One Gotham City Citizen Opinion On The Bat-family.

[superfangirl1]

Comments

[rdfox]

...no. This just is not Babs Gordon. She would never take that sort of guff from anyone. Not under Gail Simone's pen.

My guess is that it's really someone in editorial either doing major rewrites, or just plain dictating it to Gail.

[darkknightjrk]

Well, she just got her ass handed to her by this crazy-ass rampaging super-villain that she feels she can still catch--I don't think she would have the time or the inclination to give this old lady shit back, catching the bad guy's more important.

[golden_orange]

I kind of get the feeling she's just tuning her out as not particularly important at that particular point in time and responding by rote, since she's probably got bigger priorities at that point than getting into a shouting match with some cabbie.

[icon_uk]

Agreed

[mrstatham]

Yes, because they're allowed to just abuse Gotham citizens these days for accidents. Would you prefer she slapped the driver, mouthed off some more and then drained their bank account whilst Canary and Huntress snicker off to one side?

I also love the trend to blame editorial for what could be just plain old bad writing.

[rdfox]

How about just said, "Yeah, thanks for that, excuse me while I go catch the COP-KILLER who PUSHED ME OFF A ROOF, preferably without puncturing a lung on my broken ribs"?

No reason to just sit back and take getting shouted at *for the same accident* without returning fire.

And given that this is completely out of character for Babs *as written by the same writer for the last five years*, I'm not putting money on it being Gail Simone fucking Babs up here.

[aeka]

"You freakin' Bat people! All the time with your vampire ways!"

Oh honey. I think Golden Age Bruce would have something to say about that. :x

In more useful news, damn I need to pick this issue up. I forgot it came out today. :o

[eyz]

That was hilarious!
*Bats with a gun*
I miss crazy ol' Golden/early Silver age Bats! Well, I'm not that old, but everything seemed a lot simpler for comics back then :P

[katya]

I thought this week's Batgirl was quite an improvement over last week's. The writing was less stilted, the story more interesting... I actually enjoyed it quite a bit! I'm glad I decided to give this a couple more issues to warm up.

[nezchan]

I told myself I'd give it three issues to really grab me. If Gail can't grab me in more than 60 pages, there's something seriously wrong.

That said, I'm not totally grabbed yet. Still on the fence.

[mrstatham]

So what, the Bat-Family are just allowed to be pricks to the people they're meant to be protecting, these days? I can understand Babs being pissed over getting hit by a cab, but being that flippant just seems off. Maybe a lack of context doesn't help.

That said, I'm naturally inclined to dislike this book anyway, but even with that, why does it seem like Gail is crowbarring in a number of lines about standing/walking/etc?

[darkknightjrk]

"Maybe a lack of context doesn't help."

It doesn't. She's literally looking for a crazed, murderous super-villain that she was fighting just before.

[junipepper]

I think she hit the cab, actually, not the other way around.

[ar_feiniel]

I say the cab lady was being more of a prick in this case. Her initial reaction is to care more about her car than than a person who might be seriously injured. Babs's comment was just a response to that.

[nezchan]

Something that struck me while reading this issue, is there an implication that Babs herself doesn't know how she got the use of her legs back? The "miracle" talk at first seemed like standard gratitude for a cure, but adding the bit about "why me?" and hesitation to ask questions about it makes me wonder if she's as in the dark as the rest of us.

What do you all think? Am I reading too much into this? It seems like a Gail thing to do, story-wise, especially if the real story comes with extra complications.

[kenn_el]

I think it's just a desire on the part of the writer to string the audience along, as, despite DC's protestations to the contrary, every book appears to be padded so as to be collectable in a standard trade. Thus, Babs seems clueless as to why she suddenly regained her mobility. The problem is not so much that we don't know any more about that than she does (though for some readers it is of paramount importance), but that we have no sense of where she stands in the timeline of the Batbooks, which don't seem to have been very much affected by the reboot. For example, Babs researches in a library in this issue. Not at home with her own resources, but also not in her office at the library. In fact, we learn more about the obligatory quirky roommate in this issue than we do the title character. (And WHY would Babs get a roommate after what happened in TKJ?! THE dumbest idea ever!)

[bluestar86]

Cass would have never had to put up with this crap. That lady would take one look at her costume and get back in the cab. Then again, Cass probably would have caught the villain by now.

[mrstatham]

Again, where do people get the idea that it's okay for the Batclan to intimidate or abuse people? If Babs hit the cab, and not the other way around, then she's at fault regardless of the circumstances. The Batclan's meant to help Gotham, not intimidate and terrify civvies. If someone's giving them crap, they ignore it. In this instance, they apologise and swoop off, Bat-style.

And no, Cass would be in as dire straits against this villain as Babs. In fact, in her book, she'd probably have 'let someone die', gotten chewed out for it by her jerkass handlers despite not really being in the wrong, and dwell on it until proving herself by charging headlong into gunfire. Babs just prefers to be passive-aggressive toward civilians rather than deal with the fact she's screwing up.

[maxisanacorn]

I love Gail but from a writing standpoint, she's taking the deaging and thus experience and professionalism of Babs and her competency in terms of behavior and isms down just a bit too much. Babs is a 7ish + year veteran to the superheroing in one form or another, she can be rusty, but she's still super smart and not...this green....

Also, this might be the letterer's fault if they made it more obvious she's saying it in a flat " I don't care" tone, which I suspect may have been the intention, but yeah this is nearing Stephanie status, though Stephanie would add one last quip after the second " Yes Ma'am"....one last jab, or thought.

I still don't like the colorist on this book either, They need to learn overall color balance, the blue lighting and bloom is great, but they forget to apply it to go over the figures too more as well, that they being in that environment, would also be, bluer and cool atmosphere too. As it is they stand out a bit too much for me and don't feel all congealed and aren't flattering the inking.

[mrstatham]

No, I don't think even Steph would be vocally snippy to this degree with a civvie. She might run it in her internal monologue - "And what about my ribs, jerk?" to herself. Heck, even to Babs as her handler, but it would be off even for her, IMO.

[benicio127]

she's taking the deaging and thus experience and professionalism of Babs and her competency in terms of behavior and isms down just a bit too much. Babs is a 7ish + year veteran to the superheroing in one form or another, she can be rusty, but she's still super smart and not...this green....

I felt the same way reading through this. As I read it, I thought... damn, this sounds a LOT like a Batgirl we just had -- the much younger Stephanie.

[thanekos]

Out-and-out criminal Lex post-Action, then?

(Either that, or he's blaming it all on his evil twin brother Lawrence.)

[ravenous_raven]

I can't see anything...

[bluestar86]

Lucky you.

[sir_mikael]

"Bloody Torchwood."