Batgirl #1
So Gail Simone was arguably the
most successful writer of female heroes before the reboot, including
having worked with Barbara Gordon before, and it gives DC a way of
extending Adam Hughes' contract* so this is bound to be AWESOMES, right?
Well,
for the most part it is. We get a new villain who seems to show people
the worst bits of their lives then kills them imaginatively in an
appropriate way (AND NOT LIKE THE SPECTRE AT ALL) and then we get
Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. Then a splashpage that I just can't work out
at all:
Where's
she coming from? Where's she going? Where's the rope connected? Why are
there no buildings behind her? WHAT'S UP WITH THAT FOOT?**
We
have a fight with a small time gang of weird kids and then a flashback
to The Killing Joke. And so it begins, as previous continuity begins to
creep in. Although that needn't matter because it gets handwaved away on
the next page as "a miracle happened".
We then get the usual
attempt by Gail to pretend she's still a teenager with a lolworthy
room-mate, but it's redeemed by a great closing sequence where Babs is
unable to act because of Killing Joke memories (unfortunately not Jaz
Coleman, so no Honouring of The Fire here) and people hate her.
I'm staying with this I think "but just fair warning, okay?"
* The man responsible for one of the most pointless and exploitative bits of DC promo material in years:the Women of DC poster. Which
is for what, exactly? It just appeared standalone with no context - I
particularly like how it fails to sexy up the wheelchair.
** Noticing feet in Book three of a week that has a Rob Liefeld book in it cannot be a good sign. I might melt down later.
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