Comic Recap/Thoughts: Batgirl and The Birds of Prey Volume No. 1: Who is Oracle?, Part 1

Did you all ask for more Batgirl? Even if you didn't, you are about to get some more of her. Plus we get to catch up to Dinah Lance (aka, Black Canary) and Helena Bertinelli (aka, Huntress). This week we are covering Batgirl and The Birds of Prey Volume No. 1: Who is Oracle?. This volume includes Batgirl and The Birds of Prey Rebirth #1, as well as, issues #1-6. So as to keep my posts a reasonable length for this part 1, I am going to cover the Rebirth #1 and issues #1-3.

Batgirl and The Birds of Prey Rebirth: (Note: This happens after Batgirl's return from adventuring overseas.) We start this issue with a series of surveillance shots all over Gotham, Batgirl is narrating over them. She talks about how time heals wounds, but not always perfectly, and scars help remind you to move forward. She recently learned that the past is behind her and she is ready to move forward. She lands on a roof full of thugs and pretty easily takes them down (narrating her moves as she does).

While holding a guy in a headlock she has him open up his phone. There is an email from someone called Oracle (this upsets Batgirl greatly, because she used to go by Oracle when she was in her wheelchair). She is upset that her past snuck up on her, but she leaves the bad guys for the cops.

We get a flashback of Batgirl's life. Hanging out with her dad (Jim Gordon) and wanting to grow up to be a cop. He is very against her being a cop so she suits up with Batman and Robin. The night that Joker shot her and paralyzed her from the waist down. Dealing with depression and lack of purpose, until she found another way to help in the fight against crime. She couldn't be Batgirl, so she became Oracle. She needed some brawn to go with her brain, someone she could trust. Black Canary was the first to join her and they became the Birds of Prey. After a few more years an experimental surgery gave Barbara back her legs and the Birds of Prey disbanded.

Dinah was in a rock band for a little bit (she had her own fun stand alone comic where this happens). While Dinah is no longer in that band, Barbara is hoping to get the Birds of Prey back together. Barbara catches up with Dinah outside a club, where she is tossing a guy out. Barbara tells her about this new Oracle and Dinah is on board to help her.

Seems Babs has a new crib in a sweet clocktower. It is a little bare but she does have a wall of evidence and no leads as to who this fake Oracle is. Dinah throws out that the only person she knows, besides Barbara, who has this level of computer knowledge is Frankie. So far Babs the only lead Babs has is Louis Terroni, who owns a shipping store that is a front for the mob. Dinah wants to know why she is there? The Birds of Prey are not really a thing and it was just a name. Barbara disagrees, but she is more worried about the name Oracle being misused. Dinah leaves to go confront Terroni. The band is back together for at least one night.

Elsewhere in a church, Huntress is confessing. She confesses to spying, killing, and deceiving when she was the Matron of Spyral. She is in Gotham to reinvent herself, no more matron, now she will be Huntress and the father is part of her new mission. It pans out to reveal that she has killed the father, who is actually a mafia hitman. She has a list and vengeance might be a sin, but she'll say a few, "Hail Mary's." (The next name on her list is Louis Terroni.)

On a rooftop, Batgirl and Black Canary are casing Terroni and his men, also sharing some fun banter. They jump down and take out the guards pretty easily. Batgirl tases Terroni, but before they can take him an arrow hits his car. Huntress is there to kill him. Black Canary goes at Huntress, but Huntress hits her right in the throat. She then calls BC and BG by their first names as Terroni gets away. Both are shocked and Huntress goes on to tell them she knows everything about them.

On the last page of this issue we get a shot of this new Oracle's HQ. This unknown person is watching everything and knows everything including what is coming.

Who is Oracle? Part One: Dead of Night: Black Canary is sharing a flashback. She is riding a train through Gotham with Oracle (Barbara) in her ear. The BOP is investigating a threat to public transit. Canary admits that Barbara is not often wrong and she knows that she always has her back too. Canary spots a shady suspect and follows him, she stops the guy but also destroys the train. Lucky for BC, Oracle can stop it and does.

In the present BC and Batgirl are chasing Huntress and Canary is wondering if she still trusts Barbara like she used to. Huntress really wants to kill Terroni and Batgirl really wants him alive. Huntress causes the car to crash, but they are both too late. Terroni has been bitten to death. Huntress is pissed and tells BC and BG to leave her alone or she will expose them. Batgirl wonders if this Huntress is this new Oracle but Canary points out that wouldn't make any sense. New Oracle wants money, this Huntress is clearly looking for revenge. Batgirl is still freaking out, but Canary is able to talk her down, promising to solve this together.

