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My favorite crimes Barbara Gordon has committed

Full disclosure, I am considering only New Earth Babs because the other versions are simply inferior. I will ignore the typical masked adventurer crimes she did as Batgirl, like assault, breaking and entering, trespassing, obstructing justice and vigilantism. I will also not really consider the very classic Oracle shenanigans like hacking, accessing some databases she probably shouldn't, stealing from rich criminals to fund her own (kinda criminal) operation, invading privacy and literally doing illegal spy work with Birds of Prey. Because those are boring and I want something that's not just another Tuesday. So, in no particular order:

Changing the light on traffic lights

Stupid and small but I love it. Very iconic and very Barbara-like.

+Extra Helena who has very logical and understandable qualms about Oracle's power and influence

[Birds of Prey (1999) #58]

Blackmailing Catwoman into returning stolen paintings

And threatening to send her money to charities. Catwoman begrudgingly obliged.

I am not too sure about what happened leading to that moment. That comic didn't have a particularly strong story. I think Selina stole them while Barbara was still Batgirl?

Either way, the ending is pretty memorable for me. Ultimate irony - threatening her into returning stolen goods by stealing funds from her.

[Birds of Prey: Catwoman/Oracle]

Making a deal with Gotham City's emergency services

and then using the tech she implemented to override the control of the vehicles when needed. Or, when she wants to. This one instance was because Steph just got shot in the head and didn't really want to end up in an ER where her mother worked, exposing her (third) secret identity. It worked out so yay?

[Batgirl (2009) #6]

Sort of kidnapping Wendy Harris

To be fair, she did it because Calculator, Oracle's arch nemesis and Wendy's father, was endangering her and she did it to protect her but a little more explanation couldn't hurt. But that wouldn't be Barbara without her genial tendency to keep everyone but herself in the dark. I guess she really did keep Wendy in the dark. In the basement.

[Batgirl (2009) #11]

Political corruption

We never get to learn what exactly she did. She just said that many leaders owe her their positions. it sure as hell doesn't sound legal. World-wide corruption? Why not. Entirely too much power for one person to hold. 10/10

Also, I bet you that those power grids aren't exactly controlled legally.

[Birds of Prey (1999) #103]

Blowing up a government facility and getting rid of some evidence

Well, Cass decided to break into a government facility and free a terrorist to prove a point that everyone can change. And in doing so she left them some photo, video and DNA evidence.

Oracle therefore later sent her back there to destroy it, blowing the building up in the process. Oh and she also presumably helped the guy get fake documents but that's not 100% confirmed (Cass said that it's from her friends as she gave them to him).

She really cares about her not-quite-daughter <3

[Batgirl (2000) #17]

Her father/uncle (the Gordon family was kind of a mess after Crisis) might be the commissioner of Gotham but she clearly doesn't respect the law in the slightest. They love eachother, of course, they just don't share the same views on the law.

I simply enjoy how unhinged her methods sometimes usually are and we need to recognise that. Also, while we are at it, get rid of Prime Earth Barbara's characterisation and bring back the competent and sarcastic control-freak.

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The DC movie Birds of Prey totally disrespected its "source material"

Now, what I am going to post is nothing particularly new or inventive - I am basically preaching to the choir and ranting about meaningless bullshit. But, the movie Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey can barely even be called an adaptation. In my opinion, it doesn't even feature the team, despite what the name claims.

Birds of Prey at first didn't even have a name. It was just... Oracle's field agents, Black Canary being the first but far from the only one. The whole damn premise and reason for the team to exist was to have someone do things for Barbara she couldn't do anymore.

How the hell can you have the team without her?? It's ORACLE'S team. Barbara leads them, plans their missions, gets them intel, recruits new members, funds them. She is the voice in their ears, the eye in the sky...This is why, hot take, I believe the TV series from 2002 is a better adaptation (although, on its own it's a pretty shitty TV series). It at least has the team's founder and leader, however odd and nonsensical it was at times. Yes, I watched it. Most of it, anyways.

I mean, sure, Harley and Barbara have so much in common. Both were created for a Batman show, both had their lives changed by Joker, both went, in at least one continuity, from working with Suicide Squad to founding Birds of Prey, both are highly educated, both have a homoerotic relationship with their best friend... You could totally swap one with another. Totally the same thing.

Alright, enough of disgruntled sarcasm. I am hesitant to call the comic books a source material for this film because it genuinely doesn't feel like it's supposed to be that. If you take out Oracle out of Birds of Prey, what are you left with? Basically any random superhero team but all women.

