Peering once again at the newly relaunched line of DC Comics, today I turn my attention to a title I was particularly looking forward to, Batgirl #1. This was a bigger deal than other titles because this is the debut of the newly unparalyzed Barbara Gordon, who lost her ability to walk due to events in the one-shot comic Batman: The Killing Joke, my alltime favorite comic story.
Unfortunately, my curiosity as to how Barbara regained her ability to walk is still a mystery. Writer Gail Simone has apparently decided to keep the reason secret for awhile longer to add to the interest of the story, a decision that I believe is a mistake. Barbara has been wheelchair-bound for 20 years, and I believe to announce with much fanfare that she will walk again and then not reveal the reason in the first issue is a disservice to the reader. My disappointment in this decision severely limited my enjoyment of the issue.
This is a shame, because despite that, there is much to enjoy here. Batgirl gives some punk villiains a good ass-kicking, there is a tender scene between Barbara and her father, Commissioner Gordon, and a quirky new roommate for Barbara is introduced that could provide leaded levity in future issues. I also enjoyed the artwork by Ardian Syaf quite a bit, especially her newly designed costume.
However, the omission of Barbara's recovery was such a blow to me that the issue was difficult to enjoy. I will try the next issue, but if more substance isn't given as to Barbara's "miracle" (as Barbara calls it), I likely won't be back for issue #3.
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6 comments:
Y'know, the kinda mutual *shrug* Wayne and the Joker share over the sexualized assault on Gordon in THE KILLING JOKE always has left an unfortunate undertone in that one for me.
Batman was ready to go ape-s*** on Joker for it, but Gordon tells him to rein it in and bring in the Joker "by the book. Show him that our way works," which I think is a key part of the book. Don't give in to madness, even in the face of it, or else you justify [?]the Joker's actions.
Moore has since stated that the Killing Joke is the worst work of his career. Then again, DC can do no right in his eyes.
Well, there's a difference between not killing the miscreant and chatting with him, not so much about the similarities between them, but acting as if his all but rape as well as crippling wounding of Gordon was a minor matter. I can see why Moore might not be happy with his script...but it is a tendency, seemingly discounting torture of women particularly, which seems to pop up in Moore scripts (V FOR VENDETTA comes to mind, and WATCHMEN to some extent as well)...
Otherwise, it's a pretty interesting work...like most of Moore.
I'd managed to miss the USDofLabor ad as previously posted...I remember those being on! Wonder what West was doing that made appearance difficult...or if he simply held out for too much money or was bitter about typecasting...
That was odd that he wasn't in it--possibley just a scheduling conflict, I dunno.
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