Bopping to BoP

This news makes me extraodinarily happy. BoP will be back this year. With Gail Simone and Ed Benes. I know a lot of people don't like his art, and while I would've preferred Nicola Scott doing art chores, I like Benes' work enough to be happy. I've missed BoP so much! And with the dark storyline already begun for Roy Harper, and Supergirl's book finally worthy of her, this could be a big year for some of my favorite characters.

Sorry for the lack of reviews since Christmas. I haven't been reading comics the last couple of weeks. I've been busy working on the library's website and new Facebook and Twitter accounts from home, at night, after work. And no, I'm not really that dedicated. I'm just obsessed with playing with the new "toys." But that's calming down now and I should be able to get back to comics. I've missed them!

Well Damn

So Birds of Prey will be needing a new writer. Sean McKeever gave up the book to concentrate on Teen Titans. I was upset that BoP lost Gail Simone as a writer, but she was going to Wonder Woman and Diana needed her more, and I'd read nice things about McKeever, so I was upbeat about the change. And now, after April's issue, he's off the book. And who knows who will take over and if they'll continue the fine tradition of DC's premier female-centric title. I have serious concerns about this. Yeah, I tend to worry, and I won't stop worrying til I hear the perfect writer is taking over. Any ideas who would be best?

Wonderful Comics Week

Well, there was one dud, so I'll get that out of the way first.

Justice League of America 16
Okay, I'm a patient person. I believe in giving writers every chance to entertain me. In the case of Dwayne McDuffie, I'm still waiting. Thank goodness for the short extra focusing on Roy, by Alan Burnett. Even the art was better on that, and while there were some odd moments (Cheshire was at Roy's for Christmas the previous year?! He's shopping for a gift for Hawkgirl?!), the story maintained the holiday spirit while dipping into Roy's Teen Titans past and was overall a nice feelgood story that wasn't too sugary.

That leaves the first story, the main story, and leave it I wish I could. The art by Benitez and Llamas left a lot to be desired. Everyone had Jay Leno's chin and eyes that bugged out and while Dinah wasn't posturing, she looked like a shrew. Red Tornado in the computer playing chess with John Stewart was the highlight for me. And Guy "hanging up" on John was a cute touch. This clearly was a setup to intro someone named Tangent into the DCU and had nothing to do with the JLA. In fact, there really wasn't much of a story. I'd summarize, but that runs the risk of making it sound more interesting than it was, because some of what might've been interesting seemed to have happened off-panel.

Countdown to Final Crisis 19
Jimmy Olson is in the thick of all things New Gods, Trickster and Piper remain an entertaining duo even with one of them dead, I liked Earth 51, and things on Themyscira are heating up with Holly and Harley meeting Hippolyta. So, while things were unnecessarily slow in some issues, the story is starting to come together and it's intriguing.

Shadowpact 20
The stories alternate between Blue Devil and Rex the Wonder Dog and the trapped trio in the Nightshade Dimension. This isn't a great comic, but it is an entertaining one.

Birds of Prey 113
Sean McKeever's first issue benefited by Nicola Scott's lovely art. She draws wonderful facial expressions and Doug Hazlewood's inks worked well with her pencils. Like Sally, I had some misgivings re: Barbara's inability to compensate as new info came in about Tabby's scheme, and given the outcome, Superman's admonishment was earned, but I don't like seeing the Birds, especially Babs, fail like that. I see them/her as far more competent and Supes should know that no one's infallible. What would have happened, how many people would have died, if they hadn't been there? Yes, perhaps they should have sought out the big guy, but really, they've taken on a lot of real badass villains, so there was no reason for Babs to think this would turn out any differently. Plus, Gail Simone wrote some failure for the Birds, so seeing it happen again bugged me a bit. Still, I was pleased that McKeever used something from the past -- Tabby -- that worked with Huntress' background. And the characters were mostly well handled. And Misfit, an impetuous teen, learned a hard lesson. So, I have hope that this book will remain one of my favorites.

Catwoman 74
Another great Adam Hughes cover. Selina was real badass in this one. She really surprised Calculator with her attitude. Too bad she ran into the Suicide Squad, but she sure gave them a run for the money. Since I knew she was scheduled for a Salvation Run involvement, her capture was not a surprise.

Checkmate 21
The new White Queen is revealed and it looks like there won't be so much antagonism. The history of Mademoiselle Marie, the name of a string of women fighting for France, was nicely woven around the story of a modern-day hostage taking. A favor for the UN might become a real mess for Checkmate in this taut tale, complete with the requisite cliffhanger.

And one left from last week...

Simon Dark 3
I am really enjoying this. The art style is different and creepy while still being very realistic. And Simon is an intriguing character, simple and noble, childlike and wounded, yet trying to do the right thing. And he's made at least one enemy. I really want to learn how he became the way he is. Niles and Hampton are doing a great job with this.

Barbara Gordon and The Killing Joke: A Clarification

A comment on my post "When is it Gratuitous?" prompted a reply I feel deserves a more public answer than just another comment.

