Birds of Prey #11 – Review

By: Gail Simone (writer), Pere Perez (artist), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: When Catman threatens to throw a man off a building, don’t take it too seriously— it’s just foreplay.

The Review: Simone has pretty much made a career in comics crafting characters that always get personally invested in their vendettas.  Unlike the vast canon of DC heroes who do good because it’s the right thing to do, Simone’s characters do things exclusively because it feels right to do it.  She just loves to tread that sticky gray area of ethics.

Even so, she makes it clear there are still shades of gray, with her Secret Six definitely in the darker area and the Birds of Prey often (but not always) in the light.  Huntress and Catman are among the few characters that truly toe the line directly at the center, which perhaps explains their undeniable attraction to each other.  The former is counted as a hero and the latter a villain—technically—but their actions bring them to the opposite sides of the tracks frequently.

Lately Catman’s been moving steadily toward the darker end, and whether or not he’ll wind up staying gets brought up this issue.  The fact Simone can play with such a pivotal development for him in a title he’s not even featured in shows the luxury she has in writing these characters almost exclusively.  In a way, Catman can only be at his most vulnerable in this title, with the woman who understands his inner conflict the most (his teammates certainly don’t; Deadshot’s response to Catman’s soul-baring:  “Okay.  Let’s stop talking before we get into a weird area.”)

Aside from the more personal drama happening beneath the surface, Huntress and Catman’s chemistry is off the hook.  These are two highly volatile personalities being put into explosive situations in close proximity—you do the math.  And then you have to remember Simone can make the slightest interactions enjoyable.  Black Canary: “I brought chili.”  Oracle: “Wait.  Your chili?”  “Cleans your sinuses right out.”  “Dinah, your chili cleans everything out.”

Batgirl #14 – Review

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

The Story: Stephanie is stuck at home on Friday night with her Mom. No bat signal. No training. Just scrabble. Luckily, Supergirl stops by and they go out to visit the campus of Gotham U. Unluckily, some bitter grad student makes 24 solid holograms of a whining, B-movie Dracula, who all go on a rampage.

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: I’m gonna mix these together because Garbett and Scott always deliver solid artwork, and you can see many of my other reviews to read what I think of the Garbett-Scott dynamic duo. On the writing, what works and doesn’t work depends on (a) what you think the writer is trying to do and (b) what you’re buying Batgirl for.

What was Miller doing mixing B-movie Draculas, girls night out, Stephanie’s self-deprecating monologue and Supergirl? Well, I think Miller was just writing an issue of fun silliness. After 13 issues of pretty intensive stuff going on in Steph’s life, including the loss of her partner and mentor, a breather was overdue. Since Batgirl is already a title that, within the suspension of disbelief, pokes fun at its hero, Miller has a fair bit of latitude on how funny he can go. And there is no way to take any of what goes on in this issue seriously. Nor is it possible to ask whether the writer is elevating the heroism of the characters. He’s not. That’s why the girls stop for ice cream and get their picture taken with one of the Draculas in the mall photo-booth in a Scooby-Doo-style montage. Does it work as funny? Yes. Does the nugget of truth in every joke reveal something about Batgirl and Supergirl? Yes. Is suspension of disbelief broken? Yup. Do I want to see this story become part of the canon? About as much as I want Obnoxio the Clown vs. the X-Men to be part of the X-canon.

Batgirl #13 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Pere Perez (artist), Guy Major (colorist), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain and Sean Ryan (editors)

The Story: Trust: Batgirl swings into action on her day off to tangle with Clayface. Detective McHandsome plays the lad in distress.

What’s Good: Miller delivers classic Steph in the first few pages when he shows us how she lives at college. And where Detective Nick has been a romantic plot tease for a year, Miller finally scratches beneath his surface. It’s subtle, but the view of what’s underneath jacks up the tension by laying the groundwork for some inner conflict and some romantic obstacles that Steph will have to face later if she gets to pursue Detective McHandsome. And, as always, I love the Artgerm cover. Has this guy done interior artwork anywhere?

Batgirl #12 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett and Pere Perez (artists), Walden Wong and Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colors)

The Story: Batgirl Rising: The Flood, Part Four of Four: Oracle is trapped in the mind of the Calculator. Stephanie is saving her, by plunging through a rainstorm from thirty-five thousand feet. Sounds like Stephanie….

