Countdown 39-30

Back into a long shitepost about Countdown again! 

Here's Una and Karate Kid flying around Metropolis and dreaming about some sweet B&E. 

Wait, what? They're going to break into Oracle's Metropolis hideout? Goooood Luuuucccck...

Speaking of hideouts, Pied Piper and Trickster and finding a change in their circumstances. Penguin treats them to some fancy wine and some nice chow. Trickster accepts it gladly but Piper has some reservations. Trickster mocks Piper for his negative view on things but sure enough, Penguin has the Suicide Squad ready and waiting  to take out the rogue Rogues. 

Meanwhile, Donna Troy and Jason Todd and flying through the sub-quantum something or other when Jason makes the mistake of asking how much weirder stuff can get. 

Yeah, that's like an unwritten rule in comics, or even life. Just... don't. 

Now we've mentioned weird, we have to mention Jimmy Olsen. Oops, I mean Mr. Action. He thwarts a mugger and gets a smooch, then some aspirations into a team dynamic one week into his solo crime fighting career.

Maybe instead of dreaming big, Mr. Action could have stretched his way into Gotham to help Penguin save his expensive wine cellar because things are NOT going well over there.

Trickster hilariously yells about being rat catchers while running through the Iceberg Lounge - referring to the Pied Piper and his rat affinity, while also working double to embarrass Penguin.

The Suicide Squad get shown up, and hard, despite Deadshot's best attempts. Through a combination of boomerangs and forgetting about the electro chain tying them together, Trickster and Piper barely scrape their way out of there. 

Talking about scrapes - man, how good am I tying these things together? - we meet up with Harley and Holly back over at the Athenian shelter, scraping away at the patriarchy and dodging rioting mobs. Last time, Holly saw Harley rejecting a single mother's application for refuge and she is now digging for answers about this. 

Yeah, Athena will see you now.. ABOUT THAT BURN!

Seriously, Holly. I love this scene. She's hauling herself up from the bottom of society and has been doing it rough - I don't blame her for asking for good reasons why they're putting someone vulnerable right back down the ladder. However, she's really judgey and stuck up when she goes about it, especially to someone who is clearly working on their own past and faults. I like how Harley doesn't go off on a tangent about it (something I clearly have trouble with!) but instead delivers a snappy retort and leaves with a cheeky grin on her face.

Holly goes in more politely with 'Athena' and ultimately ends up back where she was - no real answers - but now with a ticket to a self esteem workshop.

Harley Quinn: Monarchs

There are two things here - either this is happening or it's not.

At first when I saw the headline for Swiss actress Lara Pictet to play Harley Quinn in a web series named Monarchs I was like cool, it's not Margot Robbie and this one's actually pretty. Again, still don't get the hype over Margot's looks. Maybe people like that but to me, she's just another Hollywood blonde but with squinty eyes and a penchant for ruining my favourite characters and flashing her (word here used generously) bits.

Honestly, people hack into celebrities personal photos and release sensitive ones - you know, illegally, and they are forced to defend themselves for their private actions/called sluts or worse. Then on the other hand, we have Kim Kartrashian and Maggot Robbie making a living off showing their nekkid selves and no one has an issue? Smells wrong.

ANYWAY - there's not much about this series but some pages say it's a new web series that is DC inspired and they're hoping DC will pick it up officially.


The concept of the show is basically a 'how this person became this villain' origin stories series.




Here's what some interviewers have posted about it - nothing official from DC yet.

Ame-Comi Batgirl #1-3

Probably the first batch of comics based off statues of DC's women, followed closely by Bombshells and Gotham City Garage. When this first came out, I was so hyped about it because I love stories about women, anime, and Harley Quinn. What could go wrong?

Well, a lot of things. The story didn't exactly grab me, the art varied from issue to issue and for the most part, the characters never really seemed to mesh well together. Don't get me wrong, some did but it just read like someone had literally stuck all these characters together but didn't exactly figure out WHY they should be co-existing apart from NEW STATUES NEED TIE IN MERCHANDISE.

The other thing I need to mention is that pretty much the entire run was written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. Justin Gray has written a bunch of stuff for DC, mostly hand in hand with Palmiotti and Conner which brings me to the problem. I personally feel Palmiotti is a terrible writer.
His work is all the same, usually overstuffed with useless characters who are either bland or stereotypes of something and he's not funny.

Now, when I first read this series this name meant nothing to me but if you've read this blog at all you've probably read me cursing his name at least once for bringing such an obnoxious Hardly Quinn to life in her ridiculous solo. Of course, now I recognise the name it's easy to understand why I abandoned this series so early.

