Barbara Gordon: Batgirl, Oracle Appreciation 2019

[kjn]

This is so infuriating. BoP should be Barbara and Dinah's thing, and I would add Helena. I like Harley, but she doesn't need BoP.

To be honest, I think Birds of Prey has become more and more removed from what made it great, and it's been going on for a long time. Today, the team is just a group of Gotham vigilantes with the gimmick of being all-female. The original concept was international cons, heists, and spy stuff with added control-field agent drama. The name and the characters are the same, but the entire theme of the team has been ripped out.

[millernumber1]

To be honest, I think Birds of Prey has become more and more removed from what made it great, and it's been going on for a long time. Today, the team is just a group of Gotham vigilantes with the gimmick of being all-female. The original concept was international cons, heists, and spy stuff with added control-field agent drama. The name and the characters are the same, but the entire theme of the team has been ripped out.

I'm okay with Birds of Prey changing - while I enjoy Dixon's run, Simone's is the one I adore, and it's significantly different in general operation and style. What I really care about is getting the characters and writing good stories. I think the Bensons got the characters better than most writers in a long time, but the stories were pretty weak. The two Birds of Prey stories we're going to get for Black Label seem like they might be okay stories, but seem extremely unlikely to get the characters. I hope to be proved wrong, but it seems the most likely outcome at this point.

[Frontier]

I'm okay with Birds of Prey changing - while I enjoy Dixon's run, Simone's is the one I adore, and it's significantly different in general operation and style. What I really care about is getting the characters and writing good stories. I think the Bensons got the characters better than most writers in a long time, but the stories were pretty weak. The two Birds of Prey stories we're going to get for Black Label seem like they might be okay stories, but seem extremely unlikely to get the characters. I hope to be proved wrong, but it seems the most likely outcome at this point.

The upcoming series seem more like Harley stories then BoP stories, especially the Conner/Palmiotti one, which just feels like how DC is approaching the property now.

[millernumber1]

The upcoming series seem more like Harley stories then BoP stories, especially the Conner/Palmiotti one, which just feels like how DC is approaching the property now.

Which is extremely disappointing.

[kjn]

I'm okay with Birds of Prey changing - while I enjoy Dixon's run, Simone's is the one I adore, and it's significantly different in general operation and style. What I really care about is getting the characters and writing good stories. I think the Bensons got the characters better than most writers in a long time, but the stories were pretty weak. The two Birds of Prey stories we're going to get for Black Label seem like they might be okay stories, but seem extremely unlikely to get the characters. I hope to be proved wrong, but it seems the most likely outcome at this point.

While change is necessary, I think teams have characteristics and style, just as individual characters have. This can either come out of different things, but to me what made Birds of Prey unique among DC's stories were two things: one was that of a team focused on international spying, sleuthing, and heisting. Suicide Squad could do some of that, but had a much more military focus. The other was that Babs as Oracle in her role of control gave the team a very different dynamic for inter-team drama and interaction.

Both made them very different from other DC teams and teamups, and that gave them a niche. But the changes made to the team has made them loose that niche, and made them much more generic within the DC ecosystem.

[Godlike13]

BoP themes were before its time. The spying, sleuthing, and heisting wasn't its true niche, it true niche was that its was a group of awesome female heroes who were previously victimized and demoralized. Babs in Killing Joke, Dinah in Longbow Hunter, and then the clever addition of Huntress not that long after NML. BoP was place for these women to rebuild, have their own stories, and not be the victims anymore.

[sorboares]

I'm one of the fans that prefer Barbara Gordon as Batgirl but why can't she still be Oracle too?.She doesn't need to be in a wheelchair to hack computers and whatever else she needs to do.

[Frontier]

I'm one of the fans that prefer Barbara Gordon as Batgirl but why can't she still be Oracle too?.She doesn't need to be in a wheelchair to hack computers and whatever else she needs to do.

I think Batgirl being able to hack doesn't necessarily make her Oracle again.

[sorboares]

I think Batgirl being able to hack doesn't necessarily make her Oracle again.

I didn't say it made her Oracle again. All I'm saying is why can't she be Batgirl and Oracle?
Some days she fights as Batgirl and other times she helps as Oracle.

[Frontier]

I didn't say it made her Oracle again. All I'm saying is why can't she be Batgirl and Oracle?
Some days she fights as Batgirl and other times she helps as Oracle.

I mean, I'm not saying she couldn't do it, but both are kind of full-time things in my opinion.

[Digifiend]

Agreed. She can't be in two places at once, it's that simple.

[Godlike13]

I’m sure she can get an IPad. Technology today is all about convenience and accessibility.

[Frontier]

I’m sure she can get an IPad. Technology today is all about convenience and accessibility.

The idea of reducing Oracle to an IPad is kind of hilarious, yet feels apropos for DC .

[millernumber1]

The idea of reducing Oracle to an IPad is kind of hilarious, yet feels apropos for DC .

Given the last 5 years, it'll be an evil iPad, too.

[Godlike13]

Oracle as she was would be out of date. Desktops are relics, and a bunch the mundane things she did could be done by apps and things like Alexa.