What’s Good: First of all, what’s great is that this is the one-year anniversary of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl and it is worth celebrating that Michael Siglain and Harvey Richards have been able to hold together the core creative team (Miller, Garbett and Major – the inkers seem to be a revolving door on this book, though) for pretty much that whole run. This gives a definite feel to a Batgirl book. Miller stamps each issue with Stephanie’s personality and it starts from page one. Her running, self-deprecating monologues are always fun, but, in this last issue of this arc, we see more growth in her. Steph, a rebellious, clutsy, teenager-equivalent, has always had a pretty adversarial relationship with Oracle. This book turns a corner for Steph and for Oracle and it’s heart-warming. You see it in lines by Stephanie like: “This isn’t about trying to prove anything to anyone…this is about me saving the one person who’s ever given a real crap about me.” She doesn’t lose that Stephanie essence though, especially when talking on the radio to her backup: ZAP! “I’m good! I’m good!” The corner turns for others in the book as well. Everyone experiences growth, even the bad guy. Oracle’s turn is summed up nicely when she says (with relief): “I knew I could count on you not to listen to me, Batgirl.” On the art side, Garbett, Perez, Wong and Major deliver humorous action and adventure. The camera angles work and the layout does the job.

Batgirl #11 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett and Pere Perez (artists), Walden Wong and Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colorist), Harvey Richards (assistant editor), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: Calculator has Oracle and is plugging directly into her mind. Oracle’s hidden lair has Wendy. Technozombies Catwoman, Manbat and Huntress (not to mention 40% of Gotham) have Batgirl. Then things get grim.

What’s Good: As always, Miller excels at the snappy banter and monologue that accident-prone Stephanie Brown excels at: Spiderman-esque in style, but a lot less self-confident. Only Steph is able to deliver lines like “Sorry I called your dad a jackass” and, in response to the growls of Technozombie Man-Bat, “You’re right, I can’t afford a DVR.” Stephanie is always manic fun. On Oracle’s side, I loved the mental world she was stuff in, facing off against Calculator, and his growing frustrations with her. Visually, the art was dynamic, the settings grim and rainy, and some of the layouts interesting. Artgerm’s cover art is absolutely fantastic (just like last issue). Stan Lau should be doing the insides too.

What’s Not So Good: The art, while doing the job, didn’t look very compelling this issue. Gotham looks grittiest and scariest (despite Stephanie being a light-hearted Gothamite, she is being chased by thousands of zombies) when the fine lines of detail leap out of the panels and drown the reader’s eyes in an overload of bricks and mortar, dirty, blowing garbage, hair-line cracks in windows and scuffed armor. Faces carry more emotion when the lips and eyes and hair move fluidly. The art here just lacked the kind of detail that would have held my attention. This was just standard.

Story-wise, there were a few flaws. I’m not trying to nerd out, but first, I was shocked that Wendy was able to turn on, much less use, Oracle’s computer. I’m not a longtime Barbara Gordon follower, but over this series, she’s been the super-careful, ultra-cautious mastermind with a plan. She has put telepathic blocks in her head! But she didn’t password protect her computer?

Batgirl #10 – Review

By: Bryan Q. Miller (writer), Lee Garbett & Pere Perez (artists), Jonathan Glapion, Rodney Ramos & Pere Perez (inkers), Guy Major (colorist), Michael Siglain (editor)

The Story: Batgirl Rising, The Flood, Part Two of Four: Calculator is one creepy dude. He knows more about computers than Oracle, and he’s got a serious hate for Stephanie Brown. Maybe that’s why she’s unplugging all her systems. Oh, and he’s got a Justifier Helmet. As Babs and Steph would say: “Crap.”

What’s Good: Miller’s writing. Miller’s got the voices of his characters down cold. Calculator is creepy– seriously creepy. Babs is confident, brave, sarcastic and in over her head, and it shows in her dialogue. Gotham PD Detective Gage talks like a nervous guy seriously crushing on Assistant Professor Barbara Gordon. And Batgirl? She’s classic Stephanie, telling hookers to stay in school, having monologue issues (“OHGODOHGODISAIDTHATOUTLOUD!”), and delivering such internal monologue gems as, “Way to sell it, Dork Knight.”

The art was dynamic (layout, poses, panel composition) and it gave us views from all sorts of angles that breathed movement into the pictures, and the faces were expressive (ex.: page 2 shot of Calculator, page 6 shot of Babs, pages 12-13 shots of Detective Gage). The works of Garbett and Perez really enabled Miller’s writing, bringing various character moments to life, especially scenes with Stephanie’s crush on Gage (a nice love triangle that’s eventually going to bite someone). Major, as always, delivered fine color work. The glowing green of Oracle’s computer image and the activation of the pulse are great examples of where color takes a driver’s seat in the telling of the story.