The Gotham Knight
The Batman Blog

With the return of Birds of Prey, I have been thinking some on what I like about the title and what my preferences for it are and would be. This led to a series of questions that I'd like you to give me feedback as a fellow fan.

1) It seems to me a lot of what they deal with has been terrorists and international criminals. Should they stick to that level for the most part or be built to take on a little bit of anything and everything that might come up?

2) Related to question 1, who should be in the cast? In the original, Oracle could call in "reservists" - heavy hitters like Power Girl - when she needed them. Should some of them be part of the regular cast? Would you like to have a) Power Girl, b) Jade, c) Jessie Quick, d) Dr. Light, e) Supergirl, f) Zatanna, g) Wonder Woman appear more than once in a while? Are there other characters who go well beyond hand to hand combat that would be good additions to the main cast?

3) Do you want Misfit and/or Infinity back?

4) The current cast seems to fit the general bird motif. Oracle and Huntress are bat characters and the rest have birds in their name. Should the main BofP cast to stick to characters that can be tied to birds?

5) How do you feel about Hawkwoman, Firehawk or Flamebird as potential BofP cast members? Anybody else bird related that seems a likely candidate?

6) How do you feel about having younger characters? Should Batgirl show up? Should she be a regular?

7) How do you feel about BofP as a home for some of DC's homeless heroines - Skyrocket, Manhunter, Vixen, Question, Witchfire, Sapphire, etc? Anybody in particular you'd like to see given a home with BofP just so they don't slip off into comic book limbo?

8) How do you feel about male teammates? Is BofP better as a girls only team? If not, what male characters would be good additions? Would Red Robin? Ted Cord seemed to be a good addition from time to time to the previous incarnation. Anybody in that vein that would be good to have associated with them?

9) Anybody else in particular that you think would be a good fit (or even a bad fit but would lead to good drama) that you'd like to see as a regular cast member?

I know - I ask a lot of questions. Feel free to answer one or two if the spirit moves you in that direction but if you'd answer most or all I'd appreciate it.

Another question about age I had.In The Dark Knight they were the same age but in the Comics Harvey seems older

Well it's been close to a whole year since the new era of Batman began. We saw Dick Grayson become Batman, Damian become Robin, Tim Drake traveling around the world to find Bruce as Red Robin, a new Batgirl and Azrael, and more recently the reformation of the Birds of Prey. Morrison gave us wild stories in Batman & Robin, Daniel finally revealed the new Black Mask, and Rucka and Batwoman shined in Detectvie.

This thread's a reflection back on a whole year of the Reborn era.

So how would you rate this year? What were your favorite titles? How do you feel about Dick and Damian as Batman and Robin, but more importantly, would rather have Dick stay as Batman or have Bruce reclaim the cowl once he returns?

The R.I.P. Final Crisis Return storylines got me to thinking?

In the DCU clearly Darkseid is higher on the Cosmic scale then the Devil.

With less long term planning and pretty much one stare Darkseid displaced Batman altogether where as Hurt took forever and only robbed him of his psyche just to see that supplanted by an even more dangerous back up persona that pretty much kicked his ass.

In order to return Bruce has to journey through time fighting more demons and outsmarting Superman, GL and the Booster boys. All he did after his encounter with Satan is dry off, chang clothes and headed off to solve Orion?s murder.

So that being said, in retrospect, without all the information yet in can we speculate that, perhaps, Darkseid is responsible for creating Batman?

Without the Omega Sanction Bruce would not have gone back in time and turned the Deer Tribe into the Bat Tribe. We get hints that he definitely incurs the wrath of Hurt somehow in issue #2 whether it?s from his devil worshipping kinfolk or the ferret chick who inadvertently cursed Batman by cursing the entire Wayne Family.

The whole Barbatos, Hurt, Club of Villians, El Penitente thing was really put in the place many centuries ago and not just years as previously though. The root of Bruce?s conflicts with Hurt date much farther back than the replacement Batmen like we all thought.

So basically I think it can be said that Darkseid, by sending Bats back in time, not only created Batman but also the conflict with Hurt and, in a way I guess, the ultite means of his own demise.

DC Comics has just released penciled pages from the legendary Neal Adams' first issue of "Batman: Odyssey." The miniseries, written and drawn by Adams, will hit stores everywhere Wednesday, June 7.


Full article here.