Batgirl #14 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

All right, as much as I love Gail Simone, I have to admit that she doesn't handle Joker quite the same way that Scott Snyder does.  He's certainly menacing here, but she doesn't quite capture his unpredictability the way that Snyder has been in "Batman."  That said, though, Simone does a good job of showing us Barbara's reaction to his sudden re-appearance; instead of fear, as she expected, Barbara is surprised to find herself driven by barely controlled rage.  In fact, Simone hints that Barbara may be the one to finally end his threat; it seems difficult to believe, if Barbara were to kill him, that even Batman would try to arrest her.

The most interesting threat revealed in this issue isn't Joker, but James, Jr., who manipulates Barbara into confronting Joker to "save" their mother.  It was pretty clear from the start that the voice on the phone was James, particularly since Joker has been assigned his own typeface in "Batman;" the computerized letters that Sharpe used for James' speech bubbles was a pretty clear tip that it wasn't Joker.  But, by using James as the tool to set up Barbara's confrontation with Joker, Simone does an admirable job of keeping this issue about Barbara and not just the "Death of the Family" event.  She sets up future issues here and you realize what an uphill battle Babs has:  after she defeats Joker, she's going to have to confront her equally psychotic brother.

In terms of "Death of the Family," Simone doesn't really give away anything here.  It's still unclear if Joker knows Barbara's identity, particularly since he refers to Mrs. Gordon as "that woman" to Barbara; presumably, if he knew that Batgirl was Barbara, he would've called her "your mother."  But, Joker possibly not knowing Barbara's identity doesn't exactly mean that she's going to have an easy go of it, given that he apparently wants her to be his bride, presumably in the big event that he's planning (as mentioned in "Batman" #14).  In the end, it's pretty clear that "Batman" is going to dominate this event, so, unless you're already reading "Batgirl," you can skip this issue.  But, for a "Batgirl" fan, Simone does her best to keep you engaged.