I'm not really sure what's happening in "Batgirl" lately. I'm not actually opposed to the supernatural stories that we've had over the last few issues, but I am opposed to sloppy story-telling.
The Silver story concluded with all sorts of issues left on the table -- from his apparently altered vision to his possible super-powers -- but Bennett (replacing Simone here) doesn't address any of them. She instead throws another supernatural villain at us, but never gives us any explanation for why the high-school students managed to summon the Midnight Man, Gotham's version of Bloody Mary. Barbara herself at least acknowledges how random it is, but, as I've often said, authors having their characters acknowledge the ridiculousness of their plots don't get passes for them. Bennett seems to imply that someone is trying to cultivate the supernatural, mixing the ingredients to summon the Midnight Man's inter-dimensional door into the paint that the public-works folks are using to redraw lines on the street, creating a much larger door. But, why? Was this person also responsible for Silver? Bennett seems to imply that, with Barbara herself noting the string of supernatural events happening in Gotham lately. However, I'm not left feeling like we've got an interesting mystery on our hands; instead, I feel like we just have authors not managing to wrap up their stories in the space allotted.
Oh, also, did I mention that Dick Grayson is apparently dead? Yup. Well done, DC, for managing to fuck up that revelation.
** (two of five stars)
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