Batgirl #49: Man, this series used to be so good. [Sigh.] In this issue, Frankie uses the scan of Babs' brain that became sentient to correct the parts of her brain that the Fugue damaged. The problem that I have with this approach -- beyond the fact that "Batman" is featuring exactly the same device -- is that the scan came from before Babs met the Fugue. As such, I don't get how uploading it allows her to remember that the Fugue conveniently (and I mean conveniently) told her his entire plan, since he was going to wipe her memory anyway. When I have a bigger complaint than the villain telling the hero his plan, you know we're in trouble.
Spider-Man #2: At some point in this issue, someone mentions Miles as being part of the "new generation" of heroes, and I realized that it's totally, totally true. As someone who's been reading comic books for 30 years, I don't know if I ever really thought that we'd see this passing of the torch. Every time that Marvel has tried to do it, it didn't stick. (Were the "New Warriors" ever really going to be the next Avengers?) Instead, Marvel was eventually forced to reverse course and shove Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and their various cohorts into the spotlight again. But, something about this new group feels different. Bendis does a brilliant job in showing Miles' conflicting emotions when a blogger exults in the fact that he's "brown," after the world saw part of his face through his ripped mask. He doesn't want to be the "brown" Spider-Man; he just wants to be the Spider-Man. Miles? At this point, man? I think you may already be my Spider-Man. (That's probably the difference right there.)
Also Read: Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill - Alpha #1; Batman and Robin Eternal #22; Darth Vader #17; Midnighter #10; Uncanny Avengers #6
Showing posts with label Batgirl (2011). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Batgirl (2011). Show all posts
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Friday, June 3, 2016
Not-Very-Deep Thoughts: The February 3 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Amazing Spider-Man #7: Slott really needs a new shtick. In the first arc, the villain, Hank Scorpio (or whatever we're calling him), invested in Parker Industries. In this arc, Shen Quinghao invested in Parker Industries' green-fuel project, so Peter is going to give a humanitarian award to him. However, we know from Mr. Negative that Quinghao (who I didn't remember at all from earlier issues) is a former trafficker. Basically, if you're a new character and you invest in Parker Industries, we should all just assume that you're a bad guy. (Also, why is Parker Industries giving out humanitarian awards? It's not even the Uncle Ben Foundation -- it's very clearly Parker Industries. Bizarre.)
Batgirl #48: If Greg is the bad guy, I don't get why he had Barbara believe that she spent the night at Luke's place the night that she (allegedly) called the GCPD on the gang-banger. It would be so easy to prove that "memory" false if she didn't actually spend the night there (as Fletcher and Stewart seem to imply). A quick call to Luke would've exposed Greg as a liar.
Batman and Robin Eternal #18: I totally didn't see the revelation that Cass killed Harper's mother coming. It's a great twist, and it makes it clear that Snyder has been planning this story for ages, given how long ago it was that he introduced Harper. Snyder and Tynion also make it clear that Bruce has to accept responsibility for the role that he played in her death, since it happened as part of the game that he was playing with Mother. (Mother selected Harper to be Bruce's next Robin.) It is indeed his greatest failure, as he originally said to Dick. In fact, you could argue that leaving Harper and Cullen to be raised by their cowardly and crooked father was an even worse failure of judgment. (Bruce himself would probably be on board with that assessment.) Conversely, we're really hitting a new low on the art side of the house. Everyone on pages 18-19 look deformed, like they had just been repeatedly beaten in the face.
Spider-Man #1: This issue feels more like a Spider-Man book than anything that we've seen in "Amazing Spider-Man" lately. It makes me realize why everyone loved Miles in the Ultimate Universe. First, Pichelli is amazing. She really has a sense of the epic, making you believe that Blackheart really could defeat the Avengers (even after multiple failed previous attempts). Moreover, Bendis just does an outstanding job of showing us the challenges that an inexperienced adolescent hero faces. I loved Miles taking advice from the onlookers. (He's helping to evacuate people from a bus that Blackheart threw at him and he caught, and one of the onlookers suggests that they can handle the evacuation but only he can go after Blackheart.) Bendis really uses it to show Miles' inexperience, not just tell us about it. After all, the average middle-aged onlooker on Prime Earth's New York has seen his share of fights. Miles actually could learn something from him! Moreover, Bendis gives Miles such a distinct voice; after only one issue, I feel like I know him and how he would react to a given situation. I really want to know more about him. At first, I was interested in this series since it seemed the most likely place where Marvel would deal with the aftermath of "Secret Wars." By the end of this issue, though, I'm really here for Miles.
Also Read: Captain America: Sam Wilson #6; Captain Marvel #2; Detective Comics #49; Midnighter #9; Spidey #3; Uncanny Avengers #5
Batgirl #48: If Greg is the bad guy, I don't get why he had Barbara believe that she spent the night at Luke's place the night that she (allegedly) called the GCPD on the gang-banger. It would be so easy to prove that "memory" false if she didn't actually spend the night there (as Fletcher and Stewart seem to imply). A quick call to Luke would've exposed Greg as a liar.
Batman and Robin Eternal #18: I totally didn't see the revelation that Cass killed Harper's mother coming. It's a great twist, and it makes it clear that Snyder has been planning this story for ages, given how long ago it was that he introduced Harper. Snyder and Tynion also make it clear that Bruce has to accept responsibility for the role that he played in her death, since it happened as part of the game that he was playing with Mother. (Mother selected Harper to be Bruce's next Robin.) It is indeed his greatest failure, as he originally said to Dick. In fact, you could argue that leaving Harper and Cullen to be raised by their cowardly and crooked father was an even worse failure of judgment. (Bruce himself would probably be on board with that assessment.) Conversely, we're really hitting a new low on the art side of the house. Everyone on pages 18-19 look deformed, like they had just been repeatedly beaten in the face.
Spider-Man #1: This issue feels more like a Spider-Man book than anything that we've seen in "Amazing Spider-Man" lately. It makes me realize why everyone loved Miles in the Ultimate Universe. First, Pichelli is amazing. She really has a sense of the epic, making you believe that Blackheart really could defeat the Avengers (even after multiple failed previous attempts). Moreover, Bendis just does an outstanding job of showing us the challenges that an inexperienced adolescent hero faces. I loved Miles taking advice from the onlookers. (He's helping to evacuate people from a bus that Blackheart threw at him and he caught, and one of the onlookers suggests that they can handle the evacuation but only he can go after Blackheart.) Bendis really uses it to show Miles' inexperience, not just tell us about it. After all, the average middle-aged onlooker on Prime Earth's New York has seen his share of fights. Miles actually could learn something from him! Moreover, Bendis gives Miles such a distinct voice; after only one issue, I feel like I know him and how he would react to a given situation. I really want to know more about him. At first, I was interested in this series since it seemed the most likely place where Marvel would deal with the aftermath of "Secret Wars." By the end of this issue, though, I'm really here for Miles.
Also Read: Captain America: Sam Wilson #6; Captain Marvel #2; Detective Comics #49; Midnighter #9; Spidey #3; Uncanny Avengers #5
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Still-Not-Even-Remotely-New Comics!: The DC and Independent Comics from January 20 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Batgirl #47: As Barbara herself frets in this issue, Stewart and Fletcher are covering previously tread ground as she again struggles with her memory. If I'm following the crumbs that they've left us correctly, a Bloom-like figure is affecting her memory through her dreams.
But, the problem is that, based on what we've seen, he's not just affecting her memory; it seems like he's affecting reality itself. For example, Barbara tells Luke in this issue that she refuses to build the negahedron because she can't be sure that she's got the schematics right from memory. That night, Not-Bloom restructures her memory to make it seem like she had agreed to build it. But, his plan only works if he changed reality, not her memory: he'd have to have gotten her retroactively to agree to build it. After all, if he just changed her memory, she'd still have said no to Luke. If she showed up the next day believing that she had said yes, he'd clearly know that something was wrong. In fact, Not-Bloom would've also had to have changed her feelings as well: otherwise, she could've woken up the next morning, remembered that she agreed to build it, dismissed that decision as odd, and again decided not to build it. In another example, we now know that she tipped off the cops to the gang-banger whose mother she met a few issues ago. But, it was pretty clear that Babs had no intention of calling the cops when she met the woman. As such, her memory is correct: she didn't call the cops. For her to have called the cops, Not-Bloom would have to have gotten her retroactively to call the cops (after she decided not to do so) and then made her forget that she did so.
In other words, it's a mess. Thrown into the mix, we've also got Babs' friend Greg rifling through her underwear drawer. He arrived after Babs started having memory problems, so I'm hoping that he's not Not-Bloom (because it's too obvious), but, the way this series is going, I wouldn't be surprised. I have a few other nitpicks from this issue -- like Spoiler knowing that Corporal Punishment has "electric muscles" in their fight with her at the GCPD -- but it doesn't seem worth it to mention. This series is already sinking, so I don't need to add weight to it.
[On a side note, this issue seems to hint where "Batman" is going in the next few issues. First, we see the "Batman Army" that Geri Powers seems to activate in issue #48 (but we don't actually see), and Gordon for the first time complains about a corrupt Powers using the GCPD as her own army.]
