Spoiler: Batman #693

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Comments

[jupiterrhode.insanejournal.com]

Okay, I didn't even read Birds of Prey, and even I know this is stupid. Huntress and Oracle are friends, they don't play petty games with each other.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

They're not actually playing petty games with each other. Helena just kissed Dick as a distraction--which made sense as she's his date and they were listening to people nearby. She didn't realize that Babs was listening. The way I read it Babs wasn't angry, Helena just wished she hadn't done that because it was too reminiscent of the time Helena and Dick slept together and she knows Dick is Babs' ex (and Babs was not thrilled when they slept together). It's not that Babs is jealous or Helena was trying to piss her off, it's just that if she knew Babs was an audience for what she was doing she probably would have found another way because she wouldn't want to make out with him with an audience of Babs.

[eraeos.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

I agree with you on everything you've said, except that I think Babs was, in part, angry -- not at Helena, but at herself for feeling a bit jealous, which I think Babs would view as irrational. (But, of course, this is just my speculative interpretation.)

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Yes, I can agree with that. It's an awkward moment that brings up...stuff. It just shines a light on certain things in all their pasts and their relationships. Babs almost has to be overly-unemotional about it to make it clear that she's not put off by it.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

This.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Except for the fact that Babs is glaring up a storm in her final panel, and we get that whole three-panel post-kiss bullshit where Dick and Hel are all awkward with each other and acting like it unexpectedly meant something to them, and Helena's acting completely guilty (again, like it meant something to her) rather than sheepishly apologetic.

It's not games, but it's definitely petty love triangle bullshit, which is not how the three of them work.

[chipsnopotatoes.insanejournal.com]

hmm. i didn't read it as meaning something to either of them. it seemed to me more like embarrassment at the situation they caught themselves in. Even if they were only acquaintances, it would be a natural reaction.

but i do hope it doesn't degenerate into a full blown love triangle soap opera as well.

[mystery]

I agree with your take and hope it stays as nuanced and interesting next issue. Hey, Daniel said: People we'll be seeing more of as the rest of the story line plays out: Selina, Huntress, Penguin, Kitty, Falcones, Reaper, Black Mask.