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347 reviews for:
Batgirl, Volume 1: Batgirl of Burnside
Brenden Fletcher, Irene Koh, Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart
3.72 AVERAGE
347 reviews for:
Batgirl, Volume 1: Batgirl of Burnside
Brenden Fletcher, Irene Koh, Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart
3.72 AVERAGE
Al principio me pareció una aberración. El salto y cambio de unos autores a otros, es muy brusco y la verdad es que me shockea; más aun cuando pasa a ser una serie tan colorida, light y banal. De todas formas hubo escenas que me entretuvo y el giro final del arco hizo que le tome algo de importancia.
El estilo no me disgusta, al contrario, hay comics que me gustan demasiado con este estilo o uno más simplista, pero en el caso de Batgirl, creo que le quita algo de seriedad. Se que Batgirl es una versión entre la integilencia/invetsigación de batman y el carisma de Robin, que muchas veces se ha buscado eso, pero no siempre lo ha sido. Ha tenido arcos y momentos de su vida bastante oscuros, -como toda familia de bats tiene- que no son necesarios el 100% del tiempo, pero esto creo que se va demasiado al extremo en lo colorido.
Ahora leeré los otros dos volumenes que quedan de New 52, a ver como avanza el personaje y esperar solo lo mejor para cuando lea Rebirth.
PD: detesto que siempre la hagan tener citas.
El estilo no me disgusta, al contrario, hay comics que me gustan demasiado con este estilo o uno más simplista, pero en el caso de Batgirl, creo que le quita algo de seriedad. Se que Batgirl es una versión entre la integilencia/invetsigación de batman y el carisma de Robin, que muchas veces se ha buscado eso, pero no siempre lo ha sido. Ha tenido arcos y momentos de su vida bastante oscuros, -como toda familia de bats tiene- que no son necesarios el 100% del tiempo, pero esto creo que se va demasiado al extremo en lo colorido.
Ahora leeré los otros dos volumenes que quedan de New 52, a ver como avanza el personaje y esperar solo lo mejor para cuando lea Rebirth.
PD: detesto que siempre la hagan tener citas.
3.5 it got better at the end. First couple of issues was too "omg lol #hashtag text me selfie" for me. Towards the end it struck a nice balance.
I remember the big deal made about this title when it came out, how it was a huge smash for DC's faltering New 52 (brief history lesson from a comic retailer perspective: DC's New 52 relaunch was initially a huge success where a decent chunk of subscribers initially asked for all 52 titles, but by the time the six month came around, almost all of them had dropped two-thirds or more of them, and not for purely economical reasons). I wasn't reading it because I preferred Barbara Gordon as Oracle, and didn't like even the idea of her returning to Batgirl.
I was wrong, of course. [a:Gail Simone|45103|Gail Simone|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1266594414p2/45103.jpg] did a wonderful job providing a story that gave Barbara agency over the change, provded compelling character-centric reasons for the change, and then used Barbara's healing process as part of compelling stories. Gail Simone's run on [b:Batgirl, Volume 1: The Darkest Reflection|13228436|Batgirl, Volume 1 The Darkest Reflection|Gail Simone|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1361895856l/13228436._SX50_.jpg|18420381] was imperfect but fun, and mostly well-put together.
I understand that people were excited at the creative sea change that occured when Simone's run, admittedly, got stale, causing DC to pivot to a new team of writers and artists. And, from an art perspective, this book is fantastic. [a:Babs Tarr|8529099|Babs Tarr|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1581633318p2/8529099.jpg]'s character designs, body and facial grammar, and panelling are on-par with the best artists of DC at the time, and [a:Maris Wicks|4395846|Maris Wicks|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] colors are a perfect complement. I would read anything those two put out together.
Unfortunately, [a:Cameron Stewart|317625|Cameron Stewart|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1351355913p2/317625.jpg][a:Brenden Fletcher|3174231|Brenden Fletcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1490731383p2/3174231.jpg] write like tech bros stabbing at wokeness. There's a lot of well-intentioned politics undone by sloppy writing and what I think and hope is unintentional misogyny and anti-queerness.
