Batgirl #6 – Review

By: Brian Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Trevor Scott (inker)

The Story: Core Requirements, Part Two of Three: Stephanie wakes up in an ambulance. She gets herself out of there in full Stephanie Brown style and goes on to pursue the kidnapping of the boy she was interested in last issue. This involves spying on Batman and doing funny voiceovers. This means that Robin, who’s been itching to cut Batgirl down to size, gets the drop on her.

What’s good: I loved Bryan Q. Miller’s take on Batman. He’s all old school Batman in his dialogue and actions (ignoring the commissioner’s assistant), except for a playful exchange with Barbara. And Garbett’s take was equally strong. He shows up all in shadows, filling the panels in looming menace. And the Batgirl book gives DC a chance to see the new Batman through the eyes of the junior ranks of Gotham’s superheroes. Dick’s growth has continued and he is becoming the dark figure of authority. Damian, Steph and Barbara all took his orders, almost with grace. This is great to see happening. I also have to say that the scene in the ambulance was well-written and well drawn, down to the sound effects.

What’s Not So Good: My first complaint is a bit of a fanboy quibble. Stephanie starts the book with an untreated gunshot to the head, which has apparently given her a concussion. Three pages later she’s up and in costume after having ditched the ambulance. Violence having no consequences is a convention of the comics medium, but comics are just better when consequences occur. Think back, way back, to Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil, when horn-head had to take on the underworld with a cast and a crutch, or later, without his radar sense. Frank Miller got about 6 issues of great story out of DD’s injuries and showed a lot of Daredevil’s character in dealing with them. Here, we don’t see Stephanie dealing with the concussion or having to face her mother because of it (both hinted at in the story). Avoiding both these problems makes last issue’s ending (gunshot to the head) a false cliffhanger, since Steph didn’t have to do or pay anything to get out of it.