BATGIRL #35-37
Written by Cameron Stewart & Brendan Fletcher
Art by Babs Tarr
Breakdowns by Cameron Stewart
Colors by Maris Wicks
Letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Covers by Cliff Chiang, Cameron Stewart, Bengal, Darwyn Cooke
OK, I'm sold.
Like most older (and male) readers, I had some trepidation about the new quasi-hipster take on Batgirl that began with issue #35 of The New 52 series. Not only is that a culture with which I'm not terribly familiar (and far too old to care about), but being a long-time reader, I know all too well how immersing characters in passing fads will do damage to the character without appreciably increasing sales.
I mean, which of us didn't wince when we first heard about "Grunge," a character named for a musical fad that was sure to be obsolete within a few months? That sort of short-sightedness is one we comics fans know intimately.
Secondly, how would this new Batgirl square with the old one? Barbara Gordon, in all of her incarnations, has been portrayed as the hyper-serious, brainy girl who doesn't party. Now Batgirl was going to be the locus of party central.
To tell you the truth, the new creators didn't square that circle very well. Barbara Gordon has been de-aged a bit even from her New 52 portrayal (let's not even talk about Congresswoman Gordon in the Old 52), to where her friends consider a 32-year-old professor "old." And she's in college. So she's what, early 20s at best? Maybe even late teens?
That's a bit younger than the Gail Simone-written character in Batgirl #34 one month before the new look, but I understand: It's necessary for Barbara to be younger for her to behave as young as she does/will in the current series. (Older characters acting younger without being younger is creepy and pathetic. See "Hal Jordan," circa 1968.)
And what do I mean by young? Well, the first issue of the new Batgirl begins the day after a party at Barbara's new apartment with her new roommates, a party in which Barbara hangs all over a guy (that she would have slept with had her roommates not intervened) and passes out before the party's over. Nothing wrong with that -- hey, I was in college once -- but it is out of character for Barbara Gordon as previously portrayed. So this version has to be established differently, i.e. younger, so that she can behave this way as part of growing up.
But why is Barbara going back to college, getting a new apartment in the hip part of town, and partying down with the kids? That is never really explained, nor do any parts of her previous life -- except for her trans roommate -- intrude on this new one. This is a clean break, and nobody's really worrying about continuity here.
But why the new costume? Actually, the creators did handle that plausibly. All of Batgirl's previous equipment gets burned up in a fire that it later turns out is kinda collateral damage in her battle with a new villain, a fake Batgirl.
Weirdly, Black Canary's equipment gets burned up, too, and now she's sleeping on Barbara's couch. I say "weirdly" because the dialogue indicates they don't get along that well, with references to events in Birds of Prey that I haven't read. And while I have read nothing of the New 52 Black Canary, this one seems younger than she should be, too. And further, despite being essentially a supporting character, Canary never suits up or shows up for the fights. Strange to see a superhero on the bench, but the writers clearly want this to be Batgirl's book, not Birds of Prey Jr.
Anyway, with all her equipment gone, Batgirl must suit up off the rack. (Evidently, the falling out among the Bat-group so implausibly established in "Death of a Family" still holds true, although to tell you the truth, Batman is never mentioned.) So that's why the Doc Martens, the windbreaker tunic, and so forth.
Batgirl does, in these three issues, start building a support "staff." Actually, it's hipster science students who are wildly advanced for undergraduate work, but this is comics, where that is almost a convention. Anyway, that's where Barbara's advanced equipment comes from, such as it is.
And much of what is high-tech about this Batgirl is computer-related, which is not just a nod to the character's "Oracle" days, but honestly, is a commentary on today's world. Which I find not the least bit irritating, as I feared it would. Plus, you know, that really adds a lot of daylight between Batgirl's modus operandi and Batman's. (And Red Robin's, and Red Hood's, and Nightwing's, and ... )
Yes, we live in a computer world. Even an old fart like me has personal and professional Facebook accounts, and ditto on Twitter. Although I never use them, I also have accounts on Instagram, Tumblr and all that stuff. Even as old as I am, social media isn't just something I can ignore -- I really need it to function, both personally and professionally.
