Birds of Prey #124 - DC

Finally, Barbara comes face to face with the Joker. It didn't go exactly how I expected, but . . with the Joker's randomness it's logical that would be the case. Remember the line from that movie, "Never bring a knife to a gun-fight!"? Well with the Joker, you never know what kind of fight it's going to be, and you definitely never know what kind of weapons he's going to bring. Anyways, Babs puts up a good battle and eventually batons Joker's facing crushing his mouth and breaking all of his teeth. This really pisses off the Joker and he nails her with a house-plant and then shove her down the steps. Oh yeah, while this is happening, Babs group of fem-fatales has fallen into a trap with the Syndicate, set up by the Calculator. Long story short, they basically fight to a stalemate, after Ollie and his gang are called in for reinforcements. They both end up retreating, and in the process it looks like the Calculator has joined the ranks of the Syndicate. Misfit runs off the Joker when she returns to the Aerie and informs him that the rest of the group will be returning shortly. I do have a question though. It appears that the Joker hasn't put together the pieces connecting Babs to the Birds. Which would mean that he hasn't figured out that she's Oracle. So, does he just assume that she's moved to the Flats for an office job? I don't think she's seen the last of him yet, and she definitely hasn't seen the last of the Calculator. She's decided that they should leave Platinum Flats, but . . she wants to take down the Syndicate first. I thought Tony Bedard did a great job with this story. My only complaint is that I feel like everything here is overshadowed by a dark cloud because there's only a few issues left. The only silver lining is that the end of this series is immediately followed by a mini-series with Babs. But I'm still going to hate to see the end of this book. It's really one of my favorites. Claude St Aubin was the penciller. It was ok, but nothing really noteworthy. The only thing I really didn't like was his depiction of the Joker. Anyways, I have to enjoy the issues that I have left. Oh yeah . . fantastic cover by Stephane Roux.