The cover to “Batgirl #14” is rather confusing. You’ve got quite a candy colored bizzare, yet dazzling, composition. Batgirl. Supergirl. A bunch of Béla Lugosi Draculas. I swear, I saw this glorious train wreck of a cover, flipped through some very nice art, and snatched it up. I picked it up over at Zanadu, in downtown Seattle, and then took it across the steet to a fancy pizza place called, Serious Pie. They take their time there so I ordered a Moretti and sat down to escape for a few minutes.
So, getting a closer look, I realized that, no, this wasn’t some totally awesome new series teaming up Batgirl and Supergirl. And, of course, this wasn’t what I thought the title was at first, although that would be pretty rad: “Terror in the Third Dimension.” This was the latest issue of Batgirl, plain and simple. I remember when it first came out last year and it didn’t grab me then. I dare say, this is the issue that will bring in a whole new set of readers. Speaking of team-ups, writer Bryan Q. Miller and artist Lee Garbett, appear to have found their groove. The books bops along nicely. And, speaking of bops, as in Birds of Prey, this book reminds me of what I wrote recently about that title: I love when the Birds just hang out and talk. That is what I find can be very entertaining. Batgirl and Supergirl get to do a lot of that. It is allowing for these slower moments that make the action scenes that much more relevant, not to mention powerful.
A writer gets a chance to write and you get a chance at a little magic. I’m sure this wasn’t planned ahead by some marketing team: Stephanie and Kara are on a walk. Kara askes about how things are in Gotham. Stephanie responds by saying she’s relieved for the break in her routine. Just before she met up with Kara, she says, “I had sixteen points on my rack and was down three to one.” There is an awkward silence. Kara finally says, “I have no idea what any of that means.” Of course, Kara would never guess that Stephanie was talking about playing Scrabble with her mom.
So, more moments like that are most welcome. I can’t say that I really needed to see Kara and Stephanie subsequently fight off 24 Draculas but, what the hell, it was fun and having characters that are more full-blooded is definitely good. Of course, none of the Draculas got to find out just how good.
