Tag: Gail Simone

Comic book angst

Hi, peeperas y peeperos!

As some of you may know, I got back into reading and collecting comics. I’ll have to thank quirky/awesome horror writer Gina Ranalli for that. She and I got to talking one day and she was waxing enthusiastic over some of the comics she regularly follows, and I decided to get back into it, especially since DC introduced the new out n’ proud Batwoman (drawn until now mostly by J.H. Williams, III, who is awesome):

Source: Huffpo via Bleeding Cool; re-sized here

And the awesome Gail Simone is writing the resurrected and walking Batgirl/Barbara Gordon. Plus, Batgirl #19 just introduced a transgender character. She’s Barbara Gordon’s roommate. So freaking cool.

I’ve also been following the latest incarnation of DC’s Birds of Prey, and totally developed a comic book crush on team member Starling, a whole new character introduced for the series. She’s kick-ass, irreverent, prickly, laugh-out-loud funny, and all was right with the world because you knew she’s kick ass and take names.

Source: Gothamspoilers, re-sized here

I’ve been totally geek comic-crushed on Starling since she was introduced to the Birds. She had some baggage — she’s working for ruthless government op Amanda Waller — but so what? She was kicking ass with the Birds.

And then came BoP #19 and my heart is crushed. (cue sad violin music) Crushed, I tell you. Starling’s been playing the Birds all along, and she busts out in cahoots with the skanky Mr. Freeze and she’s all gonna take the Birds down, now. She freaking betrayed the Birds. At least that’s what DC wants me to believe, and I’m so bummed about this that I’m probably going to need therapy, like after Walking Dead episodes. Gothamspoilers sums up my feelings about this turn of events quite nicely. Starling is one of the best characters to hit DC in a long time, and now she’s probably gone over to the dark side.

Sigh. At least there’s fanfic, I guess.

Anyway, anybody else out there follow comics? If so, what are you reading now and what are your faves? Join my geek alliance!

Happy reading, happy writing, happy Monday!

by Categories: ComicsTags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

Goin’ Batty…Batgirl, too!

Tomorrow. TOMORROW Batwoman #1 drops! WOOOOOO!

But keep in mind, too, that writer Gail Simone‘s Batgirl dropped last week.

source: insidepulse.com

Let’s get y’all caught up on Batgirl, shall we? The original “Bat-Girl” made her debut as Betty Kane in Batman #139 (1961), as the sidekick to Batwoman. In 1964, she was removed from publication only to reappear as Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl, the daughter of police commissioner James Gordon. That debut occurred in Dectective Comics #359. This incarnation of Batgirl was way more popular than Betty Kane, and she appeared in comics from 1966 through about 1988, until the fateful shooting in the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke, at the hands of the Joker that left her a paraplegic and ended up bringing about another transformation of Batgirl.

At the hands of editor Kim Yale and comic book author John Ostrander, Barbara Gordon was reinvented as The Oracle, the awesome info-broker of the DC comic universe and leader of the Birds of Prey. In 1999, Helen Bertinelli (better known as Huntress) assumed the Batgirl identity until Batman ixnayed that plan. However, also that year, Cassandra Cain took the Batgirl identity in the “No Man’s Land” series. Cain’s Batgirl became the first Batgirl to be featured in a monthly comic from 2000 to 2006, when Cain gave up the identity, but she’d reclaim it in Teen Titans only to then pass it on to Stephanie Brown (previously known as Robin and Spoiler), who got her own Batgirl series in October 2009. That Batgirl, however, was canceled after 24 issues.

Whew. Got all that? Okay.

So the upshot is, Batgirl ain’t done! HELL, NO! Like a freakin’ PHOENIX! Here she comes! This time, it’s the original Barbara Gordon reclaiming the identity and here’s the kicker–she’s no longer paralyzed, which brings with it a lot of mixed feeling from a lot of different quarters. Here’s a great discussion between Jill Pantozzi and Gail Simone about that issue.

So not only do we have the super-awesome Batwoman getting her own gig this week, but the return of Batgirl hit us last week.

Comics. Where just about anything is possible.

Happy reading, happy superhero-ing!

by Categories: Comics, The AwesomeTags: , ,