Batgirl #7

I'm going to miss the Adam Hughes covers. They sure were nice. This one's not bad, but it's not half as compelling as the previous ones.

There's two artists on this issue, and as much as Alitha Martinez tries to emulate Ardian Syaf to smooth the transition... it doesn't quite work. Martinez isn't as good. The faces are off and a bit too round. Most people probably won't notice though.

Grotesque seems like an interesting villain. I just LOVE the whole "creepy criminal masked face who's a 'fancy gentleman' underneath." It's been done before, but not as often as I'd like. The only complaint I have is that once again he's "so much stronger" than Batgirl. Does EVERY DAMN OPPONENT need to be Batgirl's physical superior? And it's not like she really comes up with some clever strategy to outsmart them, it's just to show that she's weak and needs to fight smart. Mirror made it work, but since then we've not really even seen evidence that she was fighting particularly extra smart. This writing crutch is getting old.

Hopefully the scene with Black Canary will help Batgirl get some nice character development on that front. Or rather... the solution is to fight harder? The dialogue between the two is pretty great, but this whole idea just seems really off for Barbara. She was so strong as Oracle. Emotionally strong. And some of her time as Oracle was kept in continuity, so why is she suddenly so weak? She's gotten through two villains in this state, but how long can Gail Simone keep up this schtick?

And it's like... she's almost aware of the problem with her own series. "I feel like a stranger. To myself." Because, as I keep saying, Barbara has totally outgrown being Batgirl. She's matured beyond the role, and needs to leave the position to someone else. It's like being Robin, almost like a rank. Young inexperienced rebel vigilant Barabara was Batgirl through and through. Stephanie Brown as she was before the relaunch is Batgirl through and through.

And then I realized that the beginning was the climax, and the story had looped back around. This specific type of anachronistic order RARELY works, and considering that the story seemed to flow well as if it was in chronological order just makes it weird when you remember that it had just flashed back. There's no suspense ruined since pretty much all the stuff before the beginning is the meeting with Black Canary, but the whole flow is wonky.

And then the last page. I think I know where this is going and all I can do is groan.

In Conclusion: 3.5/5

Barbara Gordon's not a good Batgirl. I'm repeating myself a ton, I know, but each and every issue just continues to remind me of this fact. "Oh no, this guy's stronger than me!" Gretel aside, Simone has crafted some great villains, but the way she makes them threatening got old fast, and I'm getting sick of seeing Barbara either take backward steps in character development or get lost in the amorphous blob of the general qualities of the Batman family. She no longer stands out like she used to, or like Stephanie does.