Batgirl was a title I was considering dropping after the first arc. While the first arc of this title was not horrible I found it to be a very average story. But now that this title has entered its second arc Bryan Miller has done a much better job writing the characters of Stephanie and Barbara. Miller has built a nice chemistry between the former and current Batgirl. And with Batman and Robin making a guest appearance in this issue it will be interesting to see what happens between them and the new Batgirl especially with what happened between them in the last issue. So hit the jump button to check out my review for Batgirl #6.
Creative Team
Writer: Bryan Q. Miller
Artist: Lee Garbett
Inker: Trevor Scott
Colorist: Guy Major
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Review
The Good: Batgirl #6 was another solid read. Though this issue had its flaws Bryan Miller did a very good job providing some fun dialogue between the main characters of this series and the guest stars. Miller is really building a nice chemistry between all of the members of the Batfamily involved in this issue.
One thing that has been very obvious in this issue, as well in the last issue, of Batgirl is that Miller is getting more comfortable writing the two stars of this series in Stephanie and Barbara. My main complaint about the first arc that introduced the whole new status quo for Stephanie and Barbara is that they did not read like past portrayals. There was a sort of awkwardness to the dialogue of the first few issues of this new Batgirl series.
But now that Miller is done with the whole introductory arc he seems more comfortable with writing both Stephanie and Barbara. A lot of it has to do with both characters coming out as much stronger characters than they were portrayed in the first arc. Stephanie is starting act a lot more confident in her role as Batgirl which showed during her first big interrogation scene as the new Batgirl. Miller did a nice job showing that while Stephanie is prone to have her childish moments at times she has been in the superhero game for a while and is confident in what she is doing.
It is good to see her enjoying herself as Batgirl which is a stark contrast to the darker and brooding personalities Dick, Tim, and Damian are portrayed as having while in their new roles. Though some may not like this I think it is a good thing to have at least one member of the Batfamily having a lighter personality because since Dick and Tim have taken up their roles of Batman and Red Robin, respectively, there isn’t that character showing the fun side of having all of these adventures.
And Miller does a solid job showing Barbara as a confident and strong character that is ahead of the game with how she helped out Stephanie from her situation while also standing up to Dick. I like that Barbara is standing up for herself and the decisions she makes.
Now I am not going to lie, a lot of the fun that comes from this issue is the guest appearances of Batman and Robin. Miller did a great job with writing Dick and Damian and their dialogue with Stephanie and Barbara. The interaction between the four was very well written and funny at times especially with the dialogue between Stephanie and Damian.
As Miller showed in the last issue Damian is not to accepting to Stephanie being the new Batgirl since he thinks Stephanie is a wannabe as well as showing to have a crush on Cassandra Cain. A lot of what Damian says to Stephanie is what some fans have said about Stephanie being Batgirl when talking about their dislike of her being Batgirl instead of Cassandra. And Miller does a nice job acknowledging this while not making it feel like he is trying to parody or make fun of fans comments. Instead he does it in a manner that it actually feels natural for Damian to not think much of Stephanie with his training with the League of Assassins.
These two have some nice chemistry and some of the dialogue at the beginning of the interrogation showed Damian to be a perfect foil to Stephanie. It is nice to see Damian being shown to be a kid and Stephanie sort of taking him under her wing. I hope that Damian makes more future appearances in this series as he would make a great supporting character for the series. And yes I laughed when Damian went pirate with his “Have at thee, wench” line.
Also I did enjoy the interaction between Dick and Barbara. It is interesting to see all the Batman writers pushing the relationship between these two characters. These two have had a lot of history with one another and at this point with everything that has happened and the development of both characters it seems only a matter of time before these two get together.
Miller showed he had a very good understanding of Dick’s character as the new Batman. Because while he maintained a very focused and dark persona when talking to Jim and the new detective he showed that he still has that lighter side to him he only shows to those who know him, in this case Barbara. It is good that Miller remembers this about Dick. It is understandable that as Batman that Dick would want to maintain a similar attitude to the one Bruce had as he knows he needs to maintain that same dark and ominous presence Bruce created with the Batman identity. But when interacting with people like Barbara and Alfred he will show off more of a personality that he had as Nightwing.
Lee Garbett continues to provide some solid comic book art. Garbett artwork is nothing spectacular but it isn’t bad either. It is just solid artwork that you expect from a comic book.
The Bad: While I enjoyed the character interactions in this issue there was a couple problems I did not like about this issue. The first problem is that I found the opening scene with Stephanie in the ambulance to be a bit weird with how Barbara would endanger the lives of the two hospital workers by crashing the ambulance. It might have been how Garbett had the ambulance to hit a lamppost and turn over but it was a bit dangerous move that did not just to get Stephanie from going to a hospital to get treated for a concussion.
Also there was a weird transition between Stephanie leaving the crash to her being completely fine and wearing her Batgirl costume to spy on Batman’s meeting with Commissioner Gordon. There was no transition between the two scenes especially with how the Batsymbol was shining in the background of the splashpage of the crash. So we can assume there wasn’t a lot of time that passed between scenes and odd how Stephanie never mentioned feeling side effects from the concussion or the crash.
The other problem that I had with this issue is that there was not much of a build up to the villains of this story. While it was cool to see Roulette, Riot, Roxy Rocket, and Phosporus, characters that are very underused, they felt like nothing more than throw away villains that just appear for the last few pages of part 2 of a 3 part story. It sort of felt like Miller realized he needed to include some villains into the story halfway through writing this issue and just through a couple of them to the wall to see who stuck.
Overall: Batgirl #6 was another solid, fun issue. While the villains of this story don’t feel like nothing more than one-shot villains Miller did such a great job writing the interactions between Dick, Damian, Stephanie, and Barbara that I did not mind this and a few other weaknesses to the story. So far Miller has done a very good job with Stephanie as the new Batgirl and if you are a fan of Batgirl I recommend picking this series up as it is turning out to be a very fun comic book.