Batgirl #21
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs
BQM really loves his DC Animated Universe, and it shows. In this issue alone we get some more Grey Ghost action, the red skies of Gotham, and a modern version of a character who looks more than little bit like a female version of Batman Beyond villain Shriek. What’s even better is how natural it all seems to fit in here, especially the red skies of Gotham which really do feel right to me after the whole ‘growing up on Batman: The Animated Series’ thing that I did. So does channeling awesome cartoons from my childhood make this book better? Does it really need the help?
Steph is our central character, what with she being the Batgirl that is the star of this self-titled book, but I want to spend a little bit of time talking about Wendy “Proxy” Harris, the remaining member of ‘Team Batgirl’ now that Oracle has retired her fabled avatar. Wendy is the daughter of The Calculator, and for a time was a powerless member of the Teen Titans along with her brother Marvin…who was eaten by a demonic dog that left her in wheelchair. She has had anger issues throughout this book, lashing out because of her brother, her legs. She’s not Oracle Jr., despite being a tech-head in a wheelchair. This is, I believe, going to be the issue we look back on in a few years and try to figure out just when Wendy became something more than a supporting cast member. I’m excited to see where all her journey takes her, as Bryan has been crafting an interesting character with worlds of potential.
Of course, just because Wendy had some great subplot moments doesn’t mean that Steph stumbled, far from it! The issue opens with her facing off with a new villain named Harmony (who looks like a modern/primitive version of Shriek), who is one of the Reapers. The Reapers being, essentially, Steph’s arch-enemies over the last handful of issues, and being responsible for both the speedster Slipstream, as well as Harmony. Really they’re just a bunch of pains in Steph’s ass that she really wants to kick, and the slow build is working. Harmony gives us a few fights this issue, the second of which being what seals the deal in my “Harmony is a version of Shriek” theory, and anyone who watched a Shriek episode of Batman Beyond will pick it up immediately.
I love the art in this book, I just wish the cover and inside credits could agree with who’s doing it. This month it says Pere Perez is the artist when you glance at the cover, which is just fine, as Perez has been a great backup artist on this title since it began. However, you turn the page and see the interior credits (the big ones), and it says Dustin Nguyen. Now, I’m not going to complain one way or the other, as the art in this book is always great, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and go with Dustin being on art. Maybe it’s the faces, maybe it’s the looks in costumes, but this is just screaming out that he’s penciling it. I love the way he draws fight scenes, and the Harmony fights look awesome. I also, and maybe I’m just noting this as I’ve read a lot of older material in the past few weeks, I really like how despite this book being a primarily female cast, there’s not a 90’s girl out of the bunch. Gold star if you get the reference on first thought.
Highlight of the Bat line of books how many months running? This was a pretty eventful issue, though it was mainly on the end of Proxy. Wendy is turning into a tremendous character in her own right, and the hallucination of her brother leads to some of the funniest lines of the issue. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention, Miller injects plenty of the trademark humor into this title. The book is funny, the characters are witty, if Marvin sticks around in Wendy’s head…I can only imagine the fun BQM will have. I’m interested in where the Grey Ghost angle is going, and just how the character will wind up effecting Steph. Then the curve ball we get thrown at the end of the issue just makes it more so. Yet another great issue of this title.
Not reading it? The second trade of the series will be in stores next week, and Amazon lists that the first trade will be going back into print the week after that. Do yourselves a favor, if you haven’t read it, read it. This book is phenomenal.
Overall?
9/10
