Stephanie Brown and Chuck Dixon's politics

[Update 2026: When I made this series of posts I was still mistaken about some aspects of Political terminology are used.  I called myself a Liberal but I was actually already a Socialist.]

I made a post on this blog where I observed how surprisingly sometimes conservative writers treat women better then male liberal writers, which was a follow up to one of my Paul Feval posts.  This post is essentially me adding one more example to that observation.  Once again, I'm making these observations as a Liberal of sorts, a Left Leaning Libertarian-Communist SJW.

Chuck Dixon is one of the more notorious examples of a rare conservative Comic Book writer, probably the most notorious example of one to write for Batman (calling Frank Miller a conservative is a massive oversimplification).  Rumor has it he used to have heated political arguments with Denny O'Neil, I imagine Gun Control is the only issue where I'd side with Dixon over O'Neil.

Chuck Dixon created my favorite Batman character, who is obviously then also my favorite female Batman character, and second favorite Comic Book character over all.  Stephanie Brown aka The Spoiler, formally known as both Robin and Batgirl, the depending how you count things 4th holder of both those titles.

In addition to creating Stephanie, there are other women he didn't create but who largely became how fans of my generation and a little older remember them mostly in comics Dixon wrote, from Sarah Essen to Helena Bertinelli.  The earliest Bertinelli stories were pretty much writing her the same as the later Helena Wayne stories (they had the same writer I've heard), it was Dixon who made her distinct.  He was also heavily involved in the early success of Birds of Prey before Gail Simone took over and brought them to their height.  He also co-wrote Batgirl Year One, which I heard Gail Simone tried to convince DC/WB to make an Animated Movie for.

But I mainly want to talk about Stephanie.  Chuck Dixon wrote the three part story that introduced her in 1992 in Detective Comics, and wrote the Tim Drake Robin title for the first 100 issues, he may have took some months off, I'm not sure, but he was the main writer in charge.  Stephanie never got to be Robin in a story Dixon wrote, but behind the scenes he had been championing her becoming Robin for a long time.  That the very first Robin Comic after Dixon left featured an alternate reality with Steph as Robin is probably still the influence of where Dixon wanted to go.

Steph's pregnancy storyline is possibly the only time Dixon's politics seemed to influence his writing.  The narrative doesn't outright condemn Abortion, but he heavily stresses how Steph was firmly opposed to taking that option.

In general Dixon's Batman writing is often considered the best of 90s Batman (in the Comics at least).  Though it's perhaps not a coincidence that many's main criticism of him is being unwilling to give villains sympathy or depth, which was especially egregious when he wrote Two-Face.

The friendship between Stephanie and Cassandra Cain also started on Dixon's watch.  I wonder what thoughts he'd have on the popularity of shipping them?

Almost immediately after Dixon left, the direction Stephanie's story was going took a sharp turn.  She was finally officially being trained by Batman, then out of the blue he tries forcing her to quit.  Helena and the Birds of Prey were in good hands with Gail Simone, but for Stephanie all her fans feel she was horribly mistreated from now till she got her Batgirl run, then she got screwed over again by the New52 relaunch.

The War Games story-line (and others connected to it) is one I happen to really like, the premise is one I can't believe it took Batman writers so long to think of, and it's filled with wonderful character moments and a sense of escalating tension that anticipates The Dark Knight.

But the treatment of Stephanie is horrible, it's textbook fridging, and most of my fellow Stephanie fans are incapable of forgiving the story for that. And even during the build up to that story, it seemed DC was obsessed with foreshadowing the idea that Stephanie will be the next Jason Todd.

I wonder how many Stephanie Brown fans who lament Dixon's exit know he's a Conservative?

Update September 2018:  Perhaps another good contrast to Dixon here would be Denny O'Neil who he's rumored to have argued with a lot.  O'Niel was definitely a very liberal writer, Green Arrow became so Liberal from being made basically O'Niel own mouth piece in the 70s.

But he's done a lot to make Feminists not very happy, from the mod Era Wonder Woman debacle, to unceremoniously fridging Kathy Kane/Batwoman near the end of his League of Assassins saga.  And he was the Batman editor when The Killing Joke happened, meaning he can possibly be said to share some blame for allowing how badly Barbara Gordon was treated there.

The neglected members of The Bat Family, in adaptations at least

Stephanie Brown is the only wearer of the Robin mantle to never appear in an Animated DC movie.  And yes I'm willing to count appearing not as Robin.  Most she's had is a cameo on an animated series.

Cassandra Cain has likewise only had a cameo in a DCAU alternate universe.  Even the Arkham Games have ignored these two.

Those happen to be my two favorite Batman characters.  I really want to see them get their moment in the sun, which DC Animation has given to so many others now including characters less then a decade old.  And if Stephanie only appears as Spoiler that's fine.

Tim Drake is probably my favorite male Bat Family member.

Of the Robins that have gotten their moment in the sun in animation, Tim Drake has arguably had it the worst, even if his total screen time is second only to Dick.  He only appeared in the Timmverse where he is this much younger chibi Robin with Jason Todd's backstory and who's fate is the premise of Batman Beyond Return of The Joker.

And he appears as Red Robin in the Batman Unlimited cartoons, but in that universe they make him an idiot.

Dick Grayson has predictably gotten the most attention (being the only one to appear in Live Action so far, but Jason Todd is scheduled to show up supposedly in the DCEU).  But Dick, Jason Todd, Carrie Kelly and Damien Wayne have all gotten to be in (sort of) direct adaptations of Comics stories featuring them in the direct to DVD animated movies that have been going on for nearly a decade now.

They started basing the movies on more contemporary Comics right when they launched the most hated DC Continuity ever.  So the era where Tim, Cass and Steph had their best stories went almost immediately from being to recent to being to old to be the subject mater of one of these Animated Movies.

And now the thought of Teen Titans Judas Contract being rewritten to star Damien Wayne and not have Donna Troy really fills me with dread.

Now, Tim, Steph (as Batgirl) and Cass have been featured in stories with Damien Wayne, but those are the Damien dynamics being ignored by the current Damien Wayne worshiping animated canon.

Thing is their best stories were frequently in the spin off comics, ones that didn't actually star Batman.  Though you would need a big Batman Crossover event to find all three together.  The only one of those Steph was really prominent in was War Games, which I love but many hate.  I fear a Brace Wayne Murder/Fugitive adaptation would have Steph's scenes be the first to land on the cutting room floor.

If DC asked me for a Batman script.  I'd basically write my own alternate follow up to Under The Red Hood/Infinite Crisis/52.  Where Cass never goes Evil but maybe still becomes The Black Bat.  Tim still graduates from being Robin to take a new mantle and Steph becomes the permanent 4th Robin  And if someone new takes on the Batgirl mantle it'll be a sidekick for Kate Kane as Batwoman.  And no lame Batman RIP or Final Crisis story-line, (or Sinestro Corps/Blackest Night either),  Damien Wayne will not exist.  And StephCass will become Canon.

You can make a shared Universe of just Batman

I'm serious, so many Batman supporting characters, including ones with currently no Mainstream recognizably, have carried their own spin off titles. There have been times when between a 4th to a 3rd of all monthly DC comics being published in the main continuity are set in Gotham city (or nearby Bludhaven). More Comics then marvel usually has about the core Avengers team members (X-Men is in fact Marvel's biggest franchise, which Fox is demonstrating by making a Shared Universe of just them). 

Start with a Batman solo movie where he works on his own, even though the others already exist, not unlike the first two Arkham Games.   Though Oracle can contribute and maybe at least a brief appearance from Robin.

Then do movies for Nightwing, Tim Drake Robin, Cassandra Cain Batgirl (Spoiler would have a supporting role in both) then movies for Birds of Prey, Catwoman and Batwoman. Then the team up movie can be called something like Batman: Gotham Knights. Maybe have two Solo Batman movies for each phase so we don't forget he's the star. 

That's how much bigger DC's universe is, Marvel could only do that with X-Men. DC's biggest is Batman, but at times Superman can be similar when you have Supergirl and Superboy, and some of the local Metropolis non powered Heroes like Steel, Guardian and Gangbuster, also Rose and Thorn. 

And DC could theoretically do it with Green Lantern too, have a Trilogy about Earth's Sector's current GL, and then one or two about the Corps out in Deep space (Don't forget there is a Squirrel GL who can rival GOTG's Racoon). then throw in The Corps unaffiliated GLs like Alan Scott, his daughter Jade and Guy Gardner back when he had a Yellow Ring. 

Recently I heard well over half of all DC's comics where those 3 franchises together. I just wish WW and Flash could grow that much, people love Diana's teen Sidekicks too, but they never get their own Serieses, just supporting roles in WW and Teen Titans. 

WB isn't gonna do that anytime soon, but when the current Cinematic Universe proves profitable, I think they may consider it 10 or so years down the road when it's time to Reboot again. 

But back specifically to the Batman shared Universe idea, I think that'd ideally be done with a TV Show format actually. For the basic Fall-Spring Season have several shows running (the titles I listed above, plus a Gotham Central Police Procedural), literally more or less make a brand new Network just for Batman shows. Then during each Summer between the seasons have a special miniseries for the Big Crossover events. 

But Warner will never do that, because the Big Screen always gets first dibs.