Originally Posted by
El Sombrero
I am happy to say I thought this was phenomenal, a superior comic book in every sense and up there with the best DC has put out in years.
My first reaction is that this was absolutely loaded with content. Took me 2-3 times as long to read as the average comic book, and it was refreshing to actually feel like you got a full story in a single issue. There wasn't really wasted space either, pacing was fine and it didn't feel like anything was lingering too long. I totally felt like I got my money's worth.
Art was extremely good in every sense. Tarr is wonderful at facial expressions and draws very natural looking characters that look like real people with personality. There is also a fun quirkiness with her art that is very appropriate for Batgirl. Tarr feels just as comfortable drawing Batgirl in costume fighting as she does Babs talking on the couch, and that's a must for a book like this, and impressive considering this is her first comics work. The coloring is beautiful and the lettering is fantastic throughout, Fletcher is one of the best letterers in the industry for sure and always meets a really high standard.
In particular with the art, Stewart did an amazing job with the storytelling layouts, and the fashion displayed throughout the issue was wonderful to behold. The book really looked like something that would connect with an outside audience and reflected trendy youth culture today. Stewart created a very dense and complex yet readable comic. The way the technology (app screens, e-mails and texts, etc) were interspersed with the art was very smooth. I don't know if Stewart or Tarr (or both) were responsible for dressing these characters, but bravo, it just looked soooo good. The detail put into everything, like actual logos for all the original brands, was incredible and really added depth to the world.
I thought the writing was very solid and better than I expected. There is a lot of talk centered on technology, cell phones, apps, etc...but hey, this is really how young people talk and interact today. I liked that the technology was important and relevant for the story and really pushed the story forward. You could not tell this same story in any other decade. This is different and much better the typical DC or Marvel comic with teens where they just throw out terms like Twitter and YouTube but for no real reason. The technology and modes of communication were the entire point here.
Characterization was solid. Babs clearly feels de-aged and a bit less mature, but given how completely dreary and miserable her world had become during Simone's run, I'm fine with that. DC tried to have their cake and eat it too with the New 52, coming up with these awkward attempts to make characters more youthful but bring along their continuity baggage. This new Babs feels younger and stripped of continuity and is all the better for it. She still has her intelligence and her spunk and I am fine if she makes some careless mistakes (getting too drunk, not backing up her files, etc) as IMO that makes her relatable. I really liked Black Canary here and hope she sticks along. Alysia felt less obnoxious and I would be okay with her sticking along as Babs' friend from across town. I thought Babs' new roommates and friends were a little interchangeable but I suppose they will get more character development (or fall to the background) as the story continues, and given how overwhelmingly good I thought everything else was, I don't really care if that's the story's one minor flaw. The script was fine, dialogue for everyone felt natural and appropriate.
I thought Riot Black was a blast and I hope the team continues to create new villains. One of the best parts of this issue was how they just threw away all the past baggage and jumped headfirst into everything, so I don't really want to see too many older villains. I'd be interested in seeing this creative team eventually try their hand at a couple of classic rogues, but definitely all-new for a long time.
Great, great, great issue. It truly emphasized the best parts of comic books (using unique art design with lots of personality to tell a story) and I genuinely believe this would be entertaining to a vastly different audience than most of what DC puts out. Hopefully this is the future of DC Comics because I cannot stress enough how much better I thought this was than nearly the entire rest of their line.