paperbacks:

Joker Batman New 52 Reading OrderLike the other members of the BatFamily, Stephanie Brown took part in The Joker War (in a very limited role), see reading order here.

Stephanie Brown (Spoiler, Batgirl, Robin) Icon Reading Order

Stephanie Brown during the Infinite Frontier

A new era begins with more of the same as James Tynion IV’s run on Batman coming to an end with another crossover event: Fear State (Reading order of the event here). Steph played a small part necessary to launch her new series: Batgirls. Mentored by Oracle, the Batgirls Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown move to the other side of town where Barbara Gordon can keep a better eye on them.

The story continues…

Did we forget an important issue? Did we make a mistake? Write to us or let us know in the comments!

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