Batgirl #41 - A Review

Things have gotten complicated in Barbara Gordon's life. Even more complicated than usual and that's saying something! Her roommate has been clued in on her secret identity and is determined to help Babs with her Batgirl work whether she wants it or not.

Of course Batgirl could use the help with an escaped super-villain from Metropolis called Live Wire on the loose in Burnside. But there's a new Batman, backed by the GCPD, who is working to bring down every masked hero in Gotham City. And the man behind the mech-suit is Barbara's father!


Stewart and Fletcher are to be commended for using this issue to immediately address the elephant in the room post-Batman #41  -  how does Barbara react to her father revealing that he too has a double life? While the very idea of Jim Gordon in power armor as Batman was enough to lead me to drop the current Batman book, this needed to be taken on immediately. And the issue is well-handled despite my fear that we're going to be treated to more of the same faux-drama that dominated the end of Gail Simone's Batgirl run, vis-à-vis Jim Gordon having a mad-on for Batgirl.  Thankfully, the rest of the issue more than makes up for it and the bits with Barbara fighting Live Wire are an amazing bit of action.


The artwork proves to be equally astonishing!  Babs Tarr has made this book her own and it is hard to imagine anyone else drawing it now.  The backgrounds by Joel Gomez are well-done and the color art by Serge Lapointe rounds the final package out perfectly.