This issue concludes the 2-part Ventriloquist arc and it’s really good to see that someone out there is doing short arcs. I would love to see more 2-3 part stories, honestly. This storyline in particular could’ve used a third part just so we could’ve had more (any) explanation of the new Ventriloquist’s powers, but I guess they’re saving all that up for September’s Villains month. We open up with Barbara crying (par for the course, really) as she has a phone call with Nightwing. They talk about the apparent death of James Gordon Jr. for a moment and then when the call is over we leap head-first into the face-off with Ventriloquist. It’s very creepy and it has some of the most memorable action and some dark humor as well to lighten the mood of yet another gruesome episode in Barbara’s life.

I must say again that seeing Barbara crying over the death of her brother just seems ridiculous. Had there been one, just one instance– a flashback of any kind that showed a tender moment between these two characters I might be able to suspend my disbelief, but there were none! He was always a creep who always gave Barbara goosebumps. Their time watching horror movies together is an attempt at this, but it doesn’t really hold up when the frightening little brother complains about how the killer is doing it all wrong. As Barbara cries over the phone to Nightwing I couldn’t help but shake my head, “James was…all kinds of messed up. But he was my brother.” — He strapped your mother to a nail bomb, Barbara.

All that being said, I did enjoy this conversation between Dick and Barbara. It’s good to see those two talking again and knowing how much Dick still cares even though he left everyone behind when he moved to Chicago. The action we see on Nightwing’s end of the phone call is also really well illustrated and colored. It makes me laugh to think of how confused the baddies he’s fighting must be to hear this masked vigilante apparently talking to an invisible woman named “Babs” as he continues to beat the living hell out of everyone on the street. That’s actually the sort of humerus spin on a scene like that I would expect Simone to utilize, but unfortunately, besides the action the scene is overwhelmingly gloomy. I sure hope the Hangman gangsters Nightwing struck down didn’t catch Babs’ name… or Damian’s… or Bruce’s… come to think of it, Dick really should’ve waited and continued this conversation after all the evil people were unconscious. Speaking of name-dropping, I wish Barbara would stop calling Dick “Richard” it feels so impersonal given their history together.

Before going full-horror movie on us, we get a single page devoted to the departure of Barbara Gordon Sr. And even though I think the new series artist did a really great job with this issue, one big problem still remains: Barbara and her mom look exactly alike! When I flipped the page I took all the imagery in rather quickly and what I saw was Babs kissing her father on the mouth! What? My eyes darted up to the panel before it and sure enough it looked exactly like the face I saw earlier in the comic. I went to the top of the page and the slim body looked exactly like his daughter’s as well! Of course, when I actually read the speech bubble it was evident who it really was. In fact, the dialogue makes damn sure emphasize all of this by having Gordon mention their daughter in big bold letters.

As I said earlier in the review, the big climax between Ventriloquist and Batgirl is quite thrilling. I still don’t like this Ventriloquist character but if you accept her characterization and abilities then this fight scene really couldn’t have gone any better and the ashy colors by Blond and heavy shadows by Glapion used in this scene really made for an eerie atmosphere that worked beautifully. Yes it is very, very gruesome but there’s some funny lines dropped in, great insight into Barbara’s head, and the puppeted corpses made for a really freaky battle and some bad-ass moves from Batgirl.

[spoiler] Before wrapping up, one of the main themes of this 2-parter is resurrected when the damsel in distress, having been saved, asks “Who do I say saved me?” –Seriously? It’s Batgirl. She still looks like Batgirl has always looked, how do you not know who Batgirl is? I know she pulled the yellow emblem off her chest, but there’s still an outline of a Bat there in its place that’s clearly visible and clearly a bat.

