10 Embarrassing Comic Book Moments Writers Had To Explain
8. Leslie Thompkins Letting Stephanie Brown Die
Of all the members of the Bat-Family, Stephanie Brown is by far the most disrespected one by the folks writing her. Any progress she makes or growth she undergoes is swiftly undone by the time someone new takes over, and that's if you're lucky. If you're NOT lucky, then you get the events of War Games.
In this story, to prove herself to Batman, Stephanie decided to enact one of Batman's plans to take control of organized crime. However, this plan required the active participation of Batman's criminal identity, Matches Malone, without whom the plan quickly falls apart. Why Bruce didn't write that part of the plan down is anyone's guess, but that's neither here nor there.
The point is that at the end of this story, Stephanie is murdered by Black Mask, despite Bruce managing to get her to his doctor friend, Leslie Thompkins, in time. It turns out that Leslie LET Stephanie die, as a sick form of protest to how Bruce lets teenagers join his crusade for justice, which is infuriating on so many levels, I don't even know where to start.
Luckily, this was quickly fixed to instead be a bald-faced lie that Leslie told Bruce in order to help Stephanie leave to have a normal life.