#Suicide Squad (2011)

[pixie-mask]

I don't know what collective screwed up on not catching the mistake of Owen and not changing it to George, but whatever.

George "Digger" Harkness a.k.a. Captain Boomerang's background circa Suicide Squad (2011)

[pixie-mask]

Digger you started doing a donut

I think you got some enjoyment out of it.

Suicide Squad (v2011) #013 — Dead End

[poisonousquinzel]

wish i could rip her from me

she's like a fucking disease

no way of running when I'm running from the v i l l a i n in me

Harleen (2019) Cover by Stjepan Šejić

Harleen (2019) #3 by Stjepan Šejić

Suicide Squad (2016) #8 Cover by Lee Bermejo

Suicide Squad (2016) #8

Writers: Rob Williams Pencilers: Jim Lee Inkers: Scott Williams, Richard Friend, Sandra Hope Colorists: Jeremiah Skipper Letterers: Pat Brosseau Editors: Brian Cunningham, Harvey Richards, Andy Khouri

Suicide Squad (2011) #6

Pencilers: Clayton Henry Inkers: Scott Hanna, Clayton Henry Colorists: Val Staples, Hi-Fi Design

Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red #1 Cover by Stjepan Šejić

Harley Quinn: Mad Love (Novel) Cover

[androxys]

Task Force What? An Incomplete (Yet Still Very Long) Guide to Some of the DCU’s Government Groups [Part 1]

So, you’re reading DC comics and a government agency pops up that you’re reasonably sure doesn’t exist in the real world. Who are they? What’s their deal? Here’s a quick primer on some of the groups that you may encounter.

A few notes and disclaimers: This writeup is primarily based on post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint/New 52 comic canon. I’ve tried to note every exception to that general rule. Also, several of these groups and comics use historical markers tied to the real world, which makes less and less sense as we-as-readers get farther away in time from when these comics were originally published. DC eventually stopped using real people and events so frequently in comics to help with their timelessness, but I’m going to include the historical figures and times as depicted in the source material, even if that means the same Batman is supposed to have been active in the 70s and also in 2011. Just don’t worry about it.

This writeup is split into three parts, described below. This section is the most dense, dealing with the history of 13 agencies, some of their key players, and the organizations' general missions. Special thanks to my editors and beta readers for helping me shape this up.

Part 1: Organization Descriptions and Histories

Task Force X

Argent

The Suicide Squad

Checkmate

Central Bureau of Investigation

The Agency

Project: Peacemaker

Department of Extranormal Operations

All Purpose Enforcement Squad

Project Cadmus / The DNA Project

Human Defense Corps

A.R.G.U.S.

Spyral

Part 2: Timeline

Part 3: Reading Suggestions

Task Force X

One of the most famous of DC’s government groups, Task Force X is sometimes used interchangeably with “The Suicide Squad.” However, that’s (at least originally) not quite accurate! Task Force X was a government program that housed two clandestine programs: Argent and The Suicide Squad. Task Force X was originally started in the 50s by President Truman to make up for the disappearance of the Justice Society of America after Senator McCarthy summoned them before his House of Un-American Activities Committee and tried to force them to unmask. Task Force X was designed to deal with the “extraordinary” (read: metahuman and alien) threats that might face the U.S. government. Argent was the domestic program, while the Suicide Squad was international. The leader of Argent took his team and disappeared in the 60s, while the Suicide Squad disbanded soon after due to budget cuts.

Task Force X would be revived in the 80s when then-congressional aide Amanda Waller would present to President Reagan a plan to revitalize The Suicide Squad, this time utilizing supervillains for high risk, clandestine missions in exchange for reduced prison time. Waller also envisioned the reorganization of intelligence group The Agency, which would become the intelligence-focused division of Task Force X. The Agency would be led by former Doom Patrol member Valentina Vostok until its reorganization into Checkmate, at which point Harry Stein was named Checkmate’s King. Although Central Bureau of Intelligence leader Sarge Steel had significant reservations about Task Force X, the President ultimately approved the project. 

After an inter-departmental war known as the Janus Directive, Task Force X was dissolved as an umbrella organization. The Suicide Squad and Checkmate were made fully independent of one another, with Sarge Steele assuming direct control of Checkmate from Waller, who stayed on as the director of the Suicide Squad.

Argent

Argent was the U.S. based division of the original, 50’s Task Force X that dealt with domestic and civilian “extraordinary” encounters. Originally led by a man named only as “Control,” Argent went underground after Control killed a man connected with the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. Control’s vision for this new, even more secretive Argent was an internationally focused spy agency for justice, though little is known about how effective he was. Presumed defunct, Argent was not revived when Amanda Waller proposed her new Suicide Squad. Eventually, the new Suicide Squad made contact with the remenants of Argent, and were witness to the ultimate end of the program.

The Suicide Squad

Originally, the Suicide Squad was the self-given name of WWII platoon with a depressingly high fatality rate. Over the course of the war, the squadron found themselves on Dinosaur Island, which certainly didn’t help those numbers. Richard Montgomery Flag Sr. was brought in to help lead the group, turning the squadron around into a highly decorated division of the Army.

In 1951, after the Justice Society was driven underground, President Truman created Task Force X to be able to combat “extraordinary” threats now that there were no costumed heroes to rely on. Truman requested that Flag Sr. lead The Suicide Squad, which focused on international threats. This group was largely composed of veterans of the WWII Squadron S. This version of the Suicde Squad was disbanded after the death of Flag Sr.

A third version of the Squad was created by General Stuart, tapping Rick Flag Jr. to be its leader. This team continued to deal with extranormal threats, but disbanded after a mission in Cambodia that saw the loss of half the squad. It was also revealed that regardless of the fatalities, budget cuts demanded the end of the program.

The most famous version of the Suicide Squad was proposed by congressional aide Amanda Waller to President Reagan in the 1980s, following the Legends event. Waller envisioned a revival of Task Force X as an umbrella program, with the new Suicide Squad being staffed by incarcerated supervillains. These villains would undertake high-risk, clandestine operations in return for reduced prison sentences. Part of the appeal of this model was the deniability: in the event that an operation went poorly, the government could simply blame it on the supervillain. President Reagan approved the program–Waller was the leader of Task Force X, which included both the Suicide Squad and The Agency, which was soon remade into Checkmate.

This Suicide Squad operated out of Belle Reve penitentiary, which was a maximum security prison specializing in holding supervillains. The initial administration of the Suicide Squad consisted of Amanda Waller as its director, Belle Reve’s warden John Economos, psychologist Simon LaGrieve, bureaucratic assistant Flo Crawley, and pilot Briscoe. Waller brought in Rick Flag Jr. to serve as her field leader and Ben Turner, the Bronze Tiger, as second in command. While the Squad certainly lived up to its name and reputed high mortality rate, notable team members include Eve Eden, Nightshade; Floyd Lawton, Deadshot; June Moone, Enchantress; and George Harkness, Captain Boomerang. I’m not going to spoil the whole Oracle plot for you, but know that Barbara Gordon actually debuted as Oracle in the pages of Suicide Squad, so consider this your sign to go read Suicide Squad (1987).