* (one of five stars)
Batman and Robin Eternal #16: I should love this issue. The story is everything that I've ever wanted. St. Dumas uses the Ichthys virus that the Order created for Mother to force Red Hood to re-live his worst fear: his death at the hands of the Joker. This time, though, Ichthys gives him the chance to change the outcome; the catch is that he'll succumb to the virus -- and become a mindless assassin for Mother -- if he wins. We learn that Ichthys works by making the subject lose all fear -- and, thus, his humanity -- if he defeats his worst fear through strength. Tim is somehow able (in a way that the authors don't explain) to infiltrate Jason's nightmare and convince him that he's not a psychopath: he's always been a hero, a Robin. Believing him, Jason allows the Joker kill him again to prove it. When he awakens from the nightmare, he tells Tim that he hasn't been OK for a long time, but he thinks that he might be on that path now. The issue ends with Jason observing that Bruce thought that he was building an army of child soldiers as Mother was, but they decided to become a family instead. It's their weapon against Mother, and it's a brilliant observation on the part of Snyder and Tynion. (It does take away the agency from Bruce for creating that family, a position that I hope Snyder and Tynion correct by the end of the series). We're left feeling like it's the moment, where Jason definitely returns to the Bat-family. It's the one that I though we had at the end of "Death of the Family," but later came undone when Bruce ruined it in his drive to resurrect Damian. The only reason that I didn't love this issue is that something in the execution is wrong. I've always found Lanzing and Kelly's scripts lacking in heart, doing little more than conveying information and not emotion. This issue is another example of that. Moreover, the use of three artists means that we don't get the consistent facial expressions and body language that we need to really feel these moments -- everyone has oddly frozen smiles or blank faces. I'm going to try not to imagine what Tomasi and Capullo could've done with this story and just be happy that we may be seeing Jason's continuing (and possible final) return.
*** (three of five stars)
Dragon Age: Magekiller #2: When the Archon tells Marius and Tessa that their target is the four leaders of the Venatori, I realized that we were dealing with a time period before the Rift opened in "Dragon Age: Insurrection." I was -- and continue to be -- excited about this development, since the game itself never went into much detail about the Venatori. They were simply the cult that helped Corypheus put his plans into motion, full stop. To be honest, Rucka doesn't go into too much more detail about them here, either. Marius and Tessa make quick work (if you consider three hits involving careful planning "quick") of the first three leaders, only to discover that the last one, Calpernia, is Marius' former lover. Along the way, we begin piecing together Marius' past, learning that he was a slave that somehow earned his freedom. I'm still confused why the first issue implied that Marius actually forgot his past, as opposed to wanting to forget it, but it seems likely that Rucka will delve into it further, particularly because we still need the scoop on his relationship with Calpernia. All we know at this point is that Marius calls off the hit on her and that he and Tessa spend months fleeing the Archon's assassins for their betrayal. Rucka then confirms the story's time frame on the last page when we see the Rift open above the pair, moments after they've dispatched the latest group of assassins. At this point, I'm intrigued to see where Rucka takes us, because he's got so many options: Marius' past as a slave, his relationship with Calpernia, the status of the Venatori now that three of its leaders have been killed, the opening of the Rift, etc. Looking at that, it's actually probably too many options, but we'll see which ones Rucka tackles.
*** (three of five stars)
But, the problem is that, based on what we've seen, he's not just affecting her memory; it seems like he's affecting reality itself. For example, Barbara tells Luke in this issue that she refuses to build the negahedron because she can't be sure that she's got the schematics right from memory. That night, Not-Bloom restructures her memory to make it seem like she had agreed to build it. But, his plan only works if he changed reality, not her memory: he'd have to have gotten her retroactively to agree to build it. After all, if he just changed her memory, she'd still have said no to Luke. If she showed up the next day believing that she had said yes, he'd clearly know that something was wrong. In fact, Not-Bloom would've also had to have changed her feelings as well: otherwise, she could've woken up the next morning, remembered that she agreed to build it, dismissed that decision as odd, and again decided not to build it. In another example, we now know that she tipped off the cops to the gang-banger whose mother she met a few issues ago. But, it was pretty clear that Babs had no intention of calling the cops when she met the woman. As such, her memory is correct: she didn't call the cops. For her to have called the cops, Not-Bloom would have to have gotten her retroactively to call the cops (after she decided not to do so) and then made her forget that she did so.
In other words, it's a mess. Thrown into the mix, we've also got Babs' friend Greg rifling through her underwear drawer. He arrived after Babs started having memory problems, so I'm hoping that he's not Not-Bloom (because it's too obvious), but, the way this series is going, I wouldn't be surprised. I have a few other nitpicks from this issue -- like Spoiler knowing that Corporal Punishment has "electric muscles" in their fight with her at the GCPD -- but it doesn't seem worth it to mention. This series is already sinking, so I don't need to add weight to it.
[On a side note, this issue seems to hint where "Batman" is going in the next few issues. First, we see the "Batman Army" that Geri Powers seems to activate in issue #48 (but we don't actually see), and Gordon for the first time complains about a corrupt Powers using the GCPD as her own army.]
* (one of five stars)
Batman and Robin Eternal #16: I should love this issue. The story is everything that I've ever wanted. St. Dumas uses the Ichthys virus that the Order created for Mother to force Red Hood to re-live his worst fear: his death at the hands of the Joker. This time, though, Ichthys gives him the chance to change the outcome; the catch is that he'll succumb to the virus -- and become a mindless assassin for Mother -- if he wins. We learn that Ichthys works by making the subject lose all fear -- and, thus, his humanity -- if he defeats his worst fear through strength. Tim is somehow able (in a way that the authors don't explain) to infiltrate Jason's nightmare and convince him that he's not a psychopath: he's always been a hero, a Robin. Believing him, Jason allows the Joker kill him again to prove it. When he awakens from the nightmare, he tells Tim that he hasn't been OK for a long time, but he thinks that he might be on that path now. The issue ends with Jason observing that Bruce thought that he was building an army of child soldiers as Mother was, but they decided to become a family instead. It's their weapon against Mother, and it's a brilliant observation on the part of Snyder and Tynion. (It does take away the agency from Bruce for creating that family, a position that I hope Snyder and Tynion correct by the end of the series). We're left feeling like it's the moment, where Jason definitely returns to the Bat-family. It's the one that I though we had at the end of "Death of the Family," but later came undone when Bruce ruined it in his drive to resurrect Damian. The only reason that I didn't love this issue is that something in the execution is wrong. I've always found Lanzing and Kelly's scripts lacking in heart, doing little more than conveying information and not emotion. This issue is another example of that. Moreover, the use of three artists means that we don't get the consistent facial expressions and body language that we need to really feel these moments -- everyone has oddly frozen smiles or blank faces. I'm going to try not to imagine what Tomasi and Capullo could've done with this story and just be happy that we may be seeing Jason's continuing (and possible final) return.
*** (three of five stars)
Dragon Age: Magekiller #2: When the Archon tells Marius and Tessa that their target is the four leaders of the Venatori, I realized that we were dealing with a time period before the Rift opened in "Dragon Age: Insurrection." I was -- and continue to be -- excited about this development, since the game itself never went into much detail about the Venatori. They were simply the cult that helped Corypheus put his plans into motion, full stop. To be honest, Rucka doesn't go into too much more detail about them here, either. Marius and Tessa make quick work (if you consider three hits involving careful planning "quick") of the first three leaders, only to discover that the last one, Calpernia, is Marius' former lover. Along the way, we begin piecing together Marius' past, learning that he was a slave that somehow earned his freedom. I'm still confused why the first issue implied that Marius actually forgot his past, as opposed to wanting to forget it, but it seems likely that Rucka will delve into it further, particularly because we still need the scoop on his relationship with Calpernia. All we know at this point is that Marius calls off the hit on her and that he and Tessa spend months fleeing the Archon's assassins for their betrayal. Rucka then confirms the story's time frame on the last page when we see the Rift open above the pair, moments after they've dispatched the latest group of assassins. At this point, I'm intrigued to see where Rucka takes us, because he's got so many options: Marius' past as a slave, his relationship with Calpernia, the status of the Venatori now that three of its leaders have been killed, the opening of the Rift, etc. Looking at that, it's actually probably too many options, but we'll see which ones Rucka tackles.
*** (three of five stars)
Friday, March 4, 2016
Batgirl #46 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
This issue is...just bad. Fletcher and Stewart throw a lot of new plots our way, but they don't provide enough details to make them stick. I can tell that I'm going to open issue #47 in a month and feel totally lost. It's one thing to have a bunch of sub-plots on a slow burn in background, but this issue is essentially all sub-plots. It lack any sort of major plot to give it focus. Instead, we just bounce from hint to innuendo. I'll try to summarize them here as a group:
- Babs and Nadimah are going door-to-door in apparently the only bad part of Burnside, trying to gather information from residents about...something. It's not actually clear. They try to speak to a woman who is afraid to talk to them because the whole area is run by gangs. (Burnside must be a pretty big neighborhood to cover such a wide range of socio-economic classes I thought the biggest problem in Burnside was finding an open spot at an indie-owned coffee shop.) Despite insisting that she didn't want to talk to them, the woman changes course, confessing that the gangs are "using" her boy, though she doesn't say how he's being used. Later, her son is arrested after police received an anonymous tip, and the woman is seen on TV blaming "the red-haired girl."
- Barbara is forgetful and suffering from nightmares, something that she blames on her too packed schedule. (She forgot that she and Nadimah had interviewed people at three residences, not two, the previous day.) Fletcher and Stewart don't elaborate; it's the sub-plot at the corner of our eye that we can't yet fully see.
- Frankie wakes up Babs, and she's upset that she overslept. She's supposed to meet someone named Greg that she's known since high school who she's also invited to stay with her and Frankie. Before letting Babs get a cup of coffee or shower, Frankie tells Babs that she received a neural implant, and Babs freaks out. Frankie argues that it's the same as the implants that Barbara received to walk again, and Babs just as suddenly accepts this argument, agreeing to them being partners. (The implant connects Frankie to Babs' Batcycle.)
