Quick Review: Batgirl, Vol.4 – “Wanted” (DC Comics)

Series continues strongly into its fourth collection

Writer: Gail Simone, Marguerite Bennett (#25) | Artist: Fernando Pararin, Jonathan Glapion, Daniel Sampere (#20), Carlos Rodriguez (#20), Vicente Cifuentes (#20)

Batgirl struggles to continue fighting crime after being emotionally drained by the death of her brother, James, Jr. With her relationships with Batman and her father strained, Batgirl face one of Batman’s most ruthless villains, The Ventriloquist, alone.

Collects: Batgirl #19-26, Ventriliquist #1

Gail Simone’s run on Batgirl has been critically acclaimed from seemingly all quarters. As, actually, has most of her work. This was the first series written by her that I’ve tried, and it has been a favourite of the New 52 titles ever since. That being said, though, I’m not really sure how to write about it. So, I’ll keep this brief and to the point… It’s really good. Ok, that was a bit too brief…

Awesome BATGIRL Cover

I haven’t shared any comic cover art recently, After I spotted this one, though, I had to share it (thanks to Abhinav, who shared it on Facebook, which is where I saw it first):

It’s Alex Garner’s cover for Batgirl #24, which is part of Gail Simone’s “Wanted” storyline. It’s pretty good, no? Internal art is done by Fernando Pasarin and Jonathan Glapion. Batgirl is one of the best DC New 52 titles, and it has rarely dropped below very good. I’m waiting for all the issues in this storyline to be released (Volume 4, in the collected hardcovers), before catching up. I’m rather looking forward to it.

The Next BATMAN “Epic” Event (DC Comics)

Following less than a year after the (admittedly successful) Night of the Owls Batman series event, DC Comics is unrolling yet another – and this one’s even bigger. It is, however, the return of the Joker, so it will undoubtedly be pretty epic (especially considering what happened to the psycho at the start of the New 52). Here’s what Scott Snyder told LA Times’ Hero Complex, when asked about the Joker’s relevance to the series:

“To me, he’s the greatest villain of all time, because what he does is he forces us more than any other villain in comics, and any villain I can think of in really any medium, to look at our own worst fears about ourselves. So that’s the power he has over his enemies, is that he looks at you with these very cold eyes, and he sees the things you’re most afraid of in yourself, the things you’re most afraid are true about yourself, and then he gleefully brings those things to life and makes a case as to why those things are the total of who you are, and why you’re no good. You know, we’re only as good as our villains.”

I’m not sure that all fans will be particularly happy with the extent of the series, and there will be inevitable moaning about “having to buy so many extra/more issues/comics”. Well, that’s true, if you must have all the issues. I’m sure (at least, I hope) the overall story will be written in such a way that it won’t be absolutely necessary to read every single one of the issues. I’ve included the publishing schedule below – although, the cover images available and included below may contain minor spoilers.

(Images of the Joker leaked months ago, much to the chagrin of Snyder and Capullo, so I figured because they were already out there – and also on DC’s website – it wouldn’t be a problem to include them in this post.)

DC Comics New 52 #0s…

There’s been much discussion in the comics community about the New 52 “#0” issues, and so I decided I’d try to get a few of them read and reviewed for the website. I thought of them as another chance to get started with a new series and also some extra information and back-story for series I’ve already read a good deal of and enjoyed. I wasn’t able to get as many as I was interested in, but I’ll keep trying to find more (I just don’t have as much time as I used to, when the New 52 were first launched). I’ll certainly attempt to get the #0 issues for some of the series I never tried, but always wanted to (the Green Lantern series, for example, of which I’ve tried none; and also Flash; and a selection of others).

What I would say, though, is that these issues don’t all appear to work as proper introductions – a few of them lay out future storylines, or make allusion to events that have already happened in the main series chronology. In addition, there are some more revelations about how the New 52 is meant to be interpreted – especially on the Batman side of things, which appears to have been rather messed up by these zero issues… (which Newsarama has compiled in a handy post).

