Oracle's Tenure with the JLA, Part 1: Recruitment

[glprime]

By request from thebigapricot, the time when Oracle was inducted into the JLA



The newly re-united JLA has just thwarted several major-scale villains from taking over the Earth and basically destroying all civilization (the Know Man, the Hyperclan and the renegade angelic Bull Host), but there are still more ominous events on the horizon that the "Big Seven" feel need a larger, more diverse group to handle.




Sooo, yeah. Less recruiting and more telling to be an electronic mole within the League's new digs. This is Oracle just off her tenure with the Suicide Squad, setting up her own organization as the head of Birds of Prey and still adjusting to taking orders from her old "boss," Batman. Not at all the polished mastermind we'd see in latter years. But we'll get there.

Also, take note of the "tech lingo" and art choices made here. This was published in 1998. It'll get harder to stomach certain things as we go along.



John and Martha are pleasant as always, while Bruce is in full "BatGod, Supreme Dick" mode. Oracle and Plas are voted in sheerly on Batman's word. Neither Aquaman nor Supes question these. Also, nice to see the King of the Seas getting a strong nod as a founder and thus let in on lots of the League-building decisions.



I like reading all these little asides about the current status of characters in the DCU.



The unwelcome visitor is Guy "Yes, I Still Go By Warrior" Gardner showing up on the moon and naming himself new chairman of the League.

The tension between Oracle and Bruce is very evident in this series and Batman, etc. Why Barbara's not snapping back so much is probably because she still has some respect for Bruce, despite him cramping her style.

Incidentally, the layout of her clock tower computers will change constantly with each artist, but the seemingly LCD/projection world map is a constant. And yet she's surrounded by CRT monitors? Have to assume the artists were going with what they all had at their houses.



Yes, relative newbie Huntress was given a spot on the "best-of-the-best" team. Why? Largely Bruce trying to mentor her into being a "better" hero, i.e. not becoming a killer anti-hero. It's not a wholly bad idea; if you work around folks like Superman and Wonder Woman, you're going to alter your attitude a bit.



Batman wordlessly strides in and stares down Gardner who leaves in a huff.

Is Barbara still pining for her "hero" days? It's not something that'll come up again for awhile, but this is right in the period when she's trying to fully realize her Oracle identity and become an operator in her own right. Something she won't get with the JLA right out of the gate.



So right now Barbara just acts as a Data Dog, fetching info for Bruce and giving him eyes-on when he requests. That'll change with the new League's public premiere and their first case of infiltration (a recurring theme with the Watchtower) in Part 2.



7 pages from JLA Secret Files Vol. 2: "Heroes", a 22-page story.

Comments

[jarodrussell]

I'm just saying, in this case, a fanwank is perfectly possible.

Rewrite means "the act or result of re-implementing a large portion of existing functionality without re-use of its source code." Given that she's also using DLL's, which indicates she's using a Windows OS (or Doors). Essentially she's saying she's got to rewrite Windows, which is a laughable thing to say. Given this took place in 1996, she's probably using Windows NT 4.0, which was 11~12 million lines of code.

So, no, if you have any inkling of an idea of Windows software development or network security, there is no way to fanwank that rambling crap without changing the definitions of her words.

[bluefall]

You think she's using Windows?

You really have a lot of contempt for her intellect these days, don't you.

[jarodrussell]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic-link_library

You're really willing to ignore what's in front of your face to defend Oracle, aren't you.

[bluefall]

Wait, why am I even arguing this? I thought the dialog was stupid too, and I've said so several times. I appear to be defending an offhand fanwank for the sake of being contrary. That's dumb, and I'm stopping. The field is yours, my friend.

[bluefall]

And your "changing the definitions" nonsense assume that Babs, who was a librarian and language nerd long before she was a computer nerd, would use the specific subcultural programmer definition of a multi-definition word to a non-programmer who she's annoyed with and has reason to exaggerate and gripe to.

Which, again, I know you think she's stupid, but using a word to mean something specifically subcultural that you know has a different meaning to the person you're talking to is a pretty basic communication fail even for an idiot.

[jarodrussell]

So your theory is that she thinks she can techno-babble Batman into submission because big words make Batman head hurt scary bad? Uh-huh. Okay, let's go with your theory that Babs' stupidity in this scene isn't her lack of techno-chops, but rather that she thinks she can bluff Batman with a third-rate Dilbert joke.

[bluefall]

Actually, ignoring your sarcasm and stepping aside from the issue of Babs for a moment, would you actually expect Bruce to know programming lingo beyond maybe the most basic concepts of "compile" and "if/then statement"? I know he occasionally gets Batgod moments where he hacks Oracle's system or Prometheus' helmet or whatever, but I've never seen anything to suggest that he actually knows any more about computers than any intelligent man in a non-computing field when he's not magically pulling mcGuffins out of his ass because he's the Goddamn Batman. (Hell, he's barely even a chemist anymore, which is the one thing you'd expect to still be a regular part of his repertoire - certainly any consistent claim of computer expertise isn't on the list).

[glprime]

Given this took place in 1996...

I thought I'd jump in and point out this story was published in late 1998 (as I made a point of stating); so she could even be integrating Win98 into her systems.