#Batgirl and The Birds of Prey 8

[wheelchairbatgirl]

Every wheelchair in the 2002 event Bruce Wayne, Murderer, reviewed by me.

There are 13 issues in Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, many of which include pictures of wheelchairs.

The event starts out with a one-shot, and then Detective Comics #766, which had no wheelchair.

So here we start with Batgirl #23. Jumping right in with Barbara grabbing the entire tire instead of using her push rim. We don’t have enough wheelchair to rate and yet our rule of “no push rim = -1 point” has already come into effect.

I’ll talk about it later, but this series of Batgirl often goes to very odd camera angles to avoid drawing Babs’ wheelchair.

Nightwing #65. We only have three rules here on Wheelchair Batgirl, which is that we deduct one point from any time that someone is using the tire instead of the push rim, without a good reason. The other rule is that we deduct a point every time Barbara Gordon’s wheelchair specifically has push handles on the back. I know I’ve never talked about that rule before, because I just made it up right now, but it’s a rule.

I get that Barb appears to like her wheelchair backs up super high. That’s her right, so I won’t complain about it anymore, even though it’d drive me insane. But all we can see here is high-back with push handles. So we’re at -2 points and we haven’t even had anything worth rating.

Quick note for people who don’t have to worry about wheelchair parts in their daily life: push rims are the extra bars on the wheels of the chairs. You push your wheels with the push rims so tha tyou’re not grabbing a dirty tire all the time. Push handles are the handles on the back of a wheelchair to make it easier for someone to push you and to steer. A good Barbara Gordon wheelchair should have yes to push rims and no to push handles, because she doesn’t like to be pushed around. This is a canon fact and not my sole opinion.

Batman: Gotham Knights #65.

Finally, we get a chair that clearly has no push handles. Good job. It does seem like she’s grabbing the tire instead one of the panels, but I’m not going to count that because it could be just for simplicity of drawing.

This wheelchair gets 9/10 based on what we can see.

Birds of Prey #39

Finally, a clear few wheelchair shots. We have push rims. We have camber. It looks relatively consistent from panel-to-panel. It’s not a hospital looking wheelchair. It sort of looks like what I’d expect a good Barbara Wheelchair from this time to look like.

I do have a quick question about the mechanism under this chair. Not sure how that works or what it does. Looks cool, thought.

8/10 because good dog why are there push handles on this chair, you all know better than to do that.

Robin #98 actually had no wheelchairs.

Robin #99 has, uh. This lovely little cartoon of a wheelchair, which I find very endearing. No push handles. Full points.

Also it’s got Babs telling my favorite joke of “I brought my own chair,” so I had to screencap that. I think a lot of authors are afraid to have wheelchair users make jokes or even make reference to the fact that they use a wheelchair. Most wheelchair users that I’ve met don’t mind telling jokes or referencing it. Me making a joke and me being a joke are different things.

The next wheelchairs we get are in Nightwing #66, and boy do we get wheelchairs. I love this wheelchair. It looks like a good custom chair for an active user. It’s consistent. It makes sense. It’s got a good camber and a good front angle and no push handles. She grabs her push rims instead of her tires. This is my favorite depiction of her chair in my reading thus far. Side guards and no arm rests.

These get 10/10, best wheelchair so far.

We also have the one non-Barbara wheelchair, which is for someone I can’t remember. Clearly a high level of injury because of the Sip n Puff (which is a tool to let someone with no arm movement operate a device of some kind). It’s clear that the artist understood that wheelchairs aren’t universal, and need to be customized for the user.

And we close down the event with Birds of Prey #40.

The push handles. They’re back. Well, handle, because apparently she’s got a single stroller handle. I will say that i love the picture of her leaning her arm on the push handle. I did that a lot back when I had push handles. It’s a comfy position. Pretty okay wheelchair, too. 7/10.*——

So our score so far is 42/50, or 8.4/10. We truncate, to 8/10 for Bruce Wayne: Murderer?

Final summary on the event: The fact that everyone’s superhero costume is clearly defined and looks consistent from every angle even across multiple authors can’t be ignored. The fact that no one decided to say, “Hi, this is what her wheelchair looks like from every angle,” is probably because it was/is policy to keep the heroes consistent and the rest of the world up to the artist, but I think it really would have helped everyone who hasn’t had time to research how wheelchairs are selected for a user.

I bought some physical Birds of Prey comics at a junk shop near my work, and they date to about 2008, and just by looking inside of them I can tell that our wheelchair quality is going to go down in the future. So here’s me being optimistic and nice.

[casscainmainly]

This is a copy/paste of a reply I did to this post. I'm putting it in its own post because I genuinely need people to understand that saying Duke is unpopular because he's 'new' or unknown only furthers the racism Black characters face in fandom. This extends to the sexism Babs and Steph face, and the double racism/sexism that Cass faces.

For everyone in [this post's] notes saying [Duke's unpopularity in fanfiction] is because Duke is new, that's part of it, but absolving fandom of responsibility is misguided and sweeping both racism and sexism under the rug. The newness argument doesn't explain why Damian has more fics than Cass, Stephanie, and Babs, who all predate him.

More importantly: Jon Kent, who was introduced one year after Duke in 2015, has a total of 3,144 works under 'Jonathan Samuel Kent' and 9,280 works under 'Jon Kent'. That is 12,424 fics - around 5,000 more than Duke, despite debuting at roughly the same time.

The adaptation argument (that the ones who are more adapted are more likely to be written about) is also flawed - Tim has 3 major TV show appearances (The New Batman Adventures, Young Justice, and Titans). He cameos in Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, and an episode of Justice League. For films, he appears in two DCAU movies, Batman Unlimited, Gotham by Gaslight, Batman Ninja, and Death in the Family. That's 12 total appearances in film and TV.