You can absolutely write an evil character who is into drag. But you should be aware that it's a common trope that has helped right wing child molesters shift the stereotype of sexual predators from the real offenders: politicians and Catholics/religious leaders) to trans people and drag performers who, statistically, are much more likely to be victims of sexual assault than perpetrators. So if you're going to make an evil, deranged villain trying to take down a heroic woman you'd better give him a solid reason for it instead of using the reveal as a flimsy, "shocking" reveal. Fletcher and Stewart did not.
But that's hardly the only fault of this volume. None of the villains are interesting, despite the initial concepts of gentrification, identity theft through app development, and ignorant but rich tech bros being intriguing. Barabara's personality is unrecognizable from previous runs, and while this is sort of explained by the overarching plot of this volume, it's not a satisfying explanation. Which leads to the main problem: the main, non-problematic villain reveal at the end of the volume is incredibly stupid, and exposes that these are two writers writing about technology who don't understand how technology works. Like they're two writers writing about college like who don't know how to write about what college life is like. Like they're two male writers writing a mostly-female cast book who don't know how women talk or act. Like they're two comic book writers who don't know how to write compelling comics.
Mostly, this is two dudebros taking up space in a comic about women and not having the talent to write convincing women.
I'm going to ignore the Barabara dating a cop who hates Batgirl agle not just because it's a shallow cliche but it's just an example of two people who don't know how cops work (or, in many cases, don't work) writing about cops. It's probably intended well. It's probably meant to show two sides of America's view on police but, like everything else Stewart and Fletcher have presented here, it fails in execution.
Why three stars? The art.
This book never made me angry at Stewart and Fletcher's ineptitude. It just made me sad that, even though I was bored of her work by the end, a talented woman was taken off a woman-centric comic story, only to be replaced by two guys who are better at hyping themselves than they are at writing comics.
I would skip this and by a Babd Tarr art book.
I was wrong, of course. [a:Gail Simone|45103|Gail Simone|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1266594414p2/45103.jpg] did a wonderful job providing a story that gave Barbara agency over the change, provded compelling character-centric reasons for the change, and then used Barbara's healing process as part of compelling stories. Gail Simone's run on [b:Batgirl, Volume 1: The Darkest Reflection|13228436|Batgirl, Volume 1 The Darkest Reflection|Gail Simone|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1361895856l/13228436._SX50_.jpg|18420381] was imperfect but fun, and mostly well-put together.
I understand that people were excited at the creative sea change that occured when Simone's run, admittedly, got stale, causing DC to pivot to a new team of writers and artists. And, from an art perspective, this book is fantastic. [a:Babs Tarr|8529099|Babs Tarr|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1581633318p2/8529099.jpg]'s character designs, body and facial grammar, and panelling are on-par with the best artists of DC at the time, and [a:Maris Wicks|4395846|Maris Wicks|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] colors are a perfect complement. I would read anything those two put out together.
Unfortunately, [a:Cameron Stewart|317625|Cameron Stewart|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1351355913p2/317625.jpg][a:Brenden Fletcher|3174231|Brenden Fletcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1490731383p2/3174231.jpg] write like tech bros stabbing at wokeness. There's a lot of well-intentioned politics undone by sloppy writing and what I think and hope is unintentional misogyny and anti-queerness.
You can absolutely write an evil character who is into drag. But you should be aware that it's a common trope that has helped right wing child molesters shift the stereotype of sexual predators from the real offenders: politicians and Catholics/religious leaders) to trans people and drag performers who, statistically, are much more likely to be victims of sexual assault than perpetrators. So if you're going to make an evil, deranged villain trying to take down a heroic woman you'd better give him a solid reason for it instead of using the reveal as a flimsy, "shocking" reveal. Fletcher and Stewart did not.
But that's hardly the only fault of this volume. None of the villains are interesting, despite the initial concepts of gentrification, identity theft through app development, and ignorant but rich tech bros being intriguing. Barabara's personality is unrecognizable from previous runs, and while this is sort of explained by the overarching plot of this volume, it's not a satisfying explanation. Which leads to the main problem: the main, non-problematic villain reveal at the end of the volume is incredibly stupid, and exposes that these are two writers writing about technology who don't understand how technology works. Like they're two writers writing about college like who don't know how to write about what college life is like. Like they're two male writers writing a mostly-female cast book who don't know how women talk or act. Like they're two comic book writers who don't know how to write compelling comics.
Mostly, this is two dudebros taking up space in a comic about women and not having the talent to write convincing women.