Reviewed: Action Comics, Batgirl, Batman, Batman & Robin, Batwoman, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Green Arrow, Justice League, Nightwing, Phantom Stranger, Superboy, Supergirl, Wonder Woman

“Batman: The Killing Joke” (DC)

Fan-favourite graphic novel

Writer: Alan Moore | Artist: Brian Bolland

When the Joker commits an unspeakable crime, Batman must use all his skill to outwit the crazed criminal. But in the end, how different are the Dark Knight and his quarry?

I wasn’t originally going to review this book, but I had a few things I wanted to say about it. And I can’t seem to help myself when it comes to reviewing stuff… So here are just some quick thoughts.

Batfight!

Sorry, I really couldn’t resist the pun… It looks like Batgirl will be facing off against Batwoman in Batgirl #12:

I rather liked the cover art, by Stanley Lau, so thought I’d share it on here. Both of these characters’ series are among my favourites of the New 52 (although, Batwoman isn’t holding up as well, this far in, which is a real pity – I think it would work better as a collected book, as it’s a big story that’s still connected nine issues in).

Comics: “Night of the Owls” & “Avengers vs. X-Men”

Here’s a quick, extra comics round-up for four issues I managed to catch up on recently. As you can gather from the title, it focuses on two on-going story “events”, one from DC and one from Marvel. I have very different feelings for the two of them.

Reviewed: Avengers vs. X-Men #3, Batgirl #9, Batman #9, Batman & Robin #9

Comics Round-Up (Apr.18)

A pretty solid collection of varied comics: twisted fairy tales, fantasy, super-heroes, and horror. I wasn’t organised enough to get them all reviewed for a Tuesday post, so I was able to add a few more titles. There were actually going to be more from last week, but both of my go-to comic stores in New York had completely sold out of Saga #2 and Resurrection Man #8. I decided to cut back on a few of the others, too. For example, I decided that I’ll wait for Suicide Squad, Grifter and Demon Knights to be available as collections.

Reviewed: Alice #4, Batgirl #8, Batman & Robin #8, Batwoman #8, Dungeons & Dragons 2012 Annual, Irredeemable #36, Jungle Book #2, Secret Service #1, Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #5, The Theater #5

Comics Round-Up (Mar.14) the Third

Now that I’ve caught up with DC’s New 52, a few of them will start popping up in these post-release round-ups again. I should, therefore, be able to start offering more diverse and less DC-heavy round-ups and reviews in the future. That being said, they still release a lot of great titles and some of my favourites. And this week’s releases – DC and otherwise – were pretty awesome on the whole. A very happy reader, here.

Reviewed Herein: Batgirl #7, Batman & Robin #7, Batwoman #7, Demon Knights #7, Grifter #7, The Ray #4, Resurrection Man #7, Saga #1, Saucer Country #1, Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #4, Suicide Squad #7, Thief of Thieves #2

[Demon Knights & The Ray were last-minute additions to the round-up.]

DC New 52 Catch-Up: Bat-Family

And so, the final New 52 Catch-Up, in which I round off my reading with issues #4-6 of five series fr0m the extended Batman family: Batgirl, Batwoman, Catwoman, Nightwing, and Red Hood & the Outlaws.

All of these have strengths, a couple have weaknesses, and while I wish I could keep reading them all, a couple will probably be dropped from my pull-list (much as it pains me to do so…).

New 52 Catch-Up: “Batman & Robin”, “Batgirl” & “Batwing”

Three more of DC’s new Batman-related reboots

These three titles I decided to check out very much on a whim. I’d read the synopsis for Batman & Robin, and thought it sounded pretty interesting – Batman’s concern for this incarnation of Robin (his son) could bring a new and interesting aspect to the dynamic and his own actions that we don’t see in the other Batman titles. Batgirl… well, I knew nothing about the character, but the author of the series has a superb reputation (deserved, as it turns out), and someone at Forbidden Planet said it was a fun title. So onto the pile it went. Batwing was simply the last of the Batman-related New 52 titles that I hadn’t picked up (bar one – see the end of this post), so being the OCD fellow that I am, I decided to try that out as well. Thankfully, I felt that all three of these titles have something to offer, so they will possibly make frequent appearances on this site.