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Batgirl, Vol. 1: Batgirl of Burnside by Brenden Fletcher, Irene Koh, Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart
isabelisalright's review against another edition
4.0
I knew when I saw the new Batgirl art I would most likely love this relaunch. I adored Gail Simone's batgirl too though so I was hesitant, but left feeling confident about the new team.
This feels like the Ms Marvel for DC. Not only is the art amazing, but the story is fresh and not some outdated overdone tale. I really loved this arc in the comic. It had a great twist at the end along with great characters.
Really excited for more issues and Black Canary!
This feels like the Ms Marvel for DC. Not only is the art amazing, but the story is fresh and not some outdated overdone tale. I really loved this arc in the comic. It had a great twist at the end along with great characters.
Really excited for more issues and Black Canary!
bloodykanary's review against another edition
3.0
More fun than I expected, but I can't say I'm in love this new treatment of the character. I find it good, but I feel too old for this.
andystehr's review against another edition
4.0
Great Stuff! I enjoyed the style of this particularly. A lot of fun.
aprilthelibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
I think the story and plot is two stars, but the artwork is so amazing and I would give it five stars and since that’s a big part of the Comic I’m giving it three. Please note superheroes are not my thing when it comes to reading comic books. I like them in movies, but I just don’t really enjoy reading about them.
standardman's review against another edition
5.0
A new take on Batgirl (weird that this isn't a number one) that makes her younger and the setting feel more modern but retains the central character.
Looks great and packs a lot into each issue. Nice to have something from DC that isn't relentlessly grim and let's new people in.
Looks great and packs a lot into each issue. Nice to have something from DC that isn't relentlessly grim and let's new people in.
jnikolova's review against another edition
5.0
Also available on the WondrousBooks blog.
This is a love letter.
I know that not all of you will understand my infatuation with this particular graphic novel among all the books, comic or otherwise, that I have read and reviewed. I'm pretty sure at least one of you will and that's enough for me.
Looking back to two-three months ago, I'm pretty sure this is the first comic book issue I read in my adult life. That's reason enough to feel strongly about it.
HOWEVER,
the list of things I liked about Batgirl of Burnside is long. Long enough, in fact, that I can dismiss some of the things that can be argued about in the comic book. For the sake of being fair, I will, of course, mention them, but first I would like to tell you why exactly I loved Batgirl so much.
1. Look at the graphics, come on! I want to distinguish here the difference between the indie comic books and the DC and Marvel ones. The style is obviously completely different, with the indie books being drawn with what seems to me to be a lot more care and detail and creativity. On the other hand, from my experience, however small, with superhero comic books they work on building a bigger picture and at moments some parts of the whole seem to be suffering from it. I took a look at the previous version of the Batgirl and I did not enjoy it nearly as much. For one, the graphics were not to my taste, and for the other - although I admit I don't know that much about it, from the descriptions and some of the panels, it seemed like Batgirl is just a random sidekick that happens to have its own story. So much for empowered women.
2. Empowered women: YES, I love how most of the kick-ass characters in The Batgirl of Burnside are girls. I'm sorry if someone feels offended by that. Instead of Batman mentoring Batgirl, I saw Dinah doing it. Instead of them calling guys for back-up, they had each other's backs. Instead of male professors coming up with great ideas, girls did it. Yes, of course it's highly improbable that a barely-out-of-her-teens girl will be developing brilliant algorithms and saving the world and having a social life, but you can't claim to be reading superhero comic books for realism.
3. It's funny and sunny and colorful. I think there is plenty of gloomy and dark comic books, why not enjoy a lighter one with a decent bad guy fighting and saving lives while having some humor. I, personally, don't need everything around me to be dark and brooding and torturous.
4. It's so hilariously hipster, seriously! I spent a lot of time just looking at the pictures of big groups of characters so that I can find even one that is not painfully hipster. Guess my results. (It's a hobby just as any other. Better this than collecting dead people's ears or something.)
