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.)