By comparison, Barbara has an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to adaptations of her. She appears in 8 animated films, 6 animated Lego films, and has 5 animated film cameos. This is already more adaptations than Tim. Add to that 60s Batman, the Birds of Prey show, Titans, Gotham, DC Super Hero Girls, BTAS, Batman Beyond, Gotham Girls, The Batman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, Beware the Batman, Teen Titans Go!, Harley Quinn, Batman: Caped Crusader, and the live action Batman & Robin, that's 35 total appearances across film and TV.

Barbara Gordon as Batgirl is undeniably more popular to the general public than Tim Drake as Robin, and her film and TV adaptations also outnumber Jason's (13, with 90% of those being pictures of him because he's dead) and Damian's (15). So if she should be more popular than Tim in every supposed metric (longevity, adaptations, even name recognition), you have to ask yourself: why is she less popular in fandom?

To return to Duke Thomas, if you're even a casual Batman fanfic reader you would know that most of his tagged fics are not about him. Duke has 7,042 tagged fics, and of those, 242 works are tagged as Duke Thomas-centric. By contrast, Tim Drake has 62,704 total works, with 3,809 tagged Tim Drake-centric. That means 3.4% of Duke fics are tagged as Duke-centric, whereas 6% of Tim fics - almost twice as much - are Tim-centric. This is not a perfect metric by any means (for example, Dick actually has less than Duke with 2%, though this is due to him having a bonkers amount of fics), but it is illustrative of the trend that literally anyone who's skimmed AO3 could tell you.

More comparisons: Jason Todd (2,990/76,427 = 3.9%), Damian Wayne (1,870/45,635 = 4%), Cassandra Cain (200/17,060 = 1.1%), Barbara Gordon (54/16,729 = 0.3%). Keep in mind not everyone uses the -centric tag, but this is generally useful to see broad trends.

If debut date, adaptations, popularity among the public, amount of canon content, or presence in major Batman events were truly the deciding factor, Barbara would be the second most popular character in fandom (behind Dick). However, she isn't. Even Dick isn't the most popular - Tim, despite his lack of adaptations, is clearly the Batboy centred most in fanfiction and fandom. Therefore, the treatment of Babs, Steph, Cass, and Duke in fandom cannot be attributed purely to lack of knowledge.

Blaming fandom's focus on the White- or White-passing boys on canon is ignoring the signs of racial and gendered biases in the way we latch onto characters. Fandom barely cares about canon - most Titans Tower AUs or family fluff blatantly ignore huge chunks of comics. If we can ignore Gotham War, make up lies about Red Robin (2009), and pretend Tim's allergic to shrimp, why can't we extend that imagination to the POC and female characters? Why are they less worthy of our efforts to make stories about them, whether they have canon/adaptational histories or not?

All this to say, trying to explain away the lack of works for Duke and the girls will not solve anything. Making excuses for the fandom is only perpetuating the racist and sexist erasure of these characters. Instead, read their comics! Here is a list of reading guides for POC characters.

Not interested in comics? Read these Duke fics (compiled by @himejoshiangels)! Also take the time to go through the Barbara Gordon-centric tag and support those creators. Feel free to post any recs of your own as well :).

[zahri-melitor]

I hate to be that person however:

"Why are Dick and Babs together in comics? They're being forced together!"

Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon?

Yeah. A mystery.

But I guess, it might have a little something to do with the fact that back in 1995 both Dick and Barbara had returned to be firmly under control of the Bat office.

And in 1996 Chuck Dixon started writing them flirting with each other in Nightwing. And Devin Grayson wrote them having rooftop reminiscences on New Year's Eve where they told each other the same stories every year in DC Holiday Bash II. Which carried through to them flirting in Birds of Prey in 1999, and to having their first proper date on panel in Birds of Prey #8. And then shortly afterwards having them be very cosy in a dating way as Barbara patched Dick up in No Man's Land after he broke out of Blackgate.

And in 2000 we had the Hunt for Oracle crossover where Dick and Dinah had to work together to protect Barbara from Blockbuster's men coming to kill her.

And in 2001 Dick was sleeping over at Barbara's house and Barbara and Dinah had to rescue him when he was kidnapped by Shrike, and Babs was tucking little love notes in his gauntlet. And they had a favourite place to go for drives for a date and eat crab cakes in Joker: Last Laugh.

And in 2002 their contribution to Our Worlds at War involved Barbara and Dick travelling to another world and staking out a situation where they ended up making out by a fire. A lot.

And in 2003 we got Batgirl Year One which firmly retconned Dick and Babs into having dated in their teens.

And they KEPT dating until they officially paused their relationship in early 2004 while Dick's life was burning down around him, but they were STILL looking out for each other and when they officially bilaterally decided to break up with the other in Nightwing #100 and Birds of Prey #76 they left each other practically identical voicemails explaining how they loved the other one too much and their heads weren't in the right place and that it wasn't fair to be dating right now but they were still incredibly important to each other. As is obvious, in Birds of Prey #86 where Dick comes to Babs' house party in Metropolis and apologises and the two just hang out, sitting side by side.

And then in 2006 right as everyone expected Dick to be about to die in Infinite Crisis, Dick proposed to Babs and she accepted, because as I repeat this was written expecting Dick to DIE and even then the last thing they wanted to give him was to make sure that they were together.

