ORACLE: YEAR ONE (and John Ostrander)

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

This post consists of 6 pages (5 full pages and two halves of two different pages) from an 18-page story from The Batman Chronicles #5 (and a cover), called "Oracle--Year One: Born of Hope", written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale.

The story is supposed to take place after the events of The Killing Joke, where former Batgirl Barbara Gordon was shot by the Joker and her legs paralysed.

(I am cringing at that exchange rate on the price, btw. I'm glad they've done away with it now.)

The story starts off with Barbara in her hospital bed and Batman creeping in the window. Barbara is narrating, talking about how idiotic it was for her, Barbara Gordon, daughter of the police commissioner, in charge of running a huge library, and Batgirl, to open the door. She recounts the shooting, but it's interesting to note that she says she doesn't remember much after falling on the floor, and hearing herself scream and her Dad shout, except for waking up in the hospital. Something I like about this comic is that while it covers what happened to Babs in The Killing Joke, it doesn't directly reference the exact art and panels from TKJ. In fact, every panel that describes those events is constructed entirely from her point of view in the room.





(Note the light from the Gotham clock tower shining on the wall.)

Bruce obviously cares, he feels guilty, but what good is that to her at this time? In some ways I think that maybe this scene sums up part of the dynamic between Bruce and Babs in later stories as well. She and Bruce are a lot alike in some ways, and there's this sense that Babs get taken for granted occasionally (as Batgirl, and later on at various points as Oracle, the biggest example to my knowledge being War Games). But at the same time, they do care about each other, and I think Babs's urge to lash out at him here* says something about the nature of their relationship. I think one is more likely to say hurtful things, the kind of things you're not entirely sure you mean but you want or need to say anyway, to someone who is close enough to you that you know you won't lose that relationship entirely. Like siblings/family or longstanding friendships that you know will last past an exchange like that.

*Referring mostly to the "was it me?" line there. The rest of it, her talking about demeaning it is to supposedly only be worth what she is in relation to Batman, is totally fair to say, IMO, because I don't know if he would have really thought about how it would feel to be in that position.

Anyway, when she gets out of the hospital, the media is everywhere. She has the nerve-wracking and awkward experience of moving from her wheelchair to the seat inside a car for the first time, all in front of cameras and journalists. She talks about how simple things like that were things she'd just taken for granted in the past, and she and her dad talk about how if she hadn't been the Commissioner's daughter this wouldn't have happened, how he'd always refused security or bodyguards, etc. She goes into physical and emotional therapy, has to accept that she won't walk again, but she feels defenseless, like she has no sense of self, and feels like her life is over.



She talks about how awesome and liberating the Internet was, that it became such a real "place" for her that she started to get back a sense of identity and felt happier. One day her dad starts talking about a woman named Ashley Mavis Powell, who is laundering money somehow with computers (and looks like Cruella DeVille). Babs investigates a bit and finds out that Mavis Powell is also a child abuser, and one of her net friends warns her to be careful, but Babs starts to go after her anyway.

One day Babs decides to venture outside (as her dad was encouraging her to do so), and she finds herself frightened and panicked by traffic and the task of crossing the street. Some woman comes up behind her and Babs is all "I'll do it myself! I don't need help!" But it turns out the woman is Mavis Powell herself, and she pushes Babs out into the street! Babs is back to feeling like a helpless victim all over again, and asks her net friends if they have any suggestions for self-defense for someone who is in a wheelchair. A helpful someone named "Matches" makes arrangements for her to receive training from Richard Dragon in the park. She goes through the training, and it continues to help her in regaining her sense of self.

Then she has a dream.





As Oracle, Babs sends Mavis Powell a "I'm gonna get you, nyah, nyah" message, and you can imagine how well that goes over with Cruella Ashley Mavis Powell (who, by the way, calls herself "Interface" and has a kind of power to telepathically connect with computers, kinda like what Babs had when she was infected with Brainiac). Now that Oracle has made contact with Interface, she traps her mind "in a logic trap--endlessly repeating the same circuit over and over again at the speed of thought, unable to break free..."