Saying you’re going to give up being Batgirl is profound, but this isn’t a Spider-Man No More thing. Instead she’s just not going to represent Batman’s message anymore and that would be pretty meaningful too but even though she took the symbol off her chest she’s still wearing the iconic cowl, a winged cape, and tossing batarangs. She calls it a razor-rang, but we know what it is and we know damn well that Batman would’ve made that for her too. She just doesn’t have the funds to make the weaponry or a suit herself. Not anything of equal quality anyway. I’m not even sure what Babs does for money. Long ago she was a librarian, but there’s been no mention of her holding a job at all in the New 52. Both she and Nightwing are going to need to scrounge up some dough soon. Those batarangs or going to run out quick if they don’t make-up with Bruce.

The story ends on a cliffhanger as Barbara’s forgotten date shows up on her doorstep. This guy, Ricky, is getting more handsome in every issue. If he can keep changing his look with every artist, why can’t at least one of them make Barbara Sr. look unique? I remember Ricky being a pretty scrawny little guy back in issue #10 or so but now he’s got broad shoulders and a perfectly square jaw.

Overall

It’s still ridiculously mopey in the beginning, ridiculously dark in the end, and I dislike the new Ventriloquist, but there was a bit more fun to it near the end with a few humorous lines and a nice, lighthearted surprise on the final page. It also almost felt like there was some commentary on the frequent sadness and gore of the series:

So, yeah, it was a huge improvement over the last issue! I’m liking the new artist and the cover by Alex Garner is fantastic. Overall the Ventriloquist didn’t make for a very good 2-part story, but at least it had an entertaining finale even if we still know almost nothing about the villain.

SCORE: 6/10

The post New 52 – Batgirl #21 review appeared first on Batman News.

1. Creepy Children: I blame Black Mirror for starting this trend. Such a great book, but ever since then I’ve had to suffer through incessant appearances by an increasingly super villain-like Jim Jr. but every origin tale being told is now showcasing the villain as being a deeply disturbed child that commits their first murder at the age of 8 or so. Stop it. Just because it worked for Jim Jr. and everyone liked that book doesn’t mean we need to give every character the same treatment. Think back to all the great origin stories of Batman: The Aniamted Series, how many of those do you recall beginning their tale with the villain as a kid?
2. Gore: It’s as if Batgirl and Batman: The Dark Knight are in constant competition to be the book I would least want my niece and nephew to see. The cover is slathered in blood and features dripping crimson blades. Within the very first page of this comic we have a mass poisoning thanks to an overly convenient bottle of weed killer just left out in the middle of the lawn on the day of children’s birthday party. On the next page there’s a blood splattered doll. Two pages later there’s a batarang hanging out of a man’s eye socket. From then on it only gets worse with snapped legs, electrocutions, and drills, drills everywhere.
3. Magic: If you read my reviews often enough then you know my stance on magic and aliens. Batman characters can work with this stuff, sure, but you’re also never going to get the best Batman story with magic and aliens either. The stuff isn’t germane to the world of Gotham. And giving this new Ventriloquist a supernatural and more homicidal angle than Arnold Wesker doesn’t make her more threatening to me, it instead looks like we’re trying way too hard.
4. Eidetic Memory: I hate this aspect of the Barbara Gordon character. It’s essentially a superpower. I want to see a Barbara who is naturally smart in a way that the average reader can read this book and aspire to be like her. You know that if you work hard and study, hell you could be as sharp as Barbara Gordon. With eidetic memory, well, you’re either born with it or you’re not. You can practice memorization skills, but it’s never going to be photographic.
5. Spider-Man Batgirl no more… but I kind of am: After the events of the last issue, Barbara feels that she is no longer worthy of wearing the bat symbol… but she’s taking that a bit literally. Instead of really exiling herself and giving up the mantle, she just cuts off the yellow emblem from her bosom and proceeds to go out on patrol only now she’s wearing a much uglier suit. It just seems kind of silly and childish.
6. Goodbye Scar-face, hello Jigsaw: The new dummy is one that looks nothing like an early 20th century gangster, but is instead quite similar to the puppet from the SAW movies. He’s also able to be manipulated telepathically and he has drills in his hands that are used to drill things that really shouldn’t be drilled, he calls them “hot sacks of fleshy tissue.” but you would call them “people.”
7. Creepy…but not so creepy it can’t be sexy: On the cover you’ll see the ventriloquist as an old hag and I thought that that was a rather interesting direction. But while the ventriloquist we see in the interior pages is rather anorexic looking, she’s still got quite the attractive face and she never looks so skinny as to be completely unsettling. It’s like the book couldn’t dare commit to the concept and instead decided to stick with sexy women and lots of violence. The Ventriloquist, Shauna, also lacks any subtlety. She even has glowing red eyes. Look, Arnold and Scar-Face were creepy enough and they did it without the demonic dressings that Shauna and Ferdie the puppet display every chance they get. A regular dummy is creepy enough as is and the idea that the soft spoken, little man can become a completely different person just by putting one of these ugly toys on his paw is horrifying. It’s what made Wesker one of the most legitimately crazy and disturbing characters in Batman comics.
8. Jim Loves Jim: One of the last complaints I’ll get to here since I’m getting kinda winded is that Jim Gordon wants Batgirl arrested for the murder of his son. This A) Tosses out the idea that Gordon secretly knows Barbara is Batgirl, B) Shows that he has no faith in the bat family after time and time again of seeing their no-kill rule proven to be tried and true, C) Really doesn’t jive with how Gordon viewed his homicidal son. I mean, this is the kid who just strapped your ex wife to a nail bomb and you’re going to act this self righteous now? I understand it’s his son, but I think Jim wouldn’t be furious with Batgirl for having killed him, he’d be freaked the hell out that nobody has found James’ body yet and the lunatic is probably still out there. If ANYBODY in this town should know that no body = no death, it’s Jim Gordon. He’s seen this play out a thousand times… but maybe that’s just my pre-New 52 way of thinking. If this is the direction we are indeed going to take, it would be nice to at least see Gordon conflicted about all of this. No other bat-title has a better reason to use Jim Gordon than Batgirl and he’s always an afterthought.