And even when the engagement was broken off in 52 due to the rebellion saving Dick and Conner dying instead, Dick and Babs were still ready to drop anything for the other if one of them called, as seen by Dick coming at Babs' call when she faced off against Katrina Armstrong, or Dick taking Babs skydiving for her birthday in Origins and Omens in Nightwing #153. (I repeat, Origins and Omens, a series of shorts that were supposed to be Portending Doom moments or restating a character's background. Dick took Babs on a date)

And then during Reborn even while Dick and Babs were fighting with each other over the best direction for Gotham (and how hopeless the other's protege was) they still found time to get closer again, as seen in The Black Mirror and Birds of Prey #10.

And then it was the New 52 and while Barbara and Dick spent all 5 years of this Officially Not Dating, it was not because they didn't LOVE each other. Oh, no. In between having fond reminiscences of when they dated as teenagers while Robin and Batgirl, they were always checking in on each other, and the other's first phonecall. Babs bitterly mourned Dick's death and their lost future in Batgirl #30. Every time one of them gets out of a relationship they turn around and see the other, only to find THEM in a new relationship. But they're backing each other up and hanging out together and the UST just keeps building.

And then we get Convergence: Nightwing and Oracle in 2015 in a specific continuation of preboot, where Dick and Babs are together again (and basically getting to rerun No Man's Land) and in the face of alien nightmares and the end of the world, again, Dick proposes again and Barbara, after contemplation, accepts and they get married.

And then it's Rebirth and 2016 and Dick and Barbara are still circling around each other and turning up in the other's books for team ups and deep and meaningful conversations, and flashing back to their teens together (Batgirl #14-17 2016), and Dick has to talk seriously with Babs about What They Have Between Them before he has his relationship and pregnancy scare with Shawn Tsang and if either of them were simultaneously single it is obvious that it would very shortly be BACK ON.

(And then I am currently up to mid 2018 on my read and Dick is very shortly about to get head-injuried into being Ric for a while)

However I am aware that in Dark Nights: Death Metal Dick and Barbara get unofficially married again because it's the end of the world and they'd rather be married than not (are you sensing a theme here?).

And in Li'l Gotham, which is largely an adaption-continuation of preboot with some quirks of its own, Dick and Babs are very seriously dating and possibly may be married.

And in Juni Ba's The Boy Wonder Dick and Babs are so together they're discussing the shopping list while crime fighting.

Like, the answer to "why are Dick and Babs dating in Nightwing" is basically "have you read any of the last 28 years of Bat comics?" Because I dunno, but I have read almost every joint appearance of Dick and Babs between 1995 and 2018 so far and let me tell you they are either dating, lusting after each other with a lot of UST, or determinedly explaining to the other why they can't be together at this exact second because [obstacle].

It's not exactly hard up for precedent, folks.

[armed-with-a-waffle-iron]

List of Bat Family Team-Ups and Crossovers from the Batman: Reborn Era

While to me the late 90s and early 00s produced the quintessential Bat Family, 2009-11 (plus Convergence) gives us a maturing and quickly evolving Bat Family; forced to reckon with the themselves and their pasts, to sustain a future. Crossovers had a very different tone to 10 years prior; all that shared history now boils to the surface, asking if these already complicated relationships, new and old, will stand the test of time. I also added links and bolded my favourites.

For newer readers: This is the period after Bruce Wayne's "death", which caused a reshuffling of monikers and Gotham to break into chaos. The extended Bat Family at this point includes Dick Grayson (Batman III), Damian Wayne (Robin V), Stephanie Brown (Batgirl IV), Barbara Gordon (Oracle), Helena Bertinelli (The Huntress), Dinah Lance* (Black Canary II), Tim Drake-Wayne (Red Robin), Cassandra Wayne (Black Bat), Selina Kyle (Catwoman), Kate Kane (Batwoman II), Renee Montoya (The Question II), Jason Todd* (Red Hood II) and Bruce Wayne (Batman I).

Team Up Comic Runs

Batman and Robin 2009 (#1-26)

Dick and Damian

Batgirl 2009 (#1-24)

Steph and Babs

Birds of Prey 2010 (#1-15)

Babs, Helena and Dinah

Team Up/Crossover Arcs

Battle for the Cowl (#1-3)

Dick, Babs, Tim, Damian, Helena, Selina, Squire, Cass (cameo), Dinah (cameo), and Jason (antagonist).

Batgirl Rising: Point of New Origin (Batgirl 2009 #1-3)

Steph, Babs, Cass (flashback), and Dick and Damian (cameos)

Revenge of the Red Hood (Batman and Robin 2009 #4-6)

Dick, Damian, and Jason (antagonist)

Life After Death (Batman #692-697)

Dick, Helena, Selina, Babs and Damian

Blackest Night: Batman (#1-3)

Dick, Tim, Damian and Babs

The Eighth Deadly Sin (Batman Annual #27 & Detective Comics Annual #11)

Dick, Renee and Damian

Leviathan (Streets of Gotham #5-6)

Helena, Babs, Dick and Damian

Batgirl Rising: Core Requirements (Batgirl 2009 #5-7)

Steph, Babs, Dick and Damian

Collision (Red Robin # 9, Batgirl 2009 #8 & Red Robin #10-12)

Tim, Steph, Dick, Babs, Damian, and Helena (cameo)

Blackest Knight (Batman and Robin 2009 #7-9)

Dick, Kate, Knight & Squire, and Damian

The Flood (Batgirl 2009 #9-12)

Steph, Babs, Selina (antagonist), Helena (antagonist), and cameos for Dick, Tim and Damian.