5. I just really love Barbara. She is not over-idealized. Instead she is down-to-earth, sometimes under the weather, but also clever and decisive and she wants to help and she also wants to hang out with her friends or go out with guys. She is normal and yet kick-ass. What's not to love.
And I found this Cast Party. Make it happen!
As promised, I will also give some of the things that are hard not to notice and in a more negative way:
1. How Barbara is the immediate center of every guy's attention and she proceeds to flirting withe every one of them. I can see that she is hot, but if you look at the entire comic book, you'd see that all of the girls are. Hell, Dinah is hotter.
2. The villains of each issue were not as threatening as I would ideally want them to be. And technically, nothing that happened in the entire issue would have happened without Barbara. Eh...
3. A little bit more depth could be added without the series becoming too gritty and moody.
But none of these change the warm fuzzy ball of feelings I have for Batgirl. Sorrynotsorry.
This is a love letter.
I know that not all of you will understand my infatuation with this particular graphic novel among all the books, comic or otherwise, that I have read and reviewed. I'm pretty sure at least one of you will and that's enough for me.
Looking back to two-three months ago, I'm pretty sure this is the first comic book issue I read in my adult life. That's reason enough to feel strongly about it.
HOWEVER,
the list of things I liked about Batgirl of Burnside is long. Long enough, in fact, that I can dismiss some of the things that can be argued about in the comic book. For the sake of being fair, I will, of course, mention them, but first I would like to tell you why exactly I loved Batgirl so much.
1. Look at the graphics, come on! I want to distinguish here the difference between the indie comic books and the DC and Marvel ones. The style is obviously completely different, with the indie books being drawn with what seems to me to be a lot more care and detail and creativity. On the other hand, from my experience, however small, with superhero comic books they work on building a bigger picture and at moments some parts of the whole seem to be suffering from it. I took a look at the previous version of the Batgirl and I did not enjoy it nearly as much. For one, the graphics were not to my taste, and for the other - although I admit I don't know that much about it, from the descriptions and some of the panels, it seemed like Batgirl is just a random sidekick that happens to have its own story. So much for empowered women.
2. Empowered women: YES, I love how most of the kick-ass characters in The Batgirl of Burnside are girls. I'm sorry if someone feels offended by that. Instead of Batman mentoring Batgirl, I saw Dinah doing it. Instead of them calling guys for back-up, they had each other's backs. Instead of male professors coming up with great ideas, girls did it. Yes, of course it's highly improbable that a barely-out-of-her-teens girl will be developing brilliant algorithms and saving the world and having a social life, but you can't claim to be reading superhero comic books for realism.
3. It's funny and sunny and colorful. I think there is plenty of gloomy and dark comic books, why not enjoy a lighter one with a decent bad guy fighting and saving lives while having some humor. I, personally, don't need everything around me to be dark and brooding and torturous.
4. It's so hilariously hipster, seriously! I spent a lot of time just looking at the pictures of big groups of characters so that I can find even one that is not painfully hipster. Guess my results. (It's a hobby just as any other. Better this than collecting dead people's ears or something.)
5. I just really love Barbara. She is not over-idealized. Instead she is down-to-earth, sometimes under the weather, but also clever and decisive and she wants to help and she also wants to hang out with her friends or go out with guys. She is normal and yet kick-ass. What's not to love.
And I found this Cast Party. Make it happen!
As promised, I will also give some of the things that are hard not to notice and in a more negative way:
1. How Barbara is the immediate center of every guy's attention and she proceeds to flirting withe every one of them. I can see that she is hot, but if you look at the entire comic book, you'd see that all of the girls are. Hell, Dinah is hotter.
2. The villains of each issue were not as threatening as I would ideally want them to be. And technically, nothing that happened in the entire issue would have happened without Barbara. Eh...
