New York Comic Con News: At the NYCC’s Batman panel lead Batman writer Scott Snyder revealed that fan-favorite character Stephanie Brown will be returning to the DCU in the new weekly Batman Eternal series that debuts in the spring of 2014 (see "DC Announces Weekly 'Batman' Comic").
 
Created by Chuck Dixon in Detective Comics #647, Stephanie is the daughter of a villain known as the Cluemaster.  She created an alter ego known as The Spoiler in order to ruin the criminal schemes of her father, and eventually became enamored with costume crime-fighting and became a key member of Robin’s supporting cast of characters (where she was at the center of a high-profile teen pregnancy saga in 1999) until she met her first comic book demise in the 2004 crossover event Batman: War Games.  In 2009 the character was revived and took on the mantle of Batgirl until the title was cancelled in 2011.  When Batgirl returned as part of the "New 52," Barbara Gordon was the eponymous heroine of that series, and until now there has been no official mention of Stephanie Brown in the revamped DC lineup.
 
Snyder explained that "No one want to shelve her, it was more about finding the right time to reintroduce her."  According to Snyder it was Talon writer James Tynion IV who came up with the plan to bring Stephanie back to the Batbooks, and Tynion told the NYCC audience that Stephanie will make her triumphant return to the DCU in the third issue of Batman Eternal, and that she will be coming back as The Spoiler.