Recs for Halfamoon - Batgirls!
And now, for a recs post, featuring the Batgirls! A lot of these are Steph-centric, because a lot of the comics I have read have been Steph-centric. But all of the Batgirls are lovely, fabulous, tough, and amazing! I had a really hard time narrowing down my list of bookmarks--there is so much to love about these ladies, and there is more great fic that celebrates them than you'd think. ANYWAY, let's get started.
the sky looks the biggest when you're on the ground by tightropes - This is a really great Steph piece that looks at her relationships with the rest of the Batfamily, including Babs and Cass. It's also a great look at how Steph grows up and how much of a fighter and survivor she's always been and always will be. (Shut up, I can't hear you about any retconnnnnn!) The sense of her development over time is really, really lovely, and the character interactions just work.
Family Affairs by be_themoon - This is a very brief moment between Cass and Damian, presumably taking place after the events of the Gates of Gotham. The Gates of Gotham mini was when I really fell in love with Cass--she remains really grounded throughout it all, emotionally reassuring the others despite her own estrangement and refusing to rise to Damian's taunts. be_themoon captures a lot of that here, as Cass tries to read the brother she's really just met, attempting both to rediscover her place in the family and reassure him of his own. The prose is really lovely and quite fitting for Cass.
Here All The Bombs Fade Away by Nokomis - Although this is a Jason-POV fic, it is about Stephanie in a lot of ways, too. Steph is often underestimated, and although at the beginning of her Batgirl tenure superheroing is still very much a work in progress for her, she spends the rest of it successively impressing everyone who told her she should quit. This is kind of like that, but with Jason. Stephanie is powerful and scary in a fight, with a wry sense of humor and a passion for what she does. It is so much fun to read.
Once You've Learned To Be Lonely by Dragonbat - Missing Cass and Oracle in the New 52? Welcome to the club. Imagine if Cass missed Oracle as much as we do, and tried to climb in Babs' window. Yeah, that story exists, and it is exactly as fabulous as it sounds. The dialogue is fantastic, and Cass in particular really shines, helping Babs remember just how important it is to spend time with the people you care about.
The Requisite Teamup Between Two Plucky Teenaged Superheroes by Stephanie Brown (age 19) by NightsMistress - This is the fic that convinced me I needed to start reading Blue Beetle, incidentally, so you can read it even with no prior knowledge. It is completely adorable and hilarious from start to finish. Jaime and Steph spend a lot of time being good-naturedly confused by each other and everything that happens, because that's pretty much how their lives go. But they're both really sweet kids, and watching them interact and work together to save people is totally lovely. And then there is the dialogue. Probably my favorite part of the whole fic was this exchange:
"...except Robin went on about how only the proles need to show their power off like that. What does that even mean?”
Steph bit back a laugh. It really wasn’t funny. “Robin...may not know what a power station is. It’s a work in progress.”
Letters from alternate universes by polychromic - Tim gets a letter. And a brick. Yeah, it's that kind of letter. Steph is the designated correspondent among the retconned-away, and she's hoping Tim can spring them from their parallel universe. As in all things, she maintains her totally fabulous sense of humor--polychromic really nails Steph's voice here. The whole letter is completely hilarious, and I don't want to spoil it too much, but I will give you this:
(Also, just to prepare you for when you inevitably find a way over to help our sorry butts out, "Red Robin" is totally some sort of family diner chain here. Just sayin'.)
Even in the Dark by kojondo - This is a Babs fanmix, and a really lovely one. The songs are really well-chosen, both to make a nice playlist and to fit Babs. It's mostly indie/alternative songs, available streaming on 8tracks. The mix captures her fierceness and anger and independence as well as her determination and her ability to cling to hope in the darkness.
The Faults they Had by Betty - This is a really lovely, bittersweet moment between Cass and Alfred. It's a nice look at different ways of communicating--how she tries to understand her family members through their body language, and a more traditional conversation she has with Alfred about difficult or absent mothers. It's very subtle and fits Cass well.
Accipitrid by shobogan - This is a neat little role-reversal AU where Babs patrols Bludhaven after Dick gets shot by the Joker. It's a cool thought experiment, and their conversation over the comms is sweet in a quiet way. Babs did a lot of critical work as Oracle, and the interesting thing about this fic is that it lets you see the importance of the comm operator while simultaneously imagining Babs in a field role.
A Red Stone Bird by mithen - ALL of the Batgirls, together! This is a short, adorable future-fic, and just a lot of fun, because you get to see all manner of Bat-ladies working together and playing to their strengths. Mixed in with that are some sweet moments between Steph and Damian, if you ship it.
Clementia by quipquipquip - No Batgirls have speaking roles in this story, but in a lot of ways it is about the role of Batgirl and what she means to Robin. Damian sits vigil outside Stephanie's hospital room when she is poisoned. Damian is a bitter little kid who can't bring himself to say anything nice about anyone, but what he hisses at Steph while she is sleeping is, in a backhanded way, his acknowledgement of her strengths. When he and Dick talk about another Batgirl's fight for her life, it sort of highlights how tough Batgirl has always had to be, and how her refusal to give up has given hope to those around her. It's a really sweet and well-written story and definitely one of my favorites.
