OK, here we go.
I wasn't going to get this issue. Although I loved the beginning of Simone's run on this series, the end of her run descended into almost revenge porn, with an angry and grim Barbara Gordon fighting a succession of forgettable villains. In the end, Barbara was almost unrecognizable, giving Jason Todd a run for his money in terms of seeing the world as a dark and hopeless place. However, the relaunch promised to jettison exactly these aspects of the latter part of this series, returning Barbara to her roots as the optimistic member of the Bat-family. As such, I was willing to give it a try.
I will say that Stewart and Fletcher do manage to lighten the mood. The characters surrounding Barbara -- from her new roommates to the small-time hoods that she collars over the course of the issue -- are definitely lighter. They successfully conjure up a world of carefree twenty-somethings living the dream in Gotham's version of Brooklyn (even when some of them are committing crimes). From Barbara's roommates singing out her thanks to Barbara after volunteering her to go on a coffee run to the issue's main villain speaking in hashtag as he fights Babs in a bathroom, Barbara definitely isn't surrounded by car thieves and murderous sociopaths anymore.
However, it's not like Babs herself is carefree. She's apparently had a major row with Black Canary, a situation that isn't made better when it's revealed that she not only stored her equipment in Canary's dojo after telling Dinah never to speak to her again, but that storing said equipment inadvertently led to a fire that destroyed all of Canary's earthly possessions. Moreover, it's pretty clear that she's going to encounter a Peter Parker-esque difficulty in balancing her school work and her crime fighting. But, it can't all be roses.
Overall, I like the new direction, but I'd warn Stewart and Fletcher that they come on a little too strong here. In trying to make Barbara's world hip, they begin to sound like someone's mom trying to use the lingo that the kids are using these days. Just to use one example of where I thought the authors went too far, Burnside (the name of the neighborhood) seems to be populated by no straight people whatsover. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm a gay comic-book fan. I'm thrilled to have gay characters not only in Barbara's life but in comics generally. But, it's a little too much here. Barbara's bisexual roommate, the lesbian couple that Barbara initially thinks stole her laptop, the gay guy that sends her to the actual thief, and said thief mentioning his two moms: we get it. Burnside is hip because it has gay people. Hopefully, it'll also have straight people so that Babs can date someone. Add in there the "coder" roommate working for a customized online-dating app and you start to feel like you're watching "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."
In terms of the story, I'm not entirely sure that the authors have a great grip on Barbara. They sort of elevate her photographic memory to the level of a super-power, implying that she is actually almost able to physically recreate a scene. (It gets a little "C.S.I.") Moreover, although her technological prowess helps her save the day, she's somehow unable to retrieve her notes from her wiped laptop. Does Barbara Gordon really only have one laptop? She has no, like, back-up servers or anything? Also, I'm not sure that I buy that she got as drunk as she's depicted as having gotten here. Sure, the authors use Alysia as a way to note how unusual of behavior it is for her, but that doesn't explain her doing it in the first place.
But, the guys do have talent. I was really impressed by them stringing together the two conversations that Barbara has with witnesses, making them flow seamlessly into one another. I've just got to hope that, as they settle into writing this series, some of the weirder aspects of this issue -- like the trying too hard or Babs' slightly off characterization -- resolve themselves. Fingers crossed. I'll try to be hopeful like I'm supposed to believe Barbara is again.
*** (three of five stars)
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