- On patrol, a well dressed dude named Lewis tazes one of a group of gang members (the Foster Lane Gang) attacking Batgirl and, after the fight ends, asks her to meet him by the Docklands. Once there, he tells her possibly the most convoluted story that I've ever read in comics. (I know. That's saying a lot.) He claims that he's friends with Spoiler and that she's wanted by the Hasigawa crime family. (Stay with me, it gets more confusing.) Eiko Hasigawa's father was apparently murdered, and she vowed revenge against the mob families of Gotham. She apparently got that revenge, gathering all of them in one place and executing them. (It seems like it would be a pretty big deal if the members of all the Gotham mob families were killed. I'm surprised that we haven't seen it in other Bat-titles.) However, apparently Stephanie (dressed as Stephanie and not Spoiler, might I add) tried to stop her, for reasons that aren't explained. Moreover, we don't learn how Stephanie knew about Eiko's plans in the first place. All we know, thanks to Lewis, is that the Hasigawas see Stephanie as a loose end. To make matters more confusing, Lewis -- whose knowledge of these events Babs never questions -- claims that Eiko wouldn't want Spoiler harmed, but she can't help because she's conveniently gone deep underground. Babs traces the communicator that she gave to Stephanie a while ago and arrives just in time to save her (with Frankie's help) from the Hasigawas. Babs later stashes her at Luke's crash pad.
- At dinner with Luke, Babs talks about her nightmares and then shows him a drawing of a blue print for some sort of "energy weapon" called the "negahedron." (I have no recollection of that, but she says that she saw it a while ago.) Given her photographic memory, she's trying to recreate the blueprint, even though she acknowledges that it's a bad idea given how dangerous it is. Luke takes a look and claims that, "with a few adjustments," it could be "billion dollar big."
See what I mean? We're just all over the map here. Is Barbara losing time because someone's manipulating her brain? What project are Barbara and Nadimah conducting that could solve Burnside's apparently burgeoning gang problem? I assume that it's related to her thesis, but since when did they get information door-to-door? Who's this Greg guy? For that matter, who's this Lewis guy? How does he know Spoiler, and how does he have the inside scoop on Japanese mob activity in Gotham? As I mentioned, it's always good to have a few mysteries in the background, particularly in the Bat-books. It creates a more realistic vibe, a reminder that they don't address one villainous plot at a time and need to stay constantly vigilant. But, Fletcher and Stewart go too far here, throwing too much at us. I get that they're trying to have us feel as overwhelmed as Babs does, but we need to at least understand why we're overwhelmed. Here, most of the plots that they throw at us don't even remotely make sense.
Although I loved last issue, this issue had the same problem as issue #44, with too many ideas coming all at once. Hopefully the guys'll put several of these plots on the back burner where they belong and focus on one or two of them for the next few issues. Otherwise, it's going to be impossible for the reader to get through these issues without the help of Adderall.
* (one of five stars)
- Babs and Nadimah are going door-to-door in apparently the only bad part of Burnside, trying to gather information from residents about...something. It's not actually clear. They try to speak to a woman who is afraid to talk to them because the whole area is run by gangs. (Burnside must be a pretty big neighborhood to cover such a wide range of socio-economic classes I thought the biggest problem in Burnside was finding an open spot at an indie-owned coffee shop.) Despite insisting that she didn't want to talk to them, the woman changes course, confessing that the gangs are "using" her boy, though she doesn't say how he's being used. Later, her son is arrested after police received an anonymous tip, and the woman is seen on TV blaming "the red-haired girl."
- Barbara is forgetful and suffering from nightmares, something that she blames on her too packed schedule. (She forgot that she and Nadimah had interviewed people at three residences, not two, the previous day.) Fletcher and Stewart don't elaborate; it's the sub-plot at the corner of our eye that we can't yet fully see.
- Frankie wakes up Babs, and she's upset that she overslept. She's supposed to meet someone named Greg that she's known since high school who she's also invited to stay with her and Frankie. Before letting Babs get a cup of coffee or shower, Frankie tells Babs that she received a neural implant, and Babs freaks out. Frankie argues that it's the same as the implants that Barbara received to walk again, and Babs just as suddenly accepts this argument, agreeing to them being partners. (The implant connects Frankie to Babs' Batcycle.)
- On patrol, a well dressed dude named Lewis tazes one of a group of gang members (the Foster Lane Gang) attacking Batgirl and, after the fight ends, asks her to meet him by the Docklands. Once there, he tells her possibly the most convoluted story that I've ever read in comics. (I know. That's saying a lot.) He claims that he's friends with Spoiler and that she's wanted by the Hasigawa crime family. (Stay with me, it gets more confusing.) Eiko Hasigawa's father was apparently murdered, and she vowed revenge against the mob families of Gotham. She apparently got that revenge, gathering all of them in one place and executing them. (It seems like it would be a pretty big deal if the members of all the Gotham mob families were killed. I'm surprised that we haven't seen it in other Bat-titles.) However, apparently Stephanie (dressed as Stephanie and not Spoiler, might I add) tried to stop her, for reasons that aren't explained. Moreover, we don't learn how Stephanie knew about Eiko's plans in the first place. All we know, thanks to Lewis, is that the Hasigawas see Stephanie as a loose end. To make matters more confusing, Lewis -- whose knowledge of these events Babs never questions -- claims that Eiko wouldn't want Spoiler harmed, but she can't help because she's conveniently gone deep underground. Babs traces the communicator that she gave to Stephanie a while ago and arrives just in time to save her (with Frankie's help) from the Hasigawas. Babs later stashes her at Luke's crash pad.
- At dinner with Luke, Babs talks about her nightmares and then shows him a drawing of a blue print for some sort of "energy weapon" called the "negahedron." (I have no recollection of that, but she says that she saw it a while ago.) Given her photographic memory, she's trying to recreate the blueprint, even though she acknowledges that it's a bad idea given how dangerous it is. Luke takes a look and claims that, "with a few adjustments," it could be "billion dollar big."
See what I mean? We're just all over the map here. Is Barbara losing time because someone's manipulating her brain? What project are Barbara and Nadimah conducting that could solve Burnside's apparently burgeoning gang problem? I assume that it's related to her thesis, but since when did they get information door-to-door? Who's this Greg guy? For that matter, who's this Lewis guy? How does he know Spoiler, and how does he have the inside scoop on Japanese mob activity in Gotham? As I mentioned, it's always good to have a few mysteries in the background, particularly in the Bat-books. It creates a more realistic vibe, a reminder that they don't address one villainous plot at a time and need to stay constantly vigilant. But, Fletcher and Stewart go too far here, throwing too much at us. I get that they're trying to have us feel as overwhelmed as Babs does, but we need to at least understand why we're overwhelmed. Here, most of the plots that they throw at us don't even remotely make sense.
Although I loved last issue, this issue had the same problem as issue #44, with too many ideas coming all at once. Hopefully the guys'll put several of these plots on the back burner where they belong and focus on one or two of them for the next few issues. Otherwise, it's going to be impossible for the reader to get through these issues without the help of Adderall.
* (one of five stars)
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Batgirl #45 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
OMG, squee!
I was nervous reading this issue. Seriously. I kept having to stop myself from rushing to the end to see what happened. But, I wasn't nervous because I was afraid that Barbara would be killed or Luke would be injured. It wasn't like when the Mirage crashed Betty Brant's wedding in "Amazing Spider-Man" #156. This issue is about people that also happen to be superheroes and the relationships between them.
Everyone is totally on their game here as Stewart and Fletcher tell a long overdue story about Babs and Dick. Dick crashes Alysia's wedding, engaging in childish antics (stealing the ring and forcing Babs to chase him across the rooftops) to get Babs' attention. He then delivers a really moving speech about how Barbara is "home" to him. But, as he tries to kiss her, Babs lays down the law. She (thankfully) tells Dick that he left her. He forced her to mourn for him when he faked his death, and he has to own that. Moreover, it would've been one thing if he had taken her to coffee to have this conversation; instead, he ruins her day, taking her from her best friend's wedding and jeopardizing her relationship with Luke. (The authors give us an adorable moment where Babs tells Dick that she's with Luke, and Luke and she then have a sotto voce conversation about that assertion.)
But, Stewart and Fletcher aren't too hard on Dick: sure, he's an asshole here, but they remind us why he's an asshole. After all, he's there because he's lost, alone in a battle that Batman asked him to fight and that he no longer knows if he should be fighting. He's blinded to Babs as anything other than the woman he wants her to be, but he also comes to that realization when Babs brings him to it. Our last sight of Dick is him sadly watching Babs dance with Luke, but it's clear that said sadness comes from the fact that he knows that he's really lost her.
I love Barbara and Dick as a couple, and I'd be lying if I didn't find myself hoping for the day that they're together. But, the whole point of this relaunch is Babs building her own life. The good news is that life -- and the people in it -- is on full display here. Alysia, Frankie, Dinah, Luke: they're all part of it. Dick isn't. They shouldn't be together now, and I'm proud of Babs for acknowledging that. (Plus, um, Luke isn't exactly a consolation prize. He is 100% catch.)
Again, it's an issue about relationships, the type of issue that I wish we got to see more often. It's successful not only because of Stewart and Fletcher's insightful takes on these characters, but also Tarr's amazing art. She conveys the emotions of the characters so beautifully that it's hard to imagine anyone else drawing this issue. (That cover is amazing.)
In other words, I love everything about this issue.
