Batgirl #10 - A Review

Gail Simone has a magical ability to fit a lot of information into a relatively short space.  Issue #10 of Batgirl has a LOT going on but it is so well paced you won't notice how quick the ride was until it is over.  Over the span of this issue we get numerous scenes of Batgirl in action, the introduction of a new menacing billionaire baddie, an awesome scene of Lois Lane being Lois Lane (i.e. asking the billonaire baddie all the wrong questions) and an all-too-relevant to today's political climate character-building scene where Barbara Gordon and her activist roommate bond over a discussion of the impracticality of noblesse oblige.

But it isn't all conversations over coffee about the rich getting richer while throwing pennies to the peasants.  The focus of this book is strictly upon the action and most of its' pages are devoted to Barbara Gordon's investigation into a new gang of metahuman vigilantees - one with far harsher methods of dealing with petty criminals than The Bat Family.  They prefer rusty bear traps to boomerangs and falls off of high rooftops to incarceration. 

 

 

Artist Alitha Martinez illustrates all of this ably.  Martinez has a command of character expressions second only to the great Kevin Maguire and a dynamic, active style that perfectly portrays both the action sequences and the quieter character scenes.  This book is as well-drawn as it is well-written.

If you aren't reading Batgirl yet, this is the perfect issue to jump on with.  You won't regret it.