Broken Frontier

Barbara Gordon moves back to Gotham City in this Battle for the Cowl tie-in limited series.

I somehow managed to miss the decade long run of Birds of Prey, so this issue was my first encounter with Barbara Gordon in the lead role. In all fairness, the last time I enjoyed a cyberspace driven story was the episode of Whiz Kids in 1984 where they hacked into the highway electronic bulletin board. And they did that with a 300 baud modem. Though I've grown up with computers all my life, and spend way too much time on the internet now, as a fictional device, I never found it compelling. That prejudice aside, Oracle #1 is a well written, capably rendered comic, well worth reading.

Thankfully, this series stands very well on its own, though it's tied to Battle for the Cowl, and references to the Batman's absence in Gotham City are woven into the narrative. Kevin VanHook excels in his characterization of Barbara Gordon, retelling the story of the Joker's bullet crippling her spine without being heavy handed. Indeed, the writing is of exceptional quality. VanHook's dialog is natural, and his narration is perfect. The script doesn't contain much action, but doesn't drag either.

The Calculator is seeking the Anti-Life Equation, in order to save his daughter, who is in a hospital with injuries she suffered as a member of the Teen Titans. In some ways I don't understand, he is using a Second Life type cyberspace network to gather crystals to unlock the secrets of the equation. One of Barbara Gordon's hacker friends finds out that cyber-life can be as deadly as real-life as she contends with the Calculator's avatar.

I enjoyed the artwork in the issue. Both pencillers did a nice job with the storytelling. My one criticism is with the design and execution of the cyberspace world. While it was colored distinctly and you could tell that it was a fantasy, it did not have the pixelated feel of a video game, which I think would have been a nice touch. It actually looked as if the characters were in an animated feature rather than a simulated cyber-universe.

I remain solidly impressed with Mr. VanHook's writing, and while I'll probably never come around to falling in love with cyberspace tales, this one is good and well worth the effort. No doubt the mini-series will have a greater connection to the Batman line's crossover, but the first issue stands very well on its own with a great protagonist in Barbara Gordon.