Making the movie about Harley Quinn is pretty darn insulting. She was already dominating in the media with the movie Suicide Squad, the first season of Harley Quinn show, and she was in many comic books, in Suicide Squad, Harleen was being published... And there was much more to come out and there is still so much of Harley Quinn content to come out. Sticking her into yet another team was just unnecessary. Just don't make a Birds of Prey adaptation if you need Harley that much.

It should've been a Harley Quinn solo movie. Or Gotham City Sirens. I am just mad I was promised a Birds of Prey movie and didn't get it. But that's on me, I suppose. I was dumb. I just found out about the existence of BoP and decided to check out if it was ever adapted, not reading the reviews much...

Alright, the movie had Black Canary and Huntress, apart from Oracle the two most frequent members of the team. That's alright, I suppose. Yes, their personalities, backstories and looks were changed but something is bound to change when adapting a story. That is not a problem (although Helena was sometimes a bit annoying, I am not going to lie. Angry loner and a ruthless and vengeful vigilante that, despite everything, wants to fit in, that has a passion for teaching and is very protective of children, that has moral conflicts with Oracle over her controlling tendencies and disregarding notions like privacy etc. is much preferable to an assassin whose only personality trait is being socially awkward).

There is not much of a point to this stupid rant, except the fact that Birds of Prey are pretty much my favorite comic book series and I am pretty bummed out that this is probably the only adaptation for a long while.

I am just going to ignore the totally unnecessary Cassandra Cain name-drop because holy shit. That was not the character.

Also no Zinda Blake :(

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Some random and unimportant thoughts on the name of Cassandra Cain, mostly pertinent to Post-Crisis:

Her first name, Cassandra, is a direct reference to the Oracle of Troy. The pretty known fact about her is that she spoke true prophecies but was never to be believed. It was already discussed that this, indeed, ties into Cain's difficulty with speech and communication and being understood by literally anyone that's not the world's most dangerous assassin who presumably hardly cares about her. No new revelations here, I am afraid.

In a novelization of the event No Man's Land by Greg Rucka (a really good book, by the way, I can only recommend it), the name 'Cassandra' was given to her by Barbara Gordon, who called herself Oracle, so she kind of named her after herself in more than one way (Cassandra and Batgirl). She may have had some issues projecting herself into her later on in Batgirl (2000), it is not that important but it should be noted. Later on, it was revised to be a name given to her by her biological mother, Lady Shiva, naming her after both herself and her deceased sister (Sandra and Carolyn). I am not sure whether I agree with that choice.

Cassandra, the prophetess, was admired and given a gift by Apollo, and when his love wasn't reciprocated, he decided to curse her as well. Cass Cain was given a 'gift' by her father, David, the harsh martial arts training, being able to see intent and predict movements by seeing the tiniest changes in a body language, and she was, too, 'cursed' by him in the communication department, her not being even spoken to, not being taught how to speak. Also, David had an unhealthy admiration towards her, as he saw her as his greatest triumph, weapon. But he didn't even give her the space to betray him, unlike Apollo in the Greek myth, dooming her from the start.

Although etymologically it is unexplained, there are a few theories that I think are rather interesting and could be relevant. It has been connected to a word kekasmai which means "to surpass, to excel", which is precisely what Cass feels the need to be, what she thinks she should be, as per her upbringing with David Cain. The other proposed roots would fit much more with Barbara Gordon's Oracle, though.

As for her surname, Cain, it comes from the Bible. Cain was the firstborn of two first people on the earth, Adam and Eve, and was basically the first killer, after the fact forever marked with a mark of Cain, forced to wander. This pretty closely resembles how once Cass killed, she ran away, wandering for a (long) while and definitely believing, that she is forever 'marked' by what she had that, irredeemable.

And… as for sources, it's basically all wikipedia or fandom wiki. It's a Tumblr post, not a dissertation.

So yeah, her name is fitting, cool and kind of edgy. But the whole character is cool and kind of edgy. With the all-black suit and clothing. And black lipstick, obviously.

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Some thoughts about the new Batgirl ongoing title

If you didn't notice already, in 2024 a new Batgirl ongoing title started. In celebration of the upcoming January 26th, I am posting my thoughts on it. Tate Brombal is the writer snd there are a lot of nods to the original series, published throughout the early 00s. I am now going to try to gauge his direction for the title, seeing his tendency to build on what was already established and what he might want to do, as I decipher the story he wants to tell.

Canon and possible retcons?

First of all, what's canon? There are clear references throughout the text to Batgirl (2000), however, because of a few directly contradicting passages, we are sure not EVERYTHING is canon (Despite what the Infinite Frontiers claims). In #3, there was a literal editorial note to #25 (2000), but can we assume it was the same? Probably not. Well, we know that Shiva did at least kill her and revive her.

