Reviews

Batgirls Vol. 1: One Way or Another by Becky Cloonan

13bookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

lizziereads151's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

misternemo's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

emmaj_xo's review

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Starts off slow but really takes off. Both funny and sweet, the friendships between the Batgirls is the highlight for me. A fun storyline to kick off the run, too. 

olliewheaton's review

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

jenniferlynnkrohn's review

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adventurous funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

katherine_kelley's review

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I wanted to be liking this but the narration is killing me. Absolutely not. Love the art though but I can’t keep wasting my time

disniq's review

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3.75

  • I'm conscious that this is targeted at younger girls, so with that in mind;
  • The art is cute, fun and vibrant. Not a big fan of how twiggy they drawn the girls, though, their arms look like they'd snap if they threw a punch.
  • Love seeing the batgirls all together after many years of Steph and Cass either not existing or being ignored!
  • The pacing is a bit janky. It starts off very slow, bordering on boring, but the last 3 issues are much better.
  • Some of the quirks in here are very cute (comm earrings should be standard for all Batfam members, in this essay I will--)
  • I like Cass' characterisation. She's not overly babified. Steph I'm more shakey on. She *does* feel dumbed down quite a lot.
  •  Babs is. I'm not keen on her dual batgirl/oracle thing, and I'm not big on her mothering the other two. I do like how they mention her disability though, and have her explicitly say she has bad days where she can't do much.

donxmore's review

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

First off, I think a villain who uses deepfakes is a perfect idea for a batfam story. There is so much potential ~ can't wait to see it explored more!

Secondly, this art style is very dynamic. I think it looks great and works well most of the time. I love Cass' spiky cape so much! Having Cass be spiky and Steph have rounded edges is a great way to visually seperate the two Batgirls and lets us tell who is who with just a silhouette. πŸ‘! And the grafitti terrors? *mwah* chef's kiss! I could stare at it for hours! I also love the purple emojis that are used to show how Cass "reads" other people's moods. It's an excellent touch. Unfortunately, when our Batgirls are out of their masks, I personally don't like how their faces are drawn.

I think the plot was intriguing and 2/3 of the villains were engaging. Although I do have one question: why were the referenced Nightwing issues not included when they were clearly important to the plot? How could DC just leave out what happened to Babs!?

Half the time, the narration was unncessary, as it was either saying what was directly on the page or told us what was already spelled out very clearly in the story. No reader likes being talked down to. Especially not batfam readers, as we like to try and figure out the mysteries.

The humor in this was great πŸ˜„ I'm a little worried the Smash Mouth jokes are going to be outdated later on, but the author's notes on All Star made me chuckle, so who cares.

Some of the character decisions were asinine and OOC.
Are you seriously telling me Babs WOULDN'T tell Steph and Cass that they're compromised and that a villain knows their civillian identities? That's some grade A bullshit right there. Also, Babs knows that Seer knows their faces, going so far as to force Cass and Steph to isolate themselves (again, without fully telling them why 😑), and yet is fine with all of them walking around the city without sunglasses and a hat/hood). Even more bullshit.

happy_ness_honey's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

4.0