Batgirl #1

I find it really frustrating just how few women superheroes there are in comics today. Yes, the media is progressing, making them more prominent, writing more series based around them, writing their characters to be stronger and more independent. And some of them have been, more or less, stepping backwards (I'm looking at you, Catwoman, and a little at Starfire as well), but as a whole, there is some really strong progress. Yet, then there are series made like this that just... take it a little too far.

For those of you who don't know much about her, Batgirl was a prominent character in Batman culture, acting as a female Robin figure to become a strong individual all her own. That is, until Joker shot her in the gut in the classic and wonderful work The Killing Joke (go pick that one up if you haven't). This caused her to be confined to a wheelchair, acting as the Oracle for the proceeding ten years or so, up until about now. At the start of the series, it is revealed that some sort of "cure" was found for her, and that, through Bruce Wayne's money, Batgirl was reborn. The thing is, she doesn't really stop talking about it at any point.

I feel like the best strength of this book is also one of it's bigger weaknesses; the focus on Batgirl's recovery. Yes, it's marvelous that she's back in action, yes, she has some issues getting back into the field after so long in a wheelchair, yes, she questions herself a lot. We get it, book. Please stop talking about it. After a while, Barbara's character boils down to her being frightened about... well, a lot of things. And it's really annoying. And yes, this isn't the case for the whole book, obviously, but it grows hard to move away from that first impression. Maybe this is just because this book is aimed at a different audience... I would say women, but my girlfriend (who owns this book) disliked it as much as me for the same reasons. So the only audience that really comes to mind is the disabled or this recovering from similar injuries, but I don't know how many people who fit those conditions read comics. (God, I hope I'm not being offensive to anyone, it's difficult to write about this without feeling like someone is going to take offense). That coupled with some rather awkward and often forced dialogue (Batgirl has a knack of talking a lot younger than she is, it feels), and reading this becomes something of an exercise. Hell, the main villain, The Mirror (MINOR SPOILER) is bent on destroying all miracles... which means one of the people he's hunting is Batgirl... gah, this stuff gets way too on the nose. And the second story arch here is no better; the whole adventure is just way too heavy-handed. It feels like I'm reading a nursery book, where there's a clear issue at the start and a moral at the end. It feels like I'm being talked down to sometimes.

Something else that helps with this mentality is the consistent recaps at the start of every issue, something that's really bugged me about this and the Nightwing series. We're not that dumb; we really don't need you to recap everything that happened in the last issue. If we have to, we can pull that one back out and *gasp* read it again. And in volume format like this, it becomes a hindrance to immersion. I don't remember Blue Beetle or Flash having this issue (or, if it did, it wasn't as in your face). Trust your readers, DC Comics; they might surprise you.

Considering the art is good, but nothing to write home about, this book is a hard sell. It slaps you in the face constantly with symbolism and imagery, Batgirl's dialogue feels awkward and forced, and she never really comes out as a strong independent woman, but instead a scared little girl. It's frustrating to see such an interesting staple of the Batman franchise fall to poor writing, especially when she really needed a leg-up.