3. A little bit more depth could be added without the series becoming too gritty and moody.
But none of these change the warm fuzzy ball of feelings I have for Batgirl. Sorrynotsorry.
sblake33's review against another edition
3.0
I have been eagerly anticipating this release since the moment that DC announced that Batgirl was going to be rebooted. So definitely a huge thanks to the publisher for giving me this in exchange for an honest review!
I love that DC is looking to go in a lighter more fun direction for some of their stories, I’m excited for this new direction especially after reading Grayson which was an absolute hit in my eyes. In Grayson Tim Seely was able to combine a much lighter and fun storyline while still staying true to Dick’s character while also making it entertaining and interesting. I expect the same thing for all of DC’s reboots that are going in this direction, it’s what I expected from Batgirl. With Batgirl I got the light and fun side but in every other aspect it fell a bit flat for me.
It’s not as impressive as it should’ve been and this title should’ve been pretty freaking impressive. On one hand I’m satisfied and on the other I’m disappointed. I’m somewhat satisfied because this trade did exactly what DC said it would, was it a much lighter storyline? Yep. Was it fun? Yeah. Was it a completely different side of Barbara that we’ve never seen before who also had a new hipster suit? Oh yes, very much so. You see? Everything DC said it would be!
it was a lighter more fun side of Batgirl that we’ve never seen before and it was so interesting to watch
Barbara as she navigated through college, dating, partying, and friendships all while being the friendly neighborhood vigilante. This is what we were told we were going to see so with that being said, I’m satisfied it’s what I wanted to see and what I freaking got!
But… I’m still disappointed.
Babs has always been my favorite, I mean what’s not to love? I mean she’s strong, feisty, sassy, smart as hell, and she never stopped fighting for justice even when she was confined to a wheelchair, she’s freaking awesome! But the Batgirl I saw in this trade… she wasn’t horrible but she was definitely very different from the Batgirl I’ve come to love.
I mean I’m no fool, I knew going into this trade that this Batgirl would be different, obviously but Babs in this was utterly disappointing. She instead of being the vigilante that continued to fight for justice became obsessed with the fame that comes with it. She got sloppy, she pushes people away, and became freaking annoying and such a pain to deal with. She wasn’t sassy or confident, she became quite demanding which made me want to punch her.
The overall storyline and writing was pretty good but it left so much to be desired. I definitely wasn’t expecting that twist at the end so that was pretty great. I liked that we got really up close and personal with the way that Barbara’s mind works, the moments when got inside her mind were definitely some of my favorite moments. I actually really enjoyed the side characters in this book. Frankie was so adorable and smart, I want her to be friend. Dinah Lance, oh how I love thee! She was great in this, she was definitely a needed asset to the storyline and I’m super freaking excited that she got her own title because this!
Even though I was let down a bit I can ultimately overlook all of Babs’ annoying character flaws in this trade and definitely say that I will be continuing on with this run. I’m looking at the bigger picture and I’m excited to see where this story goes, especially considering all the new interesting developments in Gotham. This trade had its stumbles and downfalls but it’s only the first five issues and I have faith that this series will get better.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publishers for giving me a digital copy to review.
I love that DC is looking to go in a lighter more fun direction for some of their stories, I’m excited for this new direction especially after reading Grayson which was an absolute hit in my eyes. In Grayson Tim Seely was able to combine a much lighter and fun storyline while still staying true to Dick’s character while also making it entertaining and interesting. I expect the same thing for all of DC’s reboots that are going in this direction, it’s what I expected from Batgirl. With Batgirl I got the light and fun side but in every other aspect it fell a bit flat for me.
It’s not as impressive as it should’ve been and this title should’ve been pretty freaking impressive. On one hand I’m satisfied and on the other I’m disappointed. I’m somewhat satisfied because this trade did exactly what DC said it would, was it a much lighter storyline? Yep. Was it fun? Yeah. Was it a completely different side of Barbara that we’ve never seen before who also had a new hipster suit? Oh yes, very much so. You see? Everything DC said it would be!
it was a lighter more fun side of Batgirl that we’ve never seen before and it was so interesting to watch
Barbara as she navigated through college, dating, partying, and friendships all while being the friendly neighborhood vigilante. This is what we were told we were going to see so with that being said, I’m satisfied it’s what I wanted to see and what I freaking got!
