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Tweak says, "I'm Chris Hansen..."

superfan1 (superfan1) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-06-11 00:48:00

Entry tags:

char: batgirl/oracle/barbara gordon, char: batman/bruce wayne, char: jim gordon, creator: andrew kreisberg, creator: andy owens, creator: scott mcdaniel, title: batman confidential

Batman Confidential #30
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	aaron_bourque 2009-06-11 01:51 am UTC (link)
	I'm reminded of the best part of the film Crash. Invisible cloak. Invisible. Fucking. Cloak. (Reply to this)

sinisterlink
2009-06-11 02:02 am UTC (link)

Awwwwwww, little Babs is so cute. I like how all the panels make it look like she's holding the gun kind of awkwardly (which would be reasonable since she's just a kid), but she's really holding it like that just to cover up the bottom so they can't tell it's a fake. I also love that look on her face when she notices Batman is behind her. lol.

I also like the, "Guns are dangerous" line that she says while looking at Batman. The way he looks back at her is just like, "Trust me kid, I KNOW. I could spend years going on to you about my gun angst."

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	mooppoom 2009-06-11 02:13 am UTC (link)
	I like Bruce's smirk of Battisfaction when she shows him it's not a gun. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	perletwo 2009-06-11 11:18 am UTC (link)
	z0mg I now know what your icon is all about... giggle (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ladymirth 2009-06-11 02:23 am UTC (link)
	Aww! Wee!Babs is adorable. But didn't she come and live with Gordon only after the age of 13 or 14, according to current continuity? What's this story about, anyway? Spoil me, people! (Reply to this)

	pyrotwilight 2009-06-11 02:42 am UTC (link)
	Little Barbara's cute but hurts my continuity senses since she and Batman half the time seemed the same age in the modern DCU. Even Pre Crisis their couldn't have been more than a 8-10 year difference between them from what little I know. (Reply to this) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-06-11 03:25 am UTC (link)

As far as I can figure, she should be between sixteen and eighteen here. Absolutely no younger than fourteen, if this is a Y1 story, but since Joker's a regular in Arkham with a relationship with Bruce, and Bats has a measure of respect and liberty from Jim and the GCPD, we're looking at two or three years into his career; any further, four years, puts it right about when Babs became Batgirl, which as per *her* Y1 was around 18 or 19 for her (so, basically, yeah, we're still looking at that 8-10 year difference from pre-Crisis).

But hey, Kreisberg trying to rob a female character of her seniority and polish up her sex appeal by stripping multiple impossible years off her - what else is new?

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	batcookies 2009-06-11 03:56 am UTC (link)
	That's what really stood out for me with this. The actual story was... meh, IMHO. The fact that he was writing a Babs that looks like she's 8-10 when she's meeting Batman? That got my attention. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlbarnett 2009-06-11 07:28 am UTC (link)
	It seems to me that there are some writers who want to create an idea that Batman and Commissioner Gordon have always been there. The Robins and the Batgirls and so on have been exposed to him their entire lives. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	retro_nouveau 2009-06-11 07:49 am UTC (link)
	gasp! Blue has a Batgirl!Babs icon?!?!? :D Maybe Kreisberg has been watching too much BTAS... :D Babs will always be the eldest of six Batkids to me. Babs is the Marcia of the ~~Brady~~ Batty Bunch. XD (Reply to this) (Parent)

kingrockwell
2009-06-11 10:57 am UTC (link)

Well, she was still pretty young when Bruce started, according to her Post-Crisis Secret Files & Origins, though that was also before Jim became commish, so if he's already got that title, then there's definitely something wrong.
It's also a question of what kind of timeline or continuity Confidential carries within itself if she's maybe 12 here when she was Batgirl age just a few arcs ago. I know it's the stories of Bruce's earlier days, but was The Bat & The Cat a jump ahead, or is this a jump back?

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bluefall
2009-06-11 11:10 am UTC (link)

Her SF&O is mostly out-of-continuity at this point. She pushes Bruce too old otherwise; if he started at twenty-four, and she took up the cowl at 18, and that was eight years after she first saw him in costume, then he's fifty years old now. By timeline, he should be more mid-forties and DC wants to pretend he's in his thirties. So BATGIRL Y1 pushed her joining the clan to an earlier point in the story and invalidated the possibility of baby!Babs knowing of a Bat.

As for Confidential, it doesn't have a timeline. It's not even necessarily solidly in continuity. It's just whatever stories the writers want to tell, from whenever in Bruce's history.

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bluejaybirdie
2009-06-11 03:15 pm UTC (link)

If we really want to wank it, she could just be a teenager that looks younger than she is. It happens in real life--I'm nearly 17, and still sometimes get mistaken for around 13. Apart from the last panel, she looks around 13-ish. Her clothes also seem to indicate she's at least that age--they don't really seem to be something a kid would wear.

I haven't read the story, so I couldn't tell you how old she was portrayed in the rest of that. But having the smarts and the guts to hold a crook up with a fake gun doesn't strike me as something anyone under 11 or so would be able to do (even though it is Babs, who is awesome). The "guns are bad" line comes off as childish, but maybe Batman's just that intimidating :)

Metatextually, yeah, she probably got de-aged, especially since Kreisberg seems to like that trope.

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	chengar 2009-06-11 08:56 pm UTC (link)
	As I recall Babs is established in cannon as having been a late bloomer, so it would make sense if she looked a little younger than she actually is in any flashbacks. (Reply to this) (Parent)

thokstar
2009-06-11 07:52 pm UTC (link)

Don't forget the "Inserting pop culture references into female characters backgrounds". What with Babs apparently being a Dance Dance Revolution fanatic (OK, it's actually some sort of DCU version of that game but the reference is obvious) in her young age.

That actually makes her close to impossibly young: DDR was released in the US in 1999, so she would be at most 10 years old + whatever age she is here. Even if she's 17 in this issue (which requires a massive growth spurt at 18), she'd be 27 in present day DCU.

This timeline almost puts us close enough to the timeline of that Shortpacked! issue with Zorro being replaced by Pokemon: the Movie in Batman's origin.

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	bluefall 2009-06-11 03:17 am UTC (link)
	KREEEEEEEEEIS -- wait, what? Actually seriously though, this story was fairly cool. Nothing epic, but mediocre and respectful-of-Babs is still head-and-shoulders above anything else coming out of the Batbooks these days, so. (Reply to this)

	janegray 2009-06-11 07:06 am UTC (link)
	You missed the space in the tags. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	superfan1 2009-06-11 08:11 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah I did, my mistake :) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	janegray 2009-06-12 07:32 am UTC (link)
	It happens :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	taggerung301 2009-06-11 07:07 am UTC (link)
	awwwwwww :) this is great (Reply to this)

	sistermagpie 2009-06-11 08:32 am UTC (link)
	At first I was confused because Babs does look so young, but there are signs she's clearly just a skinny, gawky teen. With the balls to bluff a guy with a knife using a fake gun. Babs has nerves of steel! (Reply to this)

	mysteryfan 2009-06-11 08:57 am UTC (link)
	I'm pleasantly surprised! And I think, judging by say, the last panel there, that she could be a young teen. Love the last bit here. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	superfan1 2009-06-11 08:12 pm UTC (link)
	Agree and love the last bit also. (Reply to this) (Parent)