After reading the Batgirl February solicit I believe this character is ruined

[HandofPrometheus]

Gail Simone's New 52 Batgirl was my first reading of Babs in comics. I knew about the Killing Joke story and her becoming Oracle, but reading her new 52 solo was one of my favorite titles. I understood the complaints about her being depressed constantly but the Burnside direction and this Burnside 2.0 version never added anything better than Gail Simone batgirl. It's like she is written as a child but yet the past two writers couldn't just write her like a woman which she is. Her villains are villains you would find in a dollar store and some slapstick comic. I'm not even going to mention her costume the new 52 costume was superior and looks the part. While reading other batman titles and seeing her show up, her current costume is just so out of place and looks stupid.

I try to keep my chin up about this character but nowadays I cant. Her sales also reflects what consumers think of the book. Ever since her change it never helped her sales and made it worse. This character imho is ruined and shows what happens when unnecessary pandering does to a character.

[DoctorWho]

I won't counter your arguments because what one enjoys reading is a matter of personal taste, but IIRC Simone's Batgirl sales were dreadful and the Burnside sales actually improved on it. But now let's be honest, that costume on Simone's run was TERRIBLE, the worst the character ever wore, it's time for everyone starting admit that.

[Badou]

I won't counter your arguments because what one enjoys reading is a matter of personal taste, but IIRC Simone's Batgirl sales were dreadful and the Burnside sales actually improved on it. But now let's be honest, that costume on Simone's run was TERRIBLE, the worst the character ever wore, it's time for everyone starting admit that.

Simone's sales were good for a while, Bargirl was the highest selling female character in comics during parts of it, but after 35 issues you can't expect sales to stay that high. The Burnside run was a nice boost for a bit.

[Frontier]

I won't counter your arguments because what one enjoys reading is a matter of personal taste, but IIRC Simone's Batgirl sales were dreadful and the Burnside sales actually improved on it. But now let's be honest, that costume on Simone's run was TERRIBLE, the worst the character ever wore, it's time for everyone starting admit that.

I don't think it was that bad a look. The armor was probably a bit too much, but most heroes in the New 52 had unnecessary armor. It wasn't New 52 Black Canary bad.

If it had been streamlined into something akin to her B:TAS look or her classic costume (particularly Batgirl Year One), it probably would have worked much better in my opinion.

[DoctorWho]

Simone's sales were good for a while, Bargirl was the highest selling female character in comics during parts of it, but after 35 issues you can't expect sales to stay that high. The Burnside run was a nice boost for a bit.

I say it's pretty much the same situation. Early issues of Simone era had good sales because it was Babs back to the Batgirl route, and after while readers started to leave; sales for early issues of Burnside were good because it was a soft reboot to the character, and later readers started to leave. It's innocent to think that it's just putting Batgirl back to a darker approach and we'll see sales improve significantly, because: a) fans who jumped on during the Burnside era will likely leave; 2) 60% or more of the ones who always complain on Internet about the lighter, hipster-ier Batgirl will still not buy a Batgirl title with Babs on it because what they really want is Oracle back, and soon they will start to complain about that instead. My guess is that sales would be the same thing as ever.

[Pohzee]

I agree and apparently so does the rest of the Bat-Office, since she has been largely ignored by the larger family in event like Night of the Monster Men, save appearances Nightwing.

It does make marketing sense though since she is Batgirl.

[joybeans]

For comparison's sake:

Rebirth Batgirl #1: 96,177
New 52 Batgirl #35 (1st issue of the Fletcher/Stewart run): 62,644
New 52 Batgirl #1 (Simone): 81,489 + 16,512 (second printings)

Rebirth Batgirl #4: 40,778
New 52 Batgirl #38 (4th issue of the Fletcher/Stewart run): 45,096
New 52 Batgirl #4 (Simone): 53,975

Take that for what you will. Keep in mind that Gail Simone is certainly a bigger name as a writer than Fletcher, Stewart, or Larson, where cape comics are concerned.

[Godlike13]

How is it doing digitally? Because for a title like Batgirl how it does digitally matters. That being said i am a little worried about Batgirl seeming too disconnected.

[joybeans]

How is it doing digitally? Because for a title like Batgirl how it does digitally matters. That being said i am a little worried about Batgirl seeming too disconnected.

It's hard to tell, outside of monitoring the weekly topsellers on Comixology the weekend after the issue is out. In any case, DC probably wants the main Batgirl title to be easily digestible for the trade format, hence why it's disconnected from other titles.

[Pohzee]

Batgirl's sales may also be somewhat split by Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, which bears her name as well.

[skyvolt2000]

It's hard to tell, outside of monitoring the weekly topsellers on Comixology the weekend after the issue is out. In any case, DC probably wants the main Batgirl title to be easily digestible for the trade format, hence why it's disconnected from other titles.

The Batgirl Burnside trades KILLS in waiting list at the libraries in my city. I had to get the final set of issues off of ebay for 99 cents (45-52) because of trade waits.

800+ pulls on comixology. That probably puts her second or third among DC females and on level with Sam Wilson's pulls.

[Atlanta96]

The Batgirl Burnside trades KILLS in waiting list at the libraries in my city. I had to get the final set of issues off of ebay for 99 cents (45-52) because of trade waits.

800+ pulls on comixology. That probably puts her second or third among DC females and on level with Sam Wilson's pulls.

The 3rd and final trade of the Bufnside run, released a few months ago, ranked 33rd on Amazon in its first month of release with 2400 copies sold. Barely average, not enough to compensate for the low floppy sales. Burnside Batgirl was a flash in the pan.

[RedQueen]

I'm honestly just over barbara's bland boyfriends. And seeing as Penguin Jr is jumping straight to boyfriend status so quickly makes me realize this is gonna be a another bland romance.And I'll have to endure for a while it seems like. I miss the way Chuck Dixon used to develop and cultivate relationships.

Anyways at least there's BatBOP.

[darkseidpwns]

What's with DC's obsession with a pretty boy Penguin? urgh Gotham.

[JasonTodd428]

I was willing initially to give Burnside Batgirl a try but once that ten page preview for the first issue came out I wasn't happy with how she was being portrayed and that turned me off to the whole thing. I decided not to bother with the Batgirl book at that point and have had no interest in it with Rebirth either. These days the only Babs I'm reading is in BoP and even in that book I'm really more interested in BC and Huntress then in Babs.