I'm going to ignore the Barabara dating a cop who hates Batgirl agle not just because it's a shallow cliche but it's just an example of two people who don't know how cops work (or, in many cases, don't work) writing about cops. It's probably intended well. It's probably meant to show two sides of America's view on police but, like everything else Stewart and Fletcher have presented here, it fails in execution.
Why three stars? The art.
This book never made me angry at Stewart and Fletcher's ineptitude. It just made me sad that, even though I was bored of her work by the end, a talented woman was taken off a woman-centric comic story, only to be replaced by two guys who are better at hyping themselves than they are at writing comics.
I would skip this and by a Babd Tarr art book.
This is probably best take on the reality of modern world (smart phone, drones, dating apps, social media, bad tattoos, man buns, etc.) and the way Super Heroes would interact with them. I love the cast of characters and the art is super creative. The story itself was fun but lacked depth. I have faith this story will only get stronger as it progresses.
No. No. No. No. Just… no.
So long story short, they rebooted the Batgirl run and changed her costume and made her this “hip” and “cool” and “trendy” Batgirl who moved to a nicer neighbourhood and became viral on social media. No, I am not kidding about the last bit. I guess, I understand what they were going for, but it miss the target by a LONG shot.
I would have been fine with it if this were a special, or an Elseworld or something, but I do not accept this as part of the mainstream continuity. I just don’t. I don’t want it as part of it.
This character and portrayal and life situation of Barbara just doesn’t fit. Her shooting, her assault at the hands of the Joker, her paralysis, becoming Oracle, those things that happened to her do not add up to the Barbara we got here. And yes, her accident does not have to dictate who she is, but Oracle was such an important part of who Barbara became, you cannot just do away with that and say ‘oh yeah, it’s part of the continuity, but you know, whatever, this is a hip and cool Barbara.” Bullshit.
Which brings to the question: what are they reducing Batgirl to? This is the women who has faced down some of the most notorious criminals in the DC universe, and now you have her tracking down laptop thefts and delusional artists? What.The.Hell. They moved her character backwards. Nothing made sense in this. The Burnside side didn’t even feel like it was part of Gotham. And no, calling it trendy doesn’t excuse that. And what was that nonsense with “the masks stay on the other side of the bridge.” So what, are you telling me that if the Joker crosses over the bridge Batman’s just gonna be like “not my division, he crossed the bridge.” Just, UGH. See the problem I had with this?
And the art! Do no get me started on the art! It’s just not my thing. Like, ok, I wanna see Batman get rebooted with this type of art. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. Know why? Because Batman is supposed to be dark, and gritty and complex and realistic, but eh, you can do this for Batgirl because you know she’s a collage student and happy and just wants to date and go to parties and have a normal life. I do not accept this. I don’t.
Which brings me to: HOW LONG WILL THEY KEEP BARBARA IN COLLAGE FOR!!? I feel like she’s been in collage since the 90s. And I am so sick of that. Enough with the youngster Barbara. We need a Barbara in her mid twenties. We need a time skip or something. We need something that is not this!
I don’t wanna say this is what happens when a man writes Batgirl, but well, this is what we got. However much Gail Simone’s Batgirl run started annoying me towards the end, well I’d rather have her back than this.
And look, I realize in grand part that is a question of perspectives, and maybe some people loved the book and that is fine. However, for me, who prefers a darker, more realistic portrayal of Batgirl, this wasn’t it. At all. And this better not be the Batgirl we are getting with the Rebirth re-launch, because if it is I will riot. Mark my words, I will riot!
I'm not really a big reader of Batgirl or any of the surrounding comics but I have spent the summer babysitting a girl who loves Babs so we spent a day just reading comics. I enjoyed it pretty well. A lot of readers have complained about it being a departure for the character, but It wouldn't know. I thought it balanced kids/adult comics pretty decently... good for the tween who handed it to me at least.
This is one of the most fun superhero comics I've read in ages. Volume 1 from the new Batgirl creative team offers a comprehensive storyline with fun artwork throughout. The action sequences are well-paced, as is the rest of the story. Very much enjoyed and highly recommended.
The aesthetics of this are A+, super fun and poppy and practical. Plot and character-wise, kind of meh. They don't really sell the conflict between Dinah and Barbara or Babs going off the rails a little after the Dazzler issue.