***** (five of five stars)
I was nervous reading this issue. Seriously. I kept having to stop myself from rushing to the end to see what happened. But, I wasn't nervous because I was afraid that Barbara would be killed or Luke would be injured. It wasn't like when the Mirage crashed Betty Brant's wedding in "Amazing Spider-Man" #156. This issue is about people that also happen to be superheroes and the relationships between them.
Everyone is totally on their game here as Stewart and Fletcher tell a long overdue story about Babs and Dick. Dick crashes Alysia's wedding, engaging in childish antics (stealing the ring and forcing Babs to chase him across the rooftops) to get Babs' attention. He then delivers a really moving speech about how Barbara is "home" to him. But, as he tries to kiss her, Babs lays down the law. She (thankfully) tells Dick that he left her. He forced her to mourn for him when he faked his death, and he has to own that. Moreover, it would've been one thing if he had taken her to coffee to have this conversation; instead, he ruins her day, taking her from her best friend's wedding and jeopardizing her relationship with Luke. (The authors give us an adorable moment where Babs tells Dick that she's with Luke, and Luke and she then have a sotto voce conversation about that assertion.)
But, Stewart and Fletcher aren't too hard on Dick: sure, he's an asshole here, but they remind us why he's an asshole. After all, he's there because he's lost, alone in a battle that Batman asked him to fight and that he no longer knows if he should be fighting. He's blinded to Babs as anything other than the woman he wants her to be, but he also comes to that realization when Babs brings him to it. Our last sight of Dick is him sadly watching Babs dance with Luke, but it's clear that said sadness comes from the fact that he knows that he's really lost her.
I love Barbara and Dick as a couple, and I'd be lying if I didn't find myself hoping for the day that they're together. But, the whole point of this relaunch is Babs building her own life. The good news is that life -- and the people in it -- is on full display here. Alysia, Frankie, Dinah, Luke: they're all part of it. Dick isn't. They shouldn't be together now, and I'm proud of Babs for acknowledging that. (Plus, um, Luke isn't exactly a consolation prize. He is 100% catch.)
Again, it's an issue about relationships, the type of issue that I wish we got to see more often. It's successful not only because of Stewart and Fletcher's insightful takes on these characters, but also Tarr's amazing art. She conveys the emotions of the characters so beautifully that it's hard to imagine anyone else drawing this issue. (That cover is amazing.)
In other words, I love everything about this issue.
***** (five of five stars)
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Batgirl #44 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Wow, this issue is a mess. I'm as surprised as you are that I'm saying it about this title, but there we have it.
First, I've read the issue twice (and certain parts three times), and I'm still not entirely sure I understand the plot. As best as I can tell, Jeremy's crazy ex-girlfriend, Lani Gilbert, was furious that freelancers that she hired for her defunct company, Gilcom, left. (She apparently doesn't understand the point of freelancers?) She blackmailed Jeremy with an old hard-drive that showed that he plagiarized his Master's thesis, getting him to use a device to swipe the bio-metric data of some students. She then used this data to open the doors for the tigers, effectively framing them for the murders of the freelancers. Meanwhile, she used Jo to intercept her illegal shipment of Bengali tigers, claiming the insurance on the "lost" equipment supposedly in the containers. She also knew that she'd somehow come into contact with Batgirl, so she created a device that could activate her gadgets remotely. Qadir later examines the device's code and finds that it essentially "re-wrote time." (We're not told how resetting the internal clock would activate Barbara's foam bomb, but I'm trying just to go with it.) Separately, Luke miraculously recognizes non-native code in the device's code as Ralph Dean's, and he tells Barbara that he worked for Gilcom, drawing the connection to Lani that Babs needed. (We're also not told why Ralph's code is mixed into the larger code. We learn that it apparently caused kernel panic, but I'm not sure if it's that or the screwed up internal clock that caused the bomb to explode.) In the end, with the help of Alysia and (unbeknownst to Babs) Frankie, Babs saves Jo and defeats Lani. Babs later tells Luke the story, and they share a kiss. Meanwhile, Frankie has developed a neural link to Barbara's bike. (It's how she helped save Babs in the fight with Lani.)
If you couldn't tell from the non-linear nature of that summary, the issue is all over the place. Fletcher and Stewart never give us any reason why Gilbert finally lost her marbles. Jeremy says that she's always been obsessed with people following her orders to the letter, and I think that we're supposed to conclude that the loss of her company drove her over the edge. We're also not told that, really. Moreover, we're not told why she's obsessed with tigers. We're supposed to believe that she's enough of a genius to create a device that can jam Barbara's gadgets, but she apparently isn't smart enough to know that her tiger shtick would be pretty easily traced to her? She couldn't have just shot the freelancers? She had to release tigers into the officers? Plus, she goes through all the trouble to frame the students for the murders, but Alysia is easily able to track the "computer components" shipment in her activist group's e-mail to Gilcom? Really? Moreover, we've got Barbara's sudden relationship with Luke and the unexpected fall of Jeremy to make the issue even more emotionally confusing.
In other words, it's all just too much too fast. We needed at least another issue in this arc, to give the authors some time to delve into Gilbert's motives, at the very least. Instead, she's reduced to just a crazed woman with control issues, making it seem like Fletcher and Stewart are taking inspiration from a particularly disliked ex-girlfriend or mother. This issue feels like we've returned to the low points of the Simone run, with the random villain-of-the-week never making any sense beyond the immediate needs of the story. Hopefully we'll be able to put it behind us and never speak of it again.
* (one of five stars)
First, I've read the issue twice (and certain parts three times), and I'm still not entirely sure I understand the plot. As best as I can tell, Jeremy's crazy ex-girlfriend, Lani Gilbert, was furious that freelancers that she hired for her defunct company, Gilcom, left. (She apparently doesn't understand the point of freelancers?) She blackmailed Jeremy with an old hard-drive that showed that he plagiarized his Master's thesis, getting him to use a device to swipe the bio-metric data of some students. She then used this data to open the doors for the tigers, effectively framing them for the murders of the freelancers. Meanwhile, she used Jo to intercept her illegal shipment of Bengali tigers, claiming the insurance on the "lost" equipment supposedly in the containers. She also knew that she'd somehow come into contact with Batgirl, so she created a device that could activate her gadgets remotely. Qadir later examines the device's code and finds that it essentially "re-wrote time." (We're not told how resetting the internal clock would activate Barbara's foam bomb, but I'm trying just to go with it.) Separately, Luke miraculously recognizes non-native code in the device's code as Ralph Dean's, and he tells Barbara that he worked for Gilcom, drawing the connection to Lani that Babs needed. (We're also not told why Ralph's code is mixed into the larger code. We learn that it apparently caused kernel panic, but I'm not sure if it's that or the screwed up internal clock that caused the bomb to explode.) In the end, with the help of Alysia and (unbeknownst to Babs) Frankie, Babs saves Jo and defeats Lani. Babs later tells Luke the story, and they share a kiss. Meanwhile, Frankie has developed a neural link to Barbara's bike. (It's how she helped save Babs in the fight with Lani.)
If you couldn't tell from the non-linear nature of that summary, the issue is all over the place. Fletcher and Stewart never give us any reason why Gilbert finally lost her marbles. Jeremy says that she's always been obsessed with people following her orders to the letter, and I think that we're supposed to conclude that the loss of her company drove her over the edge. We're also not told that, really. Moreover, we're not told why she's obsessed with tigers. We're supposed to believe that she's enough of a genius to create a device that can jam Barbara's gadgets, but she apparently isn't smart enough to know that her tiger shtick would be pretty easily traced to her? She couldn't have just shot the freelancers? She had to release tigers into the officers? Plus, she goes through all the trouble to frame the students for the murders, but Alysia is easily able to track the "computer components" shipment in her activist group's e-mail to Gilcom? Really? Moreover, we've got Barbara's sudden relationship with Luke and the unexpected fall of Jeremy to make the issue even more emotionally confusing.
In other words, it's all just too much too fast. We needed at least another issue in this arc, to give the authors some time to delve into Gilbert's motives, at the very least. Instead, she's reduced to just a crazed woman with control issues, making it seem like Fletcher and Stewart are taking inspiration from a particularly disliked ex-girlfriend or mother. This issue feels like we've returned to the low points of the Simone run, with the random villain-of-the-week never making any sense beyond the immediate needs of the story. Hopefully we'll be able to put it behind us and never speak of it again.
* (one of five stars)
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Batgirl #43 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
This issue starts a new arc for Babs, but it also feels like old-home week. Alysia and Jeremy make appearances, though it's not exactly good news.
Someone is letting tigers loose at night in tech offices in Burnside, leaving behind dead techies working the night shift. Random, yes? The first victim is at Luke Fox's new firm, Foxtek, and Babs heads there to offer a hand. A scan of the biometric device reveals that Qadir is the one that let in the tiger, but Qadir is eavesdropping and denies it. (He also hears Batgirl flirt with Luke, something that upsets him.) Babs returns to school, where she runs into a grumpy Jeremy. Nadimah tells her that it's because his awful ex-girlfriend is in town, but we don't learn more because reports hit the wires that a second victim has been found at Vitasoft. Babs goes there, only to discover Frankie already on the scene. Frankie lets Babs know that another former Burnside College student opened the door, just like Qadir. Babs again tells her that it's not safe for her to be in the "field," and they part on not great terms. That night, Babs ditches Alysia as she's trying on wedding dresses after an algorithm that she designed suggests the next victim. Babs is able to stop the tiger and save the woman. Later, Frankie tells Babs that Jeremy is the only person with connections to all three victims and would-be victims, but a disbelieving Babs refuses to hear more. Frankie takes action in her own hands, steals Babs' cowl, and meets Qadir in a dark alley dressed entirely in black leather. She convinces Qadir that she works with Batgirl and asks him to design a specific device to help ID the real culprits. Meanwhile, Alysia's fiancée Jo goes to a location where she's been hiding the tigers; she and their activist group liberated them before they got sold to a private zoo. However, Jo is panicked when she realizes that someone is using the tigers for the attacks. Before she can move them, she's attacked by a woman dressed like a tiger.
