Batgirl #1-6

I mainly use a 3-star system. Something has to really distinguish itself as awful to get 1 star, and something has to be totally epic and awesome to get 5. So basically, 2 is a mostly negative reaction from me, 3 is a neutral or balanced, and 4 means I liked it. So, here we go:

This comic picks up right where the previous one left off...sorta. Again there's a continuity hiccup as Detective McKenna is now pointing her gun at the mirror-faced lunatic instead of the girl dressed as a bat. Sure, she could have changed targets, but it'd almost make more sense in reverse, since he escapes and Batgirl pursues. What follows is a pursuit across the rooftops ending in the Gotham cemetery. Now, Gail Simone is a very good writer who tends to write women particularly well. That's why it's so galling to be constantly reminded of Batgirl's weakness. Compared to Mirror, she's smaller and weaker, plus she's out of practice. It's constantly drilled into our skulls.

Another point repeated is that Mirror is unusually strong. He doesn't even flinch after hitting his elbow on a statue in the cemetery. Combined with whatever freaked out Spook under his cloak, it's reasonable to assume he's something supernatural. Yet as soon as we get a look under his cloak, we see it is just a mirror. This is such an anticlimax I had to laugh at it. That's not a scary villain, that's a Vegas magician. Batgirl also only survives her fight because she grabs his list, he takes it back, and then runs away. He had her on the ropes, why did he run?

Back at the hospital, Commissioner Gordon meets with Detective McKenna. He places her on bereavement leave because of her partner's death. Again, this seems a little fast. She shocks Gordon by telling him that Batgirl is back. Does Commissioner Gordon know his daughter is Batgirl in this continuity? That's something that's never really followed up on in this arc, even in his later scenes with Barbara.

Barbara comes back to the apartment, running into her roommate (who I was wrong, she's apparently a bartender. Why was she at the hospital?). Alysia demands an explanation for her injuries, but Barbara gives a non-answer. Admittedly, it's a better non-answer than most superheroes give people in their life: She assures her that she is neither a criminal nor a victim, effectively ruling out every normal explanation for why a young woman might stumble in at 4 in the morning beaten and bruised. Alysia accepts this, and makes some Laksa to help her recovery, but there's a definite "We're gonna talk about this later" vibe. This also raises some questions of how long Barbara has known Alysia, how they met, and what makes her think that she can have a roommate she barely knows that doesn't know about her superhero activities.

The next day, Barbara tracks down Mirror and finds out he is a former war hero turned DEA agent who lost his family in a mob hit that only he survived. He decided that he should have died with them, and that other people who had miraculously survived should instead be dead. This insane troll logic leads him to want to bomb a train because of a guy who survived falling on to the tracks. Batgirl races off to stop the bombing, and she thinks she does by getting everyone else off the train car with the survivor, and holding on to him to force Mirror to stop. Not because it would kill her (that is obviously not a problem for him), but because it would kill her by a method other than falling. Mirror instead blows up a second bomb, killing the good Samaritan who originally saved his target, as well as everyone else on the train with him.

Short character interlude, where Barbara considers telling her father everything and why she is so shaken up after the train bombing (since she was there). Detective McKenna is continuing to research Batgirl in some sort of misplaced vendetta, somewhat similar to Mirror I guess. Symbolism?

Batgirl tries to get her bike out of impound, and runs into Nightwing. The two flirt and have a flashback to the time they were together learning under Batman and were an item. The two of them are separated now, but still seem to have a good relationship...until Nightwing takes his concern for her a bit too far. He's worried that all this activity may exacerbate her recently repaired spine, and she feels patronized to. Their flirt-fighting turns serious and she draws blood, but Richard (I guess they can't call him Dick anymore) tries to talk her down. He tries to convince her that Bruce don't doubt her, but love her and htus don't want to see her hurt herself. She accepts that, but says she has to continue anyway, alone. He doesn't really understand, but lets her go.

