Batgirl #20
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Ramon Bachs
Welcome one and all to the new Team Batgirl, otherwise known as…Batgirl! This is the first full issue of Steph having only Wendy to back her up, as even with a Babs appearance, Oracle is still gone. Thankfully Bryan has gone ahead and developed a charming lead character who can more than carry this fantastic title on her own. So what does the scribe have in store for us this month, what kind of excitement?
How about the secret origin of Slipstream given to us on page one? Or what about Stephanie getting excited about all the new toys that Batman Inc has decked Firewall out with? The issue gets to the point rather quickly, with Steph realizing just who exactly Slipstream is at the moment when readers realize just where they’ve seen that guy before, and then we get a chase scene. Oooh, even better than that, Steph had her Batbike the “Ricochet” before, but starting this issue….The Compact! She’s got her own car!
The actual confrontation with Slipstream opens with a nice bit of rookie humor, as Steph gets shot at by the people she’s trying to protect. Then again, this is the sort of thing one would expect when you cut off a bunch of trucks filled with armed men who don’t want to be robbed, and then step out of your car wearing a mask. It’s still believable that Steph wouldn’t think things through to the end before doing it, and it’s very believable that these guys wouldn’t care who she was after seeing the mask. The fight itself, on the other hand, is brief and brilliant, and redeems her rookie mistake and then some. Miller gets across how clever the girl is and keeps her thinking fast, and her method of taking down Slipstream is great.
And then she does a touchdown dance, and man, I wish we could have seen it.
Ramon Bachs does a nicer job this issue with maintaining the ‘look’ of Batgirl. I’m always impressed with the art in this book, no matter who is doing the interiors there is a consistent feel for the tone. Not too serious, yet not cartoony, and the facial expressions are spot on. Steph’s face stands out to me more than anything else in this book usually, her expressions both in and out of costume, they carry the story in their own way. Oh, and hey, the Batgirl/Slipstream fight? It looks as good as it reads.
Despite wrapping up Slipstream for the time being, Miller doesn’t leave us on a “happily ever after” or a “the end”, and instead brings us back to where it all stemmed from. Reapers. These are the bad guys he’s building for Steph, and her conversation with Detective Gage, coupled with the last page, there seem to be a lot of big plans in store for them. Also, I don’t want to go a review without putting over Proxy who steps into her role as Steph’s personal Oracle and keeps the ball rolling nicely. Babs is around for a little while, and it’s clear that her role in this book is not yet over, so I’m interested in what’s coming next.
This book is just a lot of fun. The characters are likable, the stories aren’t headachey, and to be honest, it’s exactly what I want. The book doesn’t have the dark and grimy tones of some Bat titles, and it doesn’t dig deep into the cannon to bring us plots that we may or may not have a clue about. Bryan is bringing us an easy to read, easy to follow, and easy to love book on a monthly basis, and I can’t say enough that it is, quite frankly, my favorite book on the market. Long live Batgirl!
Overall?
9/10
