Working as a kind of soft reboot for the series, Batgirl #35 brings on a brand new creative team that isn't afraid to bring some big changes to Barbara Gordon's world. After a fire destroys everything she owns, Barbara finds herself moving to the neighborhood of Burnside along with the rest of Gotham's young creative types. But is the change for the better?
What is here is quality stuff, but there is no question writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher are giving readers a much different look at Batgirl's world. Gone are the darker shades of Batgirl books that came before. This new team puts special emphasis on the "girl" portion of Batgirl, with Barbara staying up late partying, meeting boys, dealing with a college workload, all the while fighting to keep her new neighborhood safe. She even signs up for an online dating app. For crime fighting purposes, of course.
In this issue, keeping Burnside safe means dealing with some creeps who are stealing people's electronics, downloading all their dirty secrets and then publishing them on the web for the world to see on a site called "The Black Book." It's a crime plenty of young people can relate do, even moreso in light of the recent celebrity phone hacks. It makes for a different kind of villain than the ones Barbara is used to handling and a little more grounded in reality than the typical super foe. Even if that sad reality is a villain who speaks in hashtags and is obsessed with women sending him nude pics.
Thankfully this new Batgirl hasn't lost her touch when it comes to ass-kicking. Her new yellow combat boots are definitely good for that, and while her updated costume won't work for everyone, it serves its purpose here well by losing the "combat armor" look of older suits. This Batgirl getup actually looks like it could be put together from scratch as Barbara does in the book, but it still has plenty of style. At the end of the day, that's what a great superhero costume is all about.
Stewart and Fletcher do a great job of keeping conversations on-point and aren't afraid to lighten up the mood with some humor. That being said, it's really on the art side where Batgirl shines. Babs Tarr does a great job on art duties, visualizing the computer-like way Barbara sees and remembers the world by tinting the world in blue and highlighting objects or people of importance in red. Her facial expressions are full of life and easy read. Maris Wicks deserves due credit for some fantastic colors, bringing some much needed vibrancy and light to the usually dreary Gotham City.
In many ways, Batgirl is reminiscent of Mark Waid's current run on Marvel's Daredevil. Waid took a character known for being serious, dark, and gritty and gave him a fresh start, with a focus on making the character fun. While Batgirl wasn't nearly on the same level of despair as Daredevil, the similarities are easy to see between the two. Anybody who has read Waid's Daredevil knows that Batgirl taking a page from the same book is definitely a good thing.
Story:
★★★★☆
Art
★★★★☆
Overall
★★★★☆
