WTF!?
'Batgirl, Volume 5: Deadline', the final volume of Gail Simone's run on 'Batgirl' for the New 52, is like a collection of the most bizarre and random 'Batgirl' issues you cannot imagine beyond your wildest dreams; some of which pretend to be connected to the heroine's main New 52 storyline in the loosest way possible. The actual main story with Knightfall/Charise Carnes (who's been Batgirl's number one adversary the whole time... apparently?) isn't bad... mostly... but the other plots with Batgirl/Barbara Gordon that surround and very long distance go with it are so out of place and weird, it's like watching 'The Twilight Zone' or 'Black Mirror', only not as good. Not as polished.
It seems fitting that the volume is titled 'Deadline', because it is like Simone was working on these plots and stapling them together on an extremely tight deadline, thus explaining their, to put it politely, mixed quality. I can't believe she wrote all of them.
Oh, wait, she didn't. Marguerite Bennett wrote arguably the best 'Batgirl' story in the bunch, 'The Midnight Man'. She's often a good writer, but still... I don't know what to think anymore.
I will try to explain the random plots included. In doing so, I am mindful that you might not believe me, and I wouldn't blame you:
The first issue is like a dystopian/dream sequence that eerily reminds me of the videogame 'We Happy Few', where Gotham is a saccharine and quite literal candy-coated utopia, where the Joker runs an ice cream business and Babs is living the perfect life and her superhero identity is called, I shit you not, Bluebelle, and her sidekick is Charise Carnes - you know, the freaking big bad number one adversary Knightfall, remember her? - but here she is a hero sidekick called Daybreak. The issue/premise is incomplete.
Next up is a vampire story, where Babs teams up with the ex-Talon Strix again to find a missing mute child, and all the great potential that plot has is ruined by Babs being shockingly stupid, and thinking that a delusional-rich-vampire-hunter-serial-killer-and-child-kidnapper is hot, and the ending which is all kinds of WTF. No-effs are given in the last few pages, and there are plot holes galore.
Next is the aforementioned 'The Midnight Man', a pretty good Halloween story that features Batgirl actually succeeding in saving innocent people, from a genuinely creepy supernatural monster from Gotham legend. It comes at a point where Marguerite Bennett might have made the comic salvageable. Credit where it's due. Well done.
Then there's a leftover/crossover plot from the New 52's 'Birds of Prey' series, with Poison Ivy at its center. It's really heavy and gruesome, and also not too bad.
Then a Knightfall sideplot involving Babs's roommate Alysia and her ecoterrorist gang comes and goes, featuring another creep-tastic villain, Ragdoll. Again, pretty decent, sinister and macabre. Although, at the end nothing is really accomplished and Batgirl once again looks incompetent.
Finally, the main Knightfall storyline is focused on and wrapped up, and it is sort of well written and exciting, except for:
The sudden appearance of Barbara's old presumed-dead uni mate and superspy (I can't be bothered to remember her name), who forces Barbara under her thumb, which goes absolutely nowhere;
Babs's father Commissioner Gordon is in jail for reasons I'm sure come from other DC comics at the time, and we never once see him in this series finale volume. What a waste, given how crucial he was in the previous volume and in Barbara's overall development;
The one-shot, random cameo appearances from superheroines such as Fairchild and Starfire;
The rushed ending, where Babs inexplicably doesn't care that her not-dead psycho killer brother is still on the loose goddess knows where, and she happily wants to leave Gotham to start a new life somewhere else upon hearing this news;
And does she break up with random Ricky or not? Eh, I don't care.
Black Canary and Huntress appear to help Batgirl take down Knightfall.
There is nice feminism and female presences all around.
Plus, LBGTQ+ rep with Alysia Yeoh and her eco social justice girlfriend Jo. Alysia does get some scenes in the Knightfall arc - doing her own thing, and with Barbara. She's an awesome, self-sufficient character. But why oh why isn't she allowed to know her roomie and new bestie is Batgirl yet?!
Finally finally, the volume ends on a 'Futures End' 'Batgirl' issue, 'Darker in the Soul'. It is fine as a completely separate, magical fanfic-y 'What if' and 'Elseworlds' title, but as part of this comic, it is the most WTF of them all, and that's saying something. Like, Barbara gets married to some guy I've never heard of, and then her brother shows up and gets him killed in the stupidest way possible, which leads to Babs becoming apprenticed to serial killers, and a new Bane!? And a boss to three other Batgirls (who call her "Beast"), including Lucius Fox's daughter, Tiffany, who's twelve!?
Not like 'Batgirls', then.
I can't... I just can't.
Barbara Gordon is a big muscley woman with a cleavage in it. She looks like a wrestler. There are quite a few big muscley women in the comic, so props there.
Big muscley and cleavage-d wrestler Barbara Gordon calls herself a "goddess", and kicks Bane's arse, and she loves her Batgirls, so I can't hate 'Darker in the Soul'. But why did her greatest despair and darkest turn in her life have to come from the death of a rando she just married?!
This comic is almost amazing in its goofiness and no-more-fucks-given attitude when it comes to continuity and ending a series.
It is almost what superhero comics are supposed to be about. I kind of admire it in a so-bad-it's-good way.
I would love to know what Simone's planning process was in making and concluding some of these stories. It does appear that she threw up her hands and did whatever the hell here, but still cared enough to be somewhat coherent and exciting in each individual issue. Either way, I know and you know that regardless, she is a far better writer than what 'Batgirl, Volume 5: Deadline' demonstrates. Don't let it be anyone's starting point to her comics work (though why would it be when it's 'Volume 5'? Well, it's still possible).
Batgirl/Barbara Gordon's darkest arc and journey in the New 52, excellent character development aside, