Batgirl #14, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld

November 19, 2012 Marc Fishman 0 Comments

Written by Gail Simone, Art by Ed Benes Daniel Sampere and Vincente Cifuentes

It’s all mayhem, all night long at the Bat-House! Gail Simone joins in the ‘Death Of The Family’ fun with issue 14 of Batgirl, and how else can I start but with a rousing round of digital applause. After 13 issues of trudging through forgettable (or day I say laughable) villains, finally Babs is up against some real A-Listers. What we get here is Simone playing in Scott Snyder’s sandbox and proving that she’s still one of the top talents writing books these days. Better than that though is that 14 issues worth of backstory (I’m counting the issue 0—the only one by the way that was ANY good at all) we’re getting a fully realized Barbara Gordon. It’s the bee’s knees. Here’s why…

When Batgirl was rebooted (or whatever you want to call this) alongside the rest of the DCU, they made it evident all the work John Ostrander was for not. In essence, they transformed our titular heroine (no pun intended, unless you’re looking at Ed Benes’ art, heh) from a sad case of Alan Moore justice into a symbol of the power within physically challenged people. In the New52 though, Babs’ spine is surgically healed and she eventually walks again. Suddenly Alan Moore is neutered. Not that this book removes the importance and quality of either men’s books persay… it does basically depower BOTH of their runs in order to move the story forward. It’s the collateral damage we all must face to enjoy books by DC. So I’ll stop crying about it, and climb down off the soapbox of idionsyncratic continuity.

Simone’s take on Barbara is one rooted deep in Ostrander’s aforementioned run. She is headstrong, whip-smart, and tactically proficient. She carries the wit of Nightwing, the detective skill of Tim Drake, and the internal drive of Bruce himself… all without the loss of either parent. It’s something Simone embodies with each bit of internal monologue. This monologue mind you, a relic of the 90’s, is used indefinitely within the confines of Batgirl. Nary an issue is without a continual ‘live blog’ of Babs’ internal commentary. While it wanes on my patience sometimes, it’s a small price to pay for the deep emotional journey we’ve carried now up to this point. And where are my manners? What exactly is going on in this issue you ask?

Well, after Barbara’s mother (now back in her life after abandoning her and James ‘Psycho Killer’ Jr. so many years ago) is abducted and held hostage by the also-returning-to-Gotham Joker. A mysterious phone call leads Babs right to scene. Well, scratch that. Before she can get there, we get a common theme running through the Bat-books right now; the past being rewritten for the future. 3 clowny-goons make their way into Batgirl’s home, armed. Sound familiar? Well it certainly did too for Barbara. But this time she isn’t in a panic. Driven by a rage many years in the making, she dispatches her would-be assailants with a visceral counter-attack that borders on the villainous. That it’s taken us this long to see her reach this point, only serves to make the fight feel almost ovation worthy. Babs is fully back, and here she gets some closure on her feelings of stage-fright. That is until she gets to the roller-disco.

The final scene of Batgirl 14 proves how efficient, and talented Gail truly is. A quick twist, and a now shark-deadly Joker ups the ante considerably, given the lackluster wastes of space Babs has been beating since issue 1. Simone channels Snyder’s new Joker with ease. Given her pedigree on Secret Six, this comes as no surprise. And the extra twist villain reveal? Well only Scott Snyder himself might have written it better. But I digress. Put simply? The script has not been this sharp since issue 1.

Artistically, Ed Benes is giving his all. Given how well Greg Capullo is doing over in Bat-Prime? I assume all Bat-Artists are trying to match the verve and vigor from their daddy-book. That being said, Benes’ fine points match the lesser ones. Emotional, weighty figure work adds great composition from page to page. But Benes can’t draw a long line to save his life. The style could be called ‘sketchy’, but I don’t want to sell the man short. The book feels complete… but it harkens back to a style I’d long given up back in the late 90’s. The ink and coloring here matches previous issues—it’s all high gloss all the time. In the shadow of Capullo’s striking work, this book doesn’t feel as well delivered artistically. And Benes tries his damnedest to pull off the new creepy Joker du jour, but he comes up a tad too short. The art is serviceable, but infinitely forgettable.

By now you get the drift. Gail Simone is firing on all cylanders. Her art team is gasping to catch up to her lofty scripting, but doing a decent job. As a tie-in to the ‘Death of the Family’ crossover, this book is one not to miss. While I’m refraining for all other Bat-Books for now, this was the shot in the hip (zing!) I needed this week. Consider this book to be in the buy pile for the foreseeable future. Let us hope that Gail chooses to deal with the known rogues when this whole messy affair is over; she deserves the cast to match the zeal of her heroine. Simply put, this issue cements my notion that Simone shines when she opens the toy box. No need for her to glue together her own dolls anymore.