So, my thoughts on what I’ve read so far:
Detective Comics #652-653
Or, as I like to call it:
It’s a decent story. Nothing to really say much about this one. Batman and Huntress team up to fight some baddies, get caught up in “how far to we cross the line” and depart grumbling at each other – pretty standard fare for this 90s-00s era of Huntress. I did kind of chuckle at Batman both being irked at being in the passenger seat of someone else’s car, and him subtly poking at her costume choice by asking if she’ll be warmer in the car.
Speaking of, I’m curious to what you guys think of her look in this era. Like, the design Jim Lee gives her with the ab window has gotten its fair share of hate over the years, but that plunging neckline! Either way, I think we can all agree that mullet is terrible and that Helena should feel bad subjecting her schoolchildren to such atrocities.
Batman: Huntress/Spoiler - Blunt Trauma
Think we can add some more colons and dash marks in that title? Sheesh!
Awkard title aside, this was a solid one-shot. It’s funny, this is a character combo that you don’t really think about until it’s laid out on you, but both Helena and Stephanie have a lot in common. Both were kind of adjacent in the Bat-Family – there to help, but at times unwanted by the main players. Both deal with having a family rooted in crime, Helena with being a daughter of the mob and Steph the daughter of a super-villain. They even share the same love for purple garb!
Now I’m picturing what would have happened if Steph decided to train or become a partner with Helena…
Birds of Prey: Revolution
It was okay. It’s funny, when I saw that they were going to Santa Prisca, I figured they were going to do something more with that setting. Like I was thinking “What if Bane showed up and Dinah had to fight him?” But here it’s basically just your standard exploited Central American/Carribian place. It’s really not that much different in plot from any other crime story in Gotham, except this tropical paradise gives Dinah an excuse to put on a bikini.
Birds of Prey: Wolves
One thing I found interesting about this was how these series of one-shots suddenly starts getting a bit of continuity, where the last one ended with Barbara and Dinah on the outs after what happened in Santa Prisca, and now they’re kind of fighting their own battles.
This issue also introduces something else, and funny that our talks about setting things up for Pride Month reminded me of this – queer coding between Dinah and Babs. "Oh, we’re not girlfriends, just really, really, really good friends. It’s kind of ironic, considering Dixon’s own backwards views on LGBT rights.
I was also surprised that this issue is actually the debut of the douchey ex-husband from the Black Canary mini we covered last time. I figured he was just made for that series, I didn’t think he had any appearances before.
Birds of Prey: Batgirl
This was really fun. This is one of those hot takes that gets people mad at me sometimes, but I honestly more prefer Babs as Batgirl rather than Oracle, so seeing her in the classic suit fighting with “Black Canary” was cool to see.
And they pulled a fast one on me! The tricked me, and I daresay I may have been bamboozled. Because as soon as they mentioned Mad Hatter, I figured “Oh, so this is that episode of BTAS ‘Perchance to Dream’ but with Babs, okay cool.” But then we find out that it’s Spellbinder! Who I honestly never heard of, but way to swerve my expectations, comic!
Another thing of note is the Greg Land art. Early Greg Land art, because this is him before he started tracing everything – though he definitely does some here, his Joker feels straight from Brian Bolland – and I have to say, I really wish he stuck with just traditionally drawing for the most part, because he’s really solid here.
with a few more early adventures! Plus, we’re finishing off our Origins of the Birds of Prey with the remaining few one-shots that set up our big and epic ongoing series, which we’ll be diving into soon! Are y’all ready?
You can join or learn more about Birds of Prey HERE
Thanks for joining us this week, 
