I'll be honest here: I'm having a difficult time understanding the point, purpose and plot of the Oracle: the Cure mini-series. With only one issue to go, I wonder if all will be revealed, or if this is just going to be one more of those "what the hell was that all about?" DC miniseries that seem to be the publisher's specialty these days. I mean, I have completed two out of the three books that comprise this story, and I still don't know what the titular cure is supposed to be for. From what I can tell, she seems to be searching for a cure for Calculator's daughter Wendy, who was chewed up and spit out by a robot dog. Modern medicine can do some pretty amazing stuff, and Barbara Gordon is very resourceful, but I don't think there's a pill that's going to do the trick here.
I suppose the "Cure" could be a reference to Calculator's search for a solution using the anti-life equation - why the research and development for his magic medicine seems to require killing real people via their Second Life avatars is beyond me, although if we're being perfectly honest, we've all wished we could do that at one time or another.
The covers for Oracle: the Cure issues 1 and 2 fit nicely into DC's Breast Awareness Month theme that they seem to have going on. I don't quite understand how aging 15 years while being confined to a wheelchair has had the effect of transforming Babs from the cute girl next door to a centerfold model is beyond me, but if that's the cure, she's gonna making millions.It's kind of misleading of DC to package this miniseries under the "Battle for the Cowl" banner, since - well, she's clearly not battling for the cowl! She's in another country, she's not fighting to take up the Batman mantle, and if she did it would be a cruel joke: "Who was that masked redhead paraplegic?". There are some very goofy ideas coming out of DC these days, but I'd like to think they would draw the line at some point.
Groovy Superhero
4 comments:
I have to say I'm rather enjoying the series, despite online reviews being mixed at best. Some have speculated that the cure will give Barbara the power to walk again to regain her Batgirl persona. Others belive that's a red herring, and that the cure will in fact be Wendy's cure. Either way, I'm intrigued to see how it turns out.
Besides, it's only three issues priced at $2.99, so even if the series is a dud, there's little damage done to the reader. And the artwork is gorgeous.
Good point about this being shoehorned into the Battle for the Cowl event. It has nothing to do with it at all, but it is consistent with DC's practice of slapping the label of a "big event" on just about any title regardless of how tenuous the connection may be.
Barbara's obvious breast enlargement literally lept off the page at me when I saw the covers for this title. Look, I love big busted women as much as the next guy, but I don't think every single super heroine has to have a big rack. Part of what made Babs neat and different was that she was the cute girl next door unlike characters like Power Girl and Wonder Woman.
I just hope that the cure is not Barbara gaining the ability to walk again. I love Barbara in her role as Oracle and find her to be the most unique character out of all the derivative characters that make up the Batman family.
I'm enjoying the book - I mean I wouldn't be reading it and blogging about it if it wasn't at least capturing my attention, and it's true that by today's standards it's a pretty small investment. I just think it's weird to have a title called "The Cure" and as we approach the end of the mini, we still don't know what the title refers to.
As of Today's Arkham Asylum One-Shot, I think it can be safely said that "Battle for the Cowl" is just an umbrella name for all stories taking place during this phase of the seemingly never-ending event. That's OK with me as long as they're not actually expecting us to believe that each of these characters are actually competing for the Cowl.
Assuming they don't make the incredibly foolish and tasteless choice to make the cure her ability to walk again, Barbara would be a pretty weird choice for the cowl - buildings without ramps would be like kryptonite for her.
As for the breasts - it's like they're trying to stir something up, or attract a weird new audience over at DC. I'm a heterosexual man, I enjoy attractive big breasts. As portrayed in the comics, they neither turn me on (I mean its a comic, how creepy would that be)?, nor do they offend my sensitive tastes. But in a genre already famous for ridiculous portrayals of female proportions, these last few weeks of DC books seem hell bent on raising the bar. The cover art for this mini actually portrays the strain on Babs' clothing, like the twins are actually fighting to break free.
Also, if she doesn't put a bra on, it doesn't matter what kind of cure she finds, she's never going to be able to get out of that chair. You know - gravity and all.
Maybe there's a special guest appearance by Robert Smith?
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