Back at Gotham Watchtower, aka the clock tower I mentioned before. (Also of note, this location was the old stomping ground of the Birds of Prey.) Before they get inside, they hear some intruders. It is the realtor who sold Batgirl the place, she is with a guy and they are trying to break in for some reason. Batgirl's phone goes off and it scares away the realtors. Canary makes fun of her and they let the two go, a problem for another day.

Inside, Batgirl reveals that Oracle texted her. Now two people know who she is and she is not happy about it. "Faux-racle" as Black Canary is now calling them, did give Batgirl a clue. Terroni is small potatoes, the big boss is Santo of the Cassamento family. So as least now they have someone to get information from.

Later at Santo's super tacky mansion, all the cameras are off and there are no guards. They guess that Huntress has beaten them to this location. They find her attempting to drown Santo in a fountain in his backyard surrounded by many wild animals. Canary asks why Huntress is working so hard to kill all these guys. Guy gets air for a second, while she tells us that he was paid to kill the entire Bertinelli family. That was 20 years ago, but no time like the present for revenge.

Batgirl stops Huntress, they start fighting, while Black Canary drags Santos away. Huntress goes to shoot at them, but Batgirl stops her. Black Canary runs back super pissed about almost being shot in the back. In the two on one fight it looks like Huntress might lose, but she doesn't want to fight them. She makes a break and gets a hold of Santos again. Huntress drops the name Greyson and the fight pauses for a moment, while Barbara gets on the same page, figuring out who Huntress is.

A loud hiss interrupts the conversation. Santos calls it a snake, but the snake-like man who calls himself, "The Asp," shows up and he has many many snakes. Asp was sent by someone called Fenice to kill Santos (remember the other guy who died of lots of bites? Guess it was snakes?). Now all the ladies are fighting the snakes and the snake guy. Canary screams, blasting Asp away and Huntress wants to know who the heck Fenice is. Looks like someone is trying to take over the whole mob scene in Gotham. Huntress decides that maybe they should all work together to take down Oracle and Fenice. Batgirl and Huntress have a fun yelling match. Canary is cool with working with Huntress and after a moment they all agree to work together. Next they debate torture versus interrogation.

Later in a warehouse Asp is chatting with Fenice, who is an imposing looking woman. She thinks Oracle betrayed them but via text, Oracle is like nah, that was the Birds of Prey. Fenice tells Asp to call some friends and kill these birds.

Who is Oracle? Part Two: Learn to Fly: Racing down the streets of Gotham are a couple of police cars. Batgirl is riding shotgun with her dad, aka, Jim Gordon driving and Santos in the back seat. They are making their way to a safe house. A bunch of Santo's men show up to try and 'save' their boss. Canary does what she can to stop Huntress from killing people, but they sure do cause a lot of damage. It is a pretty fun car chase and I love when Batgirl calls her dad Gordon. It ends when Canary cries, stopping all their pursuers and giving Batgirl and Jim a chance to get away.

Later at the safe house, they get all the info on Santo's transactions with Oracle. He gives them the email and bank account information. It is enough to track down Oracle, but for the moment they are more worried about Fenice and all the snakes. Jim wants to talk to Batgirl. In a classic dad move, he thinks that Batgirl and her team are in over their heads. He wants to signal Batman, but Batgirl says hard pass and bolts, slamming the door on the poor guy.

Back in the Watchtower, Huntress is impressed. Barbara is trying to trace Oracle and Dinah is trying to figure out who Huntress is. (I thought Barbara would know who she is, but maybe she doesn't?) Someone crashes the party and it is no other than Batman. Dinah and Huntress give the Bats a moment. Jim called Batman, and they both are just worried that this is too personal for Barbara. Babs disagrees, she thinks her judgment is clear. He asks about Huntress, but she promises to keep an eye on her. Batman promises to reassure Jim.

Meanwhile on the roof, Huntress asks about Batman, but then quickly kicks Dinah, telling her her reaction time is slow. Dinah kicks her in the face, they fight (I think this is Huntress's way of bonding?). Dinah figures something really messed Huntress up. They are pretty evenly matched and eventually head back in. Back downstairs, Babs is still tracking Oracle. Conveniently, Oracle starts to taunt them, giving up their (saying their because we don't know who this person is yet) location in the process.