Pipeline: Chapter Two (The Question: Pipeline or Detective Comics #859-864)

Renee and Helena

The Hit List (Red Robin #13-17)

Tim, Dick, Damian, Cass (epilogue), and Steph (cameo)

Batman: Imposters (Detective Comics #867-870)

Dick, Babs, and Renee (cameo)

Black Mass (Batman and Robin 2009 #16)

Dick, Damian and Bruce

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl

Steph, Babs and Bruce

The Great Escape (Batman #703 & Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batman and Robin)

Dick, Damian, Tim and Bruce

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Oracle

Babs, Bruce, and Steph (cameo)

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Red Robin

Tim and Bruce

Planet Gotham (Batman: The Return)

Bruce, Dick, Steph, Damian, Babs and Tim

Batman: The Black Mirror (Detective Comics #771-781)

Dick, Commish Gordon, Babs and Tim

All the Rage (Detective Comics Annual 12 & Batman Annual 28)

Dick, Bruce and Renee

The Lesson: Frogs, Snails & Puppy-Dog Tails... (Batgirl #17)

Steph and Damian

Judgement on Gotham (Batman 708, Red Robin #22, Gotham City Sirens #22 & Batman #709)

Dick, Selina and Tim

The Streets Run Red (Batman and Robin 2009 #23-25)

Dick, Damian, and Jason (antagonist)

Five Minutes Fast (Batgirl 2009 #22)

Steph and Squire

Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes!

Steph and Bruce (part 1) | Bruce, Dick, Damian and Tim (part 2)

Hostile Takeover (Birds of Prey #12-13)

Helena, Renee, Babs and Dinah

The Gates of Gotham (#1-5)

Dick, Cass, Damian and Tim

7 Days of Death, Part 3 (Red Robin #25)

Tim and Cass

Storybook Endings (Batman #713)

Dick and Damian, but cameos for Bruce, Tim, Steph, Babs, Helena and Selina.

Unsinkable (Batgirl 2009 #24)

Steph and Babs, cute cameos for Damian and Cass

new reader note: Flashpoint ends Post Crisis continuity here but the 2015 Convergence event revisits this continuity for one last time, giving us a few more complete endings.

Father and Sons (Convergence: Batman and Robin)

Bruce, Damian and Jason

The Love Song of Stephanie Brown (Convergence: Batgirl)

Steph, Cass and Tim

Just One More Thing… (Convergence: The Question)

Renee, Helena and Kate

Birds of Rage (Convergence: Nightwing/Oracle)

Dick, Babs and Dinah

[nightwingfightwing]

How many times can Dick get shit kicked out of him by a Batman lookalike?? Surely there must be a limit. Bro isn't even a bird of prey, go get (more) traumatized in your own series

(Batgirl and the Birds of Prey 2016, #8)

[professoruber]

Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi Reading List

Last Updated: 7/1/2025

A list I have decided to make for the purpose of compiling the various appearances so far of Maps Mizoguchi; since she is a character I like whom has also been receiving some focus as of late. I will also provide some brief description/thoughts for each one.

Gotham Academy (2014-2016) - All Issues

Maps of course first made her original appearance in the first run of Gotham Academy.

Gotham Academy: Endgame (2015) - #1

A one-shot comic which was one of several tie-ins made for the Endgame event which was going on at the time. Basically just shows what Maps and the GA crew were up to while Gotham was being overrun by Joker zombies.

Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016-2017) - All Issues

The continuation of the Gotham Academy storyline, with of course has Maps in a major role.

Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy (2016-2017)

A crossover between Gotham Academy and the Lumberjanes, which I'm pretty sure is non-canon but still probably worth checking out. I have not read it, nor the Lumberjanes comics yet, although I do intend to do both as some point (due in part to ND Stevenson being one of the authors of Lumberjanes, and me really liking the She-Ra reboot and Nimona)

Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death (2016) - #1

Maps, alongside other Gotham Academy students (including Olive, Kyle, Colton and Pom) have a brief cameo in this first issue of this run. Maps and Olive each get one line each.

Batgirl (2011—2016) - #51, #52, & Annual 4

Maps (along with Olive) also showed up briefly during the Batgirl of Burnside run. My assumption is this is due to them sharing an artist and being published concurrently. I do know what Burnside!Babs isn't everyone's cup of tea so keep that in mind, I suppose.

My Video Game Ate my Homework (2020) - #1

Maps and Olive show up behind the main characters in the first page as a cameo... and that's about it. The comic seems fun though, for the record. Mostly including this because I'm just going through the list of Maps' appearances on the DC wiki.

Batman: Black and White (2021) - #4

One of the stories in this issue has Maps appear as Robin. Non-canon but still a very neat and fun appearance by her.

Batman (2016-) - #119, #120, #121

Probably Maps' first major appearance since the end of the Gotham Academy: Second Semester. These give some additional exploration of her home life and relationship with her parents. Has her dressing up as Robin to investigation the disappearance of another student.

Batgirls (2022-2023) - #11

Maps shows up here and has an adventure with Cass. This also means that Maps knows Babs, Cass and Steph. Which is neat. I do know that the portrayal of the Batgirls in Batgirls isn't everyone's cup of tea (namely portraying them as younger / less mature than they have been in the past) so that that's worth keeping in mind. Interestly, Maps' big brother Kyle has a larger role; appearing in #10, #11, #17, #18, #19 and the Annual as a possible love interest for Steph.

DC's Saved by the Belle Reve (2022) - #1 

A one-shot with several stories, including one which returns to the Gotham Academy crew and gives some information on what's happened since the end of Gotham Academy: Second Semester, along with a fun adventure.

Gotham Academy: Maps of Mystery (2023) - #1

A one-shot which acts a compilation of Batman (2016-) - #119, #120, #121, as well as Maps appearances in Batman: Black and White, and DC's Saved by the Belle Reve.