But… I’m still disappointed.
Babs has always been my favorite, I mean what’s not to love? I mean she’s strong, feisty, sassy, smart as hell, and she never stopped fighting for justice even when she was confined to a wheelchair, she’s freaking awesome! But the Batgirl I saw in this trade… she wasn’t horrible but she was definitely very different from the Batgirl I’ve come to love.
I mean I’m no fool, I knew going into this trade that this Batgirl would be different, obviously but Babs in this was utterly disappointing. She instead of being the vigilante that continued to fight for justice became obsessed with the fame that comes with it. She got sloppy, she pushes people away, and became freaking annoying and such a pain to deal with. She wasn’t sassy or confident, she became quite demanding which made me want to punch her.
The overall storyline and writing was pretty good but it left so much to be desired. I definitely wasn’t expecting that twist at the end so that was pretty great. I liked that we got really up close and personal with the way that Barbara’s mind works, the moments when got inside her mind were definitely some of my favorite moments. I actually really enjoyed the side characters in this book. Frankie was so adorable and smart, I want her to be friend. Dinah Lance, oh how I love thee! She was great in this, she was definitely a needed asset to the storyline and I’m super freaking excited that she got her own title because this!
Even though I was let down a bit I can ultimately overlook all of Babs’ annoying character flaws in this trade and definitely say that I will be continuing on with this run. I’m looking at the bigger picture and I’m excited to see where this story goes, especially considering all the new interesting developments in Gotham. This trade had its stumbles and downfalls but it’s only the first five issues and I have faith that this series will get better.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publishers for giving me a digital copy to review.
ashlylynne's review against another edition
3.0
2.5/5 Stars
This is the first volume in a new Batgirl series started last year. Barbara Gordon, daughter of Police Chief Gordon, is walking in Batman’s footsteps. She’s just moved off to college, is trying to make grades, and also attempting to fight crime on the side. She’s struggling to find her place in the world, and is doing the best she can. Will Batgirl be able to find out who stole her laptop? Will she be able to retrieve all her documents before a big project is due? Will she be able to kick her nasty hangover?
I can sum up how I feel about this entire collection in just one word: Meh.
I feel very indifferent about the start of this new series.
Now, I haven’t read any other Batgirl comics before, so I can’t critically compare it to those. Still, I didn’t find this to be a very compelling story. I found this plot to be way too little kiddish for the adult themes that are tackled. The villains are literally a joke. They were pathetic. But, what was even more pathetic was that they gave Babs (a totally, has-the-potential-to-be-awesome, kick ass character) a run for her money. She was actually struggling with these guys (and girls). I couldn’t believe it. It would have been fine if this book was aimed at a younger audience, but with all the very adult themes, that wasn’t the case. As someone who is close to Babs age, I should have been able to relate to her and the story, but with how childish a lot of it was, I simply couldn’t.
Speaking of the characters, Barbara (Batgirl), Babs, is a pretty likable character. Besides being an adult in a child’s world, she has a lot going for her. I want to say that, of course, I have nothing against YA or Children’s literature, but they should never be mixed with adult aspects. I wish Babs would have gotten some villains that were worthy of her abilities and skill set and not just good for a joke. She had so much potential, and it made me sad that her character was unable to reach it because of the storytellers.
Another character that I really wanted to like was Dinah, AKA Black Canary, but her character was awful. She was supposed to be something along the lines of the “adult role model” character, but she honestly just came off as a horrible person. She was not likable at all. I wanted to have nothing to do with her character and spent most of her screen time being irritated by her choices and the way she treated everyone. Plus, the fact that her and Babs were fighting was a totally unbelievable storyline and made their strained relationship feel even more ridiculous.
