In this series we spotlight comic book stories that are likely best left forgotten. Here is an archive of past installments.

Today, we take a look at Stephanie Brown's short-lived career as Robin...

You might have heard someone once note that the road to hell is paved with intentions, well, that sort of plays into the mess that was Stephanie Brown's comic career leading up to War Games. You see, DC decided that for their upcoming crossover, War Games, they were going to kill off Stephanie Brown, the girlfriend of Tim Drake, also known as Robin, Batman's sidekick. The idea was, I presume, that crossovers always go better when you kill someone off, as it gives the crossover a feel of importance. In addition, killing off Robin's girlfriend would open up some nice dramatic possibilities for Tim Drake, as well. You could easily (EASILY) argue about the logic of those decisions (and I'd be right there with you on the whole "Really? Killing off a cool character to see how it would affect a second character? Lame!" point), but whatever, that was the plan. That was going to happen no matter what. So that's what Bill Willingham knew was going to happen before he took over the writing chores on Robin with issue #121. So Willingham figured that if they were going to be killing off Stephanie Brown, he might as well try to give her one last shot of glory, by making her the new Robin. A nice thought, to be sure. How it all ended up going down, though...well, not the best time for the Bat-books.

It all began when Jack Drake, wondering what the heck his son was up to, discovers that his son is Robin. He also discovers Tim's journals, so he knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman, etc. He confronts Bruce about it in a calm manner in Robin #124 (by Bill Willingham, Francisco Rodriguez de la Fuente and Aaron Sowd)...

The following issue, he ends up discussing the issue with his son, and Tim comes to a difficult decision...

The story kicks into overdrive the next issue (the debut of new regular artist Damion Scott) when Stephanie, who Batman has essentially "banned" from being Spoiler (she does it anyways, as screw that guy, just noting where he stood on her at the moment), becomes super jealous and begins to spy on Tim while he is at school (?!?) and sees a girl kiss him.

Obviously, Willingham needed a reason why Stephanie would "betray" Tim by trying to become the new Robin, but this was a weak reason, and made her look like a bit of nutjob.

Anyhow, she adorably made her own Robin costume and broke into the Batcave where Batman had an...interesting reaction...

Not cool, Batman.

He gives her one last warning...

On the next page, we get to see what happens when she becomes Robin...

Her first issue was a real blast. Stephanie was a really fun Robin, and she was just so enthusiastic about it.

Over in Detective Comics #796 (by Anderson Gabyrch, Pete Woods and Nathan Massengill), Oracle gives Batman some crap over what he's doing with Stephanie...

Her second issue, though.... First up, here's an awkward moment where it seems like Batman's just shining her on...

And then she disobeys an order...

And he fires her at the end of the issue...

So she got TWO issues as Robin. Ugh.

This, then, compels her to try to prove herself to Batman by enacting a theoretical idea he had that she found in the Batcave where Batman would create a gang war that would end up with him in charge of all the gangs of Gotham. The problem was that a key part of the plan was Matches Malone's involvement, and she didn't know he wasn't going to be involved because she didn't know that Matches was, well, you know who. So the whole thing falls apart (although Tim does return as Robin - victory, Batman!) and Black Mask ends up taking over the gangs of Gotham and even (seemingly) KILLS Stephanie!!

Here's her send-off in Batman #633 (by Bill Willingham, Kinsun and Aaron Swod)...

Ugh. Not a good period. Then she wasn't given a "dead Robin" memorial, which was just another annoying thing (as the implication was, again, that she was never a "real" Robin, which was messed up).

The crazy thing is that this was followed by another crossover, War Crimes, that took the story in a whole other, MUCH WORSE, direction, but that story's for another day. Luckily, Stephanie came back and became a kickass Batgirl (even if it was a shame that Cassandra Cain lost her job), one who was fully trusted by Batman - for reals this time. Grant Morrison gave her a brilliant spotlight issue during Batman Inc. Then the New 52 happened and, well, you know.

If you have a suggestion for another comic book plot that is probably best forgotten, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com