First, the comment that prompted this post:

"Alan Moore didn't revitalise Babs Gordon. John Ostrander did in SUICIDE SQUAD.

When Moore wrote THE KILLING JOKE he felt that Barbara Gordon was expendable and obviously the editor agreed. It was John Ostrander who brought her back from comics limbo."

In going to answer the comment, I found a linkback to this post on Stars and Garters. It says:

"Yeah, it was "after the fact", all right. Years after the fact.

Let's clear something up right now:

Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" did not help revitalize Barbara Gordon.

Suicide Squad did."

and

"Moore, and apparently the Bat-editorship at the time, thought Batgirl was disposable enough to end her career permanently.

"Suicide Squad" writers John Ostrander and the late Kim Yale, on the other hand, thought Barbara Gordon was salvageable enough to re-invent her. They deserve credit for inspiring what's happened since (Birds of Prey).

Not "The Killing Joke"."

Now, what I said:

"Aside from crippling a sidekick to a character, Batman, who already had Robin, The Killing Joke helped revitalize Barbara Gordon as she transformed herself into Oracle and went from sidekick/guest star to Major Player. She can literally appear in any story in continuity. She has her own book with her own team. Rather than be the helpless female, Babs fought back."

In no way do I see what I posted to be inconsistent with the facts of how it occurred. I was discussing a character and her development in the context of everything that's happened to her since that story. I never read The Suicide Squad and actually, until about 3 days ago, didn't even know that's when Babs became Oracle, which is why I was vague about when that happened, simply saying "as she transformed herself into Oracle." To me, she was Oracle in Birds of Prey and a few years ago, I found The Killing Joke and read it so I could find out how she got crippled. When I wrote the post, I knew she didn't become Oracle in The Killing Joke. And all of that happened while I was boycotting comics following Kara Supergirl's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Yes, I was that upset.

I was not discussing the writer of The Killing Joke or any other writer. I was discussing the character, from the benefit of hindsight. Same as many years ago, when I went back and analyzed Ollie Queen to explain how he could go from socially unaware, rich playboy to the do-gooder he became in Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Denny O'Neill and Neal Adams had their reasons for doing what they did, but that didn't mean it made sense in the larger context. So, psych major that I was, I went through it all and analyzed Ollie, the character, so it made sense to me. Apparently, it made sense to other people because it got published in a semi-pro magazine. Published as in, I got paid for that piece of writing, my only paid writing credit so far.

It is and remains my contention that The Killing Joke helped revitalize Babs as Oracle despite what the intent was. See, writers' intent isn't really relevant except as an "extra" of the sort that gets added onto DVD releases of TV shows and movies. Intent is an interesting side story. As has been discussed previously elsewhere, and maybe here, but I forget, not intending to insult someone who's insulted anyway, doesn't make that offense less real to the person feeling it. If it's just one person who feels the offense, then it's likely to be that person. If it's 99 of 100 who feel it, then it's likely to be what's on the page/screen. In either case, the intent is a footnote to the person's reaction.

I've had writers tell me they didn't have something in mind when they wrote a book, only to have readers tell them what it's really about, and often, the readers will disagree. Never mind what the author wanted to say, if anything other than tell a fun tale.

Do Ray Bradbury's comments that readers and critics have misunderstood his classic anti-censorship novel Fahrenheit 451 make readers suddenly change their view of it? According to Bradbury, the book is about this:

"Bradbury, a man living in the creative and industrial center of reality TV and one-hour dramas, says it is, in fact, a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature."

Bradbury, and any writer, is certainly entitled to his opinion and his intent, but that book will remain an example of how censorship can become extreme. His intent will never change how most readers will interpret it. Because, once a writer releases his or her words into the wild, those words become open to interpretation by others. Writers who don't want to give up complete control of their writing shouldn't seek publication. As an aspiring novelist trying to ready her first manuscript for the submission process, I understand this.

Back to The Killing Joke. Perhaps my interpretation of the events is influenced by hindsight and my view of The Killing Joke might be different if I'd read it in real time, with all the years between that and Babs becoming Oracle in The Suicide Squad. But I'll never know if that would be so. I can only look back at it all in its entirety, see where Babs was and where she was at the start of Birds of Prey (and I came into that about 10 issues into the series and had to find the trades).

If she wasn't crippled there would have been no reason for Babs, from a character standpoint, to reinvent herself as Oracle, unless another major event occurred in its place. From a writer's standpoint, there would probably have been no reason to give her the role of Oracle if she hadn't been crippled and unable to be Batgirl anymore, thanks to The Killing Joke. Like it or not, Moore provided the impetus or the inspiration for that. So yes, Ostrander and Yale deserve the credit (I hadn't known who had been responsible for that) for making Babs Oracle. But The Killing Joke gave them the reason. And as Batgirl, Babs was stuck as a secondary sidekick in the Batman family, and stuck with the "girl" part of her name. For whatever reason, even a bad one by many people's figuring, being crippled freed Babs to become something more, something better, someone who could be Batman's equal.

