Batgirl 60

Now, as many of you know, there once was a Batgirl who was much like Wonder Woman or Spider-Girl. She was peppy and fun with loads of smart-alecky, female-centered humor. This is not that girl. This is the Batgirl that took over after the Joker paralyzed the original. This is a Batgirl that wears her costume with the mouth hole sewn shut. In fact, this darker and more sinister version is very much like Batman himself. She is ruthless, low on emotions, untrusting, must constantly struggle with her inner demons, and has well defined muscles that accent her skin-tight, black, rubber suit.

The first thing you should notice about issue #60 is the cover. If it has no cover, you may actually not be holding a comic at all but instead some other object that I am not reviewing at this moment. If you can, however, see the cover, you will notice that is “flippin sweet!” It features a shadowed Batgirl that is as sexy as she is creepy and in the background is a very cool version of the Penguin.

Batgirl #60 is the beginning of a three-part story arc called “The Hood.” Anderson Gabrych (writer) uses a very familiar style of inner monologue (that is extremely well written) to show how Batgirl is trying to better her already ass-kicking ways. As the issue begins, Batgirl is training with Onyx, a tall, dark, beautiful girl who wears no mask because Batgirl he knows Onyx will not hold back. After some very cool and fluid fighting, penciled by Ale’ Garza and inked by Jesse Delperdang, we get a glimpse of the Penguin’s new plans to make trouble. Batgirl shows off her new technique of frightening her prey before she beats them senseless. And what’s more, Batgirl gets her first snitch in her new territory, and a new headquarters all in the same issue. The snitch, one Marquis, has the lowdown on the Penguin, and the new HQ comes equipped with vehicles, tunnel access all over Bludhaven, and a fire pole for to slide down.

I must give a respectful nod to Gabrych for his superb writing, his interesting story, and his steady and palpable development of Batgirl. Though she is serious and severe, as the issue progresses, one can glimpse her icy exterior slowly thawing while she develops her own professional style. You can bet that I am anticipating the next issues for the identities of the strange figures shown in the final cell.

The art in this comic is just as impressive. The movement is so fluid and believable that I found myself spending a long time just looking at it (which had nothing to do with Batgirls tight, rubber suit). The one problem I had is that the story seemed to jump a bit. You got to throw in the transitional scenes for slow people like me.