A review by davygibbs
Batgirl, Volume 1: Beyond Burnside by Hope Larson

3.0

A bit of a disappointment after the wonderful Stewart/Fletcher/Tarr trilogy. The real success of that run was based largely on the tension between the different aspects of Batgirl's life -- the superhero stuff, of course, but also the college student, in both its academic and social contexts. This new story puts Batgirl in Asia, which promptly removes an awful lot of material that I really enjoyed -- and suddenly, the whole thing rests on Batgirl being a superhero, which is an oversimplification after Batgirl of Burnside and leads to some awkward scenes. The art is still good, but it's also fairly unremarkable. It looks like a superhero comic, the sort you've seen before. Babs Tarr -- of the previous trilogy -- used a more playful, unhinged, exuberant style, and it suited the character perfectly.