All throughout December, we will be examining comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today we look at the strange path Leslie Thompkins took from saint to savage and back to saint again...

Leslie Thompkins was introduced by Denny O'Neil during the 1970s as one of Bruce Wayne's few confidants. A pacifist by nature, Leslie cared for Bruce but she did not like the dangerous path that he took in life (not just physically, but she feared for his mental health and his soul).

In the 2005 Bat-Crossover "War Games," Stephanie Brown (then acting as Robin in an attempt to make Tim Drake jealous or something like that) is murdered by Black Mask.

However, a year later, Batman discovers that while Stephanie was hurt badly by Black Mask, it was not he that actually killed her...



It was...dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnn....Leslie Thompkins in the library with a candlestick!











That's some pretty messed up reasoning there, Leslie.

So anyhow, Stephanie stayed dead for a couple of years until it was revealed that Leslie FAKED her death...







Yes, it does not exactly make sense, but dammit, Stephanie was back, so who cares?