Okay. This is a random post discussing no more than a two or three page spread, but I simply couldn't resist. I just read the New 52 'Batgirl' issue 7 for the umpteenth time, and feel some comment must be made on the Babs/ Dinah interaction.

So the comic begins with Batgirl getting her hind handed to her by some Halloween rejects in a sewer. (You just know that sewer smell is gonna haunt Barbara's cowl forever more). Anyway, in her personal lament, Batgirl thinks back to her sparring match with Black Canary two hours earlier. It's this exchange I really loved... Dinah, much like Grotesque, easily outspars Batgirl, even mocking her poor technique. As a die hard 'Birds of Prey' fan, interactions between these two characters are a welcome gift in pretty much any form, but for some reason the artwork of the 'Batgirl' comic seemed to compliment Dinah (and Babs) more so than recent 'Birds' issues.

It amused me greatly to 'hear' Canary refer to Batgirl as a cheerleader (can anyone imaging Barbara Gordon with pom poms? Anyone at all?) and I was even more amused by the anger this stirred within Babs. As though 'cheerleader' is the ultimate insult! (Actually... it may be up there on the list). Hands down, however, my favourite quote of the issue, possibly the series, is Canary's calmly uttered. "Tea, I think."

It's nice to see Batgirl without her cowl in Dinah's presence, however I am once again reminded of the pair as polar opposites. Dinah comments on Batgirl's sophisticated tech, and I consider Batgirl's array of gadgets, gizmos, everything money can buy to supplement her fighting. Canary, on the other hand, rocks level after level of martial arts, and if that fails, screams her adversary into place. The tone may sound mocking, but it's okay. Appreciative, of my two favourite DC gals.

So, Barbara's lamentation continues, a somewhat pretty image of her propping her head in one batgloved hand, and then we turn the page. SLAP (actually, the caption is SMAK, but I prefer saying slap). Dinah b*itch slaps Batgirl. Of course, Barbara looks shocked, then begins to well up. Since the dawn of the New 52, Batgirl has be slapped, punched, kicked, electrocuted (actually, that one may have been after this issue) and it is a good old fashioned slap at the hand of her 'best friend' which brings her to tears. If it were me wearing the cowl, I'm pretty sure it would have been having my face submerged in sewer water which would have brought on the tears!

That's pretty much the exchange I wanted to babble about. We exit Dinah's apartment with a shot of her smug smile at having fixed Batgirl. The following pages detail Batgirl gatecrashing a party and causing all sorts of havoc, but by this stage most of you have probably read the issue. So that's about it. My first blog, and it's about a comic which is almost a year old. So if you have read this far, I hope you don't feel as though I have drained five minutes from your life without so much as a smile.

Congrats Gail Simone (my favourite comic book writer of all time) for giving b*tch slappin' a serious place in a serious comic book. Stupid it may be, puerile it absolutely is, but I love it.