Birds of Prey 99
Ok. I knew it was coming, had deduced it from the JLA covers, the JLA appearance, the BoP blurbs... but I hate that I'm right about this and confused as to why a character can't star in two books at once and what her new role will be. Because leaving the Birds for one reason and seeming to join the JLA seems to be hypocritical to me. Sigh. More importantly, it seems like a suicidal move; the book has, at its core, been Oracle/Black Canary so that to fiddle with that seems to be dissolving the Birds themselves. *shakes head* I keep wondering how many people may potentially drop the series now. (Oh, and thanks, scans_daily, for twisting the knife.. ;_; I am amused, though, that this mini actually seems to foresee new members.)
First, I thought it was stupid that Dinah would let herself get out of shape. I mean, if they're booting her over to JLA, which she's already appeared in, then it makes more sense that even if she isn't doing hardcore training, she'd still keep fit. Complaining about a dash towards a building just kind of made me *sigh*. However, Helena? So much love right now. =D Seriously, if there were any doubts that Helena walks a fine line between being psychotic and not, they're gone now. And you know what? I seriously ♥ her right now.
The confrontation with "Batgirl" was amusing at parts. I love that she has an "iSpace" and that it had "Profession: Awesomeness" on it--I so wanted to change my journal title to that. Simone teased with a lot of clues or things that could be complete lies: movie star mother, lives in a mansion, most popular girl at school, has actually BEEN in the control room (for lack of a better word) several times, is not picked up on the motion detectors, and obviously knows all the Birds by first name, as well as Cassandra Cain (but not Spoiler, what?). However, I can't decide if I'm annoyed by Babs' reaction. The Steph Brown autopsy pic was like a punch in the gut combined with the dialogue and I probably have to agree with Nemi that I don't like that Steph was used like this. What I mean is, her death is hardly acknowledged anywhere that I've seen in the DC (it only really hit Cassandra hard during and after War Games in her own title, Robin title ditto, and the Birds have mentioned it maybe once or twice--and that was Dinah, and even then in the one instance it was overshadowed by Sue Dibny's death--but with no real sign of grief/remorse/concern/hell, guilt, if you want to go that path) and to see it only come out as a big fat "OMG, no more teenaged superheroes!" is a little growl-inducing. Especially since Babs was, what, nineteen when she started? Still a teenager--and WITHOUT powers. (Ok, Babs is kind of a disgusting example since she already had her college degree by this point, but really!) How old have the Robins been? I guess the question is: Which is honestly worse, letting these kids go around wanting to be superheroes (because that's what they will do because they have super powers and super role models splashed across television and front pages) or train them? I think that's what bothered me. Babs' hang up was the fact that "Batgirl" lacked training, which I completely understand, but Babs not realizing that a meta left to just go about her business--dissauded to be a superhero or not--would still need some kind of guidance made me =/. Also, I was completely shocked that Babs gave her the slug that destroyed her spine. When Nemi first told me that, I couldn't comprehend it. Because Babs clings. She may pretend not to, but she clings and that... that... *sigh*
Dinah's talk with Babs was so... normal and not angsty or sad that it just... ARGH. I wanted Babs to be like, "No, dammit, don't leave me." ;_; I wanted her to put up some kind of fight even though I knew--perhaps because I knew--that, loving Dinah (yes, even just platonically), she would let Dinah go. Just... I wanted to see her more reluctant to see her leave. And despite Dinah and Babs not being as gay as Dinah and Helena were at the end, there were some really touching moments, like Dinah saying Babs is practically on every page of her book (Dinah, doesn't this tell you something?) and then their reminiscing... I swear, Babs talking about Dinah's bad taste in men should totally translate into "Stay here. With me." And there were no tears and Dinah called Babs "sis" and totally tried to sell her Helena in her absence. Then Babs petted Dinah's hair, who, in turn, would later pet Helena's hair. Just... ARGH. And Zinda... hahahaha. Poor Dinah.
The talk kind of came out of nowhere, too. I mean, issue #98 dropped a hint with Dinah's line about wanting to change her job, but the only real warning in this issue was Dinah's comment about once loving running into a building to take out a baddie and being shot at.
So, who's going to write the fic where Babs reads Dinah's book and breaks down quietly in tears? Ok, maybe that's just me being angsty. Or she could read it and just quietly stare out her windows, feeling Dinah's absence... GR.