Wow. Just writing that summary made me realize what a layered story Fletcher and Stewart are telling. For me, the most interesting part is Frankie's fascination with helping Babs in the field. The authors are playing it close to their chest whether Babs is trying to protect Frankie because of her disability or for some other reason; it would certainly seem hypocritical if it were the former. But, that said, Babs also had years of training as Batgirl under her belt before she had to adapt to fighting in a wheelchair, so she's not exactly wrong to be worried that Frankie might get herself hurt. It certainly doesn't bode well for Frankie (or their friendship) if she insists on putting herself out there. Moreover, we also have the Jeremy problem. Hopefully, it's his ex-girlfriend behind the attacks, but you never know. Fletcher and Stewart would really up the realism if he were actually to become a bad guy. After all, simply because Babs was interested in him doesn't mean that he doesn't have a dark side. She also has Luke now, so Jeremy's totally disposable. (Too soon?)
*** (three of five stars)
Someone is letting tigers loose at night in tech offices in Burnside, leaving behind dead techies working the night shift. Random, yes? The first victim is at Luke Fox's new firm, Foxtek, and Babs heads there to offer a hand. A scan of the biometric device reveals that Qadir is the one that let in the tiger, but Qadir is eavesdropping and denies it. (He also hears Batgirl flirt with Luke, something that upsets him.) Babs returns to school, where she runs into a grumpy Jeremy. Nadimah tells her that it's because his awful ex-girlfriend is in town, but we don't learn more because reports hit the wires that a second victim has been found at Vitasoft. Babs goes there, only to discover Frankie already on the scene. Frankie lets Babs know that another former Burnside College student opened the door, just like Qadir. Babs again tells her that it's not safe for her to be in the "field," and they part on not great terms. That night, Babs ditches Alysia as she's trying on wedding dresses after an algorithm that she designed suggests the next victim. Babs is able to stop the tiger and save the woman. Later, Frankie tells Babs that Jeremy is the only person with connections to all three victims and would-be victims, but a disbelieving Babs refuses to hear more. Frankie takes action in her own hands, steals Babs' cowl, and meets Qadir in a dark alley dressed entirely in black leather. She convinces Qadir that she works with Batgirl and asks him to design a specific device to help ID the real culprits. Meanwhile, Alysia's fiancée Jo goes to a location where she's been hiding the tigers; she and their activist group liberated them before they got sold to a private zoo. However, Jo is panicked when she realizes that someone is using the tigers for the attacks. Before she can move them, she's attacked by a woman dressed like a tiger.
Wow. Just writing that summary made me realize what a layered story Fletcher and Stewart are telling. For me, the most interesting part is Frankie's fascination with helping Babs in the field. The authors are playing it close to their chest whether Babs is trying to protect Frankie because of her disability or for some other reason; it would certainly seem hypocritical if it were the former. But, that said, Babs also had years of training as Batgirl under her belt before she had to adapt to fighting in a wheelchair, so she's not exactly wrong to be worried that Frankie might get herself hurt. It certainly doesn't bode well for Frankie (or their friendship) if she insists on putting herself out there. Moreover, we also have the Jeremy problem. Hopefully, it's his ex-girlfriend behind the attacks, but you never know. Fletcher and Stewart would really up the realism if he were actually to become a bad guy. After all, simply because Babs was interested in him doesn't mean that he doesn't have a dark side. She also has Luke now, so Jeremy's totally disposable. (Too soon?)
*** (three of five stars)
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Batgirl Annual #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
All you really need to know about this issue is that Babs recognizes Dick in his Spyral disguise after getting a glimpse of his ass. (In the end she decides that it wasn't him, since she thinks that he's dead, but she really should've trusted her instincts on that one.)
But, if you need more convincing, I'd say that it's also exactly the type of story that you want to see in an annual. It's a very well plotted and scripted thriller where Babs tracks down a spy organization trying to get its hand on a doomsday device. In the process, Babs runs into a number of members of the Bat-family, encountering not only Dick but also Spoiler, Batwoman, and the Gotham Academy kids. Plus, Fletcher and Stewart pepper it with enough humor to keep it light. (I loved Helena referring to Babs as the "Queen of Hipsterville.) The artists -- a separate one for each chapter, making the transitions less jarring than they usually are in multiple-artist issues -- also inject the issue with a sense of fun. (I'd love to see Bengal work on the main title.)
But, really, it's all about the ass, because it's that sort of tongue-in-cheek (yet still reverent) approach to these characters that makes Fletcher and Stewart's run so great. (I just got the "cheek" pun after re-reading this post, and I'm keeping it in there in honor of the tone of this issue.)
*** (three of five stars)
But, if you need more convincing, I'd say that it's also exactly the type of story that you want to see in an annual. It's a very well plotted and scripted thriller where Babs tracks down a spy organization trying to get its hand on a doomsday device. In the process, Babs runs into a number of members of the Bat-family, encountering not only Dick but also Spoiler, Batwoman, and the Gotham Academy kids. Plus, Fletcher and Stewart pepper it with enough humor to keep it light. (I loved Helena referring to Babs as the "Queen of Hipsterville.) The artists -- a separate one for each chapter, making the transitions less jarring than they usually are in multiple-artist issues -- also inject the issue with a sense of fun. (I'd love to see Bengal work on the main title.)
But, really, it's all about the ass, because it's that sort of tongue-in-cheek (yet still reverent) approach to these characters that makes Fletcher and Stewart's run so great. (I just got the "cheek" pun after re-reading this post, and I'm keeping it in there in honor of the tone of this issue.)
*** (three of five stars)
Batgirl #43 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Fletcher and Stewart engage in a slight, though welcome, dodge in this issue.
At the end of last issue, it looked like Batman was going to arrest Babs. At the start of this one, though, he disables his suit -- allowing him a brief window of time where base wasn't surveilling him -- and lets Babs go. He reminds her that the Powers That Be want him to take in costumed vigilantes and suggests that she lies low for a while. Of course, she doesn't, instead rallying to help him take down Livewire (the villain that escaped prison at the end of last issue). After their successful team-up, Jim observes that he's going to have to arrest her at some point, but Babs simply notes that they made a great team.
The dodge that I mentioned is the fact that Gordon seems perfectly comfortable with Batgirl, putting her in the context of the other members of the Bat-family. He even goes so far as to applaud her and the rest of the family, observing that Gotham would've fallen to pieces without them. I don't deny Jim's support of Batman, obviously, but Fletcher and Stewart are somewhat...de-complicating his relationship with Batgirl. After all, during Simone's run, he was obsessed with arresting her for apparently killing James, Jr.. In issue #26, we learned that she didn't actually kill him, and she and her father were able to enter into an uneasy truce. It's the "uneasy" part that Fletcher and Stewart ignore here.
As such, it's a dodge, but, as I said, it's a welcome one. Although the tension between Batgirl and Jim was interesting for a few issues, I didn't really want to see it persist forever. I'm just going to assume that Jim has a different perspective on the sorts of choices that superheroes have to make now that he is one, and he's letting Batgirl off the hook. I'm all for that sort of growth in characters, even if I have to invent it in my head.
*** (three of five stars)
At the end of last issue, it looked like Batman was going to arrest Babs. At the start of this one, though, he disables his suit -- allowing him a brief window of time where base wasn't surveilling him -- and lets Babs go. He reminds her that the Powers That Be want him to take in costumed vigilantes and suggests that she lies low for a while. Of course, she doesn't, instead rallying to help him take down Livewire (the villain that escaped prison at the end of last issue). After their successful team-up, Jim observes that he's going to have to arrest her at some point, but Babs simply notes that they made a great team.
The dodge that I mentioned is the fact that Gordon seems perfectly comfortable with Batgirl, putting her in the context of the other members of the Bat-family. He even goes so far as to applaud her and the rest of the family, observing that Gotham would've fallen to pieces without them. I don't deny Jim's support of Batman, obviously, but Fletcher and Stewart are somewhat...de-complicating his relationship with Batgirl. After all, during Simone's run, he was obsessed with arresting her for apparently killing James, Jr.. In issue #26, we learned that she didn't actually kill him, and she and her father were able to enter into an uneasy truce. It's the "uneasy" part that Fletcher and Stewart ignore here.
As such, it's a dodge, but, as I said, it's a welcome one. Although the tension between Batgirl and Jim was interesting for a few issues, I didn't really want to see it persist forever. I'm just going to assume that Jim has a different perspective on the sorts of choices that superheroes have to make now that he is one, and he's letting Batgirl off the hook. I'm all for that sort of growth in characters, even if I have to invent it in my head.
*** (three of five stars)
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Batgirl #41 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Fletcher and Stewart do a great job here of not just taking the change in Batman's identity in stride, but actually using it to further an ongoing sub-plot of this series, namely Batgirl's tension with Commissioner Gordon (a.k.a. Babs' tension with her father).
Fletcher and Stewart have Gordon out himself to Babs here, and it raises a number of issues for Babs. First, she has legitimate concern over her father taking on the role of Batman. As she knows firsthand, being a cop is one thing, but being a superhero is another. But, beyond just her concern, it also amplifies her guilt over the fact that her father doesn't know her identity. She comes close to tell him here, but he interrupts her before she can, telling her that the Powers That Be have decided that one of his responsibilities is taking down costumed vigilantes. Now, she's really stuck. To make matters worse, this directive sets up the end of this issue, as Batman announces that he's going to arrest Batgirl.