The Birds find themselves at a server farm. It is pretty clearly a trap. Batgirl and Canary head inside, while Huntress stays outside to keep watch. The whole place has been wiped, or is being wiped, so there is still a chance to get the information. Batgirl plugs in and is trying to get some information, while Canary wanders around. Canary finds a bomb with only 50 seconds on it. Batgirl thinks Canary can defuse the bomb, but she cannot. Lucky for them both Huntress is there to pull them out right at the moment Batgirl gets the information she needs. The place goes boooom (four "o" boom) and now Batgirl and Canary find themselves trusting Huntress.

Elsewhere, Oracle has found the safehouse where GCPD is holding Santos. They hit up Fenice with the information. We see her calling Asp, who has a team in place outside the safe house. It is a creepy looking team of snake people. (I hope Jim isn't there...I am sure he is.)

Who is Oracle? Part 3: All Your Life: We start with another Dinah flashback, this time she is much younger. We see young Dinah sitting on a window ledge talking to her mom about her foster parents. It is her birthday and she is hoping her mom comes back soon. Foster dad, Dave, bangs in and is a real jerk, calling her mom a loser and calling Dinah a weirdo. She wakes up one of her foster brothers, hoping he will leave with her, but he passes. She has to go though, because if she stays, she will kill Dave.

Back in the now, Frankie is helping Babs to decrypt the files she got from the server farm. Three of the highest ranking members of the Falcone family are dead. Dinah wonders about the name Fenice and Huntress tells us it is Italian for "Phoenix." Huntress is intense, they try to get her to relax and she almost does.

Proximity alarm goes off and Barbara's realtors are back. They are all curious what these two are up to, but watching them climb an electric fence is too funny to miss. Once the file is decrypted they learn about a family dinner planned for that evening. Another mob family get together. They debate how best to deal with the situation. Call and warn the family or be there to confront the snakes.

Another Dinah flashback, now she is a little older and training at a dojo. Her sensei tells her to channel her anger but she fails to heed her advice, so she takes her down. She takes it hard, but he is kind and tells her that her name means, "She who judges." He tells her that judges are careful and considerate, so she needs to measure her words and actions. She looks into the mirror and talks to her mother again asking for the strength to be brave.

Now, our three ladies arrive at the restaurant. They literally burst in and try to warn the family that Fenice is coming. The head of this family seems to think that Fenice is just a "bogeyman story." There is a fair amount of awkward time passing and the snakes are a no show. They figure out this is a wild goose chase and the real target is the safe house.

Speaking of safe houses, Santos is sure there are not enough cops to protect him. Jim tries to radio his guys, no answer. In the basement we see our gang of snakes standing over two dead cops. They have been waiting for hours. We get a few more fun names: Lady Viper, Copperhead, and Cottonmouth. (Top notch on the snake names.) The snakes break in, attacking another cop. At the same moment the Birds of Prey bust in, so Asp calls in all the little snakes.

Fighting ensues, but snakes don't love a Canary Cry. Also knocks out the lights. Lady Viper grabs Santos while Huntress saves Jim, killing one of the snakes (Cottonmouth I think). Everyone is missing except our ladies and Batgirl lays into Huntress for killing. Huntress calls BS and asks if she should have let the cop die. Jim says he is cool with Huntress saving him and Batgirl is feeling pretty bad about going off on Huntress, who just walks out waving her off.

Flashback time, it is Dinah's sweet sixteen. She is cleaning the mirror at the dojo when her sensei gives her a cake. She has also earned her first degree black belt, he is proud of her for learning to control her pain, now she just has to let go of it. He is confident she will make a great sensei herself someday. He leaves and she looks back at the mirror. She says goodbye to her mom, while crying she screams and the mirror shatters. This is her first time using her cry.

Dinah stops Huntress, well tries to. She slows her down enough for Batgirl to come out and apologize. She couldn't say so in front of her dad. Huntress calls out keeping secrets from, "mommies and daddies." (I think this is foreshadowing, a lot of parent and family stuff is happening in this volume.) Neither Babs nor Dinah have moms and she is just trying to protect her dad. Dinah tells her that she and Babs are family, but there is room for more. Huntress is pretty brutal in her reply as she leaves.

Elsewhere the snakes have brought Santos to Fenice. He is very surprised that Fenice is a woman and even more so that he recognizes the voice. He looks like he has seen a ghost and says that he thought she was dead. She tells him that a phoenix never dies and she calls him her love.

Ooof, so many feelings in the first half of this volume. Huntress is so tense. I hope she chills out a little bit. Dinah is really entertaining throughout this comic and I greatly enjoyed her comments and her flashbacks. I am going to have more thoughts in part 2 and will also discuss my favorite line and covers. For now, I hope you can appreciate these little nuggets from the location descriptions.

Hope you can read these, they are pretty funny. See you all on Friday for part two!

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