Batgirl - Trade paperback New 52 Volume 1

DC

Gail Simone - Writer
Ardan Syaf - Pencils
Vincent Cifuates - pencils and inks

Picked this up very recently and it's a book I don't normally read.

Batgirl is the daughter of Commisioner Gordon who has swiped Batman's motif because, well, if you were going to swipe anybody???

The book is full of Batgirl doing lots of Batmanesque type stuff. She crashes through windows and saves people from deranged killers. She takes down the same sort of crazy and kooky villains of Batman.

The book also weaves her personal life into the narrative and we get a glimpse to the person behind the mask.

Once we drop into the action again we get a villain planting a bomb on a Subway train and Batgirl having to save lives. Of course one of my thoughts here was 'Yay!' Gotham has a Subway. She saves some people but a second bomb goes off.

We then see some more of the extended Bat family as Barbara meets up with Nightwing, the hero formerly known as Robin. They end up fighting but even though I re-read this section, I wasn't sure why.

Further on in the story Batgirl does more saving of innocent victims in alleyways, she narrowly misses taking out a slightly more deranged vigilante before having to defeat a mind controlled Brude Wayne, who fights very well for a rich playboy billionaire...

There are many good things about this book which is why I reccomend it. It does frame Barbara's life balance well and the art is gorgeous. All the villains have a bit of back story and some motivation for their deeds. On the downside of course, the links to Bats himself hang off of every panel. Barbara is part of the extended 'Bat-family' and with no powers and a replicated motif her stories can come across as 'Batman-lite'. Then again, because she isn't the same person you could argue that her story is or could be a lot more interesting...