After the events of The Janus Directive, Task Force X was dissolved as an umbrella organization. While Waller was left as the director of the Suicide Squad, she no longer had any leadership in Checkmate, which had passed into the control of Sarge Steel, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

After a number of missions, Waller eventually disbanded the Suicide Squad, finding herself disillusioned with the Squad’s goals. However, because this is comics, the Suicide Squad would not stay dead for long. Waller would periodically create new incarnations of the Squad to address spontaneous issues that would arise, often crossing over with other superheroes' adventures. During Lex Luthor’s presidency, Waller would be appointed Secretary of Metahuman Affairs, taking Sarge Steel’s place.

After Checkmate was rechartered as an United Nations organization, Amanda Waller took a position as the White Queen. To limit conflicts of interest, this effectively meant that the Suicide Squad was permanently disbanded, as Waller was prohibited from operations and could not be involved in the leadership of both organizations. This didn’t stop her, however, and Waller formed a new incarnation of the Suicide Squad that began Operation: Salvation Run. This project involved rounding up all supervillains and deporting them to a prison planet via Boom Tube (yes, really) where they were supposed to stay indefinitely. Waller was eventually ousted from Checkmate, but not before she and her Squad managed to deport the majority of Earth’s villains. The Suicide Squad would have to confront its ghosts during the Blackest Night event, when zombified fallen members of the Squad came after living members, but further adventures were cut off by Flashpoint.

Checkmate

Checkmate started from The Agency, a quasi-independent intelligence focused division of Task Force X led by former Doom Patrol member Valentina Vostok. Vostok brought in former NYPD lieutenant Harry Stein, who soon reorganized the group into Checkmate. Borrowing from chess’ hierarchy, Stein was King, working with his Queen counterpart to coordinate various agents. Bishops oversaw Rooks, who planned missions for support agents–Pawns–and special agents–Knights. Checkmate operated out of Konig Industries in Shelby, Virginia until the events of the Janus Directive. During that event, Checkmate lost roughly 40 Knights and its Konig cover was blown. With only a third of its agents, Checkmate was subsequently forced to relocate to a NORAD base in Colorado.

Harry Stein resigned as head of Checkmate after his son was shot, leading Sarge Steel to promote Phil Kramer to King and Kalia Cambell to Queen. They would lead Checkmate against Jade Nguyen, the assassin known as Chesire, during the time she took control of several nuclear warheads and bombed the nation of Qurac. At some point Checkmate would establish their division between black side, which ran operations, and white side, which was primarily intelligence.

Bishop Jessica Midnight recruited Sasha Bordeaux, Bruce Wayne’s former bodyguard, into Checkmate. Bordeaux had been imprisoned due to suspicion that she was an accomplice to Bruce Wayne's alleged killing of Vesper Fairchild. Checkmate faked Bordeaux’s death in prison and provided her with plastic surgery to assume a completely new life as a Checkmate operative.

After Kramer, former Knight David Said would become the new King of Checkmate. He would lead Checkmate against Batman in Gotham City, a campaign that saw them abduct Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, and install her as Queen in an attempt to have her share secrets from Batman. This arrangement was actually a plan between Batman and Huntress, however, and Bertinelli ended up serving as a mole for Batman on Checkmate. 

For this next section, I choose to believe that Checkmate was a victim of Superboy-Prime’s altering of reality in the leadup to Infinite Crisis. Checkmate is suddenly headed by Maxwell Lord, Said and Bertinelli are nowhere to be seen, and Lord’s motivations are massively different from any of his previous appearances. Regardless, under Lord, Checkmate amassed information on every metahuman on Earth with plans to eliminate them. To do this, Lord was given access to the Brother Eye satellite, and together they controlled over one million OMACs–civilians that had been injected with nanotechnology to make them unwitting cyborg sleeper agents. When Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle, discovered what Lord had been up to, Lord killed him and instructed Bordeaux to dispose of the body.

Sasha sent Blue Beetle’s goggles to Batman, alerting him of Kord’s death. Once Lord knew that Batman was on his tail, he accelerated his plans, using his mental manipulation powers to take control of Superman and send him on a rampage to keep other heroes occupied. When Wonder Woman caught up with Lord, she bound him in her Lasso of Truth and commanded him to tell her how to set Superman free. The only option he gave her was for him to die, so Wonder Woman snapped his neck. Upon Lord’s death, Brother Eye immediately activated all OMACs and began the King_Is_Dead protocol, which involved killing every current Checkmate agent. Bordeaux, who had been imprisoned by Lord after he discovered her subterfuge, escaped, though not before her own unique OMAC programming activated. Lord had intended for her, as his Knight, to be a special type of OMAC, leaving her somewhere between human and machine. Later, Bordeaux would team up with Batman and other heroes to take down Brother Eye.

After Infinite Crisis, Checkmate was recharted by the United Nations to be an international group with a stronger system of checks and balances. Checkmate operated under a system of twos: two Kings and two Queens, with a Knight and Bishop for all four royals. Most specifically, the U.N. charter set out a Rule of Two: each position had to be balanced with meta and non-metahumans. As before, Black side was operations while White was intelligence. Bishops advised their royals, while Knights were special agents. Rooks were an elite Black Ops unit, while numerous Pawns were standard agents.

At the time of its chartering, the new Checkmate had the OMAC enhanced Bordeaux as its Black Queen, Taleb Beni Khalid as its unpowered Black King, JSA Green Lantern Alan Scott as White King, and Amanda Waller as White Queen. After Scott resigned as White King his Bishop, fellow JSA member Michael Holt–Mister Terrific, took his place.

This Checkmate frequently clashed with Kobra, the international cult intent on bringing a new age of chaos to the world. However, they also had a non-insignificant amount of infighting. Significantly, Waller was forced out as White Queen after she tried to preemptively remove Bordeaux and Holt, knowing that they were getting close to uncovering her illicit Suicide Squad and their Operation: Salvation Run.

After the events of Brightest Day, Maxwell Lord returns from the dead and uses his power to make nearly everyone on Earth forget about him. He immediately begins to try to regain control of Checkmate, beginning a misinformation and discrediting campaign against Checkmate’s leadership.

Central Bureau of Intelligence (C.B.I.)

The Central Bureau of Intelligence is a sort of corollary to the Federal Bureau of Investigation within the DC Universe. The organization primarily focuses on information gathering from domestic and international sources, then utilizing that information for operations. However, while other groups are focused on “extranormal” threats, the CBI is primarily concerned with “normal” missions. When special assignments do come up, special agents are dispatched.