I love that second-to-last panel of Babs saying "this is Oracle." I love it when she threatens people via talking into her headset! ♥



And that, my dears, is that. It's really a great story, and I encourage you to get it and read the whole thing. There are two other smaller stories in the same comic, one about Jim Gordon as a newbie on the force in Gotham, and one about Alfred and young Bruce, before Martha and Thomas were killed (which manages to simultaneously be insanely cute and rather a weird reflection on Bruce's parents at the same time).

I'd also like to bring up something you may have already seen 'round the comics blogosphere, but writer John Ostrander has been battling with glaucoma, is apparently in danger of losing his eyesight, and is struggling to pay the medical costs. A website's been set up (www.comix4sight.com) with a longer explanation of the situation, but there's a online donation drive and an auction in August. Any money leftover is to be donated to the Hero Initiative.

Comments

[captain_clown.insanejournal.com]

Wow this is great! Totally gonna have to keep my eye out for it.

[thandrak.insanejournal.com]

Yhank you for passing the message on about Ostrander.

[thandrak.insanejournal.com]

Thank. Thank. Ahem.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

Glad to do it. I'd seen it posted on about a half dozen other places, so I figured s_d should be in the know, too.

[jesidres.insanejournal.com]

Damn, I'd forgotten what issue this was. Thanks for the reminder!

Although, the cover makes me cringe- Is that supposed to be Babs seated in the front picture? because it kinda looks like someone in drag dressed as her. Interior art isn't too bad, though.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

The cover is odd, because there is no point where they're dressed up in the book (and if Babs is at the point where she's happy and comfortable with herself enough to be going to fancy events, she probably wouldn't be in a wheelchair with handles).

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

I love how much of this is meta commentary but done in a way that's completely natural--like that Barbara actually gets to talk about fridging as a real person. And her "I'm no longer a distaff imitation of someone else." Damn straight!

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

I know! It's something that you can totally hear Babs saying with authenticity, and think about the situation as a fridging (albeit without the handy term).

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

"I'm me."

I am so pleased when people get to say that. Especially someone who started as ---girl.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

It is a nice touch, because she knows who "me" is, whatever name she has.

[kingrockwell]

Only right it was Ostrander and Yale, since they're the ones who pulled her off the backshelf of the refrigerator for Suicide Squad and made her Oracle to begin with. I'll have to keep an eye out for this one.
I really miss Richard's beard, it really made his look, and what they did with it is one thing I really didn't care for in Dixon's 2004 revamp.

i need to see if i'll have any lose cash to donate Ostrander's way

[kingrockwell]

Also, I find it especially significant that it's Richard Dragon training her, not only because of his reputation as one of the DCU's top martial artists, but also because he was pretending to be wheelchair-bound in O'Neil's Question series.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

but also because he was pretending to be wheelchair-bound in O'Neil's Question series.

I vaguely remember reading/hearing about that before. That is cool.

I also like the fact that both Babs and Helena have been trained by Richard Dragon.

[kingrockwell]

And Dinah went through some training under Lady Shiva, his rival. It kind of would've been neater if one of them were trained by Bronze Tiger instead of Richard, though, so they would've each been trained by the DCU's top martial artists.

Richard was in the wheelchair for two reasons, a) to break Vic's expectations so he keep his guard down and be receptive to Richard's teaching, and b) to give him a different perspective, and learn how to deal and fight from that position. So training Vic inadvertently prepared him for training Babs!

The interesting contrast between his training Babs and all of the other folks I know of he's trained is the focus seems to be on the martial aspects rather than the philosophical, though I guess I can't say for sure not having seen more of this myself. Helena and Renee's training had a lot more to do with the philosophical and spiritual, but that's probably because they were put on to Richard by Vic, who, while certainly learning a lot from the martial training, got a lot more out of the rest. His motive behind introducing them to Richard was mainly because of their reminding him of his own pre-training days, after all.

[fromtheaether.insanejournal.com]

The beard was back when he appeared in 52.

[kingrockwell]

Yeah, I double-checked before I made that comment, though he did appear in the Dixon form in Birds of Prey. Honestly, Dixon's revamp had a lot of problems and took away a lot of the character's better points, so it's good to see writers mostly ignoring it.

[fromtheaether.insanejournal.com]

Actually, since Huntress mentioned him training her, the version in BoP might actually be the classic version. He looked bulkier than Dixon-Dragon, too.