Birds of Prey (2023-) - #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #11, #12, #13, Uncovered

The newest Birds of Prey run has a surprise appearance by Maps. Which I think is a neat sign of her receiving some increased focus as of late. To get into some mild-ish spoilers... the Maps who appears is a Maps from the future. I have made a few posts/reviews of this run, which you can find on this blog, and I guess personally I am not the biggest fan of her portrayal in this comic. Still is neat to see her receive more focus. Do kinda also think it could've been neat if Present!Maps had shown up instead of Future!Maps.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2023-) - #10, #11, #12

Gotham Academy returns! As does Present!Maps. A fun ongoing story of Maps getting to team up with Batman once more.

Nightwing (2016-) #112

Meriden (future Maps from Birds of Prey) shows up for a single panel cameo alongside the BoP.

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Dickbabs dates

Technically, this wasn't exactly a date as Babs was invited in a Wayne Gala but teenage dickbabs decided to get away from adults and spend time together on the rooftop.

Batgirl (2011) issue #3

2. Their first actual date:

Nightwing (1996) annual # 2

3. Dickbabs going to the prom together:

DC's saved by the belle rave

4. Going out to have fun and be spies at the same time:

Batgirls issue #7

5. Starting their date on a cinema but because this got interrupted they ended up have a movie night with their family:

Nightwing (2016) issue #108

. Look how comfortable they are being affectionate in front of their beloved batfamily:

6. Dickbabs on a date talking about their dog:

Nightwing Annual (2022)

7. Their newest date addition:

How to lose a Guy Garden in 10 days

8. Last but not least, my favourite date of them:

Birds of Prey (1998) issue #8

[queen-lance]

Black Canary reads?

Yes, Black Canary can read.

...

Speaking seriously tho, I've always dreaded that someone would ask me this about Black Canary instead of ANY OTHER CHARACTER cause despite loving Dinah, a lot of stuff she's in isn't good.

The only stuff with "Black Canary" in the title that I actually like is:

- Black Canary and Zatanna: Bloodspell

- Black Canary: Ignite

That's it. I REALLY love Bloodspell and completely recommend it. Ignite is cute

She has 4 solos and all of them are pretty bad. You can read it though! Maybe you'll like it!

They are: Black Canary (1991), (1993), (2007) and (2015)

If you want to experience her appearances in other titles, I'd go:

- The Hard Traveling Heroes Era: Green Lantern (1960): #78-79, #81-84, #86-87 / The Flash (1959): #217-219 / Green Lantern (1960): #93-110, #113-117, #119-122 (I'm obsessed with these books, but Dinah isn't exactly the focus. Still, she's there and she's great)

- Green Arrow: Longbow Hunters (a bunch of BC fans hate it for the way Dinah is victimized, which is an extremely valid point)

- Green Arrow (1988) (deals with Dinah better than it's predecessor and I actually like the portrayal of her and her flaws here. That is a bit controversial tho)

- Birds of Prey (1999) (I have... Some complicated feelings towards this, but it's where you'll mainly get Dinah Lance shining. Her portrayal, especially when you get to Gail Simone, is really good)

- JSA (1999): Secret Files and Origins #1 / JSA (1999): #1-4, #6-14, Annual #1, #15-22 / JSA Secret Files and Origins #2 / JSA Our Worlds At War / JSA (1999): #31-32 (I haven't read these so I can't give you an opinion, but I've heard good things!)

- Green Arrow (2001): #1, #4-6, #8-9, #12-15, #17, #21 (I only like this until issue 21 and I frankly would recommend that you read all of them so it makes more sense), #21, #29, #34, #40 (those are... A MESS)

- Road to the Altar (definitely not a fan, but it's important)

- Green Arrow/Black Canary (not a fan either, but the Dinah here is not the problem, Winick just isn't very good at telling stories)

Then! New 52

- Birds of Prey (2011):

Rebirth

- Green Arrow (2016) (I have my problems, but it's overall kinda fun. I really like Dinah here)

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey

Infinite Frontier

- Green Arrow (2023) (it starts meh and then just gets worse)

- Birds of Prey (2023) (I really enjoy this! Great Dinah and fun storylines)

She's also in a bunch of Justice League stories, but then we'd be here all day.

Link to a complete reading guide:

[havendance]

Okay, I've read up to before the Night of the Owls crossover, so let's take a moment to look at my New 52 read so far:

Batman -- I think I liked the start of this arc the most, when it's laying out the mystery and feels full of potential. I'm just not a fan of the court of owls. The issue where he was in the labrinth and all the pages got flipped around was a cool concept, but an absolute pain to read digitally. Whenever I tried to rotate my tablet to read the textboxes, my device would go 'oh you're rotating! I know how to do that!' and flip the pages back -_- It probably worked better physically.

Batman and Robin -- I liked this. I liked seeing as Bruce tried to negotiate his relationship with Damian and I liked Nobody as an antagonist drawing on the history of the people who trained Batman.

Nightwing -- I started reading this and I was like 'yes, this is what a reboot should do. Bring back Haly's Circus after it was stupidly burned down previously.' and what does this comic do? Burn down Haly's Circus again!!! Can't have shit in Nightwing comics :/

Anyway, I loved seeing Nightwing try and negotiate his relationships as Nightwing as opposed to his friendships he made at the circus. I liked the push and pull between him and Babs and him and Raya. I think, in this universe where Dick was way older when he became Robin, it works really well, and while I obviously prefer Dick being like 8, I would say that this works well as it's own thing if it weren't for the elephant in the tent-- Haly's Circus being evil (boooooooooo!)