Barbara has a nightmare about being back in a wheelchair, then wakes and talks to her roommate. She finally tells Alysia about how she used to be in a wheelchair. Alysia is about to reveal a secret about herself, when Barbara cuts out to go be Batgirl again. She takes out her frustration on some muggers. The muggers, amusingly, have an app for their phones that let them get updates on Bat-sightings, but there's no button for Batgirl yet. With a minor victory and a clearer head, she finally begins to realize she's been going about this all wrong. Her body is not her strength. It's her mind, her eidetic memory, and strategic talents that make her a hero, and she's been ignoring that.

She leaves a note on the graves of Mirror's family, setting up a showdown with him at the abandoned amusement park. She remembered every name on his list and gave them to the cops instead of trying to do everything herself. She attacks him mentally, projecting images of his family and the news headlines about their death on every surface of a hall of mirrors, and when she points out that the image of their burning car is now on his chest, he freaks out and she is able to beat him while he goes into an emotional breakdown.

The story ends with her and her roommate sharing Christmas presents, when they're interrupted by Barbara's mother's surprise return.

The next two issues are disconnected, and quite paradoxical. The least actually happens in them, but we get the most character development. The basic plot is that mobsters and others are acting very weird and getting themselves killed, while repeating the number 338. It leads back to a mysterious psychic named Gretal with pastel hair. One of her targets is Bruce Wayne, whose urban renewal project is running into difficulties from both people who may be displaced and criminals who don't want Gotham actually cleaned up. Gretal can mind control men, though her efforts to mind control Bruce Wayne don't quite go as planned. Batgirl figures out he's probably not really under her control and does a very convincing "you're still in there!" speech, which causes Bruce to act normal and whisper to her that yes, he was faking...mostly.

The two of them then team up to take out Gretal, who turns out received her powers after being shot in the head by some mobsters she was investigating as a reporter. IT's somewhat confusing whether she is doing this out of some sense of justice or under contract. Batgirl tells Batman not to hurt Gretal out of sympathy, and he actually agrees. Detective McKenna is less sympathetic towards Batgirl and tries to arrest her, but Batman intervenes.

In between these stories we have some good character moments of Barbara and her mother. Barbara really does want to spend time with her mother, but due to the years of estrangement can't help but be a little petulant about it. And that leads me to the conclusion of my review, because this is where Gail Simone's writing really shines. She's good at writing dialogue and characters, but the action sometimes falls flat.

Mirror is a huge disappointment as a villain. The fact it was merely a mirror under his cloak,and the revelation there is nothing inhuman at all about him, he's just a big strong well-trained guy-robbed him of a lot of the tension built up by initially portraying him as some sort of unstoppable nightmare. Gail Simone is a good writer, but she does not do a mystery well, and she had to spoon-feed us the clues about his and Gretal's identity.

Speaking of Gretal, her motivation is entirely unclear. At first it seems like she's out for revenge, but then it seems like someone hired her. Granted it doesn't have to be one OR the other, it could easily be both, but it still makes a difference and the possiblity of WHO hired her is never addressed (or why someone like her even needs money for that matter).

The motif of Barbara Gordon fighting other similarly damaged people who have taken different routes is well played, if only the villains were better. Her alternately pulling close to and pushing away the people who care is very realistic for someone in her circumstances, and again, this is where Gail SImone's writing shines. The scene with Nightwing was genuinely touching and sad for somewhat personal reasons, and I could empathize with both of their positions. However, Alysia's presence so far adds very little to the story. Sure, it's someone for Barbara to talk to, but she needs to play a more active role for this to be remotely relevant. McKenna is a thoroughly unlikable character. I'm sorry, but her vendetta against Batgirl not for failing to save her partner (someone with all of two lines before his death), but for failing to avenge his murder in a timely manner? It's ridiculous and makes it very hard to care if anything happens to her in upcoming issues.

This one barely skates by on Simone's writing, and even that is a bit of a letdown after the stellar intro. It's just rife with anticlimaxes and contrivances while suffering from weak villains. Batgirl herself is still too weak (character-wise) to make a compelling superhero, though by the end she is getting better. Use your head more, Babs! Despite some very good character moments, the negatives are starting to far outweigh the positives to me. I have to give the first 6 issues of Batgirl overall 2/5 stars.