Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Birds of Prey

Just wanna say thanks on behalf of the whole bop team. I'm really, REALLY happy to hear people are having fun, because we're working our hearts out. So, good stuff.

However, I will say, Helena makes a poor role model, and she does stumble. But we're going to see another side of her, very soon.



Gail

Alright! Thanks for stopping by again Gail!

And great to hear about Helena, who, as you can tell, is a big favorite around here. I especially enjoy her in your hands, so as long as I know she's in the book for the forseeable future, I'm happy.

Well her front side looks pretty good so does that mean we are going to see more of her back....



Sorry very un PC joke there.


on a more series note I rather hope Helena is allowed to explore this aspect of the flawed role model and we get to see her grow, make mistakes, fall and scuff her knees and all that stuff, as long as she gets the support of her surrogate family in picking her up dusting her down and helping her to get on again.

Hey, Gail, tell Judd to leave Huntress alone! She was totally out of character in her last OUTSIDERS appearance.

The last time I cringed so badly at a poorly-interpreted character was McFarlane's Wolverine early in his epynomous Spider-Man launch... Her dialogue was atrocious!

I rather enjoyed her stint in OUTSIDERS.

I enjoyed seeing her elsewhere in the DCU, but she was totally miswritten! Her dialogue in issue 12 (I think) was stilted and sounded nothing like Huntress... actually, she sounded more like a nympho Jubilee...!

It was especially jarring given my monthly doses of Gail's Huntress.

After reading everyone's reactions to Huntress' sleeping around, I take it her Catholic convictions are no longer an issue for her character?

Just read BoP #69. Huntress continues to impress. It is so encouraging to see her step out from the shadow of the Earth-2 Huntress.

The "back-up" agent revealed by the end was a welcome sight, a character who deserves to be at the forefront of DC's characters.

I tried BoP since so many here are hyping it, and Simone is writing the current Legion arc. #68 was my first issue. I'm sorry, but I just can't get the idea of a teacher being a superhero. It just cannot be done. Especially on an elementary level, and espcially when you have Bart and Nelson in your class! When is she going to find the time to grade all the kids homework, prepare lessons, fight supervillains and sleep with men to get information? Bleh. I don't like the Ho'Tress at all.

Thankfully I got the next issue which was the beginning of the next arc. Looks like fun. I'll be sticking around to see how this one turns out for sure.

Ok, now I'm REALLY glad i didn't base my complete opinion on the first issue I bought. I just got #70 and I am really getting a kick out this series. The story has me hooked. Since I'm dumping Aquaman and Firestorm, I should have plenty of room for BoP. Thanks for all the hype, guys! Just please! No more Ho'Tress stories!

Some questions for regular readers -

Who are the two guys at the beginning of the story? Obviously, they're from a previous arc, but can anyone summarize their story in a sentence or two?

I understand who the three main stars ae. Does Oracle often recruit other heroes (i.e. Vixen)?

There's nothing to say, that she isn't supply teaching and hence, not having the regular workload as a full time teacher.

I must be missing something from Helena's past because I had no idea she had teaching aspirations. Did the Earth 2 Huntress ever teach?

One of the more interesting pieces of this arc is the Savant sidestory. Oracle's challenge was interesting and interesting that Savant was interested in taking it on -- it'll be fun to see how he does it and how long this fragile alliance will last.

One-night stand aside, I'm really liking the Huntress' role in this book. Her dialogue with the local cops was a hoot, though I hope she doesn't end up with all the good lines and that her attitude won't push Canary into the role of "stiff", or "the sensible one". She's got some attitude on her as well.

I beleive she became a teacher and gave up being Huntress (for a time) at the end of her debut series - post-Crisis.

Y'know, I have been re-reading some old Wonder Woman comics (pre-crisis) and the Huntress back-up stories were written by Levitz for some time. These are the best pre-crisis Huntress stories I have encountered, far outshining the Amazon in her own comic.

The Post Crisis Huntress has, I think, always been a teacher. It's actually been a key character thing in some of the Bat books a while back that she simply couldn't do both the teacher job and the superhero one, and had to give up being a teacher. I think it might have been during the 'Contagion' event thingy that it all transpired, but it was certainly also a point in Greg Rucka's 'Huntress: Cry For Blood' as well, whihc I think is when she finally got sacked for missing too much time off work. I think it's a very nice side to her character, it shows that while she may be tough as nails and have some emotional problems (something else that came up in Rucka's mini) she also has a very caring, nuturing side to her. She was always shown to love her job and think it was at least as important as being a superhero. I'm glad Gail is bringing it back into her character and having her just as a substitute rather than a full time teacher means that it's far more likely that she could fit it in with her other life.