Like I said, can't have shit in Nightwing comics :|

I don't want Haly's Circus to be evil. I don't want them to be working for the court. If you really want the whole Nightwing was raised to be a living weapon thing, then idk, make it something none of them knew about, like some outsider that had been infiltrating and using the circus for their own ends. Don't have Mr Haly be the guy selling dick/that other guy out :(

Birds of Prey -- In contrast to Nightwing, this comic is just extremely mediocre. It's almost impressive how mid it is. I like Saiz' art but I'm struggling to find much else positive to say about it. It's fine. It gets the job done. It's missing that spark to do anything more interesting than girl team fights bad guys. On that same token, I'm having trouble coming up with much to criticize either. Like, obviously I think it would be better if Birds of Prey were still Oracles team, but like, other than the fact that I still think Katana's off (but I haven't read enough of her comics to articulate more), it's hard to find much to complain other than it's just mediocre and boring. Nightwing has high highs and low lows. This is like a flat line.

Batgirl -- I miss Oracle :'( But more seriously, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl has never been as intersting to me as her as Oracle. I liked the subplot of her trying to figure out how to have a new relationship with her mom--it was probably my favorite part and I liked seeing that new aspect of her. That being said, ugh, James Gordon Jr. I just do not like him as a character. He's too grim dark edgy for my tastes.

Another thing that goes into the 'I miss Oracle' category is her new dynamic with Bruce. She's over here caring about his opinion and everything and that's part of her getting aged down yet again, but also I miss when they were antagonistic and she didn't take his shit. As well as the whole question of 'why do we need to keep the killing joke in the first place?' You're rebooting the universe. Why do you need to rub taking Oracle away in our faces like this when you could've just had her never be shot. Though, I do appreciate how Simone is handling the internal conflict that Barbara is experiencing as a result of all of that.

[dailycass-cain]

Birds of Prey #7-8 is a neat little two-issue arc that had a lot of cute Cass stuff sprinkled throughout. So here are my thoughts (at last for #7) on the two issues.

I gotta say one surprising improvement is well, everyone gets more moments sprinkled throughout the two issues.

Then say one per issue. That and we get the members who came back with this issue bonding/training Sin/Megaera. That's where Cass comes in...

I love that the introduction for Cass is side by side with Barda (since their growing bond has been a major fun selling point of the series).

This is the (outside of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures and Batgirls) that Cass does normal things like going laser questing.

It's obvious everyone is having fun here, but also trying to gauge Sin's skills both as a combatant and in her new powerset.

I do like that writer Kelly Thompson brings back Cass being a fighting teacher.

It's something Batgirls gave us (though not the first with Cass teaching Steph), but then the little Nightwing backup again gave us it with Cass training with Dick.

I always love this aspect of Cass helping her comrades get better and her being a teacher. Just makes that moment in Scott Snyder/James Tynion IV JL run all the sweeter. That folks SHOULD come to Cass for help in their fighting prowess.

If there's any nitpick, I kind of want for Thompson to bring up Sin being raised to be the next Shiva. Like, technically it's an aspect somewhat overlooked in the run so far surprisingly (save in Cass joining the cause).

But I get "the why" Thompson hasn't dug into it yet. This is a two-issue arc, and it's gotta introduce our newest members, Vixen and Babs. And it's just that a "nit-pick".

I just hope Thompson is given the chance to eventually dig into that aspect.

Though in a way, she already is as all three ladies were born to be weapons but chose a different path. The fact they're just having fun but also being mentors to Sin is neat.

But yeah the other section for Cass this issue leads us to the moment me and others have been using and gushing over the last month. Mari gives Cass choices on wearing lingerie (if you're very very quiet you can hear Stephanie Brown still crying not appearing here and instead in another book.).

This moment really feels like Thompson course-correcting an aged badly moment from Batgirl Vol. 1 #39 with Babs accidentally making Cass wear a one-piece and she feels bad.

I think the fault isn't on Horrocks more per se the "product of the time" and WHO was slowly coming into power at DC around then.

Plus the actual end message in Batgirl #41 works quite well. With Cass figuring things out thanks to Kon (and aliens).

The moment over in BoP is just a page but artist Javier Pina captures SOOO much in the exchanges between Mari and Cass.

Just between the glances, you can tell Mari fully understands more and is more open to figuring out the common ground link that'll work for Cass.

I mean just look at these reactions. They say so many things and are just perfect moments for Cass (which is why I will be using these like crazy).

And of course, the piece Mari picks for Cass is just absolutely stunning and yeah perfectly works for the character.

I would love a creator's commentary on this how they chose each look for each Bird.

So yeah #7 was a great continuation of the plot with #8 wrapping the arc up, but setting it up for the next big thing for our Birds.

#8 began with bringing back someone I thought we'd never see with Batgirls ending last June, Detective Brooks.

I mean he isn't fully name-dropped but those who read Batgirls are in "the know" and it's nice continuity by Thompson in Brooks continuing his partnership with Oracle.

Even though I didn't notice him really doing much after the intro.

So let's get to the crux of this issue with it pertains to Cass.

Cass somehow flying around throwing batarangs (I'm not even gonna wanna answer where she was storing those) and fighting in high heels (just again doing a better job of it than in Batgirl #45).

I know everyone's eyes were on Barda in the fight, but you know where mine were. So yeah it was an interesting detail of Cass doing that, along with being the only Bird keeping her mask on.

Again this is a nice little touch because it shows Cass maturing and actually keeping a dual identity. Something that was quite a problem for her in Batgirl Vol. 1 at times (and some can say Tynion's Tec Knights run too).

If there's any negative (but I digress again minor nitpick) is how quickly Babs is ensnared by the mysterious force trying to end her (but #7 did showcase how easily Mari was swayed).

Anyhoot this was a fun little two-part arc and I'm really curious where the comic goes from here. Each Bird got a good moment and really the only downside was my minor nitpicks.

