Super Mega Batgirl Review the sixteenth
Another amazing and striking cover. Beautiful use of shadows, and Steph looks bad-ass (I misspelled that as bat-ass initially EL OH EL)
Page 1: Steph on the run from the coppers! She politely exposits for us.
Page: Steph and Oracle banter, I will never get tired of you. Amend that dictionary! Also, Nguyen draws such an attractive Babs.
Page 3/4: Oh, who even cares about Bruce. More banter, eeee! And Steph sticks her tongue out at the cops- "she don't gotta be rude about it" I utterly adore it.
Page 5: Hell yes, you lost Batgirl. I love the shattered glass making the credits. Nguyen is a master, Steph is a badass.
Page 6: "And it was only then that young Stephanie TRULY realized that gravity would be her enemy". Oh Steph, I adore you. And is that a reference to Steph's battle with gravity in issue 20 of Cass's series?
Page 7: Gage believes Steph's innocence. Steph dislocated her shoulder, but she's barely even wincing about it. Girl is tough.
Also, this exchange:
Gage: Your boomarang-
Steph: Batarang
Gage: You realize that sounds more ridiculous, right?
Steph: Ridiculously awesome,
ILU Steph. You tell him.
Page 8: Gage surprise-pops Steph's shoulder back in, and she reacts adorably to it. Not sure if I want her and Gage to ever get together (he'd have to develop more of character first) but her crush on him is pretty cute. Babs is annoyed, it's all fun.
Page 9/10: Francisco doesn't even ask about Steph's arm. What the hell, man? And Jordanna and her rally and megaphone are amusing, but it's really low for her to use a student's murder to get out of a quiz, and doesn't do much to add depth to her character. "My tolerance for ignorance is shockingly low today". Steph, you are my soul sister.
Page 11: More Steph and Babs! I love Steph's outfit and body language. ILU Dustin. Babs is awesome with her magic-clue-machine and we have another lovely exchange:
Babs: If you go in, you go in blind.
Steph: Never stopped me before
Babs: You realized how often you say that?
Steph: Gonna put it on my tombstone.
ILU Steph. Not only is it a great exchange, but as pointed out on the 3 chicks podcast, has extra significance for Steph, who didn't let even death stop her.
Page 12: We really see Steph's stress in this page, as well as a great moment between her and Babs, where Babs gently reminds her that while approval is a really new thing for her and Babs isn't knocking that, she can't allow it to go to her head- there are always going to be people down on her and the real reason she does this is FOR JUSTICE. Another thing pointed back at the 3 Chicks podcast was how great it was seeing a moment handled like that with real care for the characters and the strength and kindness in their relationship. If this were ten years ago and the scene was with Steph and Batman under some random dude, we'd have Batman screaming at Steph that because she was showing a little shakiness, she wasn't good enough for the job, she should quit and she'd fired. Instead, we see Babs gently giving Steph some advice and being sure to let her know how much she cares and wants her to succeed. And then Babs reaches out a hand of support and says "Team Batgirl all they way". <3 Babs, ILU so much. I totally adore this page, what a great moment of friendship and solidarity for the characters.
Page 13/14: A little tension is shown with Wendy feeling locked out of the loop and grumpy. I feel it's understandable and it will be interesting to see where this goes. Wendy uncovers stuff with her hacking, and then gets accosted by a guard. Babs facepalms when she pulls the wheelchair card, which is a amusing, and Wendy also gets an idea from the security cameras. It's kind of cute how she talks to Marvin. Anyway, it ends with Wendy sarcastically exclaiming to the guard "Oh no, not campus JAIL!" and Babs is just like "..." Like I said, it will be interesting to see where this conflict goes.
Page: 15/16:/7: Here comes Steph to fight the reapers! She is snarky, confident and badass as usual. "My shoulder is killing me- you mind holding this for a sec?" Heh. I'm glad her shoulder was referred to, it would really be difficult to fight with a hurt shoulder like that, but Steph is tough! She captures the villians and begins the unmasking when the cops barge in.
18/19: Fortunately, thanks to Oracle and Proxy, Steph has been cleared. I love her little yellow lenses! They flash just as a mysterious speedster comes in and grabs the loot and the crooks. This speedster is the one behind all Steph's recent troubles!
