Stephanie Gordon?
The cover for this zero issue is one of those very generic and uninspired ones. I'd be content to just say 'eh,' but it actually bothers me more than that because of the awkward and excessive purple lighting coming from nowhere.
Sigh. Ed Benes has an almost Liefeldian grasp of female anatomy. During the final segments of the issue summarizing Barbara's career as Batgirl between her beginning and being shot in the spine, she looks ESPECIALLY offensive. Wide as heck hips, super round boobs, way too slim legs and stomach. Ugh. As for the beginning... well... leave it to Ed Benes to make a young Barbara Gordon into an overly 'sexy' Mary Jane lookalike.
The police so early coming to the conclusion that Batman is a normal human is frustrating, because there's always so much importance placed on the idea of Batman keeping up this aura of supernatural appearance. For his first year or so he was perceived as an urban myth, or something inhuman; but here the police have already basically figured out what he's all about. I guess criminals are 'superstitious and cowardly,' but still.
Gail Simone... I love you, but you completely fail to grasp James Gordon Jr.'s relationship with his family. Barbara is PAINFULLY oblivious to her brother's sociopathic nature, when she was supposed to be the ONE person who KNEW it from the start. PLUS I'm pretty sure James Jr. wasn't still supposed to be living with them at that point, it REALLY messes with The Black Mirror.
OH GOD. As soon as Harry X shows up there's just a mob of terribly forced 'foreshadowing' to things we know. He just 'happens to know' all this stuff, these vaguely specific allusions to Batgirl's entire career. It's such a hamhanded attempt at foreshadowing stuff we're supposed to already know, I almost couldn't believe that it was Gail Simone writing that.
.... Can Barbara just wear that Police Mock-Up batsuit forever? I LOVE that thing on her. It's interesting and different from the norm. It doesn't have that completely 'homemade' look a lot of makeshift batsuits have, since this is essentially a professional makeshift batsuit. I just loved it, and it looked great on her. Though her personality REALLY flashes far too much Stephanie Brown once she dons it...... Oh my god, CAN WE GET STEPHANIE IN THAT COSTUME?
In Conclusion: 3.5/5
The ending is really smart and well executed, and there's a few nice things sticking out; but this is another case of Gail Simone just failing to make Barbara work as Batgirl. It's weird because she WAS writing 'past-Batgirl,' but the story was full of painful cliches and hamhanded plot devices. It's a shame because the plot itself had a lot of nice elements, but mainly it made me miss Stephanie a lot more because Barbara was TOO similar to Stephanie, and not enough like even young Barbara. Plus Ed Benes' artwork was....... way too focused on an arguably offensive depiction of the female form.
