With the events of 'The Flood' firmly behind her, Stephanie Brown has most certainly grown – both as a young woman and, just as importantly, as a member of the Batgirl 'team'.
Our story – appropriately entitled 'Trust' – begins with Stephanie, sweat dripping from her brow, facing her opponent who in turn stares back and throws down a verbal challenge. Moment later, it's game on as Steph lets loose a tremendous shot … much to the surprise of her opposite number.
We're at Gotham U, it's the second half of the academic year and Stephanie is playing table tennis with Padma, a fellow student – and she's winning. It's Tuesday, the one day a week when Steph doesn't have any classes, and we get the impression that she usually – maybe always – wins at table tennis!
Just as the contest looks like it might be getting out of hand Stephanie's phone rings and, excusing herself from the game, she answers her caller Oracle with a cheeky greeting only to be instantly reminded that – again – it's not Oracle on the line but her new handler Wendy 'Proxy' Harris. Moving past this awkward exchange Wendy advises Steph that the police have trapped a man who's suspected of killing his wife and she believes that they could use a hand.
Across the city in the Gotham financial district the police, led by Detective Nick Gage, have their prey – a Mr. Griswald – trapped inside his mini van. Attempting to talk their target out of the van and into custody the officers come under fire and as the situation escalates the SWAT team announce that they're taking over. As they rush the van, Griswald launches a petrol can into the air which turns into a blanket of flames under fire. Amid the confusion Gage spots Griswald running from the scene and sets off in pursuit.
Never more than a few steps behind Gage tries to talk Griswald around but he'll have none of it – eventually coming face to face on a roof-top Gage pulls his gun as his target challenges him that he couldn't possibly know what it feels like to lose a wife, could he?
As rage gets the better of him Griswald explodes … into a torrent of clay and sends Gage flying off the building top and plummeting to the ground. As he mumbles what may be his final words he surprisingly receives help: Stephanie – Batgirl – swoops in and grabs him and the pair safely make their way to the alleyway below.
After a flirtatious exchange with Gage, Batgirl takes her leave as Wendy reveals that she has located Griswald – Clayface of course – entering Gotham Bank & Trust through a roof-top service unit. Following him into the building Batgirl makes her way through a maze of ventilation shafts before finding herself with a view of the banks main floor, filled with customers, tellers and security guards.
Sneaking behind the service desk Steph activates the banks security measures and locks down the building. Believing that she is attempting to rob the bank the security guards rush at Steph and as they draw their weapons she unleashes a couple of 'gooperangs' that disable the guards allowing her the opportunity to explain that she's trying to help, not trying to rob the bank.
One of the tellers replies that she ought to speak with the banks manager Mrs. Griswald who, in the event of a robbery, is required to make her way to safety in the vault.
Did he say Mrs. Griswald?
Moments later, at the entrance to the vault, Mrs. Griswald realizes that she is just moments away from achieving her objective as Batgirl challenges her – 'Clayface!'. Turning and changing from human form Clayface targets Steph who only just manages to leap to safety. Responding with batarangs Stephanie is momentarily overwhelmed by the shear size and power of her opponent. Swept up by a column of clay Steph finds herself transported back to the banks main floor and, as Detective Gage looks on Batgirl fights … Batgirl.
'You have got to be freakin' kiddin' me'.
Turning to Gage, Batgirl – one of the Batgirls – orders him to shoot her. Gage takes aim and fires … on the 'other' Batgirl and as the bullet pierces her costume she 'bleeds' clay. As the detective continues to fire Clayface begins to take his more familiar form and Stephanie lets lose with the contents of her utility belt.
Out of ideas Steph turns to Wendy for advice – 'use your surroundings' she's told. With water pouring from the banks sprinkler system Batgirl lets fire with a freeze-batarang – and Clayface is frozen, overcome and neutralized.
With Clayface on his way to Arkham Asylum, Batgirl and Nick get to the bottom of why he targeted this particular bank: it seems that the vault contained a picture of himself – Basil Karlo – and his wife, his dead wife that he wanted to look at.
As Batgirl questions Clayface's actions – Detective Gage seems frozen by the moment, turns and walks off down the street … alone.
The first issue of the second year of Stephanie Brown's Batgirl certainly didn't disappoint – the writing, the interior and cover art were great, everything I look for from a comic book, and then some.
The issue felt as if it was set a little time after the events of The Flood story-arc as Stephanie appears to be settling quite nicely into her multi-faceted life: daughter, student, Batgirl … and by the same token Wendy Harris seems to be getting to grips with her role as Proxy – but not without one or two enjoyable 'what do I do next?' moments.
