Batgirl by Gail Simone / What is your verdict?

[Ed Sizzers]

I haven't voted in the poll, as the options seem a bit odd. If the poll was just based on the quality of the book, fair enough, but I don't understand the need to hold Gail's work on Batgirl up against other DC writers. Besides, it's not even a level basis of comparison, given that DC has some very good writers and some not so good ones, so where's the level by which we're measuring Gail's writing on Batgirl?

There's only one writer who's work I can compare to Gail's on Batgirl. And that's Gail. And based on her previous work, I'd have to say that Batgirl is very much in the 'below average' category. To be fair, Gail's 'below average' is the equivalent of a fair few writer's average work, so I'm judging Batgirl by Gail's usually high standards . But 5 issues in and this book is still lacking the spark, the bite, the wit that I usually associate with Gail's work. It's all just been so flat, and bland and obvious in every aspect of the book, from the plotting to the characterisation to the dialogue.

It's not an awful book by any means... But it has been a consistently disappointing one since #1.

[wyokid]

This was my first Gail Simone book and I found it so go that I went out and bought all of her work (still missing Welcome To Tranquility books though ) without looking up anything about them, unfortunately I haven't gotten to reading them yet though. I've been reading all 52 books and this is at the very top.

[shark]

It's mediocre.

[Cowtools]

Cowtools you're one of my favourite posters!

Back at cha!

[Shimarenda]

This is as good a place as any to posit a theory:

People have often pegged Gail Simone as one of the best writers for women characters. This is definitely true. But I think that's more of a by-product of her real strength as a writer.

If you look at her comics that get unanimously good reviews (Birds Of Prey, Secret Six) and compare them to her comics that get mixed reviews (Batgirl, Wonder Woman), the difference between them is that her best books are team books.

Essentially I think Gail Simone writes best when she's handling teams. Especially ones whose personalities clash. The best parts of Birds Of Prey were those that involved characters bouncing off each other: Canary & Oracle, Oracle & Huntress, Canary & Shiva, etc... And Secret Six drew a lot of it's acclaim for incorporating such a diverse range of characters.

Gail is really good at devising stories that are driven by or related to a character's backstory or their deep-seated motivations. And she's able to bring these themes to the fore by having the characters converse in natural-feeling dialogue.

When she doesn't have multiple characters, she reverts to verbose narration and too-obvious attempts to create villains that reflect the characters, ala Mirror and Genocide.

I think the reason Batgirl feels so forced is that Barbara is back to being a lone hero and has no one to bounce off. I thought the Nightwing issue was the best so far because it did have that aspect.

Thoughts?

I agree with this very much. Batgirl is my favorite book of the relaunch, but I do think that team book play more to Gail Simone's strengths. As the supporting characters in the book develop, Babs may have more chances to interact with people. Right now she is isolating herself from a number of people in her life; that's arguably necessary given her decision to return to secret vigilantism, but it does put most of the personal dynamics of the story in her private thoughts. As she figures out how to negotiate her family situation, gets to know Alysia, and reconnects with some of the other heroes in Gotham, she should be able to bounce off others more.

[Shimarenda]

what!
did you read last chp
how she treats her own mother so cold and emotionless

Cold yes, but not emotionless. Not only did she feel anger, leading up to her storming out of the coffee shop, but she also felt some pity for her mother as she did it, saying "I didn't enjoy seeing her face crumple like that."

I'll also take this opportunity to say in defense of the artist that the body language throughout that scene was very effective. I especially like how her mother would stand holding the little box in front of her with her head slightly lowered. She knows she's hurt Barbara badly and is afraid she may never be able to reconnect with her daughter.

[Rakzo]

It started slow with some forced moments and kinda awkward dialogue, but it has been getting better since issue 4. Something that I've liked from the start is how much information and hints Gail is giving us on the title, from Babs perspective and her little corner on Gotham, from her new roommate, from future storylines and even from other titles in the DCNU, I love that.

This new story arc is intriguing so far and Gail's recent interview has made excited about her plans, I really want to see more of them.

[The_Greatest_Username]

Batgirl (Babs) is one of my favorite characters so I was very excited to see her back. I would like this to be my favorite book but it isn't. Too much interior dialogue. Other than tha I give it 4stars.

[batGRRRl4ever]

Hoooo boy, here we go...

Batgirl thread? Living dangerously, my friend. I'll get popcorn.

LoL, oh good god. Here we go...

I got a good chuckle reading those, lol

I'd give it a 3.5, but I rounded it up to a 4. The villains so far have been rather lacking

I have to admit I do want to see Batgirl go up against one of the established Bat-Rogues. Scarecrow seems apt as a foil for what Babs is currently going through. He also could have easily been the first villian instead of the Mirror character that we know will probably never see the light of day again.

I agree with this very much. Batgirl is my favorite book of the relaunch, but I do think that team book play more to Gail Simone's strengths. As the supporting characters in the book develop, Babs may have more chances to interact with people. Right now she is isolating herself from a number of people in her life; that's arguably necessary given her decision to return to secret vigilantism, but it does put most of the personal dynamics of the story in her private thoughts. As she figures out how to negotiate her family situation, gets to know Alysia, and reconnects with some of the other heroes in Gotham, she should be able to bounce off others more.