And, of course, that's true in spades for young twentysomethings, who have never known anything else. The social media on our world is depicted in thin disguis in Batgirl -- doubtless that's to avoid lawsuits -- but it's there, recognizable, and necessary.
Yes, necessary. While I have never computer-dated in my life, for example, I haven't a doubt it's more or less the norm among young professionals, and that is true here. To tell you the truth, if these kids weren't all wired in, the book would have no verisimilitude.
But above and beyond that, the subtext of the social media in Batgirl is social commentary. Barbara's first foe is a fake Batgirl who is breaking laws in ways that make no sense to Barbara. When she asks what she wants, the phony responds "What does anybody want these days? Fame, money, fame!" And to achieve that, she's going to kill and replace Batgirl, who already has fame, but in this character's eyes, doesn't know how to properly use it to advance her "brand" (and, presumably, to cash in).
Which is not only funny, but really kinda rings true. Which makes it both a plot element and comment on our celebrity-obsessed culture. Neatly done.
A side element is oblique commentary on the objectification of women. (Batgirl resists being made into a sex object, fake Batgirl pursues it as an end in itself.) That makes the book virtually unique, if not heroic!
And speaking of progressive social mores, the cast of Batgirl is probably the most diverse in comics. In addition to the trans roommate from Batgirl's old life, one of her new roommates is black and bi (she likes girls "mostly"), and roughly half of the people at Barbara's party are gay. (They are also of widespread ethnic and geographic origin.) Barbara's support "staff" includes a brother-sister team that are Arab and/or Muslim, with the sister in traditional hijab, if I'm using that term correctly. The two villains in Batgirl #36 are cosplayers gone wrong, deep into Japanese manga and anime. I suspect that this is a nod to the world that's coming, when "white" and "male" isn't the default setting for all new characters. It's also a nod to the real world, if the students in my classes at University of Memphis are any indication.
Speaking of the cosplayers, when Barbara researches these two girls, who are dressing and acting like characters in an anime, there is a pitch-perfect scene where Barbara asks an anime expert about them. The expert is a bit snooty, makes reference to the original Japanese show "before it was butchered for American television" and says half a dozen things I've heard IRL or online from those who are of the mindset that Japanese=good, American=bad.
And speaking of the anime girls, their motivations are a bit wacko as well. I think that will be a theme in this book, and one I welcome. After all, every era has its villain conventions -- think of all those Silver Age Flash and Spider-Man foes who kept robbing banks, despite their immense power and scientific expertise -- and some new ones are needed for the 21st century. Batgirl is a step toward establishing them. Plus, as noted, these new motivations are social commentary as well.
The art, by Babs Tarr, is a pleasure, and -- like the writing and milieu-- atypical. It's by a female artist -- what a concept! -- so it doesn't have the obsession with bosoms and pneumatic muscles and all that stuff. Further, it's not good just because of what it doesn't have, but because of what it does: A cheeky, attractive YA look that I find very pleasant. This Batgirl actually still looks like a girl, as opposed to 28-year-old supermodel with a triple-D rack that is the default for all superheroines. (Although I will note that, as is often the case, this comic book artist has trouble with the opposite gender. Many male artists tend to have a single, busty female "type" that doesn't exist in the real world, and many female artists tend to draw fairly effeminate men. The latter is the case here.)
In summary, this "not-your-daddy's-Batgirl" experiment is, I think, a success. It reflects and comments on our current culture, it's well done in both art and story and it reinvents an old character for a new world in a plausible, entertaining way. I'm sure many purists will hate it, but I found it fun.
P.S. For the record, my wife dubbed it "cute." And while I guessed the villain's ID about halfway through, my wife didn't, so maybe it wasn't as obvious as I thought it was.