Following the events that saw The Flood conclude – which as I said at the time felt like something of an anniversary or 'coming of age' issue for Steph and, to a lesser extent Wendy – I was curious how Bryan Q. Miller would choose to progress the immediate story and with his 'some time later' approach, for me, Mr. Miller really hit the mark.
I liked the sense that Stephanie and Wendy had developed their relationship – that both women were becoming more and more comfortable and confident in their roles while at the same time not being afraid to ask the other for help. One of my favorite moments in the whole book was when, having frozen Clayface Batgirl suggests to Proxy that she sends someone to clean up … as Wendy frantically thumbs through the pages of a phone directory!
The scenes that opened the book – set in a recreation room at Gotham U. – were particularly timely I thought: it was nice to see the spotlight return to Stephanie as student as much as Stephanie as Batgirl. After the heavy(ish) events of Steph's encounter with Calculator it was good to start this issue on an altogether lighter note.
Clayface isn't one of my favorite DC characters I have to say but I thought this story portrayed him in a much more personal and human way than many that I've read – I was actually quite touched by the thought that his actions were motivated by a burning desire to see his wife – albeit a photograph of his wife – one more time.
Throughout the Batgirl series so far one of the recurring themes has been friendly, and at times not so friendly, 'banter' – Steph and Damian, Barbara and Steph, Wendy and Barbara, Steph and Barbara and Nick Gage – and this issue was no different. I found the exchanges between Batgirl and Detective Gage really very charming with their clumsy puns, Steph's endearing thoughts – 'please be less attractive', 'squee' – and Gage's comments that 'for whatever reason' he trusts her.
While the tone of this title has always been light it's never lacked the ability to stimulate my thoughts and as I reached the last page I found myself intrigued by Detective Gage's story – as he fell from the roof-top early in the book we heard him saying 'sorry, babe' and as he and Steph discussed Clayface's actions at the end of the story I got the sense that the events had touched a nerve – I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops for sure.
Throughout recent issues I've become a fan of Pere Perez's artwork – it's both complimentary to the excellent work of Lee Garbett while at the same time he has a distinct style of his own and I'd have been happy to see him take on Batgirl art duties on a permanent basis. Although we now know this isn't going to happen I'll be interested to follow his work on other titles.
Although not his best in this series in my opinion I enjoyed Stanley 'Artgerm' Lau's eye-catching cover – once again it had a somewhat 'retro' feel about it and felt it really set up the issue very nicely.
If I say this felt like a 'bridging' issue that will immediately sound like a negative and it's certainly not meant that way – but that's what this was for me: 'we've' been on an amazing journey over the past year and I sense that journey is only going to get more incredible over the next 12 months. This issue was a chance for us all to catch our breath, remember where we've come from, where we've been and anticipate where we may be going.
A simple story, beautifully told. Fantastic.
Batgirl #13:
Reviewed by Zaius
This issue of Batgirl has very much a 'coming of age' feel about it as we witnessed the concluding part of the 'Batgirl Rising: The Flood' story-arc and with it the end of Stephanie Brown's first year in the role of Batgirl.
Having leapt from an aircraft piloted by Wendy Harris at the close of issue #10 this issue opens with Stephanie plunging towards Calculator's compound in deep in Slaughter Swamp. In the compound, she knows, is Oracle – Barbara Gordon – who's being held captive.
As Steph's parachute opens she reminds herself of the magnitude of the task in hand and her responsibilities to her friend Barbara – the one person who's ever really cared about her – and just as importantly to herself, as she reminds us who she is … Batgirl!
Inside the compound, and more precisely inside Calculator's mind, we see a young Noah Kuttler imprisoned in a cage. As Babs – or a least Kuttler's impression of Babs – approaches the small child she's violently attacked from behind and sent tumbling to the floor.
Elsewhere, Stephanie has entered the compound only to be faced with some elaborate – and life threatening – security measures. Wendy meanwhile, is in communication with Steph from high above the compound. Bemoaning that she isn't able to help more Wendy wistfully recalls the motivation for her and her brother to run away from home and join the Teen Titans: to protect the world from men like her father, the Calculator.
As Steph skillfully evades the first of the deadly security measures she stumbles – literally – upon the lifeless body of Marvin, Wendy's brother. No doubt sensing the emotion in Wendy's voice Steph questions whether she ought to have said anything to Wendy at that time. Wendy meanwhile, with tears running down her cheeks, comes to a decision – she feels she can't help Steph while she's piloting the aircraft – and warns Steph not to touch anything for fear that her father has planned further deterrents.
