Taking a quick stroll over into the New 52 era, this time I’m reviewing another Batfamily title, this time it is Batgirl, following a relaunch (a relaunch within a relaunch, only in the world of Comics!) This time it is more of a lighter tone and a new status quo, with a new creative team of Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher, Babs Tarr, and Maris Wicks. The story takes place after the battle between Batgirl and Knightfall, she decided to leave Cherry Hill and begin her new life again elsewhere, which leads us to Burnside; a neighborhood on the other side of Gotham River where she might have a new look but she learns that sometimes you can never escape your past! This collects Issues 35 through 40 and also has a story from Secret Origins #10.
Eventually packaged in the ‘Young Gotham‘ Line-up, Batgirl had a new start, there has been some criticism involving transphobia on issue 37 in this collected volume, but we get a new chance to look at what makes Barbara so memorable and dynamic, whether it be her fierce determination or her intellect, like her father, Barbara Gordon is a great detective and no matter what she gets the crook. We’re introduced to several new characters, Frankie Charles, Liz, and the return of fan favorites such as Dinah Lance and Alysia Yeoh; and some new villains such as Riot Black, Yuri, and Yuki Katsura, Dagger Type (Oddly enough, felt like this was Magpie at first but was wrong when Dagger was first introduced.) There were cringe-worthy moments in this story arc, such as Barbara Gordon randomly kissing some guy at a party she didn’t know or getting ‘plastered’, or like earlier mentioned, the criticism involving transphobia.
Forgive me if I sound like a cranky comic geek (which I usually am if I don’t get that one Dr.Pepper during the day!) But I am not used to seeing an iconic hero become a villain, and that is Oracle. Used to the days of reading John Ostrander, Kim Yale, and of course Gail Simone’s Oracle stories and seeing the algorithm having a mind of its own was absolutely crazy, but it still worked out anyway for the best! Now as for the art goes in this series was and always will be my favorite, Babs Tarr does such a good job in her first run with Batgirl she also became the first long-term female artist to work on a Bat-Comic.
Final Grade:
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