Batgirl #35 Review

I'm not really a comics guy. I've tried my hardest, to be sure. I've always loved Spider-Man, and my first time buying comics regularly was right at the beginning of one of the most frustrating and offensive Spider-Man story lines: Brand New Day. So I quit reading them. Every successive time I would try to pick up a comic book again, it was always right in the middle of some nonsense story that read like it was completely idiotic. I gave up on comic books, content to only read about what was going on through a third party every now and again, so I could laugh at how ridiculous it all sounded.

When I heard about what I was going on with the new Batgirl series, I let myself get excited one more time.

Comics have had a major problem with women for decades. Big-boobed bimbos have somehow become the dominant species in the universes of Marvel and DC, extending even to female superheroes, somehow managing to cram a 46-22-46 body into a skintight suit. Women have been actively discouraged from reading comics (whether it has been an intentional design decision on the part of the publishers or not). There have been a few fixes, but very few have caught on in any permanent sense.

Perhaps, with Batgirl #35, we'll start to see a reversal.

With this new run, DC has brought on Babs Tarr as the artist. Though she is apparently new to the comics industry, Tarr has already hit it out of the park with her fantastic redesign of Batgirl. Her characters look actually realistic, like real human beings, with actual proportions, while still maintaining a cute cartoonish charm to it all. In a certain way, her art is oddly reminiscent of Bryan Lee O'Malley's method, at least in facial expressions and character poses. Her characters are fun and exciting, especially for someone who's been desperately aching for some appealing redesigns in comics. I also find her new costume (which is explained in a slightly handwavy manner, but I think it'll be developed further) to just be a lot of fun. It's basically a custom members-only jacket and utility belt! How great is that?

Cameron Stewart's cover (Babs Tarr did the limited edition variant cover) is especially excellent and made me interested in the comic to begin with. Batgirl taking a selfie in a bathroom mirror with her new costume is just awesome and actually sets the tone for the story. However, Kevin Nowland's variant “monster” cover is just weird and kind of offensive. It's done in a more traditional style and doesn't fit the story at all. In fact, when I went to pick up the comic, my friend saw the variant cover and was incredibly annoyed at first and didn't warm up to the redesign at first. She did read the comic and loved it afterward, but I do think that the variant cover could discourage female readers, that I think this issue is supposed to draw in.

If it was just a fantastic art redesign, I think Batgirl #35 would be a slam dunk, but there's more to it than that. Writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher have written a story that just fits perfectly to the character of Batgirl, appeals to the college-age demographic (especially to the female part!), and is just excellent. Not to spoil too much, but Batgirl quite literally beats up the forces of male entitlement and misogyny in a story that is incredibly relevant to recent events of Snapchat hacks and celebrity nude leaks. It also uses technology and current media platforms excellently, with Instagram and Tinder playing key story roles. These also serve to make Batgirl/Barbara Gordon feel even more human, along with her college struggles (not going to quite the same absurd levels that harrowed Peter Parker) and love of partying it up.

All of this comes together to make one of the first comic series that I've been excited about in years. Batgirl #35 is just fantastic, probably one of the best superhero comics I've read in ages. At the end of the day, it is still a superhero comic and can be predisposed to lots of silliness, of which there is some here. But it feels good, it works. Stewart and Fletcher aren't trying to be serious and edgy with this, something that's plagued DC's other New 52 comics since the beginning of the relaunch. Babs Tarr's art is so enjoyable, I often found myself just looking and taking in the art. I would absolutely recommend that you pick up Batgirl #35 and keep an eye on it in the future.