The CBI was known to be active when Task Force X was being revived by Amanda Waller. While Sarge Steel was both known to be involved in the CBI and important enough to sit in on Waller’s meeting with the President of the United States, it is not clearly stated that he was the director of the CBI at that time. However, Sarge Steel would officially be the director of the CBI by the time of the Janus Initiative. Despite the massive reorganization at the time, the CBI was left largely alone. Steel would be promoted to the Director of Metahuman Affairs, a Cabinet level position wherein he would oversee all metahuman related operations for the federal government.

Among the most notable CBI agents are the aforementioned Sarge Steel, King Faraday, and former Teen Titan Roy Harper. After leaving the Titans, Harper would work for the CBI as a special agent–it was during this period he met Jade Nguyen, the assassin known as Chesire, and conceived their daughter Lian.

Eventually, the CBI would be incorporated into the Department of Extranormal Operations.

The Agency

The Agency was a group led by former Doom Patrol member Valentina Vostok that aimed to monitor superheroes. When Amanda Waller presented her plan to reform Task Force X, the Agency was reorganized into Checkmate. Among its divisions was Project: Peacemaker.

Project: Peacemaker

Project Peacemaker was the program that created and maintained Christopher Smith’s activities as Peacemaker. Originally, Project Peacemaker was a division of the Agency. When Task Force X was revived under Amanda Waller’s proposal, the Agency was reorganized into Checkmate, and Project Peacemaker is implied to have been made its own entity. However, when Task Force X was dissolved after The Janus Directive, Project Peacemaker became folded into Checkmate under the supervision of Sarge Steel.

The Department of Extranormal Affairs (D.E.O.)

In terms of real-world publication, the DEO began in 1998 as DC’s effort to begin consolidating all of the various federal metahuman organizations under one umbrella. In this author’s opinion, this was for the better.

The Department of Extranormal Operations is the U.S. government’s most modern and comprehensive agency to assess and combat metahuman threats through intelligence gathering, field operatives, and their own research.

The DEO conducts extensive research on metahumans and extranormal entities, with various degrees of transparency or consent. The DEO has been depicted to hold individuals against their will in order to study them, to the point of sending either their own agents or other affiliated groups to hunt down subjects that escape. This research seemed to be, in its early depictions, its primary focus. However, the DEO would take broader forays into intelligence, using that information for good… and sometimes to blackmail heroes into working for them.

In most depictions, the DEO is led by Director Bones, a former member of Infinity Inc, who reports to the federal Director of Metahuman Affairs. Bones is the direct supervisor of operative Cameron Chase, who has proved herself an exceptional agent. Through Chase, Kate Spencer–the Manhunter–was brought in to work for the DEO for some time.

The DEO is expansive enough to have several subdivisions within it. One such group was the Department of Metahuman Affairs, where Wonder Woman would work after Infinite Crisis. This subdivision would focus specifically on gathering and preparing intelligence on active metahumans, should the government need it. This subdivision would be led by Sarge Steel, who had left the White House upon the election of Lex Luthor and Luthor’s subsequent appointment of Amanda Waller to Secretary for Metahuman Affairs.

Another group known to be active during Luthor’s presidency was Knightwatch, a more militaristic division that responded to possible metahuman attacks on federal personnel and buildings.

The DEO’s research facilities are detailed in various comics across the 90s. It is gradually revealed that the DEO either maintains or sponsors a variety of training camps and research facilities, sometimes called “orphanages,” that hold metahumans under various states of duress. One example is Secret, the Young Justice member who is shown escaping from a DEO orphanage, and later gets Young Justice’s help shutting down similar experimentation programs. A group of metahumans who escape from the DEO collectively get taken in by the Titans. Conversely, some of the individuals who go on to be the Relative Heroes are depicted to be in a more traditional fostering environment, though it is still connected to the DEO. 

Within the continuity of the Supergirl TV show, as part of the Arrowverse, the DEO is a governmental organization that specifically deals with extraterrestrial threats and encounters.

All Purpose Enforcement Squad (A.P.E.S.)

The All Purpose Enforcement Squad is an international, interdepartmental group of highly trained special agents. APES features most prominently in the Young Justice series, represented by Donald Fite and Ishido Maad. 

While APES has connections to international organizations such as Interpol and Scotland Yard, they seem primarily U.S. based, as APES was the primary group trying to recover Secret, a metahuman who escaped from a DEO research facility.

Project Cadmus

Project Cadmus, sometimes also known as the DNA Project, is a government supported genetic research lab. Cadmus is involved with cloning and gene sequencing for the purpose of creating new life, with their most famous creation being Superboy.

Originally led by Director Paul Westfield, Cadmus employed various scientists engaged with genetic manipulation. The most notorious of these scientists was Dabney Donovan, who created “DNAliens” with inhuman powers. These DNAliens include Dubbilex, the grey skinned, horned telepath who would serve as a mentor to Superboy. Cadmus also employed the adult members of the original Newsboy Legion. These adults cloned themselves to create a new Newsboy Legion, and additionally cloned former NYPD officer Jim Harper–the original Guardian. This new cloned Guardian would serve as head of security of Cadmus.

Donovan was eventually fired from Cadmus due to the extremity of his experiments. Donovan would go on to align himself with The Agenda, another genetic lab responsible for their own Superboy clone: Match. Cadmus would also have an enemy in the form of the Evil Factory, led by Mokkari and Simyan, servants of Darkseid.

After a virus affecting clones and DNAliens breaks out, Cadmus began to receive intense scrutiny. A purification by fire was attempted, with missiles aimed to destroy sections of Metropolis and stop the virus. After the missiles were stopped, Donovan revealed himself to be the mastermind of the virus and killed Westfield, leading Mickey Cannon to be named the new administrative director of Cadmus. This scrutiny forced Cadmus to withdraw from the public eye, going deeper underground.

Under Cannon, Dabney would be kept imprisoned in Cadmus to serve as a scientific advisor under armed guard. Cannon also brought in Serling Roquette to be the new head of genetics–Roquette would eventually be responsible for curing Superboy of the genetic quirk that kept him from aging. Cadmus would continue to withdraw from attention, especially under the presidency of Lex Luthor.

Human Defense Corps

The Human Defense Corps was a group started under President Luthor’s administration with the goal of having an entirely non-metahuman taskforce that could respond to meta-level threats. This was in line with Luthor’s goal of reducing dependency on superheroes, and as such only recruited from decorated military veterans.

A specific subgroup within the Human Defense Corps was Squad K, a division specifically armed and trained to take on Kryptonian targets.

A.R.G.U.S.

You may have noticed that I didn’t put what A.R.G.U.S. stands for up above. That’s because sources disagree. According to the wiki, A.R.G.U.S. stands for Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-humans. A.R.G.U.S. was created post-Flashpoint to be a governmental organization associated with the Department of Homeland Security. Specifically, A.R.G.U.S. aims to support super- and meta-human endeavors, rather than having an antagonistic relationship with the superhuman community.