QFT.

[FHIZ]

LoL, oh good god. Here we go...

Yeeeeeah.

[StDumas]

I give the title 4/5 so far. This book is a mighty effort. What happened to Barbara was wrong. Keeping her in the chair was wrong. The development of Oracle, while well-intentioned, amounts to collaboration. And yet a responsible writer can't just pretend these things never happened. This stuff stands as a testament to conditions in the industry and in the readership. The response to Batgirl in the press has shown that some things have changed. A lot of the responses I see on the forums, however, show that some things haven't. In any case, Simone is handling this title the right way. The writing is certainly above average but I haven't seen any "5 star" moments yet. I'm convinced that Batgirl could easily get there, however.

[LetsGetNerdy]

I like...

... The Mirrow
... Barbara as Batgirl
... the art
... the story
... the setup

Okay, this wheelchair thing is a weaker point in this series... to soup opera like with this sudden wonder of unexpected healing... but I guess that's the tribute to the overhelming popularity of The Killing Joke - they can not say "Well, nothing has happened, lets forget about it: Dont ask, dont tell!

Beside that - I just like it because it makes me wanting to like it!

[wyokid]

I give the title 4/5 so far. This book is a mighty effort. What happened to Barbara was wrong. Keeping her in the chair was wrong. The development of Oracle, while well-intentioned, amounts to collaboration. And yet a responsible writer can't just pretend these things never happened. This stuff stands as a testament to conditions in the industry and in the readership. The response to Batgirl in the press has shown that some things have changed. A lot of the responses I see on the forums, however, show that some things haven't. In any case, Simone is handling this title the right way. The writing is certainly above average but I haven't seen any "5 star" moments yet. I'm convinced that Batgirl could easily get there, however.

What about any of the handicapped readers who looked up to Oracle? Whether you like it or not hundreds of people enjoyed her in a wheelchair more and she was an incredibly strong minority character that people could look up to. Honestly though, how many strong handicapped characters are there in comics? Almost none. Oracle stood for something and was mainstream.

[batGRRRl4ever]

I give the title 4/5 so far. This book is a mighty effort. What happened to Barbara was wrong. Keeping her in the chair was wrong. The development of Oracle, while well-intentioned, amounts to collaboration. And yet a responsible writer can't just pretend these things never happened. This stuff stands as a testament to conditions in the industry and in the readership. The response to Batgirl in the press has shown that some things have changed. A lot of the responses I see on the forums, however, show that some things haven't. In any case, Simone is handling this title the right way. The writing is certainly above average but I haven't seen any "5 star" moments yet. I'm convinced that Batgirl could easily get there, however.

As for the detractors that keep saying the same things over, and over, and over again about their dislike of the book (seriously, why then do they keep buying it, lol) they mostly are just bitter about the ending of the old universes status-quo of situations and characterizations. A comic book forum board is usually a pretty poor gauge of trying to discern a titles merit if a number of the posters have axes to grind for any perceived slights to other favorite characters that they see as the consequence for another character getting a limelight.

As Shimarenda so aptly put it the book will also get tighter and have better direction once Babs gets over her isolation phase and starts to interact more with a supporting cast and other super heroes. Right now the only person she has to bounce off of is essentially herself. I say bring back Charlie/Misfit later on to be a possibly annoying comic relief type occasional (but not regular) sidekick possibly.

What about any of the handicapped readers who looked up to Oracle? Whether you like it or not hundreds of people enjoyed her in a wheelchair more and she was an incredibly strong minority character that people could look up to. Honestly though, how many strong handicapped characters are there in comics? Almost none. Oracle stood for something and was mainstream.

I always thought that cartoon was a pandering piece of crap, nothing more than a hit piece really. And yes what I said was harsh but that's how I see it. It's not the role of any one character to be forced to be representative of an ENTIRE community, it wasn't fair for Barbara as oracle, and it wouldn't be fair for Batwoman to represent the ENTIRE LGBT community, nor Wonder Woman to have to represent EVERY woman. Barbara was made into a tokenism character which is actually equally insulting to the differently-abled community, IMO.

[StDumas]

What about any of the handicapped readers who looked up to Oracle? Whether you like it or not hundreds of people enjoyed her in a wheelchair more and she was an incredibly strong minority character that people could look up to. Honestly though, how many strong handicapped characters are there in comics? Almost none. Oracle stood for something and was mainstream.

Ostrander claimed to get mail from handicapped people thanking him for keeping Barabara in the chair. Simone claimed to get mail from people asking her to get Barbara out of the chair/thanking her for getting Barbara out of the chair. As it turns out, you see, the disabled aren't a monolithic group who all think the same way. Which group of handicapped people are you going to go with, wyokid?

Seems to me, the truth of this is it has nothing to do with wheelchairs. DC made a big, ugly mistake in TKJ. Ostrander and Yale came along and, while giving the industry a good finger wag, incidentally invented the best cover up story for the PC-obsessed 90s anybody could think of -- to put it in the style of Len Wein, as remembered by Alan Moore, "if we keep her as the token cripple who can complain that we crippled the bitch?" And look, that's still working even today.