I don't think I like Kevin Van Hook's take on Oracle. She was a likable big-brain character, always 2 or 5 steps ahead of the villains, her operatives, and often her readers. Now she's getting jumped while daydreaming and losing control enough to zone out while smashing some dude's head into the pavement. Oracle is certainly being humanized in this series in every way. She's not as clever in her dealings with other hackers and the Calculator. She's getting sex-ed up quite a bit with those covers, the shower scene in issue one, and this issue where her new hacker buddies are commenting on her hotness non-stop. She is still a capable fighter, but the viciousness of her attacks seem a little much based on what I know of the character. There are aspects of the story that are pretty interesting. The Alta-Viva online life plot is pretty fun, I especially enjoy seeing the different ridiculous avatars people are using. The time Oracle spends looking at the internet was wasted time for me, though, since it seemed like a bunch of MacGuffin techno-babble. The Calculator is a good foil, and having him out to help his daughter gives a nice contrast to his bloodthirsty nature. He's a pretty ruthless guy now, and that shows in how quickly he's willing to kill Oracle's allies. As for Oracle's... failings is too strong a word, but having her not as smart and competent is probably a set up to make her Batgirl again, which I think is a huge mistake. She is a great character and a good role model as Oracle, there is no need to move her back to a status-quo from 20 years ago. But I'm sure that's what we're going to get.
Fernando Pasarin has a nice style reminiscent of Dale Eaglesham. His avatars are a lot of fun in the online game world, but I'm not sure I like the shower scenes and things like that for Oracle.
Fair
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