A.R.G.U.S. took on a life of its own within the TV Arrowverse shows, where it’s called the Advanced Research Group United Support. There, A.R.G.U.S. is the de facto government agency for dealing with metahuman threats. It was formerly led by Amanda Waller before leadership passed to Lyla Michaels. 

Spyral

Before I start to give the details on Spyral, I have to disclaim a few things about it. Spyral was first mentioned in the New Earth timeline, during Grant Morrison’s time with Batman Incorporated (2011). This was immediately before Flashpoint and the New 52 reboot. However, this run of Batman Incorporated kept going within the New Earth continuity past when Flashpoint happened, meaning that the comics had to disclaim that they were still the old continuity, even though the reboot happened. But then! Batman Incorporated (2012) was a direct sequel to the New Earth run, even though this Volume 2 explicitly happens in the post-reboot continuity.

All of this to say, Spyral is an organization that has roots in the New Earth continuity, but was largely fleshed out in the post-Flashpoint universe. Because of the relative lack of information in the pre-Flashpoint continuity, however, we can assume a lot of the later established details can be retroactively applied.

Technically, Spyral is not a U.S. agency. Originally, Spyral was founded during the Cold War to be a United Nations affiliated spy group. The U.N. made former Nazi spy Otto Netz, under the pseudonym Agent Zero, the head of the organization. He was subsequently tasked with recruiting Spyral’s agents and building the organization for the U.N.

Spyral continued into the 80s, at which point Netz was revealed to be a double agent and imprisoned in a lighthouse. Though the organization seemingly collapsed at that point, Spyral’s operations continued. At some point before his imprisonment, Netz recruited Gotham City socialite Kathy Webb Kane into Spyral and tasked her with discovering the identity of the Batman. Kathy developed the Batwoman persona to get close to Batman, though the revelation that Netz was her father caused her to break off contact with both Batman and retreat from Spyral. Kathy Webb Kane was believed to have been killed by Ben Turner, the Bronze Tiger, during his period of being controlled by the League of Assassins.

Netz would be broken out of his imprisonment by the Leviathan Organization, which is a militaristic group led by Talia al Ghul, after her estrangement from her father Ra’s al Ghul. Leviathan seeks to undo much of modern society in order to rebuild the world in a “better” way. Talia set Netz up as Doctor Dedalus to combat Batman and his Batman Incorporated initiative, designing elaborate traps across the globe to keep Bruce Wayne and his operatives occupied. Netz was eventually killed within one of his traps by Damian Wayne, who was attempting to save his father.

It was revealed after Netz’s death that Kathy Webb Kane was still alive, and had faked her own demise in order to become the secret headmistress of Spyral. After Netz’s death, the U.N. officially reactivated Spyral in order to combat Leviathan’s continued growth.

Spyral operates out of St. Hadrian’s Finishing School for Girls. Initially in the New Earth continuity, the school had been a Leviathan facility, training young women as infiltrators and assassins. It was the site of Stephanie Brown’s mission as Batgirl on behalf of Batman Incorporated, and she and Batman managed to stop the Leviathan plot. In the post-Flashpoint continuity, St. Hadrian’s is Spyral’s base, where elite students are trained as spies. It’s assumed that Spyral just took control after ousting Leviathan.

After Dick Grayson was publically unmasked as Nightwing, he joined Spyral to investigate the organization. During this period, he worked with Helena Bertinelli, who was working as the Matron of Spyral. Grayson would continue as Agent 37 of Spyral for some time, until his identity was restored. At that point, he and Bertinelli both returned to Gotham to take up the mantles of Nightwing and Huntress, respectively. With Bertinelli’s departure, directorship of Spyral and the title of Patron passed to Agent-1, the operative known as Tiger.

[distrixtz]

" ANGEL "

NAME - [REDACTED]

DOB - 01 NOV 2002

SEX - ?

HEIGHT - 167cm

.

WARNING!

AVOID AT ALL COSTS , IF ENCOUNTERED YOU WILL BE SHOT. THEY WILL NOT MISS. DO NOT APPROACH.

DO NOT THINK YOU ARE SAFE IF THEY ARE WITHOUT A FIREARM. THEY BITE. DO NOT APPROACH.

.

[READACTED] has been seen around multiple crime scenes over the past year and a half. It is hard to determine their sex as they have been reported as both male and female by witnesses. We suspect [REDACTED] is [REDACTED] who was reported missing after being released from jail for the accidental murder of their brother in 2018. [REDACTED] was placed into psychiatric care in 2015 till 2017, reports show they suffered from delusion, paranoia, and violent tendencies. Further reports into their earlier childhood show several diagnosis such as treatment resistant depression, anxiety, tourettes and paranoid delusions. There does not seem to be any family history of these as far as we are aware. [REDACTED] was placed into psychiatric care after seeming to attempt suicide via jumping off a bridge, they were hospitalised as they missed the water below resulting in four broken ribs, a punctured lung and a permanent limp on their left side. However, they were adamant in reports that they were pushed by "Big Man." They said further that "Big Man" had been following them for some time and that he (?) Told them to do violent things. They admitted to following through with said commands, having attempted to eat their classmate in 2011. They expressed they enjoyed the taste but hadn't tried it since. However, if we are right in our suspicion that [REDACTED] is [REDACTED], then they have since fallen back into the habit as many corpses have been found with several human bite marks and missing organs.

[REDACTED] is seemingly impossible to catch as they are very agile and quiet. Reports from autopsies show that [REDACTED] shoots their victims from a distance before they close in and defile the corpse. The bullets match to the British L115A3 Scoped Sniper Rifle. Many officers have been lost to [REDACTED] as they seem to see us before we see them. They have yet to miss a shot, not sparing bullets they don't often wipe out entire squads, just enough to force them to retreat.

We are unsure if they are working alone. However, they have been seen with others. Witness reports say, however, that [REDACTED] doesn't seem to get along with those they are often seen with. We believe these people [REDACTED] are seen with are the wanted criminals Timothy Wright, Brian Thomas, and Tobias Rodgers. However, we can not prove this.

Any further information on [REDACTED] known as "Angel" will be rewarded greatly. DO NOT APPROACH.

[lesbian-cowpoke]

Here is some fun math!

Barbara Gordon first appeared in Detective Comics #359, making her debut as Batgirl. It was published January 1967.

21 years (and 6 months) later, Barbara retired as batgirl in Batgirl Special #1, published June 1988.

Barbara was Batgirl for 21 years.

One year later, she is Oracle, appearing in Suicide Squad #28, published January 1989.

Flashpoint (starting July 2011) rebooted the universe and she was Batgirl again.

Making Barbara Gordon Oracle for 22 years.

She was Oracle longer than she was Batgirl in real life.