And... Helena and Dinah. OMG. So... gay. Whatever lacked in the Babs and Dinah talk came out right here and in a way I thought was much more... emotional? Maybe it was because it was Helena and the things she said (recurring dream, the feeling that Dinah was never coming back) and knowing that Dinah was the one who inspired Helena and has pretty much been the GLUE of the team, balancing the team whereas otherwise there'd be clashes (Babs and Helena, anyone?). It was just... *sigh* the way they sat next to each other, how Dinah put her hand on Helena's, how she touched Helena's hair (trickle-down affection, I told Nemi). And then Dinah asked Helena to take care of Babs and it was just... goddammit--and I seriously hope that Helena is sticking around after that (the cover of issue #102 suggests she is). Then the narrative of Helena's thoughts at the end just made it so frustratingly sad. And a little enraging.
Dammit.
Oh, and I might've been less "GR" about this issue if the art hadn't been so FUGLY. Honestly. You think with such a monumental moment, they'd try to make the characters look decent.
I keep trying to put a silver lining on this. I keep hoping that Dinah will make like a million cameos. I actually want to figure out how in the hell Manhunter fits into all this and if Oracle will actually try to make her a Bird because, HELLO, she kills and she's currently working for the boney dude, who once tried to discover Batman's identity and sent Cameron Chase to investigate, who then tried to hack Bruce but was actually contending against Babs (LOL). Cam failed, of course, in both ventures. I mean, it almost feels wrong since Oracle will want to LEASH Kate and Kate going around being willing to kill villains is her schtick, which combined with her trials and tribulations with trying to get into the heroing business while juggling (bad) motherhood and her job as a lawyer made her title refreshing and fun. (Wow, the more I write and think about Manhunter, the more opposite of Dinah she seems. Less than stellar mother, more concerned with her job, willing to kill villains... yeah.) And mixing her with Helena? OMG, that could be the recipe for so much bad. I mean, Helena is sometimes on the very verge of finally crossing that line to killing--it seems like madness to bring the two together. I'm not familiar with Big Barda, so I can't say how that'll work out. I am curious about how "Misfit," presumably the same girl who was masquerading as "Batgirl," will fit into this and how she apparently messes with Babs' computers. And #102 has the blurb of "life-and-death situation" so I'm dying to know who's involved.
*sigh* I'll still read BoP--I like Babs and Helena a lot and now I'm really curious to see them work together without Dinah as a buffer and with Helena as the senior member helping to put the new agents through their paces--and see where it goes, but it's not going to be the same withuot Dinah. I mean, Simone kind of let it "slip" in an interview that #104 could feature BoP vs. Secret Six and that was a fun thought--but I was immediately sad that Black Canary wouldn't be in on that action. =( BoP will just never be the same again, but here's to hoping Gail Simone can keep the BoP entertaining.
On another note, I've been skimming Checkmate (apparently volume 2, post Infinite Crisis) and whoa. Sasha Bordeaux is... I wiki'd her and then had to blink when the entry revealed that she was Bruce Wayne's bodyguard once upon a time... the same bodyguard Babs visited when Bordeaux was in prison for obstruction of justice because she wouldn't discuss the night that Vesper Fairchild died. Bordeaux was blonde then. Now she's brunette. And sporting an Omac eye. Which she covers with a sweeping haircut that suits the badass Checkmate suit she wears (omg, white button down shirt + black jacket (also buttoned!) and pants?! OMG, women dressed decently! I almost remember the days when Dinah dressed decently--actually, I recently saw Dinah in the Arsenal mini and had to gape when I saw her wearing JEANS and a BUTTON DOWN SHIRT. I think I died a little even while I mourned the time ages ago when we got to see Dinah in BoP wear jeans, white shirt, and her cowgirl jacket. *sigh* I don't think I've ever seen Helena dress--OH WAIT! When she teaches. Good god, we should only see Helena when she's teaching. Oh, suits, oh, clothing, oh, dressing decently... /digression). Oh, apparently she's also Black Queen now, whereas before I suppose she was probably a Knight or a Bishop and--I am totally tickled by the chess terms. =D The fact that Jess Midnight, Black Queen's Bishop, actually calls Sasha "my queen" makes me go =DDDD. I'll have to give it a proper read, since I skimmed once I realized there was a lot of political discussions (Checkmate is a United Nations organization, apparently) and a lot of power gaming around and within Checkmate (Amander Waller = bitch... from what I could pick up), but issue #5 had a recruitment process that seriously made me grin and wince. It's just so brutal and Jess sounds so possessive when she's like "... honor of protecting my queen." =D Checkmate is hardcore. No killing thing for them? Nope. Sasha does what she needs to do to get the mission done and she's not afraid to say it. Poor Fire, though. She was all ;_; and =(.