Again, I'm impressed by how well Fletcher and Stewart use this change in the status quo to further a story that they were already telling. These sorts of changes often throw a monkey wrench in affiliated books, but the authors handle it really beautifully. Moreover, Gotham seems to have a distinct lack of costumed vigilantes at the moment, so it's pretty clear that Batgirl is going to be at the top of Gordon's list. I'm excited to see how that develops.
*** (three of five stars)
Fletcher and Stewart have Gordon out himself to Babs here, and it raises a number of issues for Babs. First, she has legitimate concern over her father taking on the role of Batman. As she knows firsthand, being a cop is one thing, but being a superhero is another. But, beyond just her concern, it also amplifies her guilt over the fact that her father doesn't know her identity. She comes close to tell him here, but he interrupts her before she can, telling her that the Powers That Be have decided that one of his responsibilities is taking down costumed vigilantes. Now, she's really stuck. To make matters worse, this directive sets up the end of this issue, as Batman announces that he's going to arrest Batgirl.
Again, I'm impressed by how well Fletcher and Stewart use this change in the status quo to further a story that they were already telling. These sorts of changes often throw a monkey wrench in affiliated books, but the authors handle it really beautifully. Moreover, Gotham seems to have a distinct lack of costumed vigilantes at the moment, so it's pretty clear that Batgirl is going to be at the top of Gordon's list. I'm excited to see how that develops.
*** (three of five stars)
Monday, April 27, 2015
Batgirl #40 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
With this issue, Fletcher and Stewart wrap up this first arc in a way that really puts Babs in the first exciting yet stable status quo that she's had in the New 52!
Before we get to the end, though, let's talk about how we got there. The fight with Oracle was intense. Oracle reveals that she sent each villain that Babs has faced since issue #35 (when Stewart and Fletcher took over the title) for a specific reason. The Jawbreakers (the twin motorcycle thieves) from issue #36 were meant to use her past to destroy her (since they were her favorite cartoon as a child). Dagger Type from issue #37 was meant to use her image to discredit her. Her tense relationship with Officer Liam from issue #38 was supposed to prove that she can't be happy, and the anti-Batgirl riots in issue #39 was supposed to show that she can't be loved. The icing on the cake is that Oracle is controlling Riot Black from issue #35, using him as her physical agent to take Frankie and Babs hostage.
Beyond trying to break Babs, Oracle had another plan up her sleeve. She was going to use Babs' algorithm and its connection to Hooq to attract everyone that could potentially become or abet a criminal to a street fair; then, she planned on using missiles from a military satellite that she had hacked to kill them. Fletcher and Stewart up the ante by making sure that pretty much Babs' entire supporting cast is there. (Did anyone notice poor, sad George drinking by himself? Is he going to become a bad guy? I hope not.)
In the end, Babs doesn't save the day; Babs and her supporting cast save the day. Fletcher and Stewart use this issue to show that, despite the strained relationships that Babs has with her friends (partly due to her own poor behavior, partly due to Oracle's aforementioned manipulations), they're all there for her. Qadir tells Babs that sonic blasts along a certain frequency would disable the razor drones that Oracle sends into the crowd; Dinah (whose band is providing the entertainment at the fair) delivers the blast; Liam calms the crowd after Oracle causes panic by announcing her plans, via video screens, to kill everyone; and Frankie disables the satellite while Babs distracts Oracle. Group hug!
Along the way, Fletcher and Stewart give us a moment that reminds us why that group is there for Babs, even when she's off her game. During the time when Riot Black has tied Babs to a chair, Oracle insists to Frankie that they're friends, but Frankie says that they're not; she calls Oracle "a piece of her head from when she was in a bad place." In other words, Frankie -- and, ultimately, Qadir, Dinah, and even Liam -- see Babs and Batgirl as more than they were when they hit bottom. It's really all that we need from friends, and Fletcher and Stewart really do a great job of reminding us of that.
All that great stuff said, I have two complaints, one small, one not-so-small. First, I'm still a little confused about how Babs' algorithm got connected to Hooq in the first place. It's a small complaint because I feel like Fletcher and Stewart have probably explained that at some point, and it's really just a matter of re-reading these last few issues to remind myself of the answer. But, more significantly, I don't really buy how easily Frankie fixes the algorithm here. She announces that it's a "clean, safe version," but how exactly can she guarantee that? After all, if anything, these six issues have shown us how dangerous this sort of algorithm is in terms of making hypothetical connections that may, or may not,unfold in real life. Can there really ever be a "clean, safe version" of the algorithm? Hopefully, we'll return to this issue at a later date; otherwise, this sequence amounts to a professor just waving her hands in front of the board and hoping that we buy what she's selling.
But, all that said, I'm still thrilled with this arc and quite happy with this issue. Oracle put Babs through the ringer, and she was forced to decide who she is now. It's been a long road, but I'm glad that we got to the end of it. Onwards and upwards!
*** (three of five stars)
Before we get to the end, though, let's talk about how we got there. The fight with Oracle was intense. Oracle reveals that she sent each villain that Babs has faced since issue #35 (when Stewart and Fletcher took over the title) for a specific reason. The Jawbreakers (the twin motorcycle thieves) from issue #36 were meant to use her past to destroy her (since they were her favorite cartoon as a child). Dagger Type from issue #37 was meant to use her image to discredit her. Her tense relationship with Officer Liam from issue #38 was supposed to prove that she can't be happy, and the anti-Batgirl riots in issue #39 was supposed to show that she can't be loved. The icing on the cake is that Oracle is controlling Riot Black from issue #35, using him as her physical agent to take Frankie and Babs hostage.
Beyond trying to break Babs, Oracle had another plan up her sleeve. She was going to use Babs' algorithm and its connection to Hooq to attract everyone that could potentially become or abet a criminal to a street fair; then, she planned on using missiles from a military satellite that she had hacked to kill them. Fletcher and Stewart up the ante by making sure that pretty much Babs' entire supporting cast is there. (Did anyone notice poor, sad George drinking by himself? Is he going to become a bad guy? I hope not.)
In the end, Babs doesn't save the day; Babs and her supporting cast save the day. Fletcher and Stewart use this issue to show that, despite the strained relationships that Babs has with her friends (partly due to her own poor behavior, partly due to Oracle's aforementioned manipulations), they're all there for her. Qadir tells Babs that sonic blasts along a certain frequency would disable the razor drones that Oracle sends into the crowd; Dinah (whose band is providing the entertainment at the fair) delivers the blast; Liam calms the crowd after Oracle causes panic by announcing her plans, via video screens, to kill everyone; and Frankie disables the satellite while Babs distracts Oracle. Group hug!
Along the way, Fletcher and Stewart give us a moment that reminds us why that group is there for Babs, even when she's off her game. During the time when Riot Black has tied Babs to a chair, Oracle insists to Frankie that they're friends, but Frankie says that they're not; she calls Oracle "a piece of her head from when she was in a bad place." In other words, Frankie -- and, ultimately, Qadir, Dinah, and even Liam -- see Babs and Batgirl as more than they were when they hit bottom. It's really all that we need from friends, and Fletcher and Stewart really do a great job of reminding us of that.
All that great stuff said, I have two complaints, one small, one not-so-small. First, I'm still a little confused about how Babs' algorithm got connected to Hooq in the first place. It's a small complaint because I feel like Fletcher and Stewart have probably explained that at some point, and it's really just a matter of re-reading these last few issues to remind myself of the answer. But, more significantly, I don't really buy how easily Frankie fixes the algorithm here. She announces that it's a "clean, safe version," but how exactly can she guarantee that? After all, if anything, these six issues have shown us how dangerous this sort of algorithm is in terms of making hypothetical connections that may, or may not,unfold in real life. Can there really ever be a "clean, safe version" of the algorithm? Hopefully, we'll return to this issue at a later date; otherwise, this sequence amounts to a professor just waving her hands in front of the board and hoping that we buy what she's selling.
But, all that said, I'm still thrilled with this arc and quite happy with this issue. Oracle put Babs through the ringer, and she was forced to decide who she is now. It's been a long road, but I'm glad that we got to the end of it. Onwards and upwards!
*** (three of five stars)
Monday, March 30, 2015
Secret Origins #10 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
This issue really shouldn't be in "Secret Origins." Seriously. You can't be a loyal reader of "Batgirl" and miss this story. The Firestorm and Poison Ivy stories really just cover ground that we've seen covered elsewhere, but the Batgirl story directly relates to the ongoing story that Fletcher and Stewart are telling in "Batgirl."
First, we learn how Babs met Frankie. Initially, I didn't question how Babs suddenly had all these new friends when the re-launch started. I've read comics long enough not to question those sorts of details. You just sort of fill in the background story on your own. I figured that she put an add on Craigslist and found Frankie. Here, we learn that they actually met in the lobby of the medical center that restored Barbara's ability to walk. So far, Fletcher and Stewart have only shown us glimpses of Frankie's problems walking; it wasn't until she appeared on crutches a few issues ago that we even heard about it. Here, we learn that she has muscular dystrophy; we're left to draw the conclusion that the doctors were less successful treating her than they were Babs.