When it comes to the artwork, there’s nothing spectacular to write home about. A couple pages near the end are really ugly with Batgirl made up of ultra thick lines and surrounded by characters with muddled faces fighting her in a world with no backgrounds. I don’t know why those two pages were so awful, but they really look like they were hastily thrown together at the last minute. The highlight of the book would easily have to be the full page shot of Barbara weeping in front of her bathroom mirror. There are lots of details on her gloves, the shower curtain in the background and toiletries on the vanity. It looks good. However, when I pick up a Batgirl comic I’d like the best page to be something more substantial than Batgirl crying before the sink.

If you’re in favor of this series getting even darker and have no problem with magic in your Bat-comics then you’re definitely, without a doubt, going to enjoy this book WAY more than I did. But for me, I was ready for it to be over at the half-way mark. I’m sick and tired of seeing Barbara cry. I want this series to take note from the recent changes in Nightwing and make the stories more fun. We never come out of these horrible situations feeling triumphant, there’s always more doom and gloom and crippling self doubt around the corner.

SCORE: 2.5/10

The post New 52 – Batgirl #20 review appeared first on Batman News.

Things are about to change for the Batgirl series. Anyone who has been a fan of the series from the start owes it to themselves to pick it up and see what these changes are because they will indeed resonate from this point on. Not only are secrets revealed by and to multiple characters, but you’ll witness the dramatic loss of one of Batgirl’s strongest allies.

So what did I not like about this rather important issue? Well, it’s something that I haven’t liked from the start: The New 52 James Jr. He’s far too formidable. I feel that James Jr. should be a psychopath and one that is very grounded in reality. One of those villains who you could easily see operating in the real world. He’s a Dahmer, a Gacy, a BTK Killer, etc. etc. He’s a scrawny, sociopath in glasses who manipulates his way to your throat. In the New 52, he’s whooping trained police officers, intimidating the Joker himself, and rather than looking like a scrawny nerd he struts around in a glasses that shimmer and a lengthy coat like he came from The Matrix. But perhaps worse than all of this is that his motivations are built upon even more in this issue and it’s unnecessary. James is a psychopath. That was the reason and it was one that I was certainly fine with but in issue #19 we see that he also has an inferiority complex and was always horribly jealous of Barbara. I just found this to be kind of lame.

