‘Batgirl’ #2 review!

‘Batgirl’ #2 cover art by Rafael Albuquerque

• Written by Hope Larson
• Pencils Rafael Albuquerque
• Inks Rafael Albuquerque
• Colored by Dave McCaig
• Cover by Rafael Albuquerque

“Beyond Burnside” part two. Batgirl is off to Singapore! Following the mysterious advice of the ancient superhero known as Fruit Bat, Babs dives into the dangerous world of MMA fighting. But her first opponent may be more than just an adversary in the ring. Could she be connected to Babs’ new travel-companion-slash-maybe-crush?

Pickup your copy of ‘Batgirl’ #2 at Comixology now!

This series should possibly be renamed to just ‘Barbara Gordon’ given that her Batgirl persona only appears in the issues opening scene. ‘Batgirl’ #2 is very much a personal development tale about the hero under the mask rather than a true continuation of its previous issue (reviewed here).

The ‘Rebirth’ of Batgirl as a character is now cemented on her journey of self discovery though we’re yet to fully understand her motives. Leaving Gotham was a great way to pushing the story of Barbara forwards given how much the series improved after moving its setting to Burnside. There is a tendency to focus more on the romance in female fronted comics and that cliche is well and truly on show in this issue.

There was a palpable tension between Barbara and old friend Kai in the previous issue and that story takes a leap forwards here. I shouldn’t knock the writers spending some time focussing on Barbara’s life outside her costume but we’ve just been through this with her relationship with Luke Fox during ‘New 52’.

The highlight of the story is taking Barbara back a few steps in her training and having her join the MMA world. Seeing her being easily beaten and learning her way makes this story parallel Bruce Wayne’s globe trotting journey to become Batman. Yes she already has her alter-ego but there’s nothing to say that having travelled the world Batgirl won’t return to Gotham much better for it.

The artwork in ‘Batgirl’ is really starting to win me over. I do still miss the ultra modern ‘New 52’ look despite it being very ‘teeny’ though. I stand by the decision to move from one unique look to another very striking one in the change to ‘Rebirth’. The angular bodies and rough edges stand poles apart from the cartoonish look of previous issues.

Dark colours are few and far between so this issue is overflowing with reds and oranges which really add to the overall aesthetic.

Verdict

‘Batgirl’ #2 is light on action but heavy on character drama. Although it is a little early in the story to be taking a breather this is hopefully the calm before a really big storm.

3 stars