[fancyfade]

Hi! You always talk a lot about DC’s Ableism with handling Babs, but I never understood why (other than getting her out of the wheelchair for the New 52). Is there maybe any threads/posts/articles you can link that break the ableism with Barbara’s character down even pre-2011? I would really love to understand the problem!

Are you asking why it is ableist? or why I talk about it? Or why DC chose to be ableist?

I'm going to try to be as informative as possible. There will be some italics, but i'm passionate (about the topic), not mad at you.

First just to recap what happens with Babs:

TKJ (the killing joke): Babs is shot and paralyzed to make male characters sad in TKJ.

Suicide Squad + Oracle: Year One: John Ostrander and Kim Yale make an effort to make Barbara's story focus on her, and on how she feels. This addresses how she feels being used as a tool and her recovery, and how she can't talk to her dad about it.

Much of New Earth (1986-2011): Babs acts as Oracle, an indefensible information broker of the superhero world, runs her own team, and is prominently physically disabled (a full-time wheelchair user). The writers sometimes flirt with magicuring her (removing her disability) but it never sticks. There is still ableist writing, there is no denying that. But she is a very important character

New 52: Barbara Gordon is 'magicured' - her disability is removed, and some of this involved retconning previous details (from her spine being severed completely and severely damaged, to something they could fix with a chip). Many disabled people talk about how damaging this is. I'm going to be pretty clear: from my perspective (as a disabled lesbian) changing babs from someone who has ha permanent disability to an able bodied person is similar to changing a gay character to a straight character. (link)

Sometime in Rebirth: DC starts trying to say ~uwu well she's still disabled, she just has an invisible disability, it's not ableist~. Two things must be acknowledged: Yes, invisible disabilities are still disabilities. this is not saying that they are not, my disability was invisible for a long time, and I sitll have some invisible disabilities. but also two: that does not make this writing not ableist, DC does not genuinely want to represent invisibly disabled people, they want to be perceived as not-ableist while being able to use Batgirl Babs in stories.

Ok so to answer the first possible answer of your question:

Why is it ableist?

Changing a character with a disability that is permanent to an able bodied person is ableist. Disabled people deserve to see themselves in stories too, and I'd argue abled people need to see disabled people in stories, because abled people need to understand that a disabled life is not worth than death (I have had people straight up tell me 'oh I'd never be able to do that (exist as a wheelchair user)' to my face. in public).

To answer another question that has been debated somewhat recently: why is it still ableist even when Babs is disabled, just not the way she initially was? I have lots of reblogged links on that:

Babs being invisibly disabled (instead of visibly disabled and a full-time wheelchair user) both erases her previous disability and erases other invisibly disabled characters (link)

The treatment of Babs, in her Rebirth era, is still ableist (link)

Babs, as written as part-time Batgirl part time Oracle, still is written without consideration of her disability (link)

abled people care more about the apperance of able-bodiedness than they do whether someone is disabled (+how that harms disabled people at the bottom w/ my own experiences) (link)

replacing one disability with another and hoping no one notices is still ableist (link)

So for the other option of your question:

why do I talk about it?

I talk about a lot of things in comics, and this is a very important one. Barbara Gordon as Oracle is important to me, because she is a character with an acquired disability (I also have an acquiered disability, not the same one). who still is active in what is important to her and says that her life is better now and that she can do more. That is so important for disabled people (and abled people too) to hear. That your life is not over when you have a disability.

Thirdly, why did DC do it?

Well, the sad answer is really... ableism. I'd argue that a disabled person having a better QOL as a disabled person than they did as an able bodied person, or being able to do more than they could when they were able bodied, is straight up threatening to abled people (link)

More people no doubt know the interior workings of DC at the time, but Didio is not shy about not liking legacy heroes and wanting everything to be back in 'the good old days'. getting rid of batgirls that came after Babs does that (and it gets rid of the uncomfortable fact that she is disabled).

I hope this answers your questions and provides you with reading, and if you have any more feel free to ask

[it-is-i-zim]

So I've decided to make a Captain Boomerang reading list

Here it is I guess. I'm only doing a Post-Flashpoint reading list cuz I'm not a fan of Pre-Flashpoint content for Captain Boomerang. Especially in terms of the 1987 Suicide Squad. But I will I guess put down Identity Crisis, because while it's not a very good story for Captain Boomerang and he acts super out of character, it's still technically canon I guess???? With the exception of Owen Mercer???? It's weird. I guess it's not really a reading list though, just a bunch of comics he shows up in???? I will be completely ignoring some though just because I didn't like them very much.

Identity Crisis #2

Identity Crisis #3

Identity Crisis #4

Identity Crisis #5

Knight Terrors: Robin #1

Knight Terrors: Robin #2

(The above comics aren't great for showcasing his personality. In fact in Knight Terrors: Robin #2 I think he literally only shows up as just like... the legs of his corpse. Again. Not great. The below comics are a lot better for him)

Robin (1993) #62

Robin (1993) #63

Robin (1993) #64

Okay so I know the above comics are Post Crisis comics, but they still give him a better characterization than the 1987 Suicide Squad comics.

Suicide Squad (2011) #3

Suicide Squad (2011) #4

Suicide Squad (2011) #12

Suicide Squad (2011) #13

Suicide Squad (2011) #14

Suicide Squad (2011) #15

Suicide Squad (2011) #16

Suicide Squad (2011) #24

Suicide Squad (2011) #25

Suicide Squad (2011) #27

Suicide Squad (2011) #28

Suicide Squad (2011) #29

He was sort of in and out of the 2011 comics. Also I must point out that one of the writers in #27. That is not Owen Mercer. That's still Digger Harkness. Don't know how the writer made that mistake but whatever.

And now here is where he actually starts to show up a bit more. Personally I'd recommend reading all of the New Suicide Squad because it gives you just a bit more info but Captain Boomerang doesn't show up until the New Suicide Squad #5

New Suicide Squad #5

New Suicide Squad #6

New Suicide Squad #7

New Suicide Squad #8

New Suicide Squad #9

New Suicide Squad #10

New Suicide Squad #11

New Suicide Squad #12

New Suicide Squad Annual #1

The Flash (2016) #18

The Flash (2016) #19

New Suicide Squad #13

New Suicide Squad #14

New Suicide Squad #15

New Suicide Squad #16

New Suicide Squad #17

New Suicide Squad #19

New Suicide Squad #20

New Suicide Squad #21

By this point I will also state that it's a good idea to read Suicide Squad (2016) issues #3-#5 as well as #9, #23, and #24 in the order in which they appear (#3 after #47. I put #47 after #2 because of the little section within the last 8 pages of #2) (#9 is between #8 and Justice League VS Suicide Squad #1) (#23 you read after #22, and #24 after #23) (#26 you can skip. It's part of a different arc entirely and idk where it starts or stops) (And then wíth #45 and #46, while it is definitely part of the Suicide Squad story, you aren't hindered by ignoring it entirely and Captain Boomerang wasn't there at all)