Birds of Prey continues to be a REAL fun series and I really do enjoy Thompson's Cass. I'm really curious given what we'll get with the character in the upcoming issues given the premise seems to be in the mind of each Bird.

[wheelchairbatgirl]

Birds of Prey? Again, past me was not logging where these came from, because past me had not remotely considered doing this blog that I’m doing right now.

All in all, a pretty good wheelchair. It doesn’t look like a hospital chair. It has push rims. No handles on the back. Back doesn’t go up sky high. The front angle isn’t too angled too much. I’m noticing a trend where the front casters are often attached to the seat on some long spindly forks, instead of being attached lower on the frame or to the foot plate. I can’t tell if that’s what’s happening here or not.

8/10 due to caster ambiguity.

Wheelchair terminology for reference under the cut

For rreference:

Swing away frames like this one, and box frames like the Quickie GP, will usually have the front caster attached to the bottom part of the box. The legs will then extend out in front of the caster. I think that's what they're trying to illustrate in the above?

Meanwhile monotube chairs and a lot of dual tube chairs will have the casters attach on either side of the foot plate. The advantage of this is that your feet are inside your turning radius, while on a swing-away they are outside of your turning radius. It's a lot easier to slam your feet/feet plates on walls and damage yourself/the wall when your feet extend beyond your turning radius. Ask my walls how they know.

I know that 2001 wheelchairs were different from 2024 wheelchairs, but I don't know of a time when the casters were on their own long spindly stem that attaches to the seat.

[franollie]

10, 12, 13, 14, 15 for Babs

10.Best moment on screen (or in the book):

| Birds of Prey #8

There's a lot to pull from and in all honesty I think half the appeal to Babs for me is her relationship with Cass. But I'm also really drawn to her relationship with disability

12. Crack headcanon

She has a pet ferret! I'm torn between naming it Cookie (like the data that recognizes you when you return to the cite) or Byte. I just really like thinking of fun ways to include her on little BOP missions or just as a buddy for babs while she works in the clocktower.

13. Dumbest thing they’ve ever done

date dick grayson. multiple times. girl how have you not realized you're in love with dinah...

14. Most heroic moment

| Countdown #39

not necessarily one moment, but my girl is in fact in charge of protecting the secret identities of every superhero in the world so like she's a pretty big deal

15. Worst thing they’ve ever done

| Batgirl (2000) #54

listen...i know we all like to bring up the slut shaming and the invasion of dick's privacy but like this...this is nigh on unforgivable for me. this obviously reveals a lot about the intricacies of cass and bab's relationship and the hypocrisy both of them show towards each other's disability but like...cass has shown in her own way how smart she is. babs is supposed to be the one to always be on her side

Ask Game

[zahri-melitor]

Having knocked over a bunch of titles over in the last few weeks, a personal update on what titles I'm currently reading (both in new titles and my back catalogue reading):

Current New Titles:-

Batman

Batman/Superman: World's Finest (though I have to say I'm getting close to dropping this unless Waid and Mora can get their act together and start telling stories NOT involving Waid's old Elseworlds or the freaking 5th dimensional imps)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (it's still managing to have at least one storyline per issue I am enjoying)

Batman and Robin

Birds of Prey

Green Arrow

Shazam!

The Flash

The Boy Wonder

Zatanna: Bring Down The House

The Nice House By The Sea

Have been cancelled on me:-

Blue Beetle

Outsiders

Back Catalogue Read - currently in August 2018 for the Bats:-

Batman 2016 (#48)

Detective Comics (#983)

Nightwing 2016 (#48)

Batgirl 2016 (#25)

Saga of the Swamp Thing 1982 (#27)

Secret Six 2008 (#8)

Contemplating adding in:-

Catwoman 2018

Teen Titans 2003

Maybe an Elseworld? Gotham by Gaslamp perhaps

Catch up Super Sons

Long Halloween

Wonder Woman 1987 Byrne run

[a-bad-case-of-the-stephs]

Oh also bestie do you have any reading recs for Steph stories but like. Not the common ones (i.e her solo, mainline appearances in Robin93 or Batgirl00, etc). bc I literally bought the JLI 1990 annual (the justice league Antarctica issue) bc it had cluemaster on it and it was the closest I could get to a Steph comic (genuine insanity on my part. This is before Steph was even introduced too she's not even mentioned 😭)

I have ofc read her DC showcase and her Solo short story by Damion Scott (which are some of her better known 'bonus material' I'm thinking) but I honestly don't mind rereading any of her stuff (I might reread her stuff from the Jon Lewis era of Robin bc I generally enjoy his take on Steph a lot).

Anyway feel free to take your time, Lord knows when I'll be free to read these (end of term hell) but yeah. Need more Steph in my life right now and she's not appearing in any books currently so...

I’m sure any comic i could mention you’ve already seen, so I’m not sure how much help I could be unfortunately. I will try my best however!!

If you’re doing rereads I have to start with mentioning Bruce Wayne The Road Home: Batgirl (2010). It holds such a special place in my heart. The closest thing we get to acknowledgment and catharsis for all the fucked up ways Batman treated Steph. It’s got a few weird lines but generally a very uplifting read for me. They finally let her slap Batman in the face!! Huge win!!!

One Steph related comic I hadn’t read until super recently is Suicide Squad #1 (2001), the comic where Arthur Brown “dies”. I always figured Arthur died in a suicide squad given the context we get in Robin 1993 but I never actually got around to finding and reading the actual issue until fairly recently. Definitely recommend checking it out if you haven’t yet, steph isn’t in it physically but there’s a few Steph mentions and they’re all Fucked up.