Page 20: Now Steph is super pissed off and determined to HUNT THEM DOWN ONE BY ONE. FOR JUSTICE. ILU and your badassery, Steph, never change.
Page 21/22: the Reapers are hanging out and the mysterious speedster villian is revealed to BEEEEE....SOME GUY IN A BLACK SUIT. ...okay.
I thought for sure the last page splash would reveal that, idk, the Grey Ghost was working with the Order of the Scythe, or that Nick Gage was (Okay, that would make no sense but). Something twisty like that.
As it stands, this was good issue as usual with some good character moments. BUT. I'm going to have to agree with the 3 chicks podcast. The stakes could have been a lot higher. There was no sense that the whole framed-for-murder thing was ever really a huge threat to Steph. It just happened and was taken care of. Maybe if she'd been targeted in her civilian ID, a really big moment of jeopardy, or a scene with Newton's father, or a sense the police could find out who Batgirl was, or were closing in... as it was, it didn't feel like a big deal.
Also, the villians. Like I said, guy in a black suit. Speedsters are tricky for non-meta's like Steph to handle, but I still don't get the sense that these guys are a real threat to Steph, a real problem for her to handle. They lack the personal connection to the hero that all good villians should have. The only real connection they have to Steph is they murdered one of her classmates, a guy she didn't know very well in the first place. And now that Steph is not framed anymore, there's no real connection. Their motives are unclear, the threat doesn't seem that high, they seem cookie-cutter. I imagine this will change when we find out more about them, but as of now I'm just not interested. These guys have potential to be decent villians in the future, but right now, they're just there. And Steph really needs some good rogues (some of her old rogues from her Spoiler days returning would be cool too! The Baffler? The Riddler? Scarab? THE CLUEMASTER HELLO)
So, decent issue, more work needs to be done with the villains, and the stakes need to be made much higher. Looking forward to more. Viva la Steph! 4/5
(Since I mentioned 3 chicks so much, I want to disputer a point raised and say that I LOVE that Batgirl is self contained and not connected with the other Bat-titles as much. I don't want Steph being involved in any more batdickery than she has to, and I love seeing her do her own thing. I wanna see her face her own villains rather than Batman's cast-off's too- I just want them to be good villains personal to her!)
Page 1: Steph on the run from the coppers! She politely exposits for us.
Page: Steph and Oracle banter, I will never get tired of you. Amend that dictionary! Also, Nguyen draws such an attractive Babs.
Page 3/4: Oh, who even cares about Bruce. More banter, eeee! And Steph sticks her tongue out at the cops- "she don't gotta be rude about it" I utterly adore it.
Page 5: Hell yes, you lost Batgirl. I love the shattered glass making the credits. Nguyen is a master, Steph is a badass.
Page 6: "And it was only then that young Stephanie TRULY realized that gravity would be her enemy". Oh Steph, I adore you. And is that a reference to Steph's battle with gravity in issue 20 of Cass's series?
Page 7: Gage believes Steph's innocence. Steph dislocated her shoulder, but she's barely even wincing about it. Girl is tough.
Also, this exchange:
Gage: Your boomarang-
Steph: Batarang
Gage: You realize that sounds more ridiculous, right?
Steph: Ridiculously awesome,
ILU Steph. You tell him.
Page 8: Gage surprise-pops Steph's shoulder back in, and she reacts adorably to it. Not sure if I want her and Gage to ever get together (he'd have to develop more of character first) but her crush on him is pretty cute. Babs is annoyed, it's all fun.
Page 9/10: Francisco doesn't even ask about Steph's arm. What the hell, man? And Jordanna and her rally and megaphone are amusing, but it's really low for her to use a student's murder to get out of a quiz, and doesn't do much to add depth to her character. "My tolerance for ignorance is shockingly low today". Steph, you are my soul sister.
Page 11: More Steph and Babs! I love Steph's outfit and body language. ILU Dustin. Babs is awesome with her magic-clue-machine and we have another lovely exchange:
Babs: If you go in, you go in blind.
Steph: Never stopped me before
Babs: You realized how often you say that?
Steph: Gonna put it on my tombstone.
ILU Steph. Not only is it a great exchange, but as pointed out on the 3 chicks podcast, has extra significance for Steph, who didn't let even death stop her.