Suffice to say, Sasha is pretty badass, so ♥.
First, I thought it was stupid that Dinah would let herself get out of shape. I mean, if they're booting her over to JLA, which she's already appeared in, then it makes more sense that even if she isn't doing hardcore training, she'd still keep fit. Complaining about a dash towards a building just kind of made me *sigh*. However, Helena? So much love right now. =D Seriously, if there were any doubts that Helena walks a fine line between being psychotic and not, they're gone now. And you know what? I seriously ♥ her right now.
The confrontation with "Batgirl" was amusing at parts. I love that she has an "iSpace" and that it had "Profession: Awesomeness" on it--I so wanted to change my journal title to that. Simone teased with a lot of clues or things that could be complete lies: movie star mother, lives in a mansion, most popular girl at school, has actually BEEN in the control room (for lack of a better word) several times, is not picked up on the motion detectors, and obviously knows all the Birds by first name, as well as Cassandra Cain (but not Spoiler, what?). However, I can't decide if I'm annoyed by Babs' reaction. The Steph Brown autopsy pic was like a punch in the gut combined with the dialogue and I probably have to agree with Nemi that I don't like that Steph was used like this. What I mean is, her death is hardly acknowledged anywhere that I've seen in the DC (it only really hit Cassandra hard during and after War Games in her own title, Robin title ditto, and the Birds have mentioned it maybe once or twice--and that was Dinah, and even then in the one instance it was overshadowed by Sue Dibny's death--but with no real sign of grief/remorse/concern/hell, guilt, if you want to go that path) and to see it only come out as a big fat "OMG, no more teenaged superheroes!" is a little growl-inducing. Especially since Babs was, what, nineteen when she started? Still a teenager--and WITHOUT powers. (Ok, Babs is kind of a disgusting example since she already had her college degree by this point, but really!) How old have the Robins been? I guess the question is: Which is honestly worse, letting these kids go around wanting to be superheroes (because that's what they will do because they have super powers and super role models splashed across television and front pages) or train them? I think that's what bothered me. Babs' hang up was the fact that "Batgirl" lacked training, which I completely understand, but Babs not realizing that a meta left to just go about her business--dissauded to be a superhero or not--would still need some kind of guidance made me =/. Also, I was completely shocked that Babs gave her the slug that destroyed her spine. When Nemi first told me that, I couldn't comprehend it. Because Babs clings. She may pretend not to, but she clings and that... that... *sigh*
Dinah's talk with Babs was so... normal and not angsty or sad that it just... ARGH. I wanted Babs to be like, "No, dammit, don't leave me." ;_; I wanted her to put up some kind of fight even though I knew--perhaps because I knew--that, loving Dinah (yes, even just platonically), she would let Dinah go. Just... I wanted to see her more reluctant to see her leave. And despite Dinah and Babs not being as gay as Dinah and Helena were at the end, there were some really touching moments, like Dinah saying Babs is practically on every page of her book (Dinah, doesn't this tell you something?) and then their reminiscing... I swear, Babs talking about Dinah's bad taste in men should totally translate into "Stay here. With me." And there were no tears and Dinah called Babs "sis" and totally tried to sell her Helena in her absence. Then Babs petted Dinah's hair, who, in turn, would later pet Helena's hair. Just... ARGH. And Zinda... hahahaha. Poor Dinah.
The talk kind of came out of nowhere, too. I mean, issue #98 dropped a hint with Dinah's line about wanting to change her job, but the only real warning in this issue was Dinah's comment about once loving running into a building to take out a baddie and being shot at.
So, who's going to write the fic where Babs reads Dinah's book and breaks down quietly in tears? Ok, maybe that's just me being angsty. Or she could read it and just quietly stare out her windows, feeling Dinah's absence... GR.