My other big complaint about James Jr. is how his story ends. I put that all in spoilers and in that rant I also talk about the endings of other recent Batman arcs so if you’re not in the know about Born to Kill or Death of the Family you might not want to click the spoiler tag. SHOW SPOILER ▼

Sampere’s artwork looked quite nice in all of the more dramatic scenes, but faces seem to have been a challenge. Everyone looked different from panel to panel and one shot of Babs Sr. standing under a carousel made her look like a square-jawed man with a wig. You’ll notice the colors in this issue are much darker than usual, which is appropriate because the events that happen here are extremely dark themselves. Batgirl’s been pretty angry lately and here you see her really lash out.

I’m glad to see the James Jr. thing finally come to an end (it’s been going on for far too long and I never got the sense he actually wanted to do anything. Too much talk, not enough action) and there are some pretty interesting new developments that should lead to more complicated Batgirl stories in the future. But I have a great distaste for this portrayal of James Jr. and how overly violent this and Batman: The Dark Knight have been. I’m happy to see Simone back on the title, but I wish the series would lighten up a bit. Judging by the cover of the upcoming blood-soaked Ventriloquist arc… I don’t see that happening.

SCORE: 7/10

The post New 52 – Batgirl #19 review appeared first on Batman News.

I can’t say I cared much for this one and now that this short 2-part story is over it definitely looks like it was all little more than filler. It’s as if we were supposed to get a Barbara vs. James Jr. arc but that simply wasn’t possible so instead that concept was merely teased and we were instead treated to a brief fight with a C-list villain and a shoehorned-in mourning Damian scene. Did these two issues get the ball rolling for Gail Simone to tell the story as it needs to be told when she returns for upcoming issues? Yes. Would it have been better to have left James Jr. out of issues #17 and #18 and let Simone handle that conflict herself when she could give it full attention? Also yes.

I’ve been reading Black Mirror lately so I have James Jr’s voice fresh in my mind. The narrator of this story does not sound like James Jr. Not only that but it’s rather annoying and unnecessary narration for the most part that really drags the book down. What is this? Is trust in the artist to tell the story a commodity and Batman & Robin used it all up today? That comic relied wholly on the illustrators and it worked out brilliantly. Batman #18 and Batgirl #18 on the other hand spell everything out for the reader in painful detail even when what’s happening is quite obvious. Comics are a visual medium and there were numerous occasions in both books where the old writing rule of “show don’t tell” was needlessly broken. Not only was the narration not written in the proper voice of its character, bloated, and unnecessary, but it also phased in and out from being omniscient. The insights James gives about Barbara in some scenes from issue #17 had the same feel but I sort of blew that off because let’s face it, James is creepy and he could easily be spying on Barbara. But here he’s describing what’s going on inside Barbara’s van (no sign of spy cameras or anything) and inside her head.

