Reviews

Batgirl, Vol. 5: Art of the Crime by Mairghread Scott

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growintogardens's review

Disliked the art and the story. Too gross.

Content Warnings

Was 100% with batgirl when we had Babbs Tarr, Hope Larson was not doing as well for me, and again we have a change in authors with Mairghread Scott. Not a bad novel, has some great art and a bit of a gritty story so I'll continue reading for more.

I'm hoping this costume change is temporary while she stays with her dad.

Also, wtf Batgirl has a brother? This must be a fairly recent introduction that i'll have to catch up on.

hetellama83's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

lberestecki's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

megankb's review

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1.0

This volume starts promisingly with Annual #2 which focuses on Barbara's relationship with her serial killer brother James Jr. but it quickly devolves into a frighteningly ableist story involving the villain Grotesque. Scott can't seem to decide how to portray Barbara's time as a paraplegic and this is the crux of the problem with DC's retconning her from being the disabled hero Oracle to returning to being Batgirl - it is, at its core, ableist. It doesn't matter how many platitudes Scott writes in a seeming attempt to prove she does not think Babs was lesser when she used a wheelchair because at the end of the day the story demands that she continue to look down upon that time as inferior and choose to continue using her spinal implant. And what does Batgirl really do here that Oracle would not be able to accomplish using her hacking expertise? It's a shame because it's clear that Scott has talent and I would like to see her on a book that doesn't require her to employ ableist rhetoric.

kyera's review

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4.0

This graphic novel combines Batgirl #26-29, Batgirl Annual #2 plus an 8 page story from Batgirl #2, which means that it was pretty long (because of the Annual). The Annual storyline focuses on the familial relationship between Barbara Gordon and her brother James. It is a creepy storyline, but you probably won’t really understand much of what’s going on unless you had familiarity with them from other comic runs. It also puts a strain on Babs’ relationship with her father, which is normally really healthy and normal.

The villain wasn’t particularly memorable, he was just an incredibly violent art thief... or so we think. They’re clearly setting up some new storylines and trying to work in some more humanizing stories for Barbara that pull from her struggles, family life, and introduce a new wannabe romance. Some of the people that disliked how post-Oracle Barbara Gordon was handled will appreciate her struggles to cope here when her chip malfunctions, but overall it wasn’t a storyline that added much in my opinion. I don’t feel that it would appease disappointed fans and it just felt forced.

Overall, this wasn’t the best series of comics that I’ve read of Batgirl, but I can’t really say they were the worst? They’re pretty middle of the road and forgettable, but the Annual made me want to read about Barbara’s backstory with her brother because now I’m curious.