InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Where is Waldo??"

nevermore999 (nevermore999) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-16 16:07:00

Entry tags:

char: batgirl/oracle/barbara gordon, char: black canary/dinah lance, char: cluemaster/arthur brown, char: riddler/edward nigma, char: spoiler/robin/batgirl/steph brown, creator: chuck dixon, creator: rick leonardi, series: super steph series, title: birds of prey

Super Steph Series pt 6-The Mini Canary!
Now to do an overview of Stephanie's time with the BoP ( I was going to couple it with Cass, but decided to post that seperately...it got too long.)

Steph as a member of the BoP was rife with potential ( and bluefall has an awesome fic centering around the ideal in progress). But it was sadly cut short as soon as Dixon left the book. Gail sort of used Charlie as a Steph substitute (heck, she went out of the way to have Babs compare Charlie to Steph) so we see a little of how nifty it could have been. I mean, Steph and Dinah share a similar attitude, they're both postive, snarky independent women to think on their feet. And they are both made of awesome, of course.

Meanwhile, Babs sees a lot of her younger Steph (self starter, doesn't care what Batman thinks, ridiculously determined, insinuating herself into what's mainly a "boys club", fun loving, has the hots for a Robin) and it clearly makes her VERY uncomfortable, which is most effectively demonstrated in Joker's Last Laugh when Babs basically flips out at Steph and is like "You take things more seriously, or you will die". (Babs is psychic)

And if Steph had more interaction with Huntress- well, two black sheep with criminal families and disdain towards the "no kill" rule- the paralells are gold, and that Cataclysm thing only brushed the surface of that potential.

We start out Birds of Prey in the midst of Bruce Wayne: Murderer. Dinah is on the case for Babs.

Yup, Canary even directly compares Steph to Babs. And Babs is none too happy.

So, I guess Dinah just took Steph back to the Clock Tower (and, as we were theorizing last post, I bet Babs LOVED that) because next issue here we are.

Hee, Steph was doing the "can I drive?" think to Dinah before the Batmobile. I still think she would have done well as Dinah's sidekick.

So they hop in Dinah's car.

In case you didn't get it, Dinah's totally guessed Bats is Bruce. Babs obsessing over the case made it rather obvious, I imagine.

Ha, go Dinah.

Hope Eddie was wearing something under that bathrobe....

And that's how Steph got rid of Eddie and Arthur. By Black Canary being awesome.

Unfortunately, nothing good lasts forever, and two issues later...

Man, Dinah. Dissing Cass. Good thing they weren't friends at this point (apparently). "Hey, that's my best friend you're talking about!"

Naively, I assumed this must be when Steph got fired. But after talking to a few posters and re reading it, it's not really a firing at all. So, I guess Steph got ejected from the BoP off panel for no reason because editorial hates her.

Now, to be posted in a few minutes, Steph and Cass!

(Post a new comment)

	sailorlibra 2009-03-16 05:21 pm UTC (link)
	Dinah's jacket is hideous. There really is no excuse for the nineties, is there? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ashtoreth 2009-03-16 08:20 pm UTC (link)
	The jacket is nice. The outfit is dorky. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jlbarnett 2009-03-16 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	Steph must have as many editorial haters as fans because things are so back and forth with her. (Reply to this)

bluefall
2009-03-16 05:34 pm UTC (link)

I miss that outfit on Dinah. (Well, not the cowboy jacket. The hell, Dinah? Are you trying to dress yourself again? Babs made you ditch your old wardrobe for a reason, sweetie. But the green jumpsuit, I miss.)

The whole scream-the-bums-out scene has always been curious to me. Because like, three issues prior to this, somewhere in the BW:M arc, Dixon established that Babs got a law degree from Harvard at some point because she was bored, and so we know she could easily have contested Arthur's claim to the property pro bono. It would be strange to think that Babs thought Eddie was just squatting and needed a superhuman rousting when Bruce and Dinah both knew he had the law (sort of) behind him, but it would be equally strange to think Babs wouldn't help Steph herself. I wonder if she wasn't just trying to give Dinah something to do to get her out of the house while Babs worked the Wayne case.

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	nevermore999 2009-03-16 05:56 pm UTC (link)
	Well, also Babs was busy, and getting them out of there legally would probably take a little longer. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-03-16 06:30 pm UTC (link)

Be more permanent, though. Arthur you could probably scare off this easily, but Nigma's smart enough to know that a cape can't throw you out of your own house, and if he decided it was worth it to him, could just bring Arthur back and pick up some cops while he's at it (nothing delights a villain like making the cops act as enforcers - it's good revenge and is hilariously infuriating to the impotent capes who they're being legally forced to protect you from).