Too late!
Elsewhere in the compound, and still in Kuttler's mind, he and Babs tumble through an apartment door – "You stole my daughter from me" he accuses Babs, "I saved her from you" she retorts. Moments later the physical and verbal tussle is interrupted by a crying baby – or more to the point two crying babies. Immediately realizing what this 'vision' represents Kuttler discovers the bloodied body of his wife who had taken her own life. With her attacker momentarily distracted Babs seizes the opportunity to distance herself and begins the search for a way to separate her thoughts from those of the Calculator.
However, with their thoughts immediately rejoined Babs witnesses Calculator beating up on a bound and bloodied Kid Eternity, while moments later he's seated and calmly explaining that he can, and will, end their mental ordeal – and that he has no intention that either of them will survive the evening.
'Back in the real world' and Stephanie has discovered the device that will, in a matter of seconds, terminate Calculator's army of drones … and in turn potentially destroy Gotham City. Unable to reach Wendy on the comm unit Stephanie takes aim with her grappling gun, fires into the device and yanks its core away.
Catastrophe averted? Sort of. With the device disabled Steph faces a second, altogether more challenging opponent – a giant 'creature' formed from power or data cables. As the creature targets Steph she's aware of tremendous crashing noise as Wendy plunges her aircraft into the compound, taking out the creature at the same time.
With nothing now to stop them Steph and Wendy set out to find Babs and rescue her from the Calculator. Having done so Wendy – once again with tears on her face – makes sure that her father 'won't be bothering anyone for a very long time'.
Later on, outside Gotham City University, Babs and Stephanie talk about their ordeal – Kuttler is in New Arkham, everyone who had been infected no longer remembers and Steph acknowledges that without Babs to lean on for support she was grateful for Wendy's backup. As Nick Gage arrives to meet Babs Steph excuses herself and joins Wendy who, while looking over a family photograph album, talks of needing a fresh start in life. Steph, clearly understanding where Wendy is coming from, offers her support.
Time passes and we find ourselves with Steph – again as Batgirl – in Devil's Square where she encounters a somewhat comedic villain named Blimp Master. Relaying this information back to their 'Firewall' base Babs reveals that Wendy – appropriately enough code-named Proxy – will stand in to help Steph on those occasions that she – Oracle – is unavailable.
Batgirl Rising concludes with a scene in a cell at Gotham Central Lockup where the occupant – Johnny C, last seen I believe in issue #9 – chillingly declares that he's looking forward to seeing Batgirl again because 'she's gonna need all the help she can get'…
As I say, this certainly felt like a 'landmark' issue, in the same way that a 50th or 100th issue of a book feels different to a 51st or 99th, and as such I've found this a difficult issue to review in isolation and therefore found myself looking at it in the context of such a landmark.
Over the past year we've followed Stephanie and Barbara on what has been a challenging and, at times, uncomfortable journey. A year ago Steph and Babs set out without apparently knowing where they wanted to go – or even sure of their motivation for making the journey – and along the way there have been harsh words, any number of 'I'm out of my depth' situations, lots of bickering, plenty of laughter – to the point that through the pages of this particular issue it's clear that both women now have a clearer picture of what the future holds for them.
We've seen Steph's confidence in herself and her abilities grow and at the same time we've witnessed Barbara's willingness to trust and believe in the new Batgirl.
The inclusion of Calculator as the central villain in this story-arc felt to me, at first, just a little predictable but as the story unfolded I came to appreciate the opportunities his inclusion permitted – Barbara's complicated past, Wendy ultimately breaking out from under her father's shadow, Steph appreciating the parallels with her own father …
Speaking of Wendy! With her initial, albeit at times brief, appearances in the series it became apparent that she was destined to play a more significant role in Steph and Bab's lives and sure enough, as predicted, she's set to become Batgirl's new 'handler' on those occasions when Barbara is 'unavailable'. I most definitely welcome her inclusion in the Batgirl team and I'm looking forward to seeing her character develop.
I can't say that I've particularly warmed to Wendy's personality so far but then I think it's fair to say that Wendy herself hasn't been particularly fond of herself. Through the pages of this issue I believe we've seen a change in Wendy's outlook on life and as she again learns to like herself the reader will have the chance to do likewise.