Suicide Squad: Rebirth

Suicide Squad (2016) #1

Suicide Squad (2016) #2

Suicide Squad (2016) #47

Suicide Squad (2016) #6

Suicide Squad (2016) #7

Suicide Squad (2016) #8

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #1

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #2

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #3

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #4

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #5

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #6

Suicide Squad (2016) #10

Suicide Squad (2016) #11

Suicide Squad (2016) #12

Suicide Squad (2016) #13

Suicide Squad (2016) #14

Suicide Squad (2016) #15

Suicide Squad (2016) #16

Suicide Squad (2016) #17

Suicide Squad (2016) #18

Suicide Squad (2016) #19

Suicide Squad (2016) #20

Suicide Squad (2016) #21

Suicide Squad (2016) #22

Suicide Squad (2016) #25

Suicide Squad (2016) #27

Suicide Squad (2016) #28

Suicide Squad (2016) #29

Suicide Squad (2016) #30

Suicide Squad (2016) #31

Suicide Squad (2016) #32

Suicide Squad (2016) #33

Suicide Squad (2016) #34

Suicide Squad (2016) #35

Suicide Squad (2016) #36

Suicide Squad (2016) #37

Suicide Squad (2016) #38

Suicide Squad (2016) #39

Suicide Squad (2016) #40

Suicide Squad (2016) #41

Suicide Squad (2016) #42

Suicide Squad (2016) #43

Suicide Squad (2016) #44

Suicide Squad (2016) #48

Suicide Squad (2016) #49

Suicide Squad (2016) #50

I'd also read all of the 2019 Suicide Squad (below) but I didn't even really do that and I was mostly fine. Captain Boomerang only showed up in #4 and #5 but that story, as well as Captain Boomerang, continued on into The Flash Annual #3

Suicide Squad (2019) #4

Suicide Squad (2019) #5

The Flash (2016) Annual #3

Aquaman and The Flash: Voidsong #1 (the only modern comic that I've found so far where you actually see him fighting the Flash)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2023) #4 (not in but it's important. Also only the Harcourt story. Must read some time after Suicide Squad [2016] #17. Preferably after you read The Flash Annual #3 because it takes place some time after that)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2023) #5 (also not in but it's still important. Also only the Harcourt story)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2023) #6 (last issue so far, but he might show up in issue 7 cuz issue 6 leaves with a cliffhanger. Will update if he does show up. If he dies I will just get rid of this but entirely because fuck that. Also only the Harcourt Story still.)

Edit: He did not show up in issue 7. They, in fact, just ended it with a gun pointed to his head. Wtf. George deserves so much better than this. 😤

Below comics are just ones I enjoyed but idk specifically where they fit into the canon, not that canon even matters.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) #16

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) #17

Suicide Squad Special: War Crimes

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #1 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #2 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #3 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #4 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #5 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #6 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Amanda Waller #5 (Amanda Waller Part Only)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Amanda Waller #6 (Amanda Waller Part Only)

(I know Captain Boomerang is in Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Boomerang #1 and #2, but he was not characterized very well in my opinion so for the life of me, I cannot recommend the comic at all.)

Comics he has 0 personality in but his design was so bomb that I cannot recommend it enough (someone please draw Captain Boomerang from Harley screws up the DCU. PLEASE!!! I'm on my knees begging. I don't care if you don't even remove the parasite on his face at this point. It's too much of a good design to waste)

Batman: Urban Legends #17

Multiversity: Harley Screw Screw Up the DCU #3

Multiversity: Harley Screw Screw Up the DCU #4

Multiversity: Harley Screw Screw Up the DCU #5

Multiversity: Harley Screw Screw Up the DCU #6

[renisrandom]

Can you name some Animes or Make a List of Animes You Watched?

If It'll Help I Can Name Some Animes, I Watched:

Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball GT

Ranma 1/2 (2024 Remake)

Fairy Tail: 100 Year Quest

PaRappa the Rapper (yes, there is Anime like that, Look It Up)

Strike the Blood

Akame Ga Kill!

Infinite Stratos

InuYasha

Love Tyrant

To Love Ru

Date A Live

My Hero Academia

Cross Ange: Rondo of Angels & Dragons

The Seven Deadly Sins

Blood Lad

Yu Yu Hakusho

One Piece

Rin-ne

Demon Slayer

Maison Ikkoku

Urusei Yatsura (2024 Remake)

High School DxD

The Rising of the Shield Hero

Assassination Classroom

Attack on Titan

Gunsmith Cats

Riding Bean

Super HxEros

Shinobi no Ittoki

Boruto

Black Clover

Code Geass

Bleach

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Hunter x Hunter (2011 Remake)

Food Wars!

Noragami

Rurouni Kenshin (2024 Remake)

Dr. Stone

Reborn!

Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World

KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!

Log Horizon

Sword Art Online

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

No Game No Life

Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious

Tokyo Revengers

Fushigi Yuugi

Kill la Kill!

Gurren Lagann

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Fire Force

Neo Yokio

Jujutsu Kaisen

Sailor Moon Crystal

Blue Exorcist

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Persona 5: The Animation

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

Tokyo Ghoul

Seraph of the End

Darling in the Franxx

Danganronpa: The Animation

Mob Psycho 100

High-Rise Invasion

Triage X

SK8 the Infinity

Soul Eater

Powerpuff Girls Z

Cardcaptor Sakura

Little Witch Academia

RWBY (It was Bought by VizMedia so technically it is an Anime)

Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy

Eden's Zero

Yuki Yuna is a Hero

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off!

Spy X Family

Oshi no Ko

The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War

Rurouni Kenshin: Reflections

Shy

Lycoris Recoil

Fate (series)

The Apothecary Diaries

Tomo-chan Is a Girl!

Akiba Maid War

Twin Star Exorcists

Ninja Kamui

Solo Leveling

Mashle: Magic & Muscles

Blue Lock

Kuroko's Basketball

Love After World Domination

Go Go Loser Rangers

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Undead Unluck

Delicious in Dungeon

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

My Dress-Up Darling

Classroom of the Elite

Garouden: The Way of the Lone Wolf

Mission: Yozakura Family

Chained Soldier

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

Nanbaka

Fena: Pirate Princess

Chainsaw Man

Kaiju No. 8

Suicide Squad Isekai

Hajime no Ippo

BAKI (2018 Remake)

Kengan Ashura

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Wanna Be the Strongest in the World!

The God of High School

Oh my! That's quite a long list! Let me see...