[kingrockwell]

He looked like him, is what I meant. Beardless and with the dumb hair. And bulk means nothing when it's drawn by Bennett.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

A helpful someone named "Matches" makes arrangements for her to receive training from Richard Dragon in the park.

Mrr. I've always been irritated by that little detail. There's a similar moment in SUICIDE SQUAD where Bruce shows up in Belle Reve and says hi to "Amy Beddoes" and Babs has some kind of brief internal monologue that indicates she doesn't know who he is. Quite a maddening little backstep toward reliance and subordinance to the Batman identity in the midst of such an amazing step away.

Thanks for the heads-up about Ostrander.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure you and I got into a long-winded discussion about the Matches bit when somebody posted this on the old comm, about how Bruce being the one help her find Richard Dragon undermines the fact that she was trying to reinvent herself all on her own.

I'm kind of conflicted over it. I didn't know about the Suicide Squad bit, though. She should know that Bruce is Matches.

It's unfair of me, given that War Games came out years and years after this comic and that run on Suicide Squad, but, because of what happened with Stephanie I can't help but think of Bruce neglecting to tell a close costumed ally that he's Matches Malone is horribly wrong and evil. That is how it works out in my head, it would seem.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Heh. Quite possible. Certainly Babs not recognizing Matches is ridiculous and insulting, both to her intellect and their relationship. But even if it were an ID Bruce made up just for that it would still tick me off. If she'd gone to him for a contact, or better, he'd offered her Dragon's number the way she offered him her lawyerly services during BW:M or the like (and then, unlike him, she had the emotional IQ to say 'yes thanks'), it'd be different. Him paternalistically stealth-propping her behind the scenes, though, is just offensive.

But also easy enough to fanwank, fortunately. Just figure she's doing the exact same thing she was doing with the Babscam in BOP - she knows it's him, and knows he's just trying to be caring and helpful in his own stunted, controlling, secretive way. So as long as he's not a jerk about it, she just lets it happen, doesn't acknowledge that she knows it's him. And thus they never talk about it, and neither of them has to wound that unyielding pride they're both so captive to by admitting that she could use his help or that he was worried for her. In that light him using the 'Matches' handle simply makes the lie mutual - him admitting-without-admitting that it's him right up front.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Interesting. I was thinking about how to fanwank it, and went and reread original panels. Because I was hoping for this to work in my mind. Because yes, the Matches strikes a chord, I'm sure largely because it was such a plot point in killing Steph.


Anyway, because I like Babs and certain versions of Batman, going with this.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

she knows it's him, and knows he's just trying to be caring and helpful in his own stunted, controlling, secretive way. So as long as he's not a jerk about it, she just lets it happen, doesn't acknowledge that she knows it's him. And thus they never talk about it, and neither of them has to wound that unyielding pride they're both so captive to by admitting that she could use his help or that he was worried for her.

Yes, definitely the most preferable way to interpret it. (But does the internal monologue in the SS issue you mention contradict that?)

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Nope. The SS scene seems to demonstrate that she doesn't know Bruce Wayne, but that's a separate issue from knowing that Batman and Matches are one and the same (particularly since Matches is a working ID, and therefore not just a sign of extreme trust, but outright essential to the basic functioning of the crimefighting partnership).

And it's cleanly out-of-continuity anyway, since BG:Y1 established that Babs got brought into the inner circle within, like, a week of putting on the costume. So even if it did contradict the fanwank here (which it doesn't, but if it did), that contradiction would be retconned out by virtue of Y1 as well.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

The SS scene seems to demonstrate that she doesn't know Bruce Wayne

Bzuh? Even in TKJ, she calls him "Bruce," not Batman. That's really odd. (Although now I'm flashing back to the "'ello Bruce!" Monty Python sketch.)

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

It's totally what I flash on, too. That Steph not knowing Matches got her killed.

[toasty_fresh.insanejournal.com]

Love it!

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Excellent. Love this story! I started to say it's the best retcon ever but I don't even know if it's a retcon or what, exactly. Best fix-up of a story I really find appalling, certainly.

Thanks for posting it.

(You're not kidding re the: Of Mice and Men story w/ reflections on Bruce's parents.)