As for the actual story being narrated… there’s not a whole lot to it. Things went boom at the end of the last issue, we get a really cheesy Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man type scene where citizens pull together to save Batgirl, and from then on we see Batgirl pull herself together and track down Firebug. It’s not that compelling. Figuring out where Firebug is was as simple as putting a little evidence in a computer and clicking enter. And as for Firebug’s motivation? You don’t really care. I read the comic like an hour ago and I already don’t remember. The only thing in this story that’s really worth reading– the moment that actually has value for what’s to come occurs in the comic’s final three pages. If you ask me, those three pages are honestly all a Batgirl fan needs to see before Gail Simone returns next month. It perfectly sets up what’s to come and nothing that came before mattered. Even the REQUIEM scene is forgettable. Batgirl never really shared any time with Damian in the pages of any comic pre or post New 52 so it’s not like the characters were that close but she really doesn’t seem to be affected that much by it. Sure, she sheds a tear and makes a phone call but we’re back to business as usual in under two pages. And although it’s probably too soon to call before we see what’s to come in Batman Inc. I found it odd that Gordon wasn’t aware of Damian’s demise. He was on the street in Batman Inc. #8 when all of this went down. I would have thought he would make it into the lobby of that building soon enough to find Batman clutching his son’s body. If anything I would want to see a scene like that. Gordon consoling Batman at his most broken? At his most human? That’s potentially a very powerful scene.

As for Daniel Sampere’s art, you’ll get no complaint from me. I thought the book at least looked good. He did a hell of a job showing a Batgirl that’s been beaten and it was great to see the inside of her Bat-Van. The colors by BiOND were also quite good. Very vibrant, but more importantly they were distinctive from scene to scene, locale to locale, and fit the emotional charge of the moment.

I don’t recommend picking it up. The art by Sampere, Hunter, and BiOND is good and the final three pages are important for what’s to come, but overall this felt like filler to me. The narration was a chore to read, the villain Firebug was very uninteresting, and if you’re picking it up for some sentimentality due to “REQUIEM” being written on the cover you’re going to be very disappointed.

SCORE: 4.5/10

The post New 52 – Batgirl #18 review appeared first on Batman News.

Batgirl Volume 1 dealt pretty heavily with Barbara’s lack of confidence and struggle to re-adapt to the cape and cowl again while pitting her against villains that reflected her own inner demons. Volume 2 continues that pattern but it goes bigger. Much bigger. Not only do we dig deep into The Killing Joke, but we take a look back at Batgirl’s origin, Jim Junior’s childhood is brought up again, and we meet a new villain who could prove to be quite formidable in the future. It’s darker and it actually contains quite a few more pages than the previous installment to boot.

Content

Batgirl Volume 2 is a pretty dense book that delivers a surprising amount of content. We’re talking eight issues here! With #0, and #7-13 bundled together not only do you get the entire Batgirl vs. Knightfall storyline but there’s the confrontation with Grotesque, the Court of Owls tie-in, and last September’s prequel that took us back to Batgirl’s origin. And if you look at my review of volume 1 you’ll see that the earlier volume really wasn’t put together that well (my pages split from the binding). I didn’t have any of those problems here.

As for the stories collected within Batgirl Volume 2′s hardcovers, we actually start off with issue #0 rather than reading them how they were originally released. This is actually a really great way to kick off the book. Why’s that? Because it’s hopeful. Despite Barbara Gordon’s book being the “girly” bat title, there’s really nothing dainty about her stories. In fact, they might just be the most dark and depressing of all the bat-titles. She’s always flashing back to memories of the time Joker assaulted her or something creepy her little brother did and the villains she fights are really brutal. The only thing lifting us up from the darkness is Barbara’s incessant inner monologue which can be overly cutesy. It’s one of the book’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. Yes, it lightens things up a bit, but it can get annoying at times. This is especially true for those of us who still pine for a Barbara who is more mature and calls back to the Oracle days but that’s just not what the New 52 Barbara is all about. She seems to be much younger, less sure of herself, and slightly naive. As I was saying though, some seriously dark stuff has happened in the Batgirl series and it only gets more dire in Volume 2. Issue #0, although it has its gaps in logic here and there, gets the reader in a fun mindset so you’re ready to follow Babs along as she confronts some nasty characters, the first of which is even named Grotesque.