Page 12: We really see Steph's stress in this page, as well as a great moment between her and Babs, where Babs gently reminds her that while approval is a really new thing for her and Babs isn't knocking that, she can't allow it to go to her head- there are always going to be people down on her and the real reason she does this is FOR JUSTICE. Another thing pointed back at the 3 Chicks podcast was how great it was seeing a moment handled like that with real care for the characters and the strength and kindness in their relationship. If this were ten years ago and the scene was with Steph and Batman under some random dude, we'd have Batman screaming at Steph that because she was showing a little shakiness, she wasn't good enough for the job, she should quit and she'd fired. Instead, we see Babs gently giving Steph some advice and being sure to let her know how much she cares and wants her to succeed. And then Babs reaches out a hand of support and says "Team Batgirl all they way". <3 Babs, ILU so much. I totally adore this page, what a great moment of friendship and solidarity for the characters.
Page 13/14: A little tension is shown with Wendy feeling locked out of the loop and grumpy. I feel it's understandable and it will be interesting to see where this goes. Wendy uncovers stuff with her hacking, and then gets accosted by a guard. Babs facepalms when she pulls the wheelchair card, which is a amusing, and Wendy also gets an idea from the security cameras. It's kind of cute how she talks to Marvin. Anyway, it ends with Wendy sarcastically exclaiming to the guard "Oh no, not campus JAIL!" and Babs is just like "..." Like I said, it will be interesting to see where this conflict goes.
Page: 15/16:/7: Here comes Steph to fight the reapers! She is snarky, confident and badass as usual. "My shoulder is killing me- you mind holding this for a sec?" Heh. I'm glad her shoulder was referred to, it would really be difficult to fight with a hurt shoulder like that, but Steph is tough! She captures the villians and begins the unmasking when the cops barge in.
18/19: Fortunately, thanks to Oracle and Proxy, Steph has been cleared. I love her little yellow lenses! They flash just as a mysterious speedster comes in and grabs the loot and the crooks. This speedster is the one behind all Steph's recent troubles!
Page 20: Now Steph is super pissed off and determined to HUNT THEM DOWN ONE BY ONE. FOR JUSTICE. ILU and your badassery, Steph, never change.
Page 21/22: the Reapers are hanging out and the mysterious speedster villian is revealed to BEEEEE....SOME GUY IN A BLACK SUIT. ...okay.
I thought for sure the last page splash would reveal that, idk, the Grey Ghost was working with the Order of the Scythe, or that Nick Gage was (Okay, that would make no sense but). Something twisty like that.
As it stands, this was good issue as usual with some good character moments. BUT. I'm going to have to agree with the 3 chicks podcast. The stakes could have been a lot higher. There was no sense that the whole framed-for-murder thing was ever really a huge threat to Steph. It just happened and was taken care of. Maybe if she'd been targeted in her civilian ID, a really big moment of jeopardy, or a scene with Newton's father, or a sense the police could find out who Batgirl was, or were closing in... as it was, it didn't feel like a big deal.
Also, the villians. Like I said, guy in a black suit. Speedsters are tricky for non-meta's like Steph to handle, but I still don't get the sense that these guys are a real threat to Steph, a real problem for her to handle. They lack the personal connection to the hero that all good villians should have. The only real connection they have to Steph is they murdered one of her classmates, a guy she didn't know very well in the first place. And now that Steph is not framed anymore, there's no real connection. Their motives are unclear, the threat doesn't seem that high, they seem cookie-cutter. I imagine this will change when we find out more about them, but as of now I'm just not interested. These guys have potential to be decent villians in the future, but right now, they're just there. And Steph really needs some good rogues (some of her old rogues from her Spoiler days returning would be cool too! The Baffler? The Riddler? Scarab? THE CLUEMASTER HELLO)
So, decent issue, more work needs to be done with the villains, and the stakes need to be made much higher. Looking forward to more. Viva la Steph! 4/5
(Since I mentioned 3 chicks so much, I want to disputer a point raised and say that I LOVE that Batgirl is self contained and not connected with the other Bat-titles as much. I don't want Steph being involved in any more batdickery than she has to, and I love seeing her do her own thing. I wanna see her face her own villains rather than Batman's cast-off's too- I just want them to be good villains personal to her!)