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124 reviews for:
Batgirl, Vol. 2: Knightfall Descends
Vicente Cifuentes, Ardian Syaf, Gail Simone, Ed Benes, Alitha Martinez
3.93 AVERAGE
124 reviews for:
Batgirl, Vol. 2: Knightfall Descends
Vicente Cifuentes, Ardian Syaf, Gail Simone, Ed Benes, Alitha Martinez
3.93 AVERAGE
Ooooooh, the madness, mayhem and murder continues!
I absolutely loved this sequel and Simone's writing continues to shine in Knightfall Descends. This collection focuses on Batgirl's kick-ass encounters with Mirror, Gretel and Grotesque who all have their various reasons and background stories for embracing their dark side.
We are also introduced to Barbara's brother, James Jr. who has escaped from Arkham Asylum. Now, I feel wrong saying this but I kinda have a thing for James Jr. He's pretty charming-looking.
In other news, Barbara's mom has come back on the scene and revealed the reason she left them was because of James Jr.'s strange behaviour and the supposed murder of their family pet cat, Alaska. HOWEVER...Alaska turns up later on after James Jr. befriends Barbara's roommate and gives her the cat as a present (this was pretty random I have to say but hey-ho it's a superhero comic).
Then, about halfway through Knightfall Descends, we really get a taste of the big story in this collection which focuses on Charise Carnes (aka Knightfall) and her crew (Bonebreaker, Katharsis and Bleak Michael) attempting to slaughter all of the criminals in Gotham in the quest of ridding the city of crime and any foul play. They set bear traps for petty car thieves and are hellbent on torturing the life out of Ricky. It's pretty graphic in places, but thankfully nothing too gruesome.
It ends on so many cliffhangers including 1) James Jr. helped Knightfall in setting up a showdown with his sister, Batgirl, so he is sure to be a recurring face on the scene, 2) the paralysis of Barbara Gordon looks set to repeat itself but this time the victim is her mom and 3) the three villains Batgirl took out before (Mirror, Gretel and Grotesque) have all been aided by Knightfall's crew with the sole intention of killing Batgirl.
So, there you have it. Plenty of action to get your teeth stuck into, plus what I can only describe as a nail-biting Volume 3 promising much much more of the same.
Felt choppy as it was leading through the various villains up to the ending, but the character arc and emotional through line held together well. I can't wait to keep reading!
Quick, easy read. I continue to adore Babs (surprise!) and while this was good, it definitely felt like it was building towards something bigger.
I really like this iteration of Batgirl. Flawed and human, full of doubts, she is still tough and determined to confront evil to the best of her ability.
This is one of the times when being relatively new to these comics bites you in the ass: I was prepared to be all but it turns out that was part of another, larger story, so this was like a crossover and that storyline was unfinished on purpose. I was very confused when I turned to the next issue in the collection and found a new storyline/Big Bad.
I liked almost everything else about Knightfall Descends -- I especially loved the placement of Batgirl's origin story at the beginning of this book -- and I think I need to find more things written by Simone.
Spoiler
"what the hell happened with the owls and Gotham being lost?"I liked almost everything else about Knightfall Descends -- I especially loved the placement of Batgirl's origin story at the beginning of this book -- and I think I need to find more things written by Simone.
The Night of the Owls crossover in the middle really confused me when reading it (only googled it after I finished the book) and made me not like the book as much. I'm definitely going to re-read it in a couple of days now I know, but at the moment it's a 3,5/5 for me.