The two Grotesque chapters are the weakest of the bunch. In fact, these are easily the worst two issues of Batgirl that I’ve read. He’s this odd “Meta-Human” who uses electrical powers and has peculiar motivations. I never found myself that invested in that side of the story whatsoever. But beside that we have some mother/daughter moments that are either confusing or downright idiotic. Both women are named Barbara and they are drawn to look almost exactly alike. When I saw a flashback of a mother being shaken up by threats from a kid in elementary school I couldn’t help but laugh. It’s just ridiculous. So you see, I’m also thankful that #0 kicked things off in Volume 2 because starting off with #7 and #8 would’ve been painful.

Following that is the Night of the Owls tie-in, which I must say I found myself enjoying more here because it had so much more energy and sense of purpose that #7 and #8. Ignoring the fact that the Owl’s plan is really terrible what you have here is actually a pretty cool fight scene with Batgirl being a total bad ass and it’s a must read for Birds of Prey fans because this is the first appearance of the Talon that’s recently joined that crew. However, when the Night of Owls issue is over it’s…well, it’s kind of jarring. The way Batgirl’s contribution to that storyline ends doesn’t lend itself very well to the overall story being told in this book. We’ve just finished the Grotesque plot, then we see a city essentially being conquered by zombie ninjas and just as things are going from bad to worse you turn the page and we’re back to business as usual in Gotham without any update as to what’s happened. There’s a major gap there and I almost feel like the overall reading would’ve been better had that comic not been included. Sure, it would’ve sucked for the completionists out there but simply judging this book as a reading experience I found the Night of Owls tie-in to be out of place.

And then there’s Knightfall, which finishes the book off strong. Knightfall isn’t a very good name for a villain, but the character herself works. Well… what I said about the character’s name isn’t entirely true. “Knightfall” is a solid villain name, just not a solid bat-villain name. It would be like having the villain of Casino Royale go by the name Thunderball. It just seems kind of dumb to give a new villain the same name as an already famous bat-saga. It just breeds confusion.

Gail Simone also uses this story as an opportunity to bring in Batwoman. It’s a nice surprise and she writes her well. The voice and overall characterization of Batgirl and Batwoman are very distinct. The only things about this story that I found offputting is a problem that’s cropped up in Batgirl’s stories quite a bit: Meta Humans. I’m a pretty steak and potatoes Batman fan who likes to see as few super powered foes as possible so when the winged henchwoman shows up in this story just a few pages after the zombie Owl and the electric demon guy I was getting a bit tired of it all. However, the story itself is pretty entertaining and seeing Batgirl fight all these fantastical enemies was highly entertaining, leaves you with a nice teaser for what’s to come, and the whole thing is very well illustrated. I think that Syaf and Benes did an amazing job on their respective issues and the only moments I ever felt that the art could’ve been better is when Barbara shared a scene with her identical mother.

Supplemental Material

• Greg Capullo’s tie-in cover for issue #13
• Young Batgirl sketches and designs by Ed benes
• 1940s Talon sketch by Greg Capullo
• Layout for Batgirl #9 page 13 by Ardian Syaf
• Cover sketches by Ardian Syaf
• Cover roughs by Ed Benes
• Penciled art for Batgirl #13 second printing cover by Ed Benes

As you can see by that list they actually put some effort into the supplemental material this go-round. Still not commentary by the artists or Simone, but it’s still some of the best bonus material you’ll find in a New 52 hardback.

Value

I would say it’s definitely worth full price for Batgirl fans. Totally. $24.99 for eight issues plus all that bonus material in an attractive hardcover presentation seems appropriate. And even if you’re not that into the character of Barbara Gordon or a follower of Gail Simone I think that the $14.73 Amazon price would still be good enough to tempt you. There’s so much content here that it’s kind of hard to turn that price down if you’re at all curious about this series.

Overall

There are a few too many superpowered bad guys for my liking but overall I have to say that I enjoyed Volume 2 far more than its predecessor. I think any Batgirl fan will be immensely satisfied with this collection while everyone else will find at least one or two chapters very enjoyable. With so much content bundled together this hardcover has a whole lot to offer. Besides the skippable, two-part Grotesque story I think that Volume 2 does a fine job of taking you deep into Batgirl’s past and even offers a glimpse at what’s to come in her future.