Eight Candles by innerbrat - Bonus Flamebird fic, because Bette was Batgirl, too, once upon a continuity. This is a lovely imagining of Bette growing up and growing into herself and into superheroics, framed around her annual observation of Hannukah. It does a great job of highlighting how determined Bette is, and how big she dreams. Her relationships with her family and with other heroes are handled really nicely, and the explanation for she chooses her secret identity is simply brilliant.
the sky looks the biggest when you're on the ground by tightropes - This is a really great Steph piece that looks at her relationships with the rest of the Batfamily, including Babs and Cass. It's also a great look at how Steph grows up and how much of a fighter and survivor she's always been and always will be. (Shut up, I can't hear you about any retconnnnnn!) The sense of her development over time is really, really lovely, and the character interactions just work.
Family Affairs by be_themoon - This is a very brief moment between Cass and Damian, presumably taking place after the events of the Gates of Gotham. The Gates of Gotham mini was when I really fell in love with Cass--she remains really grounded throughout it all, emotionally reassuring the others despite her own estrangement and refusing to rise to Damian's taunts. be_themoon captures a lot of that here, as Cass tries to read the brother she's really just met, attempting both to rediscover her place in the family and reassure him of his own. The prose is really lovely and quite fitting for Cass.
Here All The Bombs Fade Away by Nokomis - Although this is a Jason-POV fic, it is about Stephanie in a lot of ways, too. Steph is often underestimated, and although at the beginning of her Batgirl tenure superheroing is still very much a work in progress for her, she spends the rest of it successively impressing everyone who told her she should quit. This is kind of like that, but with Jason. Stephanie is powerful and scary in a fight, with a wry sense of humor and a passion for what she does. It is so much fun to read.
Once You've Learned To Be Lonely by Dragonbat - Missing Cass and Oracle in the New 52? Welcome to the club. Imagine if Cass missed Oracle as much as we do, and tried to climb in Babs' window. Yeah, that story exists, and it is exactly as fabulous as it sounds. The dialogue is fantastic, and Cass in particular really shines, helping Babs remember just how important it is to spend time with the people you care about.
The Requisite Teamup Between Two Plucky Teenaged Superheroes by Stephanie Brown (age 19) by NightsMistress - This is the fic that convinced me I needed to start reading Blue Beetle, incidentally, so you can read it even with no prior knowledge. It is completely adorable and hilarious from start to finish. Jaime and Steph spend a lot of time being good-naturedly confused by each other and everything that happens, because that's pretty much how their lives go. But they're both really sweet kids, and watching them interact and work together to save people is totally lovely. And then there is the dialogue. Probably my favorite part of the whole fic was this exchange:
"...except Robin went on about how only the proles need to show their power off like that. What does that even mean?”
Steph bit back a laugh. It really wasn’t funny. “Robin...may not know what a power station is. It’s a work in progress.”
Letters from alternate universes by polychromic - Tim gets a letter. And a brick. Yeah, it's that kind of letter. Steph is the designated correspondent among the retconned-away, and she's hoping Tim can spring them from their parallel universe. As in all things, she maintains her totally fabulous sense of humor--polychromic really nails Steph's voice here. The whole letter is completely hilarious, and I don't want to spoil it too much, but I will give you this:
(Also, just to prepare you for when you inevitably find a way over to help our sorry butts out, "Red Robin" is totally some sort of family diner chain here. Just sayin'.)
Even in the Dark by kojondo - This is a Babs fanmix, and a really lovely one. The songs are really well-chosen, both to make a nice playlist and to fit Babs. It's mostly indie/alternative songs, available streaming on 8tracks. The mix captures her fierceness and anger and independence as well as her determination and her ability to cling to hope in the darkness.
The Faults they Had by Betty - This is a really lovely, bittersweet moment between Cass and Alfred. It's a nice look at different ways of communicating--how she tries to understand her family members through their body language, and a more traditional conversation she has with Alfred about difficult or absent mothers. It's very subtle and fits Cass well.
Accipitrid by shobogan - This is a neat little role-reversal AU where Babs patrols Bludhaven after Dick gets shot by the Joker. It's a cool thought experiment, and their conversation over the comms is sweet in a quiet way. Babs did a lot of critical work as Oracle, and the interesting thing about this fic is that it lets you see the importance of the comm operator while simultaneously imagining Babs in a field role.
A Red Stone Bird by mithen - ALL of the Batgirls, together! This is a short, adorable future-fic, and just a lot of fun, because you get to see all manner of Bat-ladies working together and playing to their strengths. Mixed in with that are some sweet moments between Steph and Damian, if you ship it.
Clementia by quipquipquip - No Batgirls have speaking roles in this story, but in a lot of ways it is about the role of Batgirl and what she means to Robin. Damian sits vigil outside Stephanie's hospital room when she is poisoned. Damian is a bitter little kid who can't bring himself to say anything nice about anyone, but what he hisses at Steph while she is sleeping is, in a backhanded way, his acknowledgement of her strengths. When he and Dick talk about another Batgirl's fight for her life, it sort of highlights how tough Batgirl has always had to be, and how her refusal to give up has given hope to those around her. It's a really sweet and well-written story and definitely one of my favorites.
Eight Candles by innerbrat - Bonus Flamebird fic, because Bette was Batgirl, too, once upon a continuity. This is a lovely imagining of Bette growing up and growing into herself and into superheroics, framed around her annual observation of Hannukah. It does a great job of highlighting how determined Bette is, and how big she dreams. Her relationships with her family and with other heroes are handled really nicely, and the explanation for she chooses her secret identity is simply brilliant.