Spy X Family

Demon Slayer

Oshi No Ko

Yuki Yuna is a Hero

Madoka Magica

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really REALLY Love You

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood

Interviews With Monster Girls

Komi Can't Communicate

Romantic Killer

Kotaro Lives Alone

Delicious in Dungeon

Avatar the Last Airbender

Mob Psycho 100

Attack on Titan

Made in Abyss

School-Live (Gakko Gurashi)

Dr. Stone

[murder-and-maryjane]

Did You Know🤔

The Suzano massacre, also known as the Suzano school massacre, was a school shooting and a failed bombing, that took place on March 13, 2019, at the Professor Raul Brasil State School in the Brazilian municipality of Suzano, São Paulo State, The perpetrators, 17-year-old Guilherme Taucci Monteiro and 25-year-old Luiz Henrique de Castro, murdered five students and two school staff members, Before the attack in a car shop near the school, the pair also killed Monteiro's uncle. After killing most of their victims in the school, Monteiro killed his partner and then committed suicide. Eleven additional people were injured by gunshots, and gunfire was also exchanged with the police. Some were injured while trying to escape. The attack was the second major and second deadliest school shooting in Brazil, after the Realengo massacre in 2011. It is also the ninth fatal school shooting in Brazilian history. The shooting has inspired many copycat killings in and outside of Brazil.

Earlier in the day, at around 9 a.m. local time, the gunmen shot three times and killed Monteiro's uncle, the shopkeeper Jorge Antônio Moraes, in a nearby car shop. The man was taken to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries, dying hours later. According to the investigation, Castro was planning on killing a neighbor of his that was an electrician because they had had a misunderstanding months before. They had a pact, in which each one would kill someone before the school massacre. An hour and half before the school attack, Castro went to his neighbor's house. Finding the gate closed, he persistently called him out, but the man did not answer, and so Luiz went away. In the same day, one of the killers posted a series of photos in a social media platform, where he appeared with a skull mask, holding the firearm he would later use and doing a gun sign with his hand against his head. The two attackers then drove to the school in a white Chevrolet Onix that Castro had legally rented at Localiza. The crime occurred at around 9:40 a.m. local time on a Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in the Professor Rual Brasil State School, in Suzano, Greater São Paulo. Guilherme Taucci Monteiro, 17 years old, and Luiz Henrique de Castro, 25 years old, entered the building hooded, with combat boots and balaclavas with skulls. Monteiro entered the building first. He then turned around and began shooting at two school staff members as well as several students at a distance of approximately 3 feet (0.91 m) in front of him, before entering the main patio in search of more potential victims. He disappeared from camera and then moved on to the institution's linguistics center. By this time, Castro appeared on camera entering the building in a hurry while holding several weapons, including a bow which he eventually left on the floor. He approached the corpses lying on the ground and struck them with a hatchet. Fleeing students started to run from the patio towards the school entrance hall. On the way, they encountered Castro, who was still in the entrance hall. Other students who had hidden themselves when they first heard gunshots were able to avoid being shot. Five students between 15 and 17 years old and two school staff members were killed. According to the 2017 School Census, the institution had 358 students between 6th and 9th grade (middle school and freshman year) and 693 students in secondary school. The school was locked down by police, who searched it and found a caliber 38 revolver, speedloaders, a crossbow, a traditional bow and arrow, possible Molotov cocktails, a hatchet and a wired bag. A bomb squad was dispatched to the scene and found that it was a fake explosive.

[pants-magic-pants]

okok, one more ✨

so i know you would like to make the other Goblin King outfits. but are there any other characters you would like to cosplay? or that you have already cosplayed?

Thank you for asking! Yeah, I have cosplayed before. None of the proof of it's here because I've designated it as a Labyrinth blog. My interests and projects do not resemble each other at all, and my cosplay history reflects that. hahahaha

Anyway, my last cosplay was the Mad Hatter from Disney's 1992 series "Adventures in Wonderland". The show is extremely dear to me, and I also love the costumes, so I made his entire outfit (vest, tailcoat, pants, spats, collar, bowtie, hat), which were my introductions to making clothes. Didn't crawl before I ran. hahaha It took about 10 months to complete in 2021. A couple of videos of him can be found on my youtube channel.

Before that, I had been closet-cosplaying Dance Magic Jareth from time to time, and had made a much easier less screen accurate version of his ballroom attire minus the coat, and this blog has that content under the "jareth cosplay" tag.

Before that, I closet-cosplayed Kurama from the anime Yu Yu Hakusho from 2017-2018. I was obsessed with the show and characters, and having a quarter life crisis, so I dyed my hair red and let him consume my entire being.

Before that, I for some reason had a fixation with Jared Leto's Joker from Suicide Squad (2016)... Don't judge me, I know he wasn't a very good joker! I just didn't care! I didn't know how to sew yet, so all the pieces were collected, the bowtie was commissioned, and I had to go all around town trying to find dress shirts for my tiny body. All the while, I holed up in my room practicing his makeup. It took about 3-4 months? @mistahgrape was my handle on instagram and tumblr.

Then finally, there was my first cosplay which is also my cosplans for the future. I used to closet-cosplay Nosferatu when I was a bub (2011-2013) the whole time I was away in film school. I have a degree in film which was heavily focused on the German silent era, so he meant/means a lot, and I would make videos pretending like he visited me in my apartment. lol The blog strange--cargo is all about that. I desperately wanted to commission a screen accurate outfit but just never did, so I'm going to make my dreams come true and hopefully take him to cons and make people laugh/creep them out.

watch out!!

[pixie-mask]

[madcourtjester]

Sometimes I think about the fact that modern Harley Quinn’s design choices are attributed to/associated with her separation from the joker which is…. not necessarily true. In Paul Dini’s original design of her she looked a lot like a mix between a golden age comic book character and a 50s (60s?) actress in a similar way to how the golden age joker resembles a grinning uncanny talk show host more than a clown, although obviously that design got scrapped when Bruce timm designed her iconic jester costume. However, Harley really started to be separated from her jester design with the Arkham games which are really the prototype for modern Harley designs and in the Arkham games she is very much still lovestruck Harley with pretty much her entire arc for the first two games and I think Harley’s revenge dlc centering around the Joker and her love for him. I think the reason that people associate it with her separating from the joker is because the comics mainly changed her costume from the jester in Adam Glass’s 2011 suicide squad run which is also as far as I remember the first main run where she’s really separated from the joker and she really fully has a different love interest outside of like light flirtations or vague implications, but the first Arkham game predates that by like three years and if Wikipedia is to be believed, that suicide squad design is heavily based on her designs in both Arkham Asylum AND Arkham city (which would come out afterwards, but only by a month or so so they probably would’ve been developed at similar times). The design change was not to separate her from the joker but more so to update her design for the games. So I think it’s kind of silly to conflate her more clown or jester like costumes with her being under joker’s influence, even though like official DC material will do that now and then. Like honestly if anything joker’s never been THAT clown-like she’s always been more committed to that bit than he is.

TLDR; let Harley be a clown/jester and not have it relate to joker, yes, I did write this thinking about the doctor clown post

[gorogues]

What do you think are the best and worst stories for each of Rogues? I imagine that The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive or Countdown will be high in the running for the worst depictions of a lot of them....