So, why the 2.5 star rating instead of a mere 1 star? I’ll say one good thing about this collection: The artwork was pretty. I did really enjoy the illustrations and the coloring. It was pleasing to the eyes and made the story come to life. Well, as much as it could, anyway, with the poor storytelling.
Okay, just one last complaint before this rant is over. I found too much unnecessary female sexualization in this collection. There were times that I felt uncomfortable looking at the images because I knew they were drawn for the male gaze and not just for plot and story purposes. Yet another reason why the plot was far too juvenile. I didn’t understand why this needed to happen so often through the story. It was just yet another downfall that made me not entirely in like with something I wanted to be far better than it was.
So, all in all, do I recommend this? Meh, not really. Unless you really want to read this or are a die-hard Batgirl fan, I would say it’s safe to skip this one. If you are going to read it, I definitely recommend giving borrowing it some serious consideration.
Will I read the next issue? I might, but I’m certainly in no rush to spend money on it. I’ll wait and see if the Library gets it in before even considering moving on with the series.
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Dreaming Through Literature.
This is the first volume in a new Batgirl series started last year. Barbara Gordon, daughter of Police Chief Gordon, is walking in Batman’s footsteps. She’s just moved off to college, is trying to make grades, and also attempting to fight crime on the side. She’s struggling to find her place in the world, and is doing the best she can. Will Batgirl be able to find out who stole her laptop? Will she be able to retrieve all her documents before a big project is due? Will she be able to kick her nasty hangover?
I can sum up how I feel about this entire collection in just one word: Meh.
I feel very indifferent about the start of this new series.
Now, I haven’t read any other Batgirl comics before, so I can’t critically compare it to those. Still, I didn’t find this to be a very compelling story. I found this plot to be way too little kiddish for the adult themes that are tackled. The villains are literally a joke. They were pathetic. But, what was even more pathetic was that they gave Babs (a totally, has-the-potential-to-be-awesome, kick ass character) a run for her money. She was actually struggling with these guys (and girls). I couldn’t believe it. It would have been fine if this book was aimed at a younger audience, but with all the very adult themes, that wasn’t the case. As someone who is close to Babs age, I should have been able to relate to her and the story, but with how childish a lot of it was, I simply couldn’t.
Speaking of the characters, Barbara (Batgirl), Babs, is a pretty likable character. Besides being an adult in a child’s world, she has a lot going for her. I want to say that, of course, I have nothing against YA or Children’s literature, but they should never be mixed with adult aspects. I wish Babs would have gotten some villains that were worthy of her abilities and skill set and not just good for a joke. She had so much potential, and it made me sad that her character was unable to reach it because of the storytellers.
Another character that I really wanted to like was Dinah, AKA Black Canary, but her character was awful. She was supposed to be something along the lines of the “adult role model” character, but she honestly just came off as a horrible person. She was not likable at all. I wanted to have nothing to do with her character and spent most of her screen time being irritated by her choices and the way she treated everyone. Plus, the fact that her and Babs were fighting was a totally unbelievable storyline and made their strained relationship feel even more ridiculous.
So, why the 2.5 star rating instead of a mere 1 star? I’ll say one good thing about this collection: The artwork was pretty. I did really enjoy the illustrations and the coloring. It was pleasing to the eyes and made the story come to life. Well, as much as it could, anyway, with the poor storytelling.
Okay, just one last complaint before this rant is over. I found too much unnecessary female sexualization in this collection. There were times that I felt uncomfortable looking at the images because I knew they were drawn for the male gaze and not just for plot and story purposes. Yet another reason why the plot was far too juvenile. I didn’t understand why this needed to happen so often through the story. It was just yet another downfall that made me not entirely in like with something I wanted to be far better than it was.
So, all in all, do I recommend this? Meh, not really. Unless you really want to read this or are a die-hard Batgirl fan, I would say it’s safe to skip this one. If you are going to read it, I definitely recommend giving borrowing it some serious consideration.