And as a character, Babs progressed from Batgirl to a crippled woman who needed a new purpose and reinvented herself as Oracle. As a writer, I'm not always so concerned about the writer. I'm concerned about the character, about making and keeping it plausible. About being able to look at characters independent of their creators. Do they stand on their own? Could they really exist? Would readers be able to embrace them as real and believe in them?

From the moment I first watched Man from UNCLE in 1964 and started playacting UNCLE with a friend, the characters of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin were more than the words the writers gave Robert Vaughn and David McCallum and more than the actors speaking those words. I believed in Napoleon and Illya. They became as real to me as my favorite comic book characters. Through scores of writers and interpretations, the best characters maintain a core that keeps them consistent and real. I had to look hard to find that core in Ollie Queen, but I did, which is why I'm so enjoying the new Green Arrow Year One series which is filling in the gaps so perfectly. And it's why I and my friends wrote fan fiction. Because we saw things we wanted to do with the characters, put our own spin on them, fill in the gaps, yet maintain the core of what they were that made us love them.

I didn't have to look hard to find the core in Barbara Gordon.

Interrupting My Vacation

For this. First, it's strange seeing another writer listed for Birds of Prey. Second, will someone tell the cover artist that Babs does not have handles on her wheelchair?

Otherwise, the August solicits have me in a tizzy. Is it August yet?

BoP News or Say it Ain't So

Here's an interview with Gail Simone about leaving Birds of Prey. I'm a bit in shock. She always made it sound like she'd always write BoP. But I'm also eager to hear what her new, big project will be, and what Sean McKeever will do with BoP. Still, I'm also thinking of what might've beens, since Gail had some longterm plans for the Birds. At least, she's leaving those characters in wonderful shape.

Can't Put Off These Reviews Forever

Three for now; two feh, one great.

The Battle for Bludhaven 1
I will not be reading issue 2. I usually give a new title a few issues at the very least, and mini-series the full run, but this was just too dreadful for me to contemplate trying the next one. What an f'in mess. On the cover, in the bottom right corner, there's a sign intended as part of the art: "DO NOT ENTER By Order of the United States Government." Consider it a warning.

I couldn't keep track of all the poorly drawn characters, poorly drawn in the sense that it was dfficult to tell them apart, especially with the dark coloring. The telling point here is that I didn't care that I couldn't tell them apart. If something important happens in this series, I'll have to learn about it some other way, maybe by reading blogs. heh

JSA Classified 11
The Vandal Savage storyline continues. he continues to dominate, but at least some of the JSA appeared. I'm not overly fond of Gulacy's art. I tolerated it on Catwoman and I'm tolerating it here. The story is inching forward, but there isn't enough going on yet for me to have anything to discuss. Maybe next installment.

Birds of Prey 93
By far the best of the 3 and one of the few superior OYL books. The trade of place Shiva and Dinah have engaged in is explained a bit, Dinah shows what she's capable of and yet is off the mark as she struggled to figure out the tests Mother set for her. And the case the rest of the birds are on is moving forward.

The art is nice, but except for the hairstyles and costumes, it's difficult at times to tell the dark-haired female characters apart. I've been spoiled by artists who can draw nuances in the various characters.

But the main thing here is that Gail Simone understands the concept of OYL perhaps better than anyone writing at DC right now, or at least is among a very few. She's not changing things for change's sake. And the changes all have a logic for the characters. Dinah wanting to experience what Shiva did in her training is fully in character and the switching of places gives the group dynamic of the birds a bit of, uh, goosing (sorry, couldn't resist). Gail is mixing things up without making drastic changes. Above all, she's writing a solid story, blending two plotlines seamlessly, pacing things to perfection, and generally, entertaining BoP's readers by remembering character is as important as action.

So far, OYL has been a mixed bag.

Birds of Prey 91

Birds of Prey 91
My first reaction after reading this was: WTF? Talk about filler issues. Aside from having a guest writer and guest artists, this story screamed FILLER. I wouldn't have minded if it had been remotely interesting, or even if the characters had been in character, but this was just too lame for words, especially since this was the last story prior to OYL. It's been a long, long time since I was left feeling unfulfilled after reading an issue of BoP.

Birds of Prey 87

Wow, the 100th issue of this book is approaching. When it first started, some folks doubted a book about female characters only moderately known would be viable. But for me, it's one of DC's best books and has only improved since Gail Simone started writing it. Her love for the characters shows as much as her considerable writing skills.

In this issue, the stakes are raised as another story arc begins. Calculator is on Oracle's trail, Luther's in the mix, and the dialogue and action sizzle. The art by Bennett & Barrows and Jadson & Riggs continues in the fine tradition of making the Birds look good as well as real. The facial expressions for all the characters are most revealing.

The story is mostly setup, but it's well handled, hinting (in some cases broadly) of things to come. It's hard to review opening chapters in a larger story arc, so the most I can say is Gail has me eagerly awaiting the next issue. As usual.

I've read a few more but the reviews will have to wait because I'm too tired. Maybe over the next few days.