Batgirl #1 - Eric's Review

In the beginning, there was Batman. Then, with the inevitability of New Coke or CSI: Miami, there was Batgirl. A lot of noise has already been made about DC’s decision to give Barbara Gordon her legs back and put her behind the mask, and both sides make compelling arguments. It’s probably better to review the comic book on its own merits rather than as ground zero for a Batgirl/Oracle debate.

Of course, the fact remains that Barbara Gordon became a character with significantly more depth after she lost the use of her legs and became Oracle. Thankfully, Gail Simone, who played a large part in shepherding Barbara Gordon into her role as Oracle and who made her one of the strongest female characters in comics, is on hand to shepherd Barbara Gordon back into the batsuit.

Rather than shying away from the debate surrounding the return of Babs’ legs, Simone makes it a more than a plot point. Barbara Gordon’s loss of her legs, and the ensuing ‘miraculous recovery that gave them back, becomes to her a driving force behind not only this new version of the character but also, presumably, new villain The Mirror as well. This new-slash-old Batgirl may be the first superhero with PTSD.  

The title shares its only shortcoming with too many of the New 52 books that I’ve read so far: like reading the first 20 pages of a novel or seeing the first 30 minutes of a film, the experience feels woefully incomplete.

On the other hand, Ardian Syaf draws the best Batgirl since Yvonne Craig.