Will I read the next issue? I might, but I’m certainly in no rush to spend money on it. I’ll wait and see if the Library gets it in before even considering moving on with the series.
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Dreaming Through Literature.
rhganci's review against another edition
1.0
What in the world did I just read?
If there's one reason--a compelling, final reason as to why Rebirth is a necessary step for DC Comics--it's work like this. Work that really, truly has forgotten its roots in an attempt to draw in new readers. This isn't a continuation of Gail Simone's master class in character-based, inclusive storytelling; this is a reboot of the character, with a hackneyed explanation as to why Barbara Gordon is now a social media-obsessed, college partying and boy-crazy reinvention of herself. None of it works dramatically or compellingly. This version of the character is really, really lame. It's the opposite of Gail Simone's Batgirl. Which was the best. This is the worst.
The art is also really weird. Apparently Brendan Fletcher does the character designs and the layouts, while Tarr adds her hipster style in the finishes. And there's a lot of that in this collection. The new suit is kind of cool, with lots of purples and yellows, but the overally style just doesn't really do much as a visual tale. There's no real depth, or nuance--it reads like a pulp cartoon at best, and at worst, like a Tumblr webcomic. There was very little, if anything, to draw me in visually, which wasn't helped at all by the bizarre story.
As it turns out, social media applications don't make great plot devices unless Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher are somehow involved. The Batgirl of Burnside gets just about everything wrong, despite its labored and earnest attempts to seem inclusive. Unless you're dedicated to the character's history, I'd give it the hard pass.
If there's one reason--a compelling, final reason as to why Rebirth is a necessary step for DC Comics--it's work like this. Work that really, truly has forgotten its roots in an attempt to draw in new readers. This isn't a continuation of Gail Simone's master class in character-based, inclusive storytelling; this is a reboot of the character, with a hackneyed explanation as to why Barbara Gordon is now a social media-obsessed, college partying and boy-crazy reinvention of herself. None of it works dramatically or compellingly. This version of the character is really, really lame. It's the opposite of Gail Simone's Batgirl. Which was the best. This is the worst.
The art is also really weird. Apparently Brendan Fletcher does the character designs and the layouts, while Tarr adds her hipster style in the finishes. And there's a lot of that in this collection. The new suit is kind of cool, with lots of purples and yellows, but the overally style just doesn't really do much as a visual tale. There's no real depth, or nuance--it reads like a pulp cartoon at best, and at worst, like a Tumblr webcomic. There was very little, if anything, to draw me in visually, which wasn't helped at all by the bizarre story.
As it turns out, social media applications don't make great plot devices unless Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher are somehow involved. The Batgirl of Burnside gets just about everything wrong, despite its labored and earnest attempts to seem inclusive. Unless you're dedicated to the character's history, I'd give it the hard pass.
book_banshee's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, I think this was my first superhero graphic novel/comic?!?! But yeah, my new roommate has been encouraging me to pick up this book for the last month now and I finally did! I had only previously read a handful of graphic novels, so my roommate said this reboot was a great place to dive into the graphic novel/superhero comic world.
And she was right; this book was so fun and captivating! The plot twist at the end was SUPER twisty, ahhhhhhh. The cast of characters was also beautifully diverse in terms of race, sexuality, and (dis)abilities. I will say though that this volume was a bit confusing at times and required a lot of suspense of disbelief on the science-y aspect, which is why I'm knocking off a star on the rating.
Overall, I can't wait to read more about Batgirl; I've already requested the next volume at the library! Fingers crossed it comes in soon!
And she was right; this book was so fun and captivating! The plot twist at the end was SUPER twisty, ahhhhhhh. The cast of characters was also beautifully diverse in terms of race, sexuality, and (dis)abilities. I will say though that this volume was a bit confusing at times and required a lot of suspense of disbelief on the science-y aspect, which is why I'm knocking off a star on the rating.
Overall, I can't wait to read more about Batgirl; I've already requested the next volume at the library! Fingers crossed it comes in soon!