It’s been only a short time, but Steph and Ian were reading Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #162-164 and were so excited they had to get on discord and chat about it!
Steph: AHHH! Ian! Wayne Family Adventures is getting so close to finishing season 3! Wanna chat with me about it?
Ian: I do wanna chat! This group of episodes is VERY emotional, especially this first one!
Steph: Yea, for sure! 162 – Line in the Sand starts with Cass, Steph, and Lady Shiva are facing off, with Steph defending Cass’s choices.
Lady of Shiva, of course, has made very good points about why Joker should be murderated.
Ian: I think it’s so CLEAR that CRC Payne knows Steph and Cass’s history as Batgirl down to the core. Steph’s key theme in her run is hope – coming back to where you’ve made a mistake and standing up again when you’ve fallen down (also seen in Batman Begins). Her whole speech about why the Batfamily chooses to be heroes got me really misty eyed!
Steph: I really like the way Steph made a cause for hope being strength.
And, though I’m glad Steph was in Cass’s corner, I really loved that Cass could step up for herself as well, and set up well established boundaries with Shiva.
Ian: Yep. I like it a lot more than the endless loop of Shiva being weirdly obsessed with Cass in the past 10 years of comics. I still say it was a huge mistake to retcon that family relationship
Steph: Well, the girls invite Shiva to come to the docks as long as she doesn’t do the killing thing,
But then comes my favorite part of the entire season..
Azrael coming to the hostage/bomber’s rescue.
Ian: That was AMAZING
Steph: “DO NOT BE AFRAID”
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH”
“I said don’t be afraid”
Ian: Since Azrael is the angel of vengeance, I love how he says the thing angels always say in the Bible – “Do not be afraid” – but ALSO like angels in the Bible, he’s VERY SCARY!
That was extremely amusing and very theologically accurate!
Steph: It’s the sword.
I really liked Huntress talking to her bomber and getting his story to calm him down a bit while Oracle tried to figure out how defuse his bomb.
Ian: It’s nice seeing Huntress’s teacher side coming out!
Steph: Any last thoughts on 162 before we go to what Batman’s doing?
Ian: I thought Alfred radioing Bruce calling himself Penny-One was a nice Batman Eternal/n52 reference!
Steph: I think he’s been Penny-one this whole time, but it is good they keep that in.
Ian: What do we see as we move into 163 – “One More Miracle”?
Steph: Oh man, the guards are being really bullied by Joker’s goons when the power goes out and Batman knocks out the goons.
The guards, very relieved, run off after telling Batman and Joker is waiting for him on the roof.
Ian: The lights going out was such a CLASSIC Batman moment. Really enjoyed that
Steph: It really was.
he is the night!
Ian: the (k)Night! 😄
Steph: Then came a scene I didn’t quite understand. A Robin comes with a box of Wayne Tech firefighting gear that the fire fighters already have.
I wasn’t quite sure what was going on there, other than it shows that the Firefighters know that some Bat-people are helping.
Ian: Yeah, I think the pacing of the finale isn’t always quite as tight as it could be
maybe it’s supposed to be setup for Tim finding Freeze and needing his help for stopping the fires
?
Steph: I think the story could have done without that scene as it doesn’t add anything.
But then we get to one of Tim’s secrets! He is recruiting Mr. Freeze.
Ian: Yeah. And I say this as a huge fan of the We Are Robins! But every scene should server more than just one purpose
Steph: I agree.
I love the part where Freeze ask Red Robin “are you threatening me?” and Tim says “no. I’m pursuading you. HE’S going to threaten you” and Robin appears with a sword.
That made my little Damian loving heart so happy.
Ian: that is CLASSIC Damian for sure
in Steph’s Batgirl run, he was constantly brandishing that sword, though I don’t remember it recently
Steph: Me either! I was thinking that as I was reading.
DC! MOAR SWORDS PLEASE!
Back at the docks, The women are jumping into the fray of Black Mask Vs Penguin. All except Ivy and Steph/Batgirl, who is calling on some Bat-drones for a special secret attack we don’t know about yet!
What do you think about Ivy joining?
Is she skipping the heroes journey and joining the Bats for Harley’s sake or will she get more character development next season?
Ian: I think this Ivy, even though she’s still a villain in that she doesn’t seem to care about helping people other than Harley, is also not terribly evil (like most non-Joker villains in the WFA universe), so she’s on the same level as Mr. Freeze
Steph: Ah. Wife savior or eco-terrorist, but not like…evil, just misguided.
Ian: well. I have my own opinions on Ivy that tend to be much more negative, but in THIS universe, yes.
Steph: yeah. I’ll give her a pass for now, but I would like to see her have more…something in this universe. Not sure what. Repentance, remorse, a personality,…something.
Ian: Apologizing to people for mind controlling them would be a good start!
Mind control is very evil! Just look at Purple Man in Jessica Jones! And Ivy’s done that to a ton of people!
Steph: I feel like this Ivy is the “Harley Quinn” show Ivy without much of a personality, which doesn’t make her much.
Ian: Yeah, that’s a good point!
Steph: other than a plot device
But, either way, just helping out and is doing a lot of bad guy taking out in episode 164 – Shall We Play a Game?
The first few panels are just a bunch of awesome kick butt scense from all the Sirens and Batgirls.
Ian: I really like how Steph says her catchphrase about “Spoiling” the villains at the end of 163 and then that carries through in 164.
Really nice setup and payoff there
Steph: Oh for sure! And I love that it wasn’t violent, it was mind games/the truth
Sionis has been selling off “useless” henchmen to Joker to be used as hostages, three of which are strapped to bomber jackets as they are all fighting!
Ian: Steph is all about the Truth! Her using her drones to capture the truth about Black Mask betraying his own men was PERFECT Spoiling! Going straight back to her origin in Detective Comics 647-649, where she exposes her father’s villainy!
As a Steph fan, this was just A A A Plus use of her character and history.
Steph: I love it. And because of her spoiling, half the fighters on the field step off, feeling no loyalty to Black Mask anymore.
I really liked her beating him up so we would be quiet for her spiel.
Ian: Big impact for Steph’s actions – especially because she also shows that she has conquered her fear from him torturing her nearly to death in War Games (which is directly quoted from Robin #131 – again, CRC Payne just has the history of these characters on LOCKDOWN.)
Steph: ❤️
Doing the Steph’s of this world proud
Unfortunately, this tactic doesn’t do much for Penguin and his men, and he’s not willing to back down! Story to be continued…
Man, this was a pretty Steph heavy set of episodes! I bet that made you super happy.
Ian: Pengy needs to take a line from his Iceberg lounge and CHILL!
I was indeed super happy! Steph’s arc took a LONG time to show up in the season, but I feel the payoff was very worth the wait.
Steph: So, Steph had her big moment, Cass is at peace with where she is, Tim has come into his leadership role…there’s not much left to do on a personal level. The last few episodes may just be a rip-roaring, action packed, finale! What do you think?
Ian: I hope so! Though I think Duke will have a part to play – still don’t know what that private call from Tim was about!
Steph: And how is Batman doing? It’s taking so long for him to get to the roof!
Ian: those are a lot of stairs, ok!
Steph: I’m excited that the season is ending, because I want to know how the story ends, and I’m excited to see what season 4 will be like!
Ian: Have we gotten an announcement of season 4?
Steph: Not sure, but I mean…how could they not?
Ian: Well, CRC Payne is working on the Harley Quinn webtoon for DCUniverse Infinite currently
But you could be right! I hope so!