And... Helena and Dinah. OMG. So... gay. Whatever lacked in the Babs and Dinah talk came out right here and in a way I thought was much more... emotional? Maybe it was because it was Helena and the things she said (recurring dream, the feeling that Dinah was never coming back) and knowing that Dinah was the one who inspired Helena and has pretty much been the GLUE of the team, balancing the team whereas otherwise there'd be clashes (Babs and Helena, anyone?). It was just... *sigh* the way they sat next to each other, how Dinah put her hand on Helena's, how she touched Helena's hair (trickle-down affection, I told Nemi). And then Dinah asked Helena to take care of Babs and it was just... goddammit--and I seriously hope that Helena is sticking around after that (the cover of issue #102 suggests she is). Then the narrative of Helena's thoughts at the end just made it so frustratingly sad. And a little enraging.
Dammit.
Oh, and I might've been less "GR" about this issue if the art hadn't been so FUGLY. Honestly. You think with such a monumental moment, they'd try to make the characters look decent.
I keep trying to put a silver lining on this. I keep hoping that Dinah will make like a million cameos. I actually want to figure out how in the hell Manhunter fits into all this and if Oracle will actually try to make her a Bird because, HELLO, she kills and she's currently working for the boney dude, who once tried to discover Batman's identity and sent Cameron Chase to investigate, who then tried to hack Bruce but was actually contending against Babs (LOL). Cam failed, of course, in both ventures. I mean, it almost feels wrong since Oracle will want to LEASH Kate and Kate going around being willing to kill villains is her schtick, which combined with her trials and tribulations with trying to get into the heroing business while juggling (bad) motherhood and her job as a lawyer made her title refreshing and fun. (Wow, the more I write and think about Manhunter, the more opposite of Dinah she seems. Less than stellar mother, more concerned with her job, willing to kill villains... yeah.) And mixing her with Helena? OMG, that could be the recipe for so much bad. I mean, Helena is sometimes on the very verge of finally crossing that line to killing--it seems like madness to bring the two together. I'm not familiar with Big Barda, so I can't say how that'll work out. I am curious about how "Misfit," presumably the same girl who was masquerading as "Batgirl," will fit into this and how she apparently messes with Babs' computers. And #102 has the blurb of "life-and-death situation" so I'm dying to know who's involved.
*sigh* I'll still read BoP--I like Babs and Helena a lot and now I'm really curious to see them work together without Dinah as a buffer and with Helena as the senior member helping to put the new agents through their paces--and see where it goes, but it's not going to be the same withuot Dinah. I mean, Simone kind of let it "slip" in an interview that #104 could feature BoP vs. Secret Six and that was a fun thought--but I was immediately sad that Black Canary wouldn't be in on that action. =( BoP will just never be the same again, but here's to hoping Gail Simone can keep the BoP entertaining.
On another note, I've been skimming Checkmate (apparently volume 2, post Infinite Crisis) and whoa. Sasha Bordeaux is... I wiki'd her and then had to blink when the entry revealed that she was Bruce Wayne's bodyguard once upon a time... the same bodyguard Babs visited when Bordeaux was in prison for obstruction of justice because she wouldn't discuss the night that Vesper Fairchild died. Bordeaux was blonde then. Now she's brunette. And sporting an Omac eye. Which she covers with a sweeping haircut that suits the badass Checkmate suit she wears (omg, white button down shirt + black jacket (also buttoned!) and pants?! OMG, women dressed decently! I almost remember the days when Dinah dressed decently--actually, I recently saw Dinah in the Arsenal mini and had to gape when I saw her wearing JEANS and a BUTTON DOWN SHIRT. I think I died a little even while I mourned the time ages ago when we got to see Dinah in BoP wear jeans, white shirt, and her cowgirl jacket. *sigh* I don't think I've ever seen Helena dress--OH WAIT! When she teaches. Good god, we should only see Helena when she's teaching. Oh, suits, oh, clothing, oh, dressing decently... /digression). Oh, apparently she's also Black Queen now, whereas before I suppose she was probably a Knight or a Bishop and--I am totally tickled by the chess terms. =D The fact that Jess Midnight, Black Queen's Bishop, actually calls Sasha "my queen" makes me go =DDDD. I'll have to give it a proper read, since I skimmed once I realized there was a lot of political discussions (Checkmate is a United Nations organization, apparently) and a lot of power gaming around and within Checkmate (Amander Waller = bitch... from what I could pick up), but issue #5 had a recruitment process that seriously made me grin and wince. It's just so brutal and Jess sounds so possessive when she's like "... honor of protecting my queen." =D Checkmate is hardcore. No killing thing for them? Nope. Sasha does what she needs to do to get the mission done and she's not afraid to say it. Poor Fire, though. She was all ;_; and =(.
Suffice to say, Sasha is pretty badass, so ♥.