From the very first issue the books creative team – on this issue Bryan Q. Miller, Lee Garbett, Pere Perez and Waldon Wong – have consistently found the right tone: fun, funny, purposeful without ever taking itself too seriously and this issue maintains that tradition. I enjoy Mr Miller's writing technique of using of a few words of dialogue as scene transitions and, not for the first time, the 'I'm Batgirl' declaration at the start of the book gives us an insight into Steph's mindset. This time I felt the words were spoken with steel and determination whereas earlier in the series Steph appeared to use them as much to remind herself as inform the reader.
As with the previous issue I appreciated the 'thought' sequences – they may not have made for an easy read at times but they were in themselves quite thought provoking and I found them all the more powerful on second or third read.
I'm not too sure about the idea of Wendy crashing her jet into the compound to aid Stephanie – any more than I was sure about Barbara remotely crashing an ambulance in an earlier issue – but if these instances are the closest the book comes to 'silly' moments then I'm prepared to go with it.
The artwork throughout this issue is, as expected, magnificent: Lee Garbett, inked by Waldon Wong, and Pere Perez make a great team and I think we're lucky to have such talented artists working on the book. I particularly enjoyed the 'I'm Batgirl' splash page early in the book – I love the expression of determination on Batgirl's face – and I found the scenes with Wendy and Steph sitting under a tree getting to know one another really quite touching.
Continuing the theme, Stanley 'Artgerm' Lau provided another superb cover showing Batgirl bloodied, customer torn and yet with a smile that speaks to me of her determination and satisfaction. [Note to DC: this would make a fabulous poster!]
Once again we have been treated to a really great read from what has become a really great series. If there is a better, more enjoyable series being published at the moment then I've not seen it. Hugely enjoyable.
It's been a good year to be a Batgirl fan – here's to the coming 12 months.
Batgirl #12:
Reviewed by Zaius
After the dark, threatening close to Batgirl #10 this, the third of the four part 'The Flood' story-arc, opens with quite a different tone, and it's immediately clear not everything is as it at first seems …
Barbara Gordon wakes from her nights sleep with a bit of a start and sits up in her bed as Dick Grayson enters the room, gives her a kiss and urges her to get up and dressed. As her extended family relax, Barbara is racing around the kitchen preparing what appears to be a Thanksgiving dinner, accompanied by the sound of a complaining young Damian Wayne and the loving words and embrace of her father.
Throughout these scenes of happy family life Babs questions to herself what she's seeing, what she's feeling and as happy as she is she knows something is wrong. Moments later she's reminded of her friend Stephanie Brown and there's a somewhat familiar visitor to her front door …
Cutting to the Calculators compound, deep in Slaughter Swamp, we witness the motionless body of Barbara, laid out on an examination table, with the Calculator sat alongside her talking to the decomposing body of his late son Marvin.
Appreciating that Barbara may be the key to some of his unanswered questions, Calculator plugs himself into his own laboratory equipment that is in turn connected to Barbara with the intention of seeing or reading Babs thoughts.
Over at the Gotham Port Authority Stephanie Brown – Batgirl – has evaded capture by the massed ranks of Calculator's zombies and has been pursued by an equally 'possessed' Man-Bat. Out-running her assailant Steph takes a minute to catch her breath, only to find herself snagged by another familiar adversary – and this time it's Catwoman.
Acutely aware that her priority has to be to help Barbara and that time is not on their side, Steph draws on her inner strength, fights back and with a swift blow sends her opponent to the ground. As one 'zombie' danger is averted another appears – Huntress, or as Stephanie herself acknowledges '… questionable-morals-action-Huntress'!
As her next challenger steps forward Steph gets an unexpected incoming message over her comm unit – Wendy Harris, who we saw trapped at Firewall in the previous issue. While continuing to combat Huntress, Steph and Wendy clumsily, awkwardly, introduce one-another before we get a possible glimpse of Wendy's future as the young woman activates the surveillance functionality of the Firewall's computer, attempts to guide Steph to safety and then in turn traces Calculator's location.
While Wendy considers what else, if anything, she can do to help rescue Oracle, Stephanie has more immediate problems on her hands – she's been tracked by Man-Bat … surely she can't escape this time?
While Stephanie fights for her own safety we return to Barbara who is engaged in a fight of her own as she is confronted by the thoughts of Calculator. Set in a library housing Barbara's memories and experiences she fights to keep her intruder at a distance.
