Review: Batgirls #18

Overview: In Batgirls #18, Steph, Cass, and Babs face the rising threat of the sniper in the Hill, but help comes from many surprising places for our heroines!

Synopsis (spoilers ahead): As Batgirls #18 begins, the three Batgirls meet with Office Brooks in the church the Saints used as a base, hunting for clues to Assisi’s whereabouts as a suspected sniper. Brooks tells them the sniper is trying to get the police to arrest the Batgirls, and Brooks says Montoya may have to try to take them in. Babs says she’ll have to have a good plan, and the three exit through the roof. Outside, Montoya punishes Brooks for going behind her back with more overtime and a warning about working with the Batgirls.

At the Clock Tower, the Batgirls discuss the case and plan to deal with the sniper, then Babs sends Steph and Cass to the dam, where they meet Batman. He encourages Steph and Cass and directs them to stay hidden to mess with the sniper’s plan.

Office Brooks receives a visit from a mysterious woman in a wheelchair who points out that a second sniper was present at the cemetery shooting, while Steph and Cass foil a bank robbery using total stealth tactics. Later, as they debrief at the Loft, Babs calls them through F1D0 with congratulations and tells them she and Alysia have used deep fake technology to make it look like the Batgirls have turned themselves into the police, and she has a plan…

At the hospital, Grace O’Halloran sits by the bedside of her gravely wounded cameraman Roky, and explains her plan to stand up against the sniper.

Steph and Cass wake up in their Loft on the Hill to find Grace leading a crowd of protesters against the police “arrest” of the Batgirls.

Analysis: Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan’s run on Batgirls is almost over (even if we will be able to count their two Knight Terrors: Nightwing books), and in this penultimate issue, they ramp up the structural and emotional power they’ve sometimes struggled to bring to bear on these three characters.

The build-up from Grace’s hospital visit to the protest outside the Batgirls’ window is really effective, with the misdirect of Grace loading the illegal shotgun she bought at the graveyard last night, Cass visiting her favorite bookstore and Mr. D, while Steph plays the piano with Kyle Mizoguchi, and then the Batgirls waking up and feeling the panic of all the people they put their lives on the line to protect lining up themselves to try to help the Batgirls.

Cloonan and Conrad have struggled to land the emotional finish of build-up and payoff with a lot of their arcs, sometimes making the payoff feel more like an emotional standing jump rather than a build-up. But here, I think they’ve succeeded magnificently, and I cannot wait to see what the Batgirls do to save the neighborhood they’ve come to love, and which has, movingly, come to love them as much as the readers love these girls. The moment where Batman helps the Batgirls out, and hammers home the importance of working together rather than forcing yourself to work alone without support, was very moving. It’s nice seeing Batman affirming Steph and Cass, especially considering his history with Steph in particular.

Artist Robbi Rodriguez provides solid, appealing, and effective pages for this arc. After the wonky and often rubbery feeling issues #7-8 of this series, I was looking with trepidation at this final arc, but Rodriguez is doing very good work. Colorist Rico Renzi keeps the neon pinks and yellows dominant in Batgirls #18, making the look of the book consistent. All in all, a very solid team going into the finale.

Jorge Corona once again provides the main cover, showing Gunbunny and Gunhawk with the Batgirls swinging towards them from the distance – a beautifully colored riot of reflections on the skyscraper behind them. David Marquez’s third of four covers shows a strong and beautiful Barbara Batgirl against a pale blue background – a really appealing piece of art! Crystal Kung’s AAPI month cover shows Cass crouching, maskless, in Chinatowns rooftops and signs – a bit melancholy of an image, though Cloonan and Conrad’s writing does have a distinct melancholy taste to it, so fitting. Lastly, interior artist Rodriguez provides the 1 in 25 incentive of Cass and Steph with a hand-lettered Batgirls graffiti behind them, spraypaint cans in their hands, the rebellious Batgirls they are!

Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with a copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Comixology through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.