Birds of Prey #99 (1999) is a another good one where Steph is not there physically (she was busy being dead at the time), but she gets mentioned in a really fucked up manner. Important to my understanding of Babs and Stephs relationship in Batgirl 2009, it’s sort of a precursor to their relationship there. Also just great for the tragedy of Stephanie’s death and how people acted about her once she was dead vs towards her when she was still kicking. Also a win for Steph and Jason Todd parallels.

If you’re rereading Jon Lewis’s run you KNOW I have to mention Robin 111. So much is there. Her huge sweater. Her horrible bruise. Her fuckass bob. Her little smile. Her eyebags. The pure sweetness and raw anger and soft hurt. Big comic for me.

The Robin/Spoiler Special (2008) is very interesting and I haven’t seen anyone talk about it here (then again I am super new to tumblr so I’m sure it’s been discussed). A lot of the art is extraordinarily beautiful, and it’s the only comic which shows us any part of Stephanie’s Dead Year (that I’m aware of) so it gets points for that. I haven’t broken it down very much in my head but there’s really a Lot to look at and consider.

Another Steph comic I just recently finished fully reading is Batman Family (2002). 8 issue series I generally found enjoyable. Steph only appears in issues #2 and #8, and generally plays a minimal role. It’s mostly of interest to me bc where it takes place chronologically. It takes place more of less immediately after BW:Fugitive concludes. So for steph, about when she was fired as Spoiler but didn’t know It yet. I’ve been trying to place each issue timeline wise for her because there’s some fucked up Tim Drake related connotations depending.

Secret Origins 80 Page Giant (1998) is another essential steph appearance for me. It gives us harrowing insight into a lot of aspects of Stephs childhood, her relationship with Crystal, her experiences with abuse, and a painfully sweet glance at how she saw Batman when she was a kid. Takes place mid-pregnancy arc where Steph reflects on her past.

Idk if these count as ‘mainline’ but I feel like I have to mention Gotham Knights #22 and #37 (2000) anyway. Essential to my understanding of Stephanie’s dynamic with Batman during her time sanctioned as Spoiler. I reread these all the fucking time. They are exceedingly sad from a Steph POV so reread with caution.

Anyway, hope I was able to be at least a little helpful. Would srsly love to hear ur thoughts on any or all of these if you end up reading or rereading. No pressure, like you said, it’s a pretty busy time!

[dorothylarouge]

Another week, another set of new comics! Here's what I'm reading the week of January 1, 2025:

Justice League: The Atom Project #1

Absolute Superman #3

Batgirl #3

Birds of Prey #17

JSA #3

Shazam! #19

Daredevil #17

Avengers #22

Cable: Love and Chrome #1

Ultimates #8

X-Factor #6

[trust-and-jump]

The reasons to need to write and read Reverse Robins AU

Damian having a place with his long-awaited father. A father who is not neglectful and who still can show he cares. Who can still talk to him. And a father he doesn't have to share with someone, yet. and this.

_^

Bruce having to mature in order to be a parent. And NOT having Dick Grayson as a ward. At least not now. Bruce adapting to the idea of having his own family. Bruce having to actually talk and explain things to the little creature who was raised in a VERY different environment. Bruce getting out of his head a little. Growing up a little before getting a kid. Because Bruce can't have 8-12 y o Damian being 24 y o himself, sorry.

Exploring Tim Drake's potential outside of a very weird comic character who is loved by many people on Ao3 but non-existent on it. Outside of Robin, too. Also: Tim Drake Can Do Wrong. Tim Drake Does Wrong. Letting him be an interesting character.

Letting Jason Todd be a Robin (or Shrike, or whatever Batman's partner called in different RR!AUs) he used to be before DC decided he was just an angry incompetent sidekick Who Didn't Listen and Got Himself Killed. Letting him be good again. And yes, he was good. and I absolutely adore the idea of Damian as a big brother.

Dick getting a big family of very different people who have different opinions - after a terrible loss. Dick growing up healthier than he did. Dick not jumping into vigilante life. Or at least not for long. Or at least not in SUCH YOUNG AGE, BATMAN. Dick getting a whole bunch of people who have no problem with him at all and who start to love him almost immediately. And looking after him better so he doesn't get a chance to run without pants on the Gotham streets.

Very different roles of Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown.

How did Cassandra Cain end up in Gotham? Did No Man's Land happen? WILL it happen? Does she have a name? Who named her if not Barbara Gordon? Did she get ability to speak? Did she die like comic version? Was she a Batgirl?

STEPHANIE BROWN GETTING BETTER TREATMENT, DC!!!!! Did she become a Robin (/whatever you call it) as well? Did she get the same relationship with Damian as canon? Who is she as a young girl without canon!Bruce's and canon!Tim's bullshit? Do she and Cassandra Cain get along? Is she a Batfamily member in the AU or does she have canon-like role outside of it?

Do the Birds of Prey exist?

Exploring how Damian's Robin (/whatever you call it) would look like; and how it would affect the Bat-Clan.

Exploring the relationships between Robins (/whatever you call it) and other young heroes. Exploring the other hero families who most likely are reversed too.

The hero names. Capes. Histories.

Exploring how all of it would affect Gotham and Gotham's criminals. Rogues, too.

What the hell is going on with Duke Thomas???? I honestly have no idea how I would put him into my AU... but he's also part of Rebirth if I'm not mistaken? so I actually don't have too. He is a wonderful character (HE IS SO COOL. SO. COOL.) and my lack of imagination has nothing to do with me loving or hating him.

Talia al Ghul.

Talia al Ghul.

Talia al Ghul.

Changing events without changing what you like about it.

also I don't care about Ra's al Ghul BUT Batman Chronicles #8 make me think about him a lot.

inspired by @msfcatlover's AUs. And some others. And mine, too.