Mr Gray I have no opinion of apart from not minding the Catwoman Convergence and tossing aside the Power Girl/Harley Quinn nonsense. That and I honestly think he has sold his soul to Palmiotti because there is something else going on here. Maybe we should see if he's okay.

DC House of Horror 2017

DC released a comic just in time for Halloween - it contains several stories by several people, artists and apparently one creepy uncle (?!) but the one I'm going to look at is a story called 'Crazy for you'.
A Harley Quinn story written by Bryan Smith and Brian Keene (collect the whole set) while Kyle Baker does the art, colours and letters. The plot itself is by Keith Giffen.

First of all though.... what's with the cover here?

It's kinda cool but kinda abstract too. Like, Batvampire swooping down on Wereflash is understandable... if a little bit gross. Come on, Bats, don't get hair in your fangs! Meanwhile, Green Lantern has become Green Candle apparently because he seems to be melting all over the table. Is he drunk? Is he being crushed by the combined weight of the other heroes? Is he literally melting? He doesn't look very happy about his situation.

Frankenstein's Superman is lifting ... okay, I don't know what Wonder Woman is supposed to be. I would hazard a guess at a ghost but if she's a ghost, why the hell does Frankenstein's Superman need to lift her out of the way of the other melty-furry-blood crazed idiots?

Alright, so I honestly don't know what's going on on the cover here but I don't hate the cover itself.

If you're interested, here's a list of the included stories. I read some of them and called the ending for most straight away but obviously they're only short stories with little time for plot twists.

Birds of Prey episode 2: Slick

Thus begins our recap of episode two of Birds of Prey. 

Above, we have the cast as predominantly featured in the comic series. 

Barbara Gordon and Black Canary are the main characters followed closely by Huntress. The roster usually varies but here we have Lady Blackhawk (Zinda Blake) as well as Hawk and Dove (Hank Hall and Dawn Granger respectively) 

As you might remember, the television show is only loosely based on this series and I think that's partly why it didn't go over so well with audiences that weren't ready to comprehend alternate universe Bat-characters and bad special effects. 

Barbara Gordon - former Batgirl and current Oracle survived the transition pretty seamlessly. Huntress here is actually the offspring of Batman and Catwoman and is meta-human. Which means she's got half of her mother's random cat powers and all of her dad's gloomy attire and punchiness. 

Dinah is the most random.. she's super young and has mental based powers. 

Elseworlds: Batman - Thrillkiller

Published: 1998 

Writer: Howard Chaykin

Art: Don Brereton

Letters: Bill Oakley

Originally published as three single issues in the name of Thrillkiller '62, this collected volumes remains my favourite Elseworlds story and one of my better Batman related stories.

If the name didn't give it away, it's set in 1961 for the first part and then 1962. We're introduced to two vigilantes, Batgirl and Robin who seem to always show up wherever dirty cops make an appearance.

The art is pretty unique, dramatic and although it's more reminiscent of painted posters there's a definite feel of movement in it which is something that most modern artists fail to capture.

Batgirl has an exposed midriff but she's not oversexualised. Her physique and strength is the focus even though she's defined as so gorgeous she could give showgirls a run for their money.

This is something else most modern comic artists suck at portraying.

In case you're not familiar with it - the entire Elseworlds concept is to take existing characters and put them in different settings for a standalone story. For example, Gotham by Gaslight features a version of Batman that chases down Jack the Ripper.


So in this incarnation, Batgirl is the main hero with Robin as her sidekick. Her father is still the commissioner while Bruce Wayne - having lost all his families money in the depression has since found work in the GCPD.

Naturally, the world's greatest detective in bat ears is good at his job but never quite fits in with the others but gets along with and respects Jim.

Tangent Comics: The Joker

Laugh 'till it hurts!

Released: 1997

Writer: Karl Kesel

Pencils: Matt Haley

Inks: Tom Simmons

Colours: Moose Bauman

This is an entry from the Tangent Universe - while not all of their issue hit the mark this Joker is one that I've always been a fan of.

It takes place in New Atlantis - 35 years after a nuclear exchange destroyed the original Atlanta and we're introduced to a police officer named Keel who is fairly new to town but recognises the colourful Joker when she appears.

The first part is mostly his monologue but the scene stealing is all courtesy of the Joker - who is very reminiscent of Harley Quinn but with a more political focus.

Joker is funny enough, but Keel's deadpan internal voice is hilarious too, noting that they didn't cover this sort of thing in the academy, and when Doll Man (AKA Scarface) is apprehended after being captured by Joker, he thinks that getting a statement won't be an issue but getting a word in edgewise could be.

This Joker is more vigilante than outright villain and there are constant references to the Cuban Missile Crisis and protest rallies.