Batgirl #11

[aeka]

Well, eleven issues in, and I can't say I'm really feeling this book. In fact, I feel like this book is suffering from the same problem as Paul Levitz Worlds' Finest series in terms of Barbara not really getting any interesting or worthwhile villains that match her calibre of skills as a crime-fighter. Like Levitz' baddies, Batgirl's baddies come off as silly and non-threatening despite the fact that some of them are supposed to come from a dark place and are supposed to be dangerous and threatening as a result.

On that note, I'm still not sure what the tone of this book is supposed to be. On the one hand it looks like Simone is pushing for a fun book that's fronted by a badass female lead, but at the same time it looks like she's trying to make some of the characters dark and complex somehow, and it's just not....working. I don't know....it's really feeling like another case of "you can't have your cake and eat it," but that's how this book is coming off at the moment. So far the only baddie I've genuinely enjoyed from this book was Barbara's Talon from the Night of the Owls event since she at least had an interesting backstory (and one that looks like is going to be explored again in future issues judging by the cover solicitation for #13).

I'm really hoping that this book will start to pick up by issue #13. Cause I really, really want to like this book since I like Barbara Gordon as a character. But at the moment I'm only liking her on Birds of Prey (which I should probably start posting scans of again soon). :/

That being said there is at least one character and one upcoming meet-up that look promising.





I do hope Gail Simone isn't going to utilise her own Women in Refrigerators trope with Barbara's roommate, but I am nonetheless interested in finding out how James Jr is going to tie into Barbara's story. I will honestly forgive all of the bad villains we've had so far if they all turn out to be connected to James Jr, including the current one.

And now, we learn something new about Detective McKenna:





I haven't been reading the latest issues of Batwoman (I need to seriously catch up on that), but last I saw of her she turned down Batman's offer to join Batman Inc for another organisation to protect her family. Does anyone by any chance know if somehow Batwoman's storyline is somehow connected to what she's doing on this page? Otherwise, why is Batwoman somehow connected to Knightfall?

Comments

[swatkat]

Tone *is* a serious problem with this book. Simone knows how to write Barbara and good dialogue, but I get the feeling she's struggling a little to find the right voice for Barbara here, something that sets this Barbara apart from Oracle and Stephgirl, and still keep her recognizably Barbara. The combination between introspective (given Barbara's post-TKJ backstory) and upbeat (Batgirl Year One, older Barbara-as-Batgirl comics) hasn't quite hit the spot yet, except on a few occasions.

I am also unimpressed with the art. I like Benes (even if he has a pornypose sameface problem), so maybe it'll be a little better with the next issue, but the colors really have to improve. It makes things look cluttered, as opposed to the nice, clean feel of Wonder Woman or Batman.

I'm looking forward to the next issue though - maybe this is where things'll pick up.

[icon_uk]

in terms of Barbara not really getting any interesting or worthwhile villains that match her calibre of skills as a crime-fighter.

Welcome to the world of Chuck Dixon's Nightwing run....

[darkknightjrk]

O_O

Interesting, I've literally NEVER heard someone complain in any way about Dixon's Bat-Family stuff. I thought I was all alone in that regard.

[darkknightjrk]

I've honestly been enjoying it. Maybe it's trying to be two different things, but I dunno, it's working for me.

As for Batwoman--McKenna mentions Medusa, which is an organization that Batwoman was fighting for the past arc. I think, at least. I dropped it a couple of issues ago--I just didn't give a fuck about what was going on, and all the bouncing around in time just felt like a parlor trick to distract people from the fact that there's no story going on whatsoever. Hademan and Williams III just aren't as good of writers as Greg Rucka. I might give the WW team-up issues a shot, but otherwise, I'm waiting until there's a new writer/creative team.

Slightly different direction, but...JESUS CHRIST LOOK AT THAT CAT. It's HUGE. It's like a miniature lion.

[auggie18]

Remember the Wonder Dog story arch in the Teen Titans a few years back?

Get prepared for the cat version.

[celestialchild]

I'm trying to figure out how the cat fit in the cage in the first place.

[randyripoff]

Over the last twenty years or so, one of the things that I think has hurt superhero comics is that every new creative team seems to feel compelled to create their own villains and supporting casts. In some instances this is fine, but in other instances--especially when you're dealing with a character or group of characters that have a rich history and a plethora of strong villains--it takes something away. I have no problem with introducing new villains, but here's an instance where mixing in some of Batman's classic rogues might not be a bad idea. A Mad Hatter, a Ventriloquist, even someone like Johnny Witts could perhaps give the book better focus. Or not. Just my opinion.

[darkknightjrk]

I think the thing is--who did Barbara have as supporting cast back when she was Batgirl? Jim Gordon, Jason Bard...Dick would appear every once in a while...when she was in Congress I'm sure she had some staff...

The point is she isn't like, say, Spider-Man or Superman who had a whole lot of non-hero supporting cast around them.

As for villains--yeah, they have a rich history, but if you use them too much, they'll start to lose their power. I mean, I wasn't a huge fan of Mirror, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that they're trying to do different villains.

