The new direction of this series is starting to grow on me. Brazen Gail Simone fanboy that I am, I do miss the old tone of Batgirl. But the book's new attitude is not a bad one, driven as it is by modern trends and selfie culture. Trying to write Barbara Gordon as a college-age woman dealing with the society that real twenty-something women have to cope with is not a bad idea at all and pitting Barbara against an enemy who exemplifies the worst aspects of that culture is a brilliant conceit. The artwork emulates that same level of manic energy and even when the characters are at rest there is a grand sense of motion to everything.
I was going to say something about the controversy sparked by this issue. Yet I find that my former Comics Nexus colleague - noted comics expert and LGBT activist Dr. Manolis Vamvounis - has already said everything I wished to say and with far greater authority than I could ever muster. Suffice it to say, I believe that the shock and disbelief expressed by Barbara and the crowds upon the fake-Batgirl's unmasking was honest shock and disbelief and not based upon any kind of prejudice on the part of the creative team.
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