But, we also learn that it's the scan that the doctors were taking of Barbara's brain on the day that she met Frankie that serves as the basis for the anti-crime algorithm that she wrote. In fact, we're really not reading about the secret origin of Batgirl; we're reading about the secret origin of the algorithm. As far as I can piece it together, the algorithm (or, I guess, the Algorithm) encounters a second brain-scan taken at a later date or Barbara's own consciousness, full of events that she doesn't recognize (like Babs' friendship with Alicia or her fight with the Joker during "Death of the Family"). She comes to feel like someone stole her body and the rest, as we know, is history.
With all these revelations, it's easy to miss the fact that the original intent of the algorithm is to re-write Babs' nervous system. It put out there the possibility that someone (like the Algorithm) would be capable of not only denying Babs her ability to walk but also taking over her entire body. Talk about fertile ground for drama.
The best part of this story is that Fletcher and Stewart really focus on the story itself. Whereas the other two stories have pretty weak framing devices, I was definitely surprised when, suddenly, at the end, we learn that we had been watching the Algorithm's awakening the whole time. Again, if you're a "Batgirl" fan, you can't miss this issue.
*** (three of five stars)
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Batgirl #39 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Holy fucking crap.
Stewart and Fletcher (Flewart?) pace this issue like a horror movie, and you realize that they've actually paced this entire first arc as one as well. We've slowly watched Babs' life fall to pieces around her, with each new development hitting her harder than the previous one did. This issue is no different: you'd think that Hooq putting out a $20 million bounty on her head would be sufficiently bad, but the revelation that her brain algorithm is the secret Batgirl and (somehow) kidnapped Frankie is pretty freaking bad. It's Batgirl vs. Oracle, and the cards seem stacked in Oracle's favor.
The decision to resurrect Oracle, so to speak, is a great one, speaking to Babs' DCU past. We've mostly glossed over the return of her ability to walk, learning only that she had some sort of experimental surgery in South Africa, if I remember correctly. Stewart and Fletcher (Stetcher?) are instead putting that transition front and center, as "old' Barbara fights with "new" Barbara for control. The hints have been there since the relaunch of this series: the loss of her brain algorithm has been a major plot line, since it has imperiled her doctoral thesis. In fact, the stakes in this fight are so high because it seems to offer the possibility that Babs could somehow regain control over the missing algorithm, solving her academic crisis.
That said, we still have a lot of questions here. How did her algorithm become sentient? How did it escape destruction when her laptop was destroyed? Also, how did an algorithm kidnap Frankie? Did someone we know act as Oracle's surrogate? I'll also say that Stewart and Fletcher have to do more work selling us on Babs' reconciliation with Dinah. It happens too quickly here, based on a hurried conversation. We understand the isolation that drove Barbara to seek out Dinah, but we don't really get why Dinah would take back Babs. Is it pity? It's not the crisis at hand, since Babs doesn't know about Oracle's existence at the point when it happens. I hope Stewart and Fletcher eventually address it, even if retroactively.
All that said, those complaints are fairly minor. Overall, this issue does a great job of showing us how detailed of a story that Stewart and Fletcher are telling, even if we didn't realize it from the start. I can't wait to see where we go from here.
**** (four of five stars)
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Batgirl #38 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
You know an issue is thought-provoking if I'm arguing about it with myself on a train while I'm reading it.
The authors serve up a really insight meditation on the Facebook era here, using Barbara as a lens to examine the pros and cons of living your life in the public eye. We learn that Babs has been cultivating a strong social-media presence in the wake of last issue's events (where she took back control over her image from Dagger Type) and that she's been basking in the glow of Burnside's affection as its residents tag her in selfies and tweets when she helps them. But, Stewart and Fletcher quickly delve into the darker side of this affection, particularly the inflated view of herself that it gives Barbara. One of the problems of social media is that it becomes easy to create your own world, where you're only surrounded by information and people that support your beliefs (i.e., Pariser's "filter bubble"). Stewart and Fletcher make it clear that Barbara falls victim to that problem here and they remind us of the trouble that said bubble bursting can cause.
During a debate over vigilantes with Office Liam on their second date, Babs justifies Batgirl skirting the lay by arguing that she's popular. It's clear that this sense of popularity is making it difficult for her to see reality, since she believes that it means that she's justified in doing whatever it is that she needs to do. She storms into a bar to confront a reality-TV star with a penchant for drag racing, filled with righteous indignation over the attention (and pass) that he gets as a low-grade celebrity. (Qadir even questions why she's wasting her time on him.) In the end, she winds up provoking the type of dangerous incident that she thinks that she's preventing; she essentially proves Liam's point about the danger that vigilantes pose. In fact, by the end of this issue, it's hard not to side with Liam. Moreover, she loses the affection of her public just as quickly as she got it, as her fight with the reality-TV star destroyed a diner that served as a local landmark. Suddenly, the security that she felt from the affection that the community had is denied her; Stewart and Fletcher are making a pretty clear call for everyone to be careful how much self-esteem we derive from a fickle public that we don't really know and who don't really know us.
During a debate over vigilantes with Office Liam on their second date, Babs justifies Batgirl skirting the lay by arguing that she's popular. It's clear that this sense of popularity is making it difficult for her to see reality, since she believes that it means that she's justified in doing whatever it is that she needs to do. She storms into a bar to confront a reality-TV star with a penchant for drag racing, filled with righteous indignation over the attention (and pass) that he gets as a low-grade celebrity. (Qadir even questions why she's wasting her time on him.) In the end, she winds up provoking the type of dangerous incident that she thinks that she's preventing; she essentially proves Liam's point about the danger that vigilantes pose. In fact, by the end of this issue, it's hard not to side with Liam. Moreover, she loses the affection of her public just as quickly as she got it, as her fight with the reality-TV star destroyed a diner that served as a local landmark. Suddenly, the security that she felt from the affection that the community had is denied her; Stewart and Fletcher are making a pretty clear call for everyone to be careful how much self-esteem we derive from a fickle public that we don't really know and who don't really know us.
But, it's not all philosophical meditations on the human condition. Babs' advisor is coming to town, and we learn that she's nowhere near close to resurrecting her thesis research. We also learn that the person imitating her has been having chats with Liam, and the authors really up the creepiness factor with that revelation. Stewart and Fletcher even imply that it was this mysterious figure that manipulated Hooq to make sure that Babs and Liam got together in the first place. I'm starting to wonder if it's Dinah looking for some low-grade revenge, but I think I'm actually hoping that's the case, because she likely wouldn't cause too much damage. Otherwise, Babs is in some real trouble.
**** (four of five stars)
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Batgirl #37 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
All right, so I know that this issue has sparked a lot of controversy, with people complaining about Barbara's shocked reaction that the person impersonating her was a man. But, I have to admit, I thought this issue was really spectacular.
First, I think people might be overplaying Barbara's reaction. She seemed more shocked that her impersonator was a man than that a man was pretending to be a woman, and I don't really find that all that surprising. After all, this issue is about the fact that she felt violated because the impersonator had co-opted not only her image but her identity. She has Dinah take a photo of her that she can post on Instagram at the end of the issue because she wants to assert control over her identity. (I've previously complained that the authors are trying too hard to make this book hip with their constant references to social media, but it worked better in this issue because social media was an integral part of the plot.) In other words, Babs was disturbed to discover that anyone was impersonating her, and she was shocked that it was a man. I'd be surprised if I discovered that a straight woman was successfully impersonating me, because it might really shake up some truths about myself that I thought I understood. Again, it's not like Babs railed against the "horror" of a man pretending to be a woman (let alone her). She was just surprised that her own impersonator was a man. She then immediately got over it and set about regaining control of her identity.
I really think that the focus on the transvestite aspect is overshadowing some interesting commentary that the authors are making about identity. The authors are telling a story that anyone in the current era of social media can understand, about how hard it is to control your identity in a world where it can be so easily taken from you. Even a misinterpretation of a Facebook status update can leave people with the wrong impression of you; Dagger Type took that level of theft to an even more extreme level. If anything, Dagger Type's show is a reminder of the long road that Babs has traveled, and it underscores why it's important to her to keep control over that journey.
Also, the authors manage to get in some interesting commentary about art here. Dagger Type is mentally unstable, but still, honestly, believable. He has the arrogance necessary to create essentially a multi-layered, multi-media installation; his impersonation of Babs in real life is essentially performance art, with his photographs capturing moments of that performance. His attempt to reveal himself as her "real" identity falls flat in part because people see through it as an attempt to promote a brand (his own brand). I loved the one audience member's comment that s/he wished everything didn't always wind up being an ad. That right there is some insightful cultural commentary.
Moreover, Stewart and Fletcher continue to flesh out Babs' life in Burnside. We're reminded of the crush that her fellow graduate student (whose name I can't remember) has on her, and we're introduced to sexy officer Liam. We also get more information about the threat that the "people" that know Babs' identity pose, as Dagger Type tells Babs that they not only commissioned his exhibition impersonating her but demanded an image of her in a wheelchair. (It's interesting that he used the plural, "people," here.) Someone's definitely rattling her cage, and I'm genuinely intrigued to discover who it is. Finally, we confirm that Qadir is, in fact, designing tech for her, giving Babs her very own Q. The fact that Stewart and Fletcher have that much burning in the background in a way that feels totally organic to the series (and this issue's individual plot) is just a reminder of how strong this series is getting and how full a picture of Babs' life we're getting. She's not just Batgirl, as she was for most of Simone's run.
To wrap up a bit, I'm sad that the authors found themselves having to apologize for a character that I not only found interesting in and of himself, but also found pushed Barbara (and the reader) to confront some important questions about identity. Hopefully it doesn't lead them to shy away from pushing these sorts of limits and of depicting the type of multicultural world that they've created in Burnside. It would wind up achieving the opposite goal that the people making these complaints presumably have, encouraging authors trying to show a world with a lot of different people to stop doing so.