Hmmm, this is a tough question, mostly because I'm never sure if I think the 'best' story truly is the best or if it just happens to be my favourite! So that's a caveat to take into consideration when viewing my choices.

And yeah, Flash: The Fastest Man Alive is arguably the worst, probably even worse than Countdown, IMO. Also, I cheated by sometimes listing more than one story because several feel like strong contenders.

Len Best: Flash v2 #182, or Rogues Revenge #1-3 Worst: Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #10-13, or Outsiders v3 #32-33

Mark Best: Detective Comics v1 #353 Worst: Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #11-13

Lisa Best: Flash v1 #257 Worst: Teen Titans v6 #22

Roscoe Best: Flash v1 #297-303 (or Flash v2 #215-216 if you leave out the retcons, but you basically can't. Otherwise these issues are excellent for him, though) Worst: Hawk and Dove v3 annual #1

James Best: New Year’s Evil: The Rogues, or Underworld Unleashed #1-3, or Flash v2 annual #5, or Catwoman v2 #69-71 Worst: Countdown

Axel Best: Rogues Revenge #1-3, or Flash v2 #1/2 Worst: Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp

Mick Best: Flash v1 #314-317, or Flash v2 #218, or Justice League Quarterly #2 Worst: Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #11-13, or New 52 Mick (that interpretation really damaged his character)

Digger Best: Robin v4 #62-64, or Flash v2 annual #5, Suicide Squad v1 #9, or Flash v3 #7 Worst: The Adam Glass Suicide Squad run from 2011 to 2014 (not sure of the volume #), or Identity Crisis #2-5 (added later in an edit)

Owen Best: Manhunter v3 #33-36 Worst: Blackest Night: Flash #3

Hartley Best: DC's Crimes of Passion #1, or Flash v2 annual #10, or Flash v2 #190 Worst: Countdown, or the DC Pride 2021 special

Roy Best: Brave and the Bold v1 #194, or Booster Gold v1 #19-20 Worst: Flash v4 #23.1

Sam Best: Flash v1 #146, or Flash v1 #306, or Batman v1 #388 and Detective Comics v1 #555 Worst: If forced to choose, Catwoman v4 #30-32, though truthfully Sam's part was okay. I just thought the story was awful.

Evan Best: Animal Man v1 #8, 17, 21 Worst: Either Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, or Outsiders v3 #32-33

[zahri-melitor]

Okay I'm joining in as we haven't had this yet: Post-Crisis Barbara Gordon Writers! Given there is not a shortage of options for 1987-2011 we are going with post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint only

If someone has another favourite they want to rep, let me know, but I think I hit everyone who wrote significant Barbara content. (If you want to come and tell me Barbara Randall Kesel is your fave and I overlooked her, I respect you)

References for the list: Ostrander & Yale: Oracle Year One, Suicide Squad #23-65 Alan Moore: the Killing Joke Chuck Dixon: Birds of Prey #1-46, BoP singles & Manhunt, Nightwing #1-70, Batgirl Year One Gail Simone: Birds of Prey #56-108, vol 2 #1-13 Tony Bedard: Birds of Prey #109-112, #118-127 Kelley Puckett: Batgirl vol 1 #1-37, Batman: Batgirl, Batgirl Girlfrenzy Bryan Q. Miller: Batgirl vol 3 #1-24 Grant Morrison: JLA #23-41 John Francis Moore: Batman: Family, BoP Batgirl/Catwoman, BoP Catwoman/Oracle Devin Grayson: Gotham Knights #1-11, 14-32, Nightwing #71-100

[fantastic-nonsense]

This is a bit arbitrary, but is Oracle’s existence public knowledge pre-Flashpoint? As in, does the average citizen know of Oracle? I’m reading up on Barbara because I’ve only read her pre-Crisis Batgirl stuff so far, but I’m kind of… iffy about the BOP book because of the writers.

No, Oracle's existence wasn't public knowledge. Babs' identity was completely secret until halfway through Ostrander and Yale's Suicide Squad run and even after that most of the heroing community didn't know who she was, much less the general public. Birds of Prey as a book largely functions on the reality that the team is, essentially, a covert ops team led by a figure whose existence isn't public knowledge and whose identity is somewhat unknown even to the larger heroing community. As we move through the post-Crisis timeline, Oracle's existence largely stays secret from the public but most of the heroing community knows that she exists and works with her. She even had a stint where she worked closely with the JLA during the Watchtower era.

In terms of her secret identity: the Bats know that Babs is Oracle, and the Birds know that she's Oracle, and various individual heroes (like Ted Kord and certain members of the Justice League that she regularly works with) know that she's Oracle, but there's still several people who have no idea that Barbara Gordon and Oracle are the same person (much less that she used to be Batgirl).

By the time we get to Blackest Night/Brightest Day in 2010, Babs decided that too many people knew about her existence as Oracle and way too many people out of that group knew that Oracle was Barbara Gordon. So she faked Oracle's death to the larger superheroing community in a very mid and weird BOP plotline called 'The Death of Oracle', leaving only a select number of people (most of the Bats and the BOP) aware that she was still alive. This canonically had major consequences for several heroes who were relying on her intel and were in the middle of dangerous assignments when she went dark, but also wasn't properly explored as much as it could have been since a) The Black Mirror, which Babs co-starred in, was also happening at the time and b) the reboot happened shortly afterwards.

In terms of Birds of Prey the book, Vol. 1 (1999-2009) is pretty solid the entire way through:

Funnily enough I consider Dixon's Birds of Prey run to be one of his Top 3 comics. There's a reason an all-female team title written in the early 2000s survived long enough to be handed over to another writer and it's because Dixon made it work. Babs (and her relationships with other characters) is his one exception when writing women and I still don't know why 20 years later. There are definitely still significant amounts of Dixon Flaws™ that shine through in that run, but he's one of Babs' best writers and is still probably the best Dick/Babs writer we've ever had–largely because he's one of the few writers who actually gives a fuck about Babs as a character separate from her relationship with Dick. Which is weird because it's Dixon, but it's still true.

Gail Simone's run is well-written with good plotlines and has better treatment of the characters overall. It's also extremely racist at times (specifically anti-Asian) and occasionally veers into weirdly immature "high school mean girl bickering" interations. She writes an excellent Babs, but I think she was also dealing with a lot of external and internalized misogyny as one of the only major female writers at DC and as someone who got to where she was because she played somewhat nice with the "good old boys' club." Her work on BOP is not without significant flaws, but it's also a really fun read and I recommend it.

I wouldn't really bother reading BOP Vol. 2 (2010-2011) unless you're a completionist and every post-Flashpoint iteration of the team has been either "decent concept, bad execution" (the New 52 book) or "this is just bad, pull it now" (every version of the book since). If you remove Oracle from the equation and pretend like post-Flashpoint's watered-down Batgirl!Babs is a suitable replacement, you've already lost a fundamental aspect of what made the book work in the first place.