Batgirl (2000 Series) #50

March 20, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Tough Love

The big blowout – Batgirl versus Batman!

Writer: Dylan Horrocks
Pencils: Rick Leonardi
Inks: Jesse Delperdang
Colors: Jason Wright
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Michael Wright
Cover Art: James Jean
Publisher: DC Comics

DC has, for some time, been promoting this comic as a big blowout fight between Batgirl and Batman. This is, while technically true, a little misleading. The two of them do come to blows, and in fact the fight takes up most of this issue, but they’re going at each other because they’ve both been doused with “Soul” – a designer drug that brings out rage and anger in whoever takes it.

The fight scene is fun, but the real story in this issue is Robin, Oracle and Nightwing tracking down the man who made the drug, Dr. Death, while the other two tear through the streets of Gotham City. While the fight does turn out to have some relevance for the characters at the end, it sort of relegates Batgirl to a supporting role in her own book.

Rick Leonardi’s artwork is always welcome – I wondered where he had landed after he left Nightwing, and he’s a perfect match for this title he does high-octane martial arts fight scenes better than almost anybody in comics, and he gets to show off all of his skills in this comic. From hand-to-hand combat to a chase across a speeding train to aerial battles at the end of a batrope, this is a great looking comic book.

Although it feels somewhat odd that the rest of the bat-family does more than Batgirl herself in this issue, it is a solid read once you get deep enough in to piece together what the situation is (assuming you didn’t read last issue). It just feels like it’d be more suited for an issue of Gotham Knights than Batgirl. If you’re looking for a good bat-read with great action and solid storytelling, get this book. If you just want to see Batgirl and Batman whale on each other, you’ll probably be disappointed.

Rating: 7/10

Birds of Prey (1999 Series) #63

January 18, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Pride and Poison (Sensei and Student Part Two)

Black Canary and Shiva confront the killer of their sensei, while for Oracle, things fall apart.

Writer: Gail Simone
Pencils: Ed Benes & Cliff Richards
Inks: Alex Lei
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Lysa Hawkins
Cover Art: Ed Benes & Alex Lei
Publisher: DC Comics

As usual, Gail Simone serves up a fantastic story, mixing action with mystery with espionage and doing it all flawlessly. Black Canary and Lady Shiva find the woman they believe murdered their sensei – the brutal, poisonous assassin known as Cheshire. The situation is exacerbated because Cheshire happens to share a child with the superhero named Arsenal… former sidekick to Green Arrow… and Black Canary is the godmother.

Oracle, meanwhile, is falling apart. She’s sending Batgirl on goose-chases, her computer network is breaking down… she’s been under a lot of strain the last few months with Canary’s capture by Savant and her own breakup with Nightwing, and it’s finally taking its toll on her.

This, of course, serves to really humanize the character. Oracle is one of my favorite members of the bat-family, and she’s never been treated so well and put through such hell at the same time. Simone makes her – and the rest of the cast – read like real people in extraordinary situations, and real people don’t always have the answers.

Benes, again, does a strong job on art chores. The “girlfight” at the beginning, with a lingere-clad Cheshire diving into a swimming pool, does cross the line into somewhat gratuitous cheesecake, but Simone plays it off well with dialogue acknowledging that fact and making light of it.

We get a cliffhanger ending served up here that seems to be drawing the two separate storylines with our two leads together, and I suspect it will make for a great conclusion – although there are certain elements that could come across as clichéd if not done properly. Fortunately, Simone is a good enough writer to quell some of those fears. This has been a top book for months, and it should stay that way.

Rating: 8/10

Detective Comics #790

December 7, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title:Scarification & The Tailor Part 2

A new designer drug is polluting Gotham – so why is the Batman taking it so personally?

Writer: Anderson Gabrych & A.J. Lieberman
Pencils: Pete Woods & Jean-Jacques Dzialowski
Inks: Cam Smith & Dan Green
Colors: Jason Wright & Giulia Brusco
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Bob Schreck & Matt Idelson
Cover Art: Tim Sale & Mark Chiarello
Publisher: DC Comics

This done-in-one story is one of the better issues of Detective Comics that’s been put out in quite some time. A new drug called G.H.D has been on the streets for three weeks and it’s already claimed 16 young lives. Batman, of course, is hot on the trail of the source, but he’s acting far more aggressively than even he usually does, and Batgirl wants to know why.

Although Detective Comics is really where Batman should get the best mystery tales, this issue is much more of a character study than anything else. We get a nice insight into why Batman reacts a certain way to crimes like this one, and it’s a bit that makes perfect sense. It also finally sheds a little light on a plotline that’s been dangling in the Bat-family titles for far too long – why Batman “fired” Spoiler some time ago. Fans of Stephanie Brown who want to know why Bruce doesn’t want her going out in her mask anymore really should read this issue.

Pete Woods, hot off a decent run as the Robin penciller, tells a good story in this issue. An early splash page at the coroner’s office is suitably gruesome, and his bits with Batman and Batgirl swinging across the rooftops is especially good. Colorist Jason Wright deserves credit here as well – he employs a very dark palette, mostly a mixture of blues and browns, that give the issue a very hardboiled look.

The second part of future Batman: Gotham Knights writer A.J. Lieberman’s “The Tailor” is our back-up story in this issue, and again, it’s a good one. It focuses less on Batman and more on a man who makes costumes and weaponry for the superhero and supervillain set, and what he does when the crime of one of his clients hits too close to home. If that sounds familiar, it’s because J. Michael Straczynski did a similar story in Amazing Spider-Man just a couple of weeks ago, but with a far more humorous bent – this is a very different tale, and you shouldn’t be put off by the familiar premise.

This is not a great Batman issue, but a solid one, and one that most Batman fans will be pretty much satisfied with.

Rating: 7/10

Batman: City of Light #3

December 1, 2003

Quick Rating: Average

Batman sits vigil for a comatose boy while attacks on Gotham City call Batgirl to the fray..

Writer: The Pander Brothers & Mark Paniccia
Pencils: The Pander Brothers
Inks: Alvaro Lopez
Colors: Moose Baumann
Letters: Janice Chiang
Editor: Bob Schreck
Cover Art: The Pander Brothers & Moose Baumann
Publisher: DC Comics

Coming in on the third issue of a miniseries is never the best idea, but this one gives me enough to sort of piece the story together. Batman’s city is falling apart, with Wayne Industries holdings apparently being the target of malicious bombings. Batman is out of the game, though, sitting at the side of a hospitalized boy whose chances for survival appear slim. It seems this is one child Batman could not save.

Batgirl takes up the slack, investigating the bombings and finding cryptic, glowing clues. Meanwhile, a developer that is responsible for a glowing “Neo-Gotham” is plotting to demonstrate the dark side of the city. The Neo-Gotham is plaguing the Batman somehow, taking up residence in his mind, starting to control him.

This story has a weird sci-fi angle that isn’t my favorite for Batman. The artwork, however is rather good. The Pander Brothers draw a suitably dark Batman, while still doing a good job with the brilliant light-city of Neo-Gotham.

It’s nice to see some use getting made of Batgirl – something to ground this special in the current DCU as opposed to the nebulous, in-between time that a lot of Batman miniseries seem to occupy.

This isn’t a bad book, but it doesn’t really seem to add too much to the Batman saga either. In the end, it unfortunately feels like just another miniseries.

Rating: 5/10