[mullon]

That cat is bigger than that carrying case.

[q99]

Not even by a little, it's like four times a big!

[icon_uk]

It's a dimensionally transcendental catbox?

[arilou_skiff]

To be fair, it looks like a persian, and those aren't really half as big as they look like. (throw a bucket of water on them and they basically disappear)

[kurenai-tenka.livejournal.com]

Wait, *that* James? No no no. >_>

Also, the hell is going on with that lion-cat? :P

[quatoria]

Yeah. I continue to think this is going nowhere I want to follow. I'm already in a pre-shudder at where I'm expecting it to end up. And I believe he ended up keeping her keys, there. Yeah, I really am not thrilled at where this is going.

[mrstatham]

Simone really, really writes the worst throwaway villains, doesn't she? A guy yelling 'brains brains brains', really? Just shoot the fucker and be done with it. Nothing of value would be lost.

Also, Alysia's got to be really drunk or really dumb to fall for a guy who stares at her like THAT. Drunk or not, I think I'd recognise a fucking Hannibal Lector stare from a mile away.

[aeka]

While I completely agree with your point about Simone's throwaway villains, I honestly found the scene you're describing disturbing for the fact that Simone just offed a POC character as a plot point for McKenna's character. If that was meant to be a reversal of the WiR trope, I hate to say it's still equally problematic since POC characters are another vulnerable group that are often brutally killed as plot points for advancing a story. I wonder if she thought about that before writing this particular scene?

[espanolbot]

Maybe the guy is trying to sing the Voltaire song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i7tqWMbUFU

But yeah, for a supposedly clever guy you'd think that he'd attempt to tone down the Jeffery Dahmer stare when he's trying to ingraitate himself into someone's life.

[kenn_el]

I've wished like heck that we could find out what Barbara does for money, whether she's got any of the skills/smarts that she had as Oracle, even if , in this 'new' Universe she was never actually called 'Oracle', or anything that would let us know who Barbara Gordon is, but eleven issues in, I haven't a clue other than that I'm told she's smart, despite all evidence to the contrary.
I've never liked Bats vs. Metas, so the villains aren't working for me either. Barbara's bother as a threat? Just another example of how, in a Universe where TKJ happened and was apparently a BFD, Barbara moving in with a roommate makes no sense.

[darkknightjrk]

Money thing I don't know about--last we heard she was job hunting without much luck, but hasn't really been mentioned a lot since.

Oracle-wise, I seem to recall that #0 will not only be about her origin as Batgirl, but on the days before she went to surgery to repair her spine, so it's semi-likely we'll get confirmation there.

As for her intelligence, it has been shown I think, we just haven't really seen her work with computers a whole lot.

The roommate thing--gotta have someone to split the rent with. Also, I have no idea what a BFD is.

[donnblake]

Holy crap it's a lion! Get in the car!

[amaresu]

Honestly this is a problem I have with most of Simone's writing. I know lots of people love her, but she always comes off as somewhat bland and mixed in tone to me. Also the tendancy to just throw things in without really connecting them to anything. IDK, it never really clicks with me storytelling wise.

I've been reading not-mine copies of this on the off-chance that something eventually clicks for me. So far not so much. I do like the idea of McKenna, but so far the execution of her becoming Barbara's police contact and Jim Gordon like person isn't quite working for me. And I have no idea what to think about the James storyline as she keeps picking it up and then dropping it for a couple of issues.

Oh well. I hope they fix the coloring on Kate's hair in the next issue.

[mrstatham]

"Honestly this is a problem I have with most of Simone's writing. I know lots of people love her, but she always comes off as somewhat bland and mixed in tone to me."

This. I know Simone has a great reputation, but other than a handful of Secret Six issues, I've never seen what the fuss is about. She arguably had the most consistent take on Wonder Woman, post-Infinite Crisis, but it was just so damn boring. She had a great grasp of Diana, but it was like she was afraid to do anything big with her. And it was just dull.

[benicio127]

What is the deal with expand-o-cat??!!?

[junipepper]

There might have been a way to move Barbara Gordon from Oracle back to Batgirl without diminishing her as a character -- but Simone has not found it.

[mrstatham]

I still don't see why we needed to keep TKJ at all. All it's done is give this book something of a miserable root. I can see why Simone maybe wanted to deal with it - to handle Barbara as a PTSD-suffering character is an interesting approach, but it's not been handled very well. I think she'd have just been better off throwing her into the Batgirl role and just having fun with it, because to me, it's trying far too hard to be dark and mature.

[espanolbot]

James: Heh heh heh, soon my plan will be complete! The cat will keep expanding until it fills the entire apartment, forcing Barbara to have to look for a new place, dispatching her with the deadliest killer of the 21st century: stress! Mwhaha, I'm so diabolical!

Barbara: Would resist but... cat... too... cute!

James apparently deciding to target a woman who apparently collects knives doesn't sound like it'd end well for either one or the other of them.

[tsunamiwombat]

holy shit that cat is enormous