Returning to … well, returning to reality and as the rain gets heavier and the sky is lit by lightning and the sound of thunder we see the silhouette of Batgirl and Man-Bat fighting high above Gotham Harbor. Realizing that perhaps she's more than met her match on this occasion Stephanie looks for an escape when, again, the voice of Wendy Harris echos across the comm link. As Steph looks down on an airfield runway she's taken aback to see The Ricochet – a vehicle she's more than familiar with of course – piloted by none other than Wendy herself.
Having freed herself from the clutches of Man-Bat, Steph jumps to the ground where she's met by Wendy – and with hoards of zombies closing in on them Stephanie realizes they have only one option is they are to ensure their own safety and rescue Barbara …
Despite limited appearances throughout this issue, for me Barbara was undoubtedly the star of Batgirl #11. A real highlight in this issue were the Barbara 'dream' or 'thought' sequences – I find them difficult to describe so fully appreciate Bryan Q. Miller's vision and imagination to conceive and write these – particularly the chapter of this tale where Babs and Calculator fight over her thoughts and memories which I thought was possibly some of the best writing we've seen in this series to date.
What's absolutely clear to me is that Miller 'gets' Barbara – or perhaps I should say the Barbara he writes rings true for me: her strengths, her weaknesses, her fears, her ambitions and her regrets – as I say, some of the best writing I feel we've seen so far.
Personally I found the 'Batgirl versus Catwoman versus Huntress versus Man-Bat' scenes just a little drawn out although I concede that this gave us an opportunity to see Wendy Harris come to the fore and possibly give us a taste of things to come. To this point she's felt somewhat redundant amongst the supporting cast and, on the basis that the character is likely to around for a while I welcomed seeing her particular role developed.
On artwork duties we've again been spoiled to have such a talented team on the book. As I feel we saw with an earlier issue of Batgirl, having more than one artist work on an issue doesn't necessarily work but the respective styles of Lee Garbett and Pere Perez are uniquely different (if I'm right in suggesting that Garbett drew the first half of the book up to the Babs 'thoughts' sequence) and yet at the same time complementary. If indeed Perez is taking on art duties when Garbett moves on then I believe the book, and it's readers, are in safe hands. Returning to the 'dream' sequences for a moment, again credit must go to the artists for their respective interpretations – I particularly enjoyed Perez's portrayal of Babs in the library scene.
Furthermore, an acknowledgment is due also to Walden Wong for his bold sharp inks throughout the first half of the book and likewise to Guy Major for his sensitive coloring – most definitely a feature of his time on Batgirl. With another eye-catching, if in places little busy, cover from Stanley 'Artgerm' Lau creation of this book is truly a team effort.
Another hugely enjoyable adventure from the Batgirl creative team – this issue felt a little like the calm before the storm (no pun intended) that I'm expecting with the final part of this story-arc.
Batgirl #11:
Reviewed by Zaius
When I discovered that regular, and one of my favorite, artists Lee Garbett was being joined by a second artist – Pere Perez, who I understand takes on solo pencil duties later this summer – for this issue I was, I have to be honest, a little concerned. No sooner had I recognized and acknowledged that Batgirl was pretty much everything I could want from a comic book along came change – issue #8 featured a new artistic team and left me disappointed – and while the last issue saw a return to form for this title I still had reservations.
Thankfully, I needn't have worried.
Batgirl returns with the second part of a four-part story arc – Batgirl Rising: The Flood. With the rain still falling, the issue opens deep in Slaughter Swamp, Calculator's deceptively spacious base of operations, where in the shadow of a huge satellite dish and transmitter Calculator himself is chatting away – partly I suspect to himself but also to the lifeless body of his late son Marvin – about his plans to, as he sees it, teach Oracle a 'lesson in humility'.
On the roof-tops of Gotham City, meanwhile, an unsettled Batgirl – Stephanie Brown – is on patrol. She's unsettled because Barbara Gordon, working back at the Batcave while in constant communication with Steph, is herself unsettled – neither woman is too sure quite what's unfolding before them, just that something bad is just around the corner.
As their conversation continues, Stephanie intervenes to break up a gang of motorcyclists who are harassing some young women. In between delivering kicks and punches it becomes clear to Steph that the history Barbara shares with the Calculator is at the heart of her concerns. Conscious that she's a target, Barbara urges Stephanie that for her own safety she ought to keep a low profile – maybe underestimating Steph's abilities to look after herself. Maybe sensing the scale of the danger ahead.