Babs was really busy, though, you're right. And stressed and annoyed and depressed and all sorts of vexed and unpleasant. If there was ever a time she'd try the quickest, most minimal effort solution first it was probably then.

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psychop_rex
2009-03-17 03:31 am UTC (link)

I could be wrong about this, but I think that a JSA or JLA member actually COULD throw you out of your house. Both groups have been around a long time, they've got major heavy-hitters amongst their members, and they have at least enough clout with the government to be allowed to have bases in areas that otherwise would be off-limits (the JLA has a base on the MOON, forcryin'outloud, which you'd think would generally be objected to, and the JSA has what is basically a 'JSA building' right out in public). Their word that something is rotten in the state of Denmark - or the house of the Browns, in this case - would probably carry enough weight that the cops would check the situation out, at least.

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	jarodrussell 2009-03-16 07:30 pm UTC (link)
	But the green jumpsuit, I miss. Yep. I loved that outfit. It had pockets. It had a utility belt. It covered her, and as such you could tweak the story any numbers of ways to make it bullet-, knife-, or whatever-proof. But, nooooooooo, it's not Black Canary unless her costume is completely functionless and nostalgic. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	unknownscribler 2009-03-16 05:48 pm UTC (link)
	I'm surprised that the JLA or JSA doesn't have some sort of embedded training program for wannabe sidekicks and newbie heroes. Also, new icon inspired by this post: (Reply to this) (Thread)

	jarodrussell 2009-03-16 07:26 pm UTC (link)
	Don't you know that teens DIE when they become heroes. That's what Oracle says anyway. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-03-16 08:04 pm UTC (link)

Well, sometimes they just get shot in the spine, in ways that are theoretically unrelated to their actual heroing career.... Or turned into bizarre villains that appear to have nothing whatsoever to do with their actual personalities.... Or shot in the kneecap, made joyless, and then accelerated to a premature and uninteresting adulthood.... Or turned into vapid appendages of their male friends/love interests....

But they die horribly, too, yeah.

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	merseybeatler 2009-03-16 06:04 pm UTC (link)
	I love how Oracle is usually drawn as a woman. She actually looks like a human being rather than a Barbie. Also, Dinah rocks. (Reply to this)

	(Anonymous) 2009-03-16 06:44 pm UTC (link)
	I always thought there was some potential to Spoiler being the "Robin" to Huntress's "Batman", with the twist that Helena wouldn't want a sidekick and Steph wouldn't want to be one. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	gwalla.livejournal.com 2009-03-16 06:45 pm UTC (link)
	Dammit, that was me. OpenID sux. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-03-16 07:45 pm UTC (link)
	I'm in agreement that Steph would have made a good sidekick for Dinah. (Reply to this)

	ashtoreth 2009-03-16 08:19 pm UTC (link)
	Why is it desireable to make Steph a killer? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-03-17 12:08 am UTC (link)
	? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	arrlaari.livejournal.com 2009-03-17 04:39 am UTC (link)
	Clearly, if you don't embrace that Bat-line on killing, you're a goddamned murderer. That's how dad did it, that's how DC did it, and if you ask me, it's worked out pretty well so far. Clearly. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-03-17 11:43 am UTC (link)

Oh!

See, the idea that exploring the difference in Steph's attitude toward the right of scum to live and the main Bat party line the way it was explored with Helena is somehow equivalent to "making Steph a killer" is so completely alien to me that I genuinely could not figure out what

ashtoreth was talking about and where that comment had even come from. I get it now. Thanks. ^_^

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ashtoreth
2009-03-17 08:25 pm UTC (link)

And if Steph had more interaction with Huntress- well, two black sheep with criminal families and disdain towards the "no kill" rule- the paralells are gold, and that Cataclysm thing only brushed the surface of that potential.

That's what brought the question about. Disdain toward 'no killing' and disdain for someone's right to live are potentially major character issues.

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	lieut_kettch 2009-03-17 11:20 am UTC (link)
	Wait... hasn't Dinah known Batman is Bruce Wayne since the time they were together in the JLA? (Reply to this) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-03-17 11:40 am UTC (link)

Crisis and Miller. The answer is always Crisis and Miller, with Batman.

Post-ICk some of Bruce's pre-Crisis, um, sanity, seems to have been restored to his history, and it looks like the old guard JLA all knew who he was again, but there was a long stretch there where the whole Antisocial Urban Legend thing meant nobody outside the Batclan, Clark and Diana knew who was under the cowl until the JLA "Divided we Fall" trade, unless (like Dinah here) they quietly figured it out and kept mum.

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