The thing that confuses me mildly is the fact, that Cass clearly recognizes Nyssa Raatko, while being unaware of Carolyn Wu-San's existence. In the last arc, Destruction's daughter, Cass met Nyssa Raatko in the League of Assassins outpost, and, as far as I am aware, that was the only time they met, both Post-Crisis and in Rebirth, though I might not be correct, I did however try to fact-check with a wiki. In #73, the last issue of Batgirl vol. 1, the same arc, Lady Shiva does tell Cass a few tidbits about her childhood and mentions her sister. We can therefore assume these events, such as Cassandra's third death or Shiva's death, never took place or took place differently. Which is, honestly, pretty good. I am all for revising and retconning that frankly disgusting Shiva's backstory.

For those unaware, David Cain basically saw some sort of potential to kill, decided to lure her by killing her sister Carolyn, Sandra decided to avenge her, Cain defeated her and forced her to have a child because he wanted to raise a perfect killer. Enter Cassandra Cain. We might be getting therefore new or revised backstory once Cassandra asks (knowing her, confront would probably be a better word tbh) Shiva about Carolyn. That would make sense, given the series' big emphasis on their relationship so far. I am wondering how will it all mesh with Cassandra's backstory from No Man's Land, Batgirl (2000) and Batman and Robin Eternal, given their obvious differences. I am not sure what is and isn't canon, honestly, this is way too confusing.

Where the hell are they going?

As of the last issue, we know that Cass and Shiva are embarked on a train away from Gotham. All we know is the fact that it is because they are being targeted by Kalden and the Unburied. This seems pretty interesting. Partly, we got an answer in #3, it's probably because the Order of Shiva is traveling with them and it would be pretty cumbersome to transport all those people... It also doesn't really answer where they're headed to, the only thing we know is the fact that they are running away from a bunch of undead ninjas pursuing them and that place is presumably reachable from Gotham by train and therefore somewhere in America.

It could be that they are going to some random town, although given that this is a story written not to be the most realistic possible, but to be the most interesting possible, I am leaning towards it being somewhere significant. I think there are multiple possibilities. It could be some... hidden outpost, hell maybe the one from the Batgirl finale, or, hear me out, Detroit. I checked, it is a long train ride but it is doable from New Jersey, the place where Gotham City usually is located. That could make sense based on what I said earlier and it could easily be what happens in the issue #5, based on the start of the synopsis (and I hope those poppy-induced hallucinations will be Steph but like, that is quite predictable, based on the fact that she already hallucinated her two times in her original series. But also).

The surprise attack?

In the synopsis of the upcoming issue #4, we learn that a surprise attack will "change everything" and it ponders whether Cass will join "the enemy of an enemy". The enemy in question will obviously be Lady Shiva, Nyssa Raatko, Angel Breaker and... that guy. Who is their enemy? Now, this is an interesting question. For Lady Shiva and Angel Breaker, I could see their common enemy being Black Canary but I can't see Cass not taking Dinah's side in this lol. I am also thinking of Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins in general, mostly because of the appearance of the League of Shadows, as they are those who decided to split for the League of Asssassins.

Apparently, in Batgirl #5 there will be a surprise visit from a family member and given what I just said, it might be Damian... I don't think those two interacted much and honestly, it might be pretty surprising. Or Jason, he has ties with League of Assassins throught the time he spent there with Talia after his ressurection. It could be interesting, given their very conflicting morals. Although I have seen much more probable predictions of Steph (though that isn't surprising, it is pretty predictable, though I would love her to be in this book at some point, given that she doesn't get much content these days), Azrael, Duke or even Helena. The surprise attack could easily just be those Unburied, though, and I am reading too much into the "surprising" aspect of things.

Some new characters

The biggest unknown, so far, are the Undead, Kalden and the guy on the train. We don't know much about them, we just got some exposition from Shiva. I can't really make up a theory because there isn't that much to work with, despite the arc already being half-finished. I do think that Lady Shiva is not telling something. She was shown to be pretty manipulative in this run so far. She mentioned that they woke up centuries later with vengeance in their heart. That implies that there was something done to them by Shiva or someone else that they think was connected to her even. This makes me think of the One year later arc in Birds of Prey (1999) #93-95, where Lady Shiva was a title of a protector and the best fighter of some nondescript village, so maybe one of the previous ones...? There is zero basis for this and I am just making things up, however.

Honestly, the guy on the train is a pretty wild card. I haven't seen anyone identify him. It is entirely possible he is a new character and so he is a total blank slate. There is no point in theorizing about him if all we know is his appearance and that he knows Nyssa Raatko and Angel Breaker.