Convergence: Batgirl #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

On the (very limited) plus side, we get some more information about Catman and Grodd in this issue.  Catman was in Gotham to find weapons to fight Grodd, and Grodd had followed him there, when the dome fell.  Grodd lost his super-powers, turning into a regular ape.  Once Telos lifted the dome, he regained his powers and went after Catman.  The two of them were fighting in Gotham when the globes transported them to the desert arena.  The part that I still don't get is why Catman told Stephanie that he was fighting her as a delaying tactic last issue.  I originally thought that he was colluding with Grodd to save his/their city, but it's clear from this issue that it wasn't the case.  But, I guess that I'm not going to get any more clarity on this front.

On the (very significant) negative side, this issue is quite simply a mess.  Tim suddenly starts acting like an ape, a continuation of his weird behavior last issue.  However, amazingly, Kwitney never explains why Tim started acting this way.  Worse, the conflict gets resolved when Stephanie convinces Catman to lose.  Catman agrees because he lost everyone that he loved back home.  I get that he doesn't feel like that city is his home anymore, but he's really willing to kill off everyone else in that city without a second thought?  Plus, his actual city is Cape Town, not Gotham, so it doesn't really matter anyway.  Is he essentially committing suicide?  After all, if he and Grodd are really returning to Cape Town, as he says at the end of the issue, then they're returning to a world on the verge of destruction.  Is he really ready to so willingly embrace that?

I could continue, but I won't.  The only reason that I'm giving this issue one star is that the final scene between Stephanie and Tim -- where they can't have sex because they're both too bruised -- is cute.  Otherwise, I'm planning on forgetting about this mini-series as soon as I can.

* (one of five stars)

Convergence: Batgirl #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is beyond bad.  I don't even know where to begin.

First, the only good thing about this issue is that we get confirmation that Telos is going the gladiator route when it comes to setting the cities against each other; each city has a list of champions that are supposed to fight other cities' champions.  Here, the Stephanie Brown version of Batgirl is chosen, but Black Bat and Red Robin have accidentally been transported with her to the site of her fight.  When Catman attacks, it seems like he's her opponent.  Then, everything gets weird.  Red Robin sees them fighting and approaches...and then forgets why he came?  Seriously, he just stands there.  Did Telos interfere with him to make sure that Stephanie wasn't getting help?  Unknown.  Batgirl continues to fight Catman, who exposits that he should really be fighting General Grodd to save his people.  Stephanie asks why he's fighting her then, and he admits that it's delaying tactics.  But, he never says what he's trying to delay.

Then, Catman observes that Tim is just standing there smiling, and Stephanie hypothesizes that he was "spored by a flower."  (She apparently had been "spored" by one at some point.)  She figures that Cass wasn't so dumb to get "spored," but, when she goes to find her, she discovers her battling Grodd.  Did Catman delay Stephanie so that Grodd could fight Cass?  That makes no sense, though, because Cass doesn't count in terms of the tournament; she's there by accident.  In other words, if Grodd is his and Catman's city's champion, Grodd would have to fight Stephanie to win.  If anything, Catman should've been distracting Cass and Tim.  But, it's still not really clear what Catman was doing there in the first place, so I'm not even sure that he was working with Grodd.

Then, we flashback a year where we learn that Stephanie gave up being Batgirl the minute the dome appeared around Gotham, though, again, we don't learn why she did so.  She spent the year as a nurse, until Telos chose her name as Gotham's champion.  Cass and Tim then helped her remember how to fight, except not really because they didn't have enough time.  Then, we finish where we started, with no hint what fight was actually supposed to happen in this issue.

Why, why, why do I keep reading events?

zero of five stars