Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: Down Among the Dead Men
Written by: Dylan Horrocks
Penciled by: Rick Leonardi
Inked by: Jesse Delperdang
Colored by: Jason Wright
Lettered by: Clem Robins
Editor: Michael Wright
Publisher: DC Comics
Finding the soul of a character.
If you don’t know the story of the current Batgirl, I’ll quickly recap for you. Cassandra Cain was raised by one of the world’s greatest assassins to be the perfect killing machine. She did not learn any language, except violence, until she was well into her teenage years. This upbringing and everything she missed in life has hampered Cassandra more and more as the month’s progress. Combat is all she knows, even after coming under the wing of the Batman Family, she’s found it quite difficult to evolve much past that. Her inner demons have come to a crossroads of late, and Batman no longer wants her working as Batgirl.
In less than a year, Dylan Horrocks has turned the title away from being mainly a 22-page hand-to-hand combat story. Instead Horrocks has explored Cassandra’s love life, and the state of mental confusion she remains in following her difficult upbringing. Don’t think the action’s gone; it’s still an exciting read. But, now, the hook is more focused on what’s buried inside Cassandra, essentially what’s at the soul of the character. It’s ironic that a drug named Soul (which causes bouts of extreme violence), has been a central problem in the book of late. So, you can really say, that under Horrocks, Batgirl has been all about soul.
As Soul spreads the violence it brings is spreading through Gotham at a frightening rate. Although Cassandra was been banned from being Batgirl last month, she refuses to listen to Batman and by so doing is actually instrumental in saving Robin. This leads Batgirl to the cusp of solving the Soul mystery, as it links to a number of creepy thefts of dead bodies. Everything builds to a final panel, which promises the coolest fight that Cassandra has fought yet. Next month’s fiftieth issue promises to be a real keeper!
Rick Leonardi has given the book a needed kick in the pants as well. His clean polished lines lend a sense of realism that has always seemed missing in these pages. This is no sleight to the previous pencilers on Batgirl, especially Damion Scott who defined the look of Cass. It’s just to say that with Horrocks meatier direction, the anime styled work needed to change.
I have always adored this book. It has been a favorite since I begun reading it. Yet, I couldn’t be happier about the marvelous evolution the art and writing have seen. Both Dylan Horrocks and Rick Leonardi have made Batgirl a much deeper product. With so many new layers developing every month, I am very excited about the next fifty issues of one of the more enjoyable reads out there.
