Batgirl #0

Batgirl #0 is simple, Batgirl goes to the GCPD learns about Batman, then a criminal escapes he stops him and we get some details of her time as batgirl, and thats it its a very simple story but it has several problems

The first half of the comic is dull

it is far the worst of the series but its just ordinary and average

for one the villain of Harry X is the funniest caricature of a villain in the book so far, and that's saying a lot, all his dialog is just hilarious, but i dont think its meant to be funny.

for example at some point he talks to Barbara(cause obviously the guards will always allow a criminal to just chat with the daughter of the commissioner), and he tells her that he was going to train her, to which Barb responds "training for what?"

to which I think "what is that, a rape threat?" but the way he says it is just so fake and funny, and the reaction is just incredible, what the hell do you think it means?

but then he says "(train) for the upcoming plague"

what is that suppose to mean?

its just so cliche, a giant crazy as hell villain, who just hates women

how original!

the plot is extremely predictable, when Harry X appears you just know he is the villain of the story and that Barb is going to defeat him using the fake batsuit, its a pretty ordinary setting but it has a problem

the inner monologue of barb is just so annoying and its just all over the place, i just keep reading it and say "shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"

its brain wreaking, its better to just ignore the thought boxes

as an origin story, its meh, the idea behind Batgirl origin has always been something like she was inspired by batman to fight against criminals, but not here there, i dont see her being inspired at all except for that "he is smart like me" thing, its nothing to with inspiration or fighting evil, she was just in a bad situation and she defended herself and gain selfstem or something like that and that was it

I just dont see how this story then lead her to keep being batgirl, there just doesnt seem to be any connection between the inspiration to act and the act itself

the second half was much better, for one i LOVE the old costume, its definitely closer to her ASBAR costume

but there is a thing that i just have to applaud Gail Simone, cause its a hole that i actually thought she was gonna fall into, but she actually didnt

Batgirl retired!

she quit

she wasnt Batgirl when she was shot

good job Gail Simone!, you actually did your homework on this, Im so astonish of this

and the reason i like this a lot is cause Batgirl had been having none stop retcons ever since it start, most of them with no particular purpose, the idea that The Killing Joke (TKJ) destroyed batgirl is a huge misconception cause in continuity she was retired by the time she was shot, and here this comic maintains that fact.

However of course the story ends with the start of TKJ, where she is completely alone in her house and opens the door and the Joker is there, which once again is trying to say that it is the only thing that actually matters in the twisted version of Gail's TKJ, but i digress since thats not relevant

It also begs the question though, if she retired, why the hell did she become batgirl again?

the issue doesnt bother to say anything about that, or about Oracle

and it also mentions that she "made a mistake" which is why she retired from being batgirl the first time and its an story for another time, which i think its just cr*p, why?, because is just going to be just another trauma or failure that forced her out of the costume, its the same story but with another setting, instead of just having her out of the costume for a mature decision.

and one more thing to talk about

James Jr

he does ABSOLUTELY Nothing here

In the first part of the story when Barb and him were escaping from Harry X she was trying to protect him, but then he leaves and hides out, then Barb beats Harry and she finds Jr and he says "how interesting"

how interesting what?

Harry also says just by looking at Jr that he knows what he is, and Barb doesnt understand what it means

once again, in Black Mirror Barb always distrusted her brother, even since she was a kid, cause she could see how he really was even though she couldnt prove it

instead we have a parody of a villain like Harry X recognizing something that she misses under her own nose

Black Mirror used this element to make Barb competent but here it doesnt.

you can remove every single scene of James Jr here and it makes no difference in the plot

but overall its not a bad read, its just had rough edges, and it answers no important questions about Batgirl at, its just a one stand story about batgirl's first days ith very little substance, it probably needed a second rewrite and definitely a better villain