Welcome to the first of hopefully many comic reviews here on the Earth Station One. My name is Chuck Peters. I’m a filmmaker, writer, blogger and all around comic loving guy who is here to talk the shop…comic-shop. Looking at what’s hot, what’s been left in the oven a bit too long and what’s cold. So let’s get to it. First up: Batgirl #1!
As most you may know, Barbara Gordon is back as Batgirl in the new 52, the reboot event so big DC comics old logo couldn’t survive it. Before we get into the comic itself, how about a little background on Ms. Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl.
“A prodigy ahead of her time? Check. Fought toe-to-toe with Gotham’s most unsavory? Double-check. Bailed out the Dark Knight on countless occasions? Capital C check.
Batgirl is Barbara Gordon, a confident young woman as committed to justice as her father, Gotham City’s top cop Commissioner Gordon. But when her overprotective Dad forbids her from joining the force, her admiration of Batman leads her to rebel the way crime-fighting rebels do in Gotham City: by picking up the mantle of the Bat.
An exceptional fighter and detective, Batgirl is also unparalleled in her computer skills. With a Utility Belt filled with Batarangs and her own Batcycle to speed her across the city, she pursues justice regardless of whether others—including Batman—wish her to. But Gotham’s criminals are a ruthless and maniacal lot, and every moment she risks her neck means dancing closer to death. (Taken from the DC Webpage)”
What is missing is the life before the 52 that you need to know: How the Joker arrived at her doorstep. How he shot her through the spinal cord and from that point forward, she became the Oracle, Batman’s eyes and ears over Gotham.
Since the birth of the new 52, Barbara Gordon is back in the cowl so let’s look at Batgirl #1.
SPOILERS
Barbara is back patrolling the night skies when her path converges with that of a new killer: The Mirror. Finding her way to the home of Ortegas, she encounters the Brisby Killers, a group of young people posing in cheap costumes who love to commit home invasions and murder. A group who has also fallen onto the radar of The Mirror.
After her foiling of the Brisby killers at the Ortega house, Barbara finally gets out on her own and moved in with an actual roommate. Things are going fairly well when her phone, tapped into her father’s emergency texts, alerts her to a terrorist ordeal at the hospital, where the last surviving member of the Brisby Killers is being treated. She grabs her Batcycle and races for the hospital.
The hospital is a shambles, one cop is dead and Batgirl comes face to face with the mirror. The Mirror is after those that should have died and with a gun pointed at Batgirl’s spine, he kills the last member of the Brisby killers…and she’s next.
The first issue is very appealing in the sense that it almost feels like Spider-Man. As Batgirl, she’s getting on her feet and getting used to what it’s like out on the city scape but as Barbara Gordon, she’s living with her father Jim and moving out on to her own.
So far I’m enthused about the book but I’m not overly impressed. The beginning is very luke warm but thankfully, not cold. When she’s Batgirl, I’m not feeling too much of a difference between her and Batman, a little more sarcasm but it
doesn’t feel…different. I’m more interested in the story behind the cowl right now. I like the concept of Barabara dealing with being the Batgirl but having a life and that is what the first book hints at.
I am intrigued enough to keep reading.
Tune in for the next episode when I take at look at A VS X and reveal one of my favorite older issues from off the shelf. In the meantime, I’m Chuck’N Comics. Later.