***** (five of five stars)
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Batgirl #36 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
OK, I'm sold.
Whereas last issue tried to signal the changes to this title through the introduction of a conga line of gays and lesbians, this issue makes actual changes. We've traded in young car thieves as potential boyfriends for adorable graduate students. Our archnemesis is no longer some sociopathic heiress with a confused (and confusing) modus operandi but a mysterious villain that knows Barbara's identity. Said nemesis is no longer putting together a team to murder all the criminals in Cherry Hill, but hiring assassins to come after Barbara as if she herself wanted them to kill her. (OK, maybe that part didn't make a lot of sense, but I'm willing to overlook it.) Moreover, the assassins aren't just color-by-number super-henchmen, but twin Asian girls obsessed with a 1980s cartoon character. Our supporting cast is no longer limited to a transgender roommate whose only distinguishing characteristic was being transgendered, but includes a Muslim research assistant, her techie brother that builds Batgirl a grappling hook in exchange for her help, a fun coder roommate, and a pissed-off Bird of Prey. (In other words, we're no longer just multi-cult-y for the sake of being multi-cult-y, as we were last issue.) Barbara is no longer worried about whatever it was that worried her under Simone, but instead trying to resurrect her life as a graduate student. Finally, Gotham is no longer just a dark place that makes you question why people live there, but full of vibrant neighborhoods like Burnside where it's apparently not all death all the time.
All these changes combine to form one of the most inventive and dynamic stories that I've read in a long time. In fact, it's somehow even better than the sum of its parts, in no small part because of the visuals that leap off the page. As I said, I'm sold.
***** (five of five stars)
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Batgirl #35 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
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)
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)
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Batgirl #34 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
Simone does what she needs to do here, with Barbara shutting down Knightfall's attempt to eliminate criminals from Cherry Hill. The problem, of course, is that it still doesn't make a lick of sense.
In the end, Simone doesn't reveal Knightfall to be a criminal mastermind. (We also never really learn why she's named after a '90s cross-over event.) Charise really just thought that sending in an army of mercenaries to kill criminals was going to help Gotham. As a result, it's hard to take Charise seriously now that her full plan stands revealed. Did she really think that no one was going to take the place of all those murdered criminals? Even if no one did move into their territory, did she really think that eliminating crime in one small part of Gotham would "save" the rest of it? Also, are we really supposed to believe that she's so powerful that she would face no repercussions from authorities for essentially conducting warfare within city limits? Simone essentially reduces Charise to a poor little naive rich girl. By the end, she just crumbles into a teary mess after Barbara shows her a photo of her family. You're left wondering why it look Barbara so long to defeat her.
Along the way, the Birds of Prey take out pretty much all the villains that Barbara faced throughout this series without breaking a sweat. Grotesque might've haunted Babs for two issues earlier in the run, but, here, Barbara knocks him unconscious in just one panel. We get a hint of the larger point that Simone is trying to make -- the sense that Barbara could've resorted to the same tactics as Charise in the wake of her crippling at the Joker's hand -- but Simone's too distracted settling scores to make it. (It would've been interesting to hear why Barbara thought that she avoided Charise's fate.)
We end with Barbara deciding to move, feeling like she has a new lease on life after Charise informs her that James, Jr. is still alive. She decides to take her roommate with her, despite the fact that Alysia's role in this series has been reduced to pretty much providing diversity and little else. It clearly sets up the relaunch of this series next issue, and I'm on the fence if I'm going to take the chance with it. This series was so amazing at the start, but it fell into mediocrity at some point and couldn't find a way back. I (heart) Babs, so I'm leaning towards just drawing a line under Simone's run and allowing us to start fresh. But, being left feeling that way is a pretty sad end to a once a great series.
** (two of five stars)
In the end, Simone doesn't reveal Knightfall to be a criminal mastermind. (We also never really learn why she's named after a '90s cross-over event.) Charise really just thought that sending in an army of mercenaries to kill criminals was going to help Gotham. As a result, it's hard to take Charise seriously now that her full plan stands revealed. Did she really think that no one was going to take the place of all those murdered criminals? Even if no one did move into their territory, did she really think that eliminating crime in one small part of Gotham would "save" the rest of it? Also, are we really supposed to believe that she's so powerful that she would face no repercussions from authorities for essentially conducting warfare within city limits? Simone essentially reduces Charise to a poor little naive rich girl. By the end, she just crumbles into a teary mess after Barbara shows her a photo of her family. You're left wondering why it look Barbara so long to defeat her.
Along the way, the Birds of Prey take out pretty much all the villains that Barbara faced throughout this series without breaking a sweat. Grotesque might've haunted Babs for two issues earlier in the run, but, here, Barbara knocks him unconscious in just one panel. We get a hint of the larger point that Simone is trying to make -- the sense that Barbara could've resorted to the same tactics as Charise in the wake of her crippling at the Joker's hand -- but Simone's too distracted settling scores to make it. (It would've been interesting to hear why Barbara thought that she avoided Charise's fate.)
We end with Barbara deciding to move, feeling like she has a new lease on life after Charise informs her that James, Jr. is still alive. She decides to take her roommate with her, despite the fact that Alysia's role in this series has been reduced to pretty much providing diversity and little else. It clearly sets up the relaunch of this series next issue, and I'm on the fence if I'm going to take the chance with it. This series was so amazing at the start, but it fell into mediocrity at some point and couldn't find a way back. I (heart) Babs, so I'm leaning towards just drawing a line under Simone's run and allowing us to start fresh. But, being left feeling that way is a pretty sad end to a once a great series.
** (two of five stars)
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Batgirl #33 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
[Sigh.] This arc is supposed to be Simone's farewell to the series, wrapping up Barbara's war with Knightfall. I'd be all for that, if it made sense.
First, part of the problem with this issue is that Simone displays some really sloppy writing by relying too often on clichéd plot devices. Barbara fully embraces the "heroes fight the first time that they meet" trope by whaling on Huntress, until Canary convinces her to stop, since the Huntress doesn't return fire (so to speak). Then, Simone employs the "confidante says that she knows the hero's identity only to reveal that she's mistaken" trope by having Alysia tell Barbara that she "knows" that she's...an undercover cop. (Whew.) Simone at least injects a little originality in her tropes by having it be the woman in bed with two hot men when she scripts the "underling disturbing the boss in a moment of hedonism" trope. I could continue, but I think that you get the picture.
But, beyond just some lazy scripting, I'm still not sure where we're going, a problem considering that we only have one issue left in the arc. I've read all #36 issues of this series (including the two annuals and the #0 issue), and I still have no idea what Knightfall wants. We learn that she's ordered all criminals to leave Cherry Hill, and that she's assembled an army to accomplish this task. But, it doesn't really make any sense. Why just have them leave Cherry Hill? Won't they just, like, cross the street into another neighborhood? Does it really take an army to achieve that? How does that achieve her larger goal? Also, shouldn't Barbara be helping her to do that? Is Barbara now pro-criminal?
I think that I'm canceling this series. I know that we've got this splashy new creative team coming on board to give this series a lighter tone, but I just think that the damage has been done. This series used to consistently be one of my favorites, but it's drifted into such nonsensical territory that it's hard just to get through the issues now. It's clear that Simone's war with her editors weighed down the story that she wanted to tell, and I'm glad that Barbara is getting another chance. But, I'll just have to read about that in "Batman Eternal."
* (one of five stars)
First, part of the problem with this issue is that Simone displays some really sloppy writing by relying too often on clichéd plot devices. Barbara fully embraces the "heroes fight the first time that they meet" trope by whaling on Huntress, until Canary convinces her to stop, since the Huntress doesn't return fire (so to speak). Then, Simone employs the "confidante says that she knows the hero's identity only to reveal that she's mistaken" trope by having Alysia tell Barbara that she "knows" that she's...an undercover cop. (Whew.) Simone at least injects a little originality in her tropes by having it be the woman in bed with two hot men when she scripts the "underling disturbing the boss in a moment of hedonism" trope. I could continue, but I think that you get the picture.
But, beyond just some lazy scripting, I'm still not sure where we're going, a problem considering that we only have one issue left in the arc. I've read all #36 issues of this series (including the two annuals and the #0 issue), and I still have no idea what Knightfall wants. We learn that she's ordered all criminals to leave Cherry Hill, and that she's assembled an army to accomplish this task. But, it doesn't really make any sense. Why just have them leave Cherry Hill? Won't they just, like, cross the street into another neighborhood? Does it really take an army to achieve that? How does that achieve her larger goal? Also, shouldn't Barbara be helping her to do that? Is Barbara now pro-criminal?
I think that I'm canceling this series. I know that we've got this splashy new creative team coming on board to give this series a lighter tone, but I just think that the damage has been done. This series used to consistently be one of my favorites, but it's drifted into such nonsensical territory that it's hard just to get through the issues now. It's clear that Simone's war with her editors weighed down the story that she wanted to tell, and I'm glad that Barbara is getting another chance. But, I'll just have to read about that in "Batman Eternal."
* (one of five stars)
Monday, June 30, 2014
Batgirl #32 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)
This issue is better than the last few, but that's not exactly high praise. Barbara finally does something, stepping up her campaign against Knightfall just as Charise seems ready to set in motion her plans for Gotham. The problem is that the interlude with Barbara's college roommate is a bizarre non sequitur, and I'm not entirely sure how the Huntress came to be involved (other than "Birds of Prey" fan-wanking). But, at least we're not just sitting around whining about Ricky the car thief. That's a plus, I guess.
** (two of five stars)
** (two of five stars)
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