Batman: Urban Legends #2 Preview

[Zaresh]

He's last seen with her flying into the night so he'd have known what happened to her

I wasn't sure about that part now, but, yeah.

[Sergard]

Not gonna lie, caught a bunch of episodes of Totally Spies reruns last year and fell in love with that cartoon.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to bash the cartoon. But it's about three girls in their late teens. Barbara Gordon is a woman in her late twenties. I just wish - since this was Barbara's first solo story in the Infinite Frontier timeline - that the story would have represented Barbara as a character better. Less superficial, a little bit more serious and heroic, not just relying on Barbara being smart and pretty. The Harley Quinn story in the last issue did a better job for Harley.

And - even though it's nitpicky, I know - the Oracle story doesn't fit in with the other stories in the anthology.

Red Hood is investigating a drug case, struggling with guilt and caring for a young boy while Batman is breathing down his neck. Grifter is a bodyguard who constantly has to face danger while we see glimpses of a past tragedy that still effects him. Katana has lost the soul of her husband and is now confronted by his mother - not in a nice way. These are all deeply emotional and serious story lines.

Meanwhile, Oracle's story is about Barbara fighting a villain who steals floppy disks. I'd even guess that this story's target audience are girls in their teens. And I can't imagine that the Batman: Urban Legends anthology does a good job at reaching this group. Not with main stories like Rosenberg's Grifter and Zdarsky's Batman/Red Hood. Not to forget that 7.99 $ is a hefty price if someone is only interested in the Oracle story.

I'd also like to point out that it feels like all those stories take place around the same time. At least both the Red Hood story and the Oracle story mention the Joker War. But while Batman and Red Hood investigate a drug case and Grifter fights for his life in Gotham, the Oracle story makes it look like the worst that currently happens in Gotham is a villain that steals floppy disks. A little bit more consistency would have been nice.

[Vakanai]

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to bash the cartoon. But it's about three girls in their late teens. Barbara Gordon is a woman in her late twenties. I just wish - since this was Barbara's first solo story in the Infinite Frontier timeline - that the story would have represented Barbara as a character better. Less superficial, a little bit more serious and heroic, not just relying on Barbara being smart and pretty. The Harley Quinn story in the last issue did a better job for Harley.

And - even though it's nitpicky, I know - the Oracle story doesn't fit in with the other stories in the anthology.

Red Hood is investigating a drug case, struggling with guilt and caring for a young boy while Batman is breathing down his neck. Grifter is a bodyguard who constantly has to face danger while we see glimpses of a past tragedy that still effects him. Katana has lost the soul of her husband and is now confronted by his mother - not in a nice way. These are all deeply emotional and serious story lines.

Meanwhile, Oracle's story is about Barbara fighting a villain who steals floppy disks. I'd even guess that this story's target audience are girls in their teens. And I can't imagine that the Batman: Urban Legends anthology does a good job at reaching this group. Not with main stories like Rosenberg's Grifter and Zdarsky's Batman/Red Hood. Not to forget that 7.99 $ is a hefty price if someone is only interested in the Oracle story.

I'd also like to point out that it feels like all those stories take place around the same time. At least both the Red Hood story and the Oracle story mention the Joker War. But while Batman and Red Hood investigate a drug case and Grifter fights for his life in Gotham, the Oracle story makes it look like the worst that currently happens in Gotham is a villain that steals floppy disks. A little bit more consistency would have been nice.

Eh, if you're a huge stickler for continuity and characters needing to progress in age sure. I prefer a looser continuity where the ages can change for what's best for the story. She definitely wasn't late 20s during her Burnside run that's for sure, whatever the official "continuity/chronology" says. That said, I agree she should be written more in character beyond being pretty and smart.