Super Lad Kid, as for Oracle's other operatives, yes she does call in a fair number of people. When the book started it was just Oracle and Canary but even from the get go it was clear that while Dinah was the one that the book focussed on Babs also had other operatives all over the place. It's made it possible to have a lot of guest stars (Catwoman and Power Girl, who was Oracle's main operative before Dinah, being the two that have appeared most) and while Helena has now also been added as a main star they're not the only people Babs works with. With all her conections she can pull in favours from all over the place, but I think the way it's usually been viewed is that she actually has a fair few operatives working for her (I'm sure Vixen had been mentioned previously to this arc as well), it's just that we don't get to see their stories, if you see what I mean.

Babs is JLA, so she can call on pretty much anyone, but as Bevis stated, the other non-Dinah operative most often featured prior to Huntress was Power Girl. Catwoman also made some early-on appearances. I'm thrilled to see Vixen!

I'll defend Huntress' right to sleep with anyone she wants. You GO, girlfriend!

Loved the cover by TEX! Where's he BEEN, anyway? I don't think I've seen his art since he did a GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY fill-in years ago!

I remember Huntress mentioning being a teacher back the JLI issues in which she appeared. I don't think that was too much after her initial post-Crisis appearance.

-- Agent Liberty (who?), Air Wave (Hal Jordan!), Bumblebee (there's a current incarnation?), Claw (cool guy - I've wondered where he's been), Flamebird, Geo-Force, Plasmus and Plastique. It'll be really cool if we get to see them in action before this arc is over -- even if it's a brief "big finale battle" kind of thing. I wouldn't mind if one or two of them became occassional Oracle agents as well (let it be Claw!).
-- Since Gail drops by, I gotta ask -- are we gonna see Vic Sage aka The Question at all?? Or at least some mention of the relationship she and Huntress have (whatever it be). I'd also love to see Dr. Mid-nite again since Dinah and Ollie are (currently) kaput.

Yeah, Question and Doc Midnight would be cool. There's something about Connor Hawke that makes him seem to fit with the ideals of the book as well, so I'd quite like him to put in an appearance. I think the only danger with guest stars on a title like Birds Of prey is that you might end up with too many characters and the main stars (Dinah, Babs and now Helena) will lose out. Gail managed to avoid that in the last arc despite having Shiva, Cheshire, Catwoman, Gypsy and Katanna all turning up but I'd rather have big casts like that as an occasional thing rather than the norm.

That being said if anyone can pull of a big cast, still keep the focus on the main three and still have character development, characterisation *and* good plots then I think it's probably Gail.

I will constantly say this: I love Huntress in this series, and now consider her my favorite non-Legion DCU heroine! And Dinah is a close second!

I can't get enough of this book! I agree about the Savant story too, Drake. It's been very interesting so far, and shows a deeper side of Babs.

And since we're talking about Oracle's operatives: Blue Beetle was showing up consistently for a bit, before moving on. And Superman was revealed to be her operative in issue #12, since Oracle was a member of the JLA. However, this was meant to show that while Supes and others are not really 'operatives', they can be called on in emergencies.

I hope those heroes that DrakeB3003 listed get a line or two of dialogue before they recede back into limbo...

...is Vixen gonna stick around? 'Cause she's gonna need some *serious* hand-holding.

Really enjoying this series.

Todd

I wonder if Gail is a fan of the SUPER STALAG OF SPACE?

If this cult is into fat-assing people, that could explain the suicides...

Imagine Nardo as a cult-leader...

Todd

The Birds are going to be on "Justice League Unlimited" this season! (well, two-thirds of them) Black Canary and Green Arrow will team up with Huntress as The Question in a kind of "double-date" episode written by Gail Simone! Too bad they couldn't fit in Batgirl...(not that I know of)

Drake, that's terrific news about the Birds being on the show! Especially with Gail doing writing/scripting chores! I can't wait.

Ah, the joys of a new story arc AND a bi-weekly schedule! I can't get enough of Huntress. Always the wild card.

I like the current situation Savant is in, I'm intrigued by Vixen's new 'allegiance', and as always, I can't wait for everything to tie together. The cult, the suicides, the captive heroes, and Babs' mystery assailant. So much goes on in every issue! With one-liners, too!

I have nothing else to add that can't be summed up in four words: I LOVE THIS BOOK.

I'm really enjoying the Savant story line. He's got almost the same skills as Oracle, but where she's crippled physically; he's crippled mentally. Where she has Dinah to act as her legs; he has Reese to act as his memory. It's all so very yin-yang.

Ok, so I just read on ComicsContinuum that Canary won't be featured til next season (though she appears in "Initiation").