Replies
I'm glad you enjoyed the new Batgirl, Cap. I gave the first couple issues a try but it was pretty obvious that I wasn't the target audience. I'm glad DC is publishing it, but it's not for me.
ps. I know you like ripping on the name Grunge from Gen13 but while the nomenclature isn't used much anymore, the music is still around. Nirvana was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame last year and other "grunge" bands like Pearl Jam continue to make new records. It's no more a passing fad than punk, disco or new wave.
Yeah, I do rip on Grunge a lot, but mostly now as a shorthand for what I talk about in the review, of writers who latch onto fads without thinking about how that's going to look in a couple of years. I mean, I could have said "who didn't wince when Spider-Man asked 'who let the dogs out' about two years after the song came out," but that takes longer to say and isn't as effective at making my point.
As to the musical style, grunge is exactly like punk, disco and new wave to me. People still do new material in those styles as well (one of the bands my nephew is in is a punk band). It's just that, like grunge, those styles don't enjoy popular, mainstream exposure, acceptance or support any more. And where those kinds of songs are made, they are rarely, if ever, still referred to as "grunge." (My nephew calls his punk band "anarchy music," because "punk" doesn't get them gigs any more.)
But I take your point and I'll retire my Grunge reference!
Well, based on these observations, I might give this iteration of Batgirl a shot. I was one of those who thought DC took a horrible step backward in getting rid of Oracle, and an equally backward step in making Barbara Gordon Batgirl again. But I did give the New 52 version of Batgirl a try for at least 18 issues but lost interest. The storyline where Barbara's brother was terrorizing her and her mother and Commissioner Gordon saw the brother die and believed Batgirl killed him was my jumping off point.
But this version sounds intriguing, even if I'm even less a part of the target audience than Chris is. It sounds like it's neither giving me something I won't like (the storyline where Barbara's brother was terrorizing her and her mother ... ) nor something I've seen a thousand thousand times before. Young Barbara navigating her way through life is new enough.
It's a new version and I've found I like it. I don't think this Batgirl would last five minutes in the same Gotham that Batman calls home, but they've pulled her back from serious crime fighter to Nancy Drew style and if you try not to notice the difference between old and new the stories are still good. Based on the art style I thought we were going to go from Teen Titan's to Teen Titan's Go. This Batgirl could never have been Oracle even though being in the chair is a definite part of her history.
I was buying the Simone version of Batgirl intermittently (and had picked up her last 4 or 5 issues), but this version -- kind of a mix of Batgirl and Scott Pilgrim -- is much more up my alley. Nothing wrong with the last version, but I could get comics with that tone anywhere, including plenty of other places at DC. The new comic is much more of a rare beast, and I've had a blast reading all three of the new issues so far.
(On the other hand, I had the same reaction Chris had -- "this is good stuff, but not for me -- to what I look at as Batgirl's sister series, Gotham Academy. It's fun and playful and I bet people will really love it. But the school setting and school-age characters just have too high a bar to clear for me.)
ClarkKent_DC said:
CK, you and I are often on the same page. (When did we become our fathers?) And what you're saying here is a professionally edited version of my review (as I'd expect).
I am also in the camp that thought Oracle was terrific -- much more useful than the incredibly redundant Batgirl, a necessary component in today's world for any extra-legal operation and an intriguing character in her own right. So, like you, I was unhappy when they brought back the super-redundant character. And, like you, I kinda drifted away from Batgirl (despite review copies) right around the ridiculous you-killed-my-son-prepare-to-die business.
And, like you, what I really get out of this series is: I haven't seen this before. This is new. This is not a variation of everything I've seen before. And it rings true, so it might stick around. I need to pay attention to this.
No worries, Cap. I borrowed your slam to make fun of The Outsiders' villains New Wave back on the old board and someone called me on it. I figured turn-about is fair play.
Ps. I'd never heard the term anarchy rock before. I like that a lot better than new new punk. For a little while, it seemed like everyone had run out of names for new movements (ie. neo new wave). I'm glad to hear that names are getting updated even as trends circle back around.
Captain Comics said: