Bold Fashion Choices--Damien Vs. The nu52

In last week's Batman Li'l Gotham #11, Damien is having some hallucinations while traveling in the desert:

And later, when they hook up with Azrael...

Man...calling out Jim Lee's designs like that?!? No wonder the book has been cancelled...

Just Askin'--JPV

So, finally, someone has laid out the ground rules (assuming, of course, that Barbara Gordon is qualified to lay out dead Bruce's ground rules):



What, Stephanie was Robin, hanging around in the Batcave, and never noticed Batgirl's case before? Some detective...

Anyway, now that all the furor has died down about why Stephanie didn't have a trophy case, can we get back to the real issue--why doesn't Azrael have one?

Jean-Paul Valley WAS Batman for a year. Not Robin, not Batgirl--he WAS The Batman.

After that, he continued to work for Batman. The last 53 issues of his mag were titled "Azrael--Agent of the Bat." Look, they even had a special logo:

And the little Batman cowl logo appeared on the cover, showing that he was part of the Bat team.

Frankly, he is far better qualified for a trophy case than Stephanie Brown ever was. Aside from from meeting all of the criteria Oracle lists--being murdered, becoming someone else, being shot--he also had the advantage of actually being, you know, dead. And he played a more significant role in the Bat family than Stephanie ever had.

So, everyone who agitated for Stephanie to get a trophy case--where's the outrage for Jean-Paul? Where's the internet petitions, the questions for Dan DiDio at conventions, the accusations of nefarious motives for the exclusion?

Just askin'...

Stephanie/Babs confab from this week's Batgirl #2

Speaking of Trophy Cases...

We've maybe seen some subtle movement on the "give Stephanie Brown a trophy case" movement lately, with some writers tossing in wry remarks and hallucinatory sequences and whatnot. Hints of support? Or maybe they're just mocking those lobbying for a memorial for her. ...

I'm largely agnostic on the issue. But here's another question for you: where's the display for Jean-Paul Valley??

Sure, no one seemed to like him all that much (although his series did last for 100 issues). But he actually WAS the Goddamned Batman for awhile. And he was an agent of Batman's for far longer than Spoiler/Robin.

So if we're talking trophy case equity, it seems we should be talking about Azrael, too...