SCORE: 7/10

The post Batgirl, Vol. 2: Knightfall Descends review appeared first on Batman News.

The solicits I saw for this week’s Upcoming Comics article were wrong and now is indeed the time for Ray Fawkes to begin his two month stint on Batgirl. As you’ll recall, there was a big controversy in which Gail Simone was fired via email. Her fans rallied loud enough that DC brought her back within a week or so but they had already hired Ray Fawkes to pen a couple of fill-in issues in the meantime. However, on the surface it doesn’t exactly look like a fill-er sort of story, does it? It’s Barbara vs. James Junior! This is something that Gail’s been alluding to for months but even so there’s no mention of her co-plotting this comic so it’s entirely Fawkes’ creation. How’s he do?

(more…)

The post New 52 – Batgirl #17 review appeared first on Batman News.

So basically it looks like every Death of the Family tie-in this month will have the same final page and you’ll have to wait for a real conclusion to happen in Batman #17.

The past couple issues of Batgirl were phenomenal but this one was severely disappointing. I get the feeling that Gail Simone had a really cool idea for a Joker and Batgirl wedding but her hands were tied here and that entire plotline went nowhere at all. Now that it’s over I can’t help but wish she had saved this idea for farther down the road when she would’ve had complete control over the story. I mean I am really disappointed! The Batgirl tie-ins were the very best and actually appeared to be building toward something memorable, but it all dissolves here so that we get the same teaser page from Batman & Robin #16 telling us to go buy Batman #17.

(more…)

The post New 52 – Batgirl #16 review appeared first on Batman News.

Just days after being fired, writer Gail Simone is back on Batgirl. The internet made a lot of noise when the news of Simone’s abrupt termination was revealed. It seems like DC listened to what the fans had to say and had a change of heart. Simone confirmed the news on Twitter last night:

Here’s a thing.Gail Simone is the new Batgirl writer. :)

— GailSimone (@GailSimone) December 21, 2012

I am driving a snow road, cell is about to cut out, but THANK YOU DC for this privilege and THANK YOU everyone who wanted this to happen!

— GailSimone (@GailSimone) December 21, 2012

Are you happy to have Simone back? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Gail Simone is back on Batgirl appeared first on Batman News.

Last month’s Batgirl #14 laid it’s claim as the best Death of the Family tie-in yet (overthrown, in my opinion, by Batman & Robin #15) and one of the best cliffhangers this year: Joker proposing to Barbara with her own mother’s severed ring finger– if she says no then a nail bomb explodes! How messed up is that? Naturally, this was a book I was really looking forward to this week and I’m sure many of you are as well. And in case you’re wondering, you can feel free to read this one before Batman #15 if you like. It’s Batman & Robin that needs to be read after Batman #15.

(more…)

The post New 52 – Batgirl #15 review appeared first on Batman News.

I don’t usually look at the solicits because I like to be surprised with my comics but the latest news on Gail Simone had me wondering what DC would advertise for the month of March. According to the solicits at DCComics.com, Ray Fawkes will be taking over writing duties on Batgirl starting with issue #18. The website states that Fawkes will be writing two issues of the series that deal with the (spoilers, I suppose) aftermath of the Death of the Family saga, particularly regarding James Jr. who sold Barbara out to the Joker in Batgirl #14. So there you have it. Gail Simone only has a couple of issues remaining and then we have Fawkes for a short two-part story. Will Fawkes be signed as the ongoing writer of the series or is this only temporary?

Ray Fawkes has primarily been an indie writer and artist until now. His most famous work would be as the writer and artist of One Soul for Oni Press, and as the artist of  Mnemovore for Vertigo. You can find out more about Mr. Fawkes by visiting his website.

If you’re familiar with Fawkes’ work and have more books to suggest, post them in the comments below.

SOURCE: DC Comics

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