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heartpages 's review for:
Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Darkest Reflection
by Gail Simone
Barbara Gordon is (and always was, really), easy to like. She's chatty, and would be a fun buddy. So why am I stopping at 3 stars? I don't think Batgirl as a character has the gravitas to hold up on her own. The very best parts of this are when Batgirl is with another hero. The section with Nightwing is poetic and touching, and the section where she guards Bruce Wayne is brilliant. When she's alone she lacks gravitas. This isn't really Simone's fault: she does as well as anyone could have.
My other critique is that Batgirl always seems airhead-like. This used to be acceptable, but is especially hard to take given Gordon's run as Oracle, where you rarely saw her smile and her lines were serious and few. To have her jump back into bouncy and chatty seems a disconnect. This one I think is Simone's fault. (Maybe DC told her to keep it all light and rainbows, though - you never know.) All we see of Gordon's former skills is a little computer tracking here and there, and passing references to her smarts. Simone wove a great tale but I'm not seeing Babs as the sum of her parts here. Doesn't mean I won't keep reading it, though. It's fun. I just was hoping for something a little deeper, given the character's history.
My other critique is that Batgirl always seems airhead-like. This used to be acceptable, but is especially hard to take given Gordon's run as Oracle, where you rarely saw her smile and her lines were serious and few. To have her jump back into bouncy and chatty seems a disconnect. This one I think is Simone's fault. (Maybe DC told her to keep it all light and rainbows, though - you never know.) All we see of Gordon's former skills is a little computer tracking here and there, and passing references to her smarts. Simone wove a great tale but I'm not seeing Babs as the sum of her parts here. Doesn't mean I won't keep reading it, though. It's fun. I just was hoping for something a little deeper, given the character's history.