Batgirl #17: Preview & Discussion

[CBR News]

Barbara Gordon must deal with the fallout from 'DEATH OF THE FAMILY' in this issue that will forever change her status quo in The New 52!
What does James Gordon Jr. have planned for his sister, Batgirl?


Full article here.

[Charlus]

What happened to Ed Benes. Is he out for good?

[Porcupeth]

I miss Ardian Syaf...

[Rakzo]

That looks fantastic. The writing is much, much better than what we usually see on Batgirl.

Fawkes is a really talented author and this is why I'm excited for his upcoming work on Constantine.

[Ed Sizzers]

Not really enough to say if the writing 'much better'. It's certainly OK though. Interesting to see that Fawkes going with an external narrator, rather than Babs' own commentary/thoughts.

The sudden end of the DOTF story is a little jarring, but that's no fault of Fawkes (or Gail). And I just don't have any interest in James as a bad guy.

[DurararaFTW]

Well if any part of Commissioner Gordon was on the dinnerplates, it seems he can live without it.

[Ed Sizzers]

Well if any part of Commissioner Gordon was on the dinnerplates, it seems he can live without it.

And presumably the narration would have mentioned if anything had happened to Jim, seeing as it mentioned the injuries to Barbara Snr.

[LostinFandom]

I was hoping for a smooth transition between writers, but right now I'm not optimistic. Not only is Fawkes a lot wordier than Simone, but he uses third person narration while she only uses first. Also Barbara Sr.'s reaction to Jim Jr is different. I feel like whatever Simone was setting up with Jim Jr will have an unsatisfying conclusion, which is a shame because as Ed Sizzers said the end of DOTF here is jarringly disconnected, so one would want good follow through on the other story.

I'll read the whole thing and maybe revise my opinion.

[JokersNuts]

My fear is that a great character with a lot of depth is being turned into just another knife wiedling maniac. Hopefully that's not what is happening here.

[Rakzo]

Not really enough to say if the writing 'much better'.

For one, the narration flows better, not to mention that there's a sense of a more complex introspection on the character.

Of course, it could be that I prefer this kind of writing style more than the one that Simone has been using, especially when we consider how much she likes to elevate Babs at some points.

[DarkKnghtJared]

Was a little leery about this for the past week, due to the lackluster story in Young Romance, but this doesn't look like a bad story so far.

What happened to Ed Benes. Is he out for good?

Yeah, he's said on his blog a while back that he's taking a break from big 2 superhero stuff to focus on his own personal work. He is apparently going to be doing a small story for the Adventures of Superman digital-first title, though.

[batGRRRl4ever]

That looks fantastic. The writing is much, much better than what we usually see on Batgirl.

Fawkes is a really talented author and this is why I'm excited for his upcoming work on Constantine.

For one, the narration flows better, not to mention that there's a sense of a more complex introspection on the character.

Of course, it could be that I prefer this kind of writing style more than the one that Simone has been using, especially when we consider how much she likes to elevate Babs at some points.

Well I have to say that the writing is an obvious step down from Ms. Simone's talent. On the plus side the pacing moved along pretty nicely, but that's about it. The writing is subpar and I can literally imagine Mr. Fawkes over his keyboard practically typing out, "It was a dark and stormy night.." because the 3rd person narrative is just SO obvious. And interesting that you find that the characterization is more complex, for me it's just the opposite. The depiction of character is simplistic at best, Gail does a much better job of finding a characters emotional voice in a mature manner.

I do actually want to agree with you halfway however, and would like to see maybe a middle ground between the two styles, because as I first stated I did like the faster pacing more.

As to the transition from 'DOTF' I have to say I am definitely disappointed. I just knew they would hamfistedly gloss over the events from Batman #17, and it will make for a lousy transition between Batgirl issues #16-17 for the eventual third edition of the HC.

I wanted to add as I stated in the DC forum that I can now see that if Mr. Fawkes had become the regular ongoing writer I most definitely would have dropped this title, the style while prolific in words is a bit simplistic for my tastes.

[Charlus]

Was a little leery about this for the past week, due to the lackluster story in Young Romance, but this doesn't look like a bad story so far.



Yeah, he's said on his blog a while back that he's taking a break from big 2 superhero stuff to focus on his own personal work. He is apparently going to be doing a small story for the Adventures of Superman digital-first title, though.

Pitty... Glad we´ll see him in that collection. Thanks for the info.

[Godlike13]

Wow! Now thats a lot of narration. Still, not bad. Glad to see Daniel Sampere on art. I thought his DotF fill in work was pretty good, and his work here looks even better.

[sunofdarkchild]

A whole lot of nonsense on the first 2 pages, but once it cuts to her at home it's noticeably better.