Great read, great job by Yale and Ostrander on this--(thank you Ostrander and Yale!) thanks for the info.

Also, what a great impact Kim Yale made in a tragically short lifetime and career by making Babs Oracle. I read a piece that said that The Killing Joke (and her being unhappy--quite unhappy with it) was the reason that she and Ostrander thought this up, and thought it through. Not magic, but based on Barbara's character. (Talked about here (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/6991_4_0100.jpg&imgrefurl=http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/05/30/the-comic-book-alphabet-of-cool-y/&usg=__kLxX5Lgt2JHf_77rYQJsBg8-1ro=&h=619&w=400&sz=93&hl=en&start=4&sig2=ruQ1sgFEv_Hpv_tQxba4-Q&um=1&tbnid=pTj_xFaKyGzFGM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkim%2Byale%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=zCldSqzKEo6wtAP5i_2bCg) for starters.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

Also, what a great impact Kim Yale made in a tragically short lifetime and career by making Babs Oracle.

Very true. Some day I'm going to buy the Suicide Squad issues off of eBay that she and Ostrander also wrote, with her first real introduction as Oracle (and when I do, scans ho!).

(You're not kidding re the: Of Mice and Men story w/ reflections on Bruce's parents.)

It's so weird when it comes to the parents. From Martha holding up a Zorro comic and talking about how comics corrupt young minds, to the end where she says "hmm, where are the moving listings..." WTF? Plus it makes Alfred seem like the way awesomer, indulgent parent (which, okay, he sort of is, because not many people would indulge a depressed young man who wanted to dress up as a bat and punch people) and kind of suggests to the reader that maybe Bruce doesn't even need/want his parents, which is, uh, wrong. (But it is adorable for the Alfred-young!Bruce interaction, nonetheless.)

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Yeah. I think... I think I'm tired of meta lately in my Batcomics.

Zorro comic and movie listings? Grinning little boy Bruce and 'Yes, I'll stay!' Alfred in last panel (golden age Batman Robin style smiling circle panel) and Bruce's mom going to check the movie listings?

Oooookay. It's not terrible or anything, but I'm kind of like hang on! What emotion are you even going for the reader to feel here? Happy? Creepy? Tragic Foreboding? I don't know if you can have all three in one page very often, and for me, not with the happy too, and here I'm a tiny bit confused.

[ar_feiniel_.insanejournal.com]

I really like how she thinks of the internet as a mask. Makes a lot of sense.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

It does, especially since that's her main venue for fighting crime.

[jedd_the_jedi.insanejournal.com]

I really like this, both the art and the writing. As many people have pointed out, Babs seems like a real person here. The colour palette more or less reminds me of Batman Year One. I really like that overhead shot of Babs at the keyboards.

[kingrockwell]

My LCS had this! :D

Bruce knows someone who knows someone? A friends of Babs' told an acquaintance of Richard's? That means the person in the middle's either Lady Shiva or Vic, and I'm putting my money on Vic. That way there's a closer connection along the way between my two favorite characters.
Sure, it's still indirect, but it's better than "one of her field agents dated him once (and then no one ever mentioned it again :( )" or "a woman she used as an agent once is his successor" or "they were both featured in separate stories in Batman Chronicles #15".

[scottyquick.insanejournal.com]

THEY WILL BE MENTIONING IT IN TEC AND I'M SO EXCITED.

[kingrockwell]

Man, you and me both! But it's still makes me sad that aside from JLU and the cameo in those two issues of Gotham Knights, the only person who seems to be propagating the ship is Rucka. It's even more bothersome when I read Richard Dragon's appearance in Birds Of Prey because Vic made that possible and still isn't getting recognized (and every single appearance Richard has made in a book that doesn't have his name on the title is Vic's fault, except maybe for the one in this post because there's a slim chance the go-between was Shiva)!

Sure, they were gathering martial artists, and Richard is one of the three best, but Vic's a martial artist, too! Like, all his appearances between Gotham Knights and the v2 mini were "we need a martial artist to cameo here, let's use The Question". Gail herself used him that way in the Villains United Special! But I'll get into all this later, when INATA gets to that point.

Oh my poor OTP.
Oh my poor head bones.