Later, at Gotham City University, Detective Nick Gage has called on Assistant Professor Barbara Gordon: trying the door and realizing that Babs isn't around Gage lets himself in. As curiosity gets the better of him he inspects a file that's open on the desk – and realizes he and Barbara have a mutual friend as he discovers a newspaper cutting featuring some of Stephanie's recent exploits as Batgirl.
Lost in his thoughts for a moment Gage doesn't realize that he's no longer alone in the room and Stephanie surprises him as she introduces herself. When the two had met previously Stephanie was in Batgirl mode and she's relieved that Gage clearly doesn't recognize her. Given that she – as Batgirl – and Gage had been flirtatious towards one another previously Steph becomes more than a little embarrassed as Gage hints at his burgeoning friendship with Barbara and she quickly changes the subject.
Across the city young Wendy Harris has entered the lift in Barbara's apartment building and, with the help of a laptop computer has overridden security protocol and is heading for the sub-basement. As the lift heads down Wendy finds herself musing over the curious things she's encountered recently – Professor Gordon is up to something, 'that Stephanie girl', Tim 'Wayne … or Drake', 'ninjas' and as the doors open she discovers she's been led to Firewall – the new Oracle control-center.
Back in Slaughter Swamp the clock ticks down … three, two, one … and Calculator ignites his plan to teach Oracle a lesson.
Returning to the Computer Science Lab at Gotham U. and with her back turned towards the class, with her students concentrating on their computer screens and mobile phones Barbara is unaware of the strange zombie-like behavior that's overcome her audience … 'target acquired'. In the hallway Stephanie passes an equally strangely behaving Jordanna … 'target acquired'.
The order is given: 'detain the target'. Turning to discover that she's under attack Barbara strikes out to protect herself as Stephanie – now in uniform – joins the fight before fleeing from the building with Barbara. As they make their way towards the car park they realize that they're outnumbered and surrounded. As the zombies engulf them Barbara is knocked to the ground and urges Batgirl to save herself and run – Batgirl of course refuses to do any such thing as she continues to fight back. As the issue closes we see Barbara's 'frozen' body lifted high above the heads of her attackers and carried away as Batgirl loses her footing, falls to the ground before discovering that she and Barbara have been fighting with some very familiar faces.
As I've already indicated I certainly enjoyed this book. Whereas the series as a whole so far has focused quite heavily on characters and their development this issue featured a lot more action than we've been used to and as such the book felt faster-paced and a little darker – menacing even.
For what is a fun, even light read, the Batgirl title demands commitment from me as a reader I find. I enjoy Bryan Q. Miller's 'layered' approach to storytelling – by layered I'm referring to the practice of overlapping narration and dialogue from one scene to the next – and it works particularly well in this issue as we jump about from location to location.
The artwork styles of Garbett and Perez complemented one another beautifully – different enough to be distinctive without being so different that the book felt disjointed. Maybe had they both been drawing the same same characters then a lack of consistency might have been exposed but (if I've followed the artwork correctly) with Perez drawing the 'middle third' of the book this pitfall was neatly avoided.
Once again Stanley Lau delivered a superb cover for this issue – although I generally prefer a 'cleaner', less busy look and did appreciate what I saw as a nod towards those great comic book covers of the 50's and 60's that screamed drama and excitement at the reader.
Although a fairly low-key scene I enjoyed the early exchange between Barbara and Stephanie. It's clear from Babs words and demeanor that she knows how much she hurt Calculator and, of course, how much he hurt her and the Birds of Prey.
In a similar vein I enjoyed the scenes between Detective Gage and Stephanie where Steph so nearly let on that the two had previously met. I thought the panels where we saw a shy and blushing Steph were particularly sweet – another reminder that she's still a young girl – and I also enjoyed the 'coded' conversation that the two enjoyed where Steph told Gage that it wasn't just Babs that was looking out for him.
The appearances of Wendy Harris continue to tease – just what have the creative team got in store for her? I'm convinced she's got a role to play in the book – I think I've said before that I suspect she's being lined-up as Stephanie's handler – but we'll just have to wait and see. What I do know is it was nice to see her smiling for once!
As an aside, I enjoyed the appearance of a couple of 'notes from the editor' in this book – while such notes might be considered a little unnecessary by some for me it's an acknowledgment that every comic is someones first comic and an indication that the creators value their new and old readers alike.
Another excellent issue from the Batgirl team – if there's a better combination of great characters, strong writing and distinctive, eye-catching artwork being published at the moment then I've not come across it: highly recommended.
Batgirl #10:
Reviewed by Zaius