Batgirl #38 Preview/Discussion

[jules]

The Black Canary of Burnside is the singer for Ashes on Sunday.

I'm hoping this will get her a guest cameo in Gotham Academy as well.

[Chickfighter]

Simone's run was just too grim-dark gritty for me. I'm trying the new run as the tone certainly is more up my alley. I will agree however that the execution isn't really grabbing me as yet and I may not continue much longer. I like some things about it, but it seems to be trying way too hard at times to prove it's youthfulness. And I agree the villains seem to be frivolous lightweights. I'm okay with one or two of that sort, but enough is enough. Steph's Batgirl was fun and campy without ever seeming this totally frivolous. If these characters are realistic young people then our future looks to be an even emptier dead end than I thought.

[Sans Simian]

I'm hoping this will get her a guest cameo in Gotham Academy as well.

My head will explode if they do that, just like the dude in Scanners.

[CatBoy]

What I'm loving about the Batgirl title right now is that Stewart, Fletcher, and Tarr have really created a world inside of Gotham with a different point of view. This book really sheds some light on what youth-culture thinks of vigilantes and how they interact with it. And, I really like the social media aspect of it. It does get frivolous and a little superficial, but that's a lot of what today's culture is. And it's making a comment on it.

I also love that Dinah's in a band. Why not?

[Docz]

Really like the issue, as much as I really enjoyed Simones run on Batgirl I still do dig the new direction of the book and at the moment is the book I currently look forward to the most. The only real gripe I have with it is how Dinah feels kind of lost in the shuffle of the book, but hopefully as someone else mentioned she will get her own book again sometime in the future too.

[PopuluxeCowboy]

I like the idea of a lighter, more fun Batgirl, but I'm having problems reconciling her with Gail Simon's Batgirl. I mean, this is still the Barbara Gordon who was Oracle, right? It's like this version of Batgirl lost about 10 years of age and maturity when she went back to college compared with Oracle.

[phonogram12]

In this timeline she was never Oracle.

[Claude]

I like the idea of a lighter, more fun Batgirl, but I'm having problems reconciling her with Gail Simon's Batgirl. I mean, this is still the Barbara Gordon who was Oracle, right? It's like this version of Batgirl lost about 10 years of age and maturity when she went back to college compared with Oracle.

Yeah, as phonogram says - Simone's Batgirl was never Oracle.

[PopuluxeCowboy]

Yeah, as phonogram says - Simone's Batgirl was never Oracle.

So she kept the Killing Joke, but lost the Oracle. Got it.

[Bookem Danno]

I like seeing "My Friend Dinah" move back a little into more of a "My Mentor Dinah" role, actually (it reminds me of the fact of their meeting in Batgirl: Year One). As is usually the case when torn between two women's arguments, I'll use my usual answer.

They're both right.

Babs deserves a break and nobody should have to take their superheroing as seriously as Batman in his Gotham.
Dinah's right about thinking about consequences and karma and the reasons WHY Babs is regressing.

Yeah. But this makes Babs look unlikable in a big way which is defeatist for getting an interested audience who wants their experienced protagonist to be worth following. Maybe this 'bad' issue and bad attitude outbursts was deliberate hence the irony of the issue's story title. I want my Batgirl to be much more likable than she is in this one.

38.jpg

I'm looking forward to the new dynamic they go with between her and Super-Robin.

[phonogram12]

Babs deserves a break and nobody should have to take their superheroing as seriously as Batman in his Gotham.
Dinah's right about thinking about consequences and karma and the reasons WHY Babs is regressing.

Honestly? I think Babs has regressed to exactly the age that she should be acting only after pushing herself far beyond her years far too early on. Some say that when Bruce's parents died, he became an adult in exactly that instant. There was no reason for Babs to've done the same when she decided to become Batgirl.

[Babs]

I like the idea of a lighter, more fun Batgirl, but I'm having problems reconciling her with Gail Simon's Batgirl. I mean, this is still the Barbara Gordon who was Oracle, right? It's like this version of Batgirl lost about 10 years of age and maturity when she went back to college compared with Oracle.

No. In the new 52 Barbara was never Oracle. Paralyzed, yes, but she never took on the role of Oracle during that time. Her origin basically goes:

Became Batgirl at 16. Paralyzed by the Joker at 17. Spent 3 years in chair. Gets surgery, then spends several months in physical rehabilitation. Returns as Batgirl at 21, which is where we are now in the Simone/Stewart series.

Honestly? I think Babs has regressed to exactly the age that she should be acting only after pushing herself far beyond her years far too early on. Some say that when Bruce's parents died, he became an adult in exactly that instant. There was no reason for Babs to've done the same when she decided to become Batgirl.

And that's pretty much Stewart and Fletcher's take on the character. That by becoming Batgirl at 16 and being paralyzed through the 2nd half of her teenage years, she missed out on that part of growing up normally. It also makes sense for someone with PTSD.

[Sans Simian]

And that's pretty much Stewart and Fletcher's take on the character. That by becoming Batgirl at 16 and being paralyzed through the 2nd half of her teenage years, she missed out on that part of growing up normally. It also makes sense for someone with PTSD.

It makes total sense to me as well, because I can relate to her. Without doxxing myself, I had to postpone my teenage rebellion years into my twenties like Babs had to do. Only now, years later, am I starting to feel like a true adult.

So I understand completely what Stewart is doing with Babs right now, and I know that sooner or later she's going to return to Gotham as the Batgirl we have known and loved, having grown up along the way.

[Babs]

Yeah, as phonogram says - Simone's Batgirl was never Oracle.

There is no such thing as "Simone's Batgirl". She's the new 52 Batgirl, whether she's written by Gail Simone or Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher. None of the writers own the character.

and I know that sooner or later she's going to return to Gotham as the Batgirl we have known and loved, having grown up along the way.

...and who says "we" don't love this Batgirl? ^___^

If you're expecting that DC at some point is going to revert the book back to the setting and style of Gail Simone's run, i wouldn't get my hopes up if i were you. This radical revamp was not done for some quick character development plot, but to refresh the series completely and make is more light hearted fun read that appeals to new audiences. I mean, moving her to Burnside is probably the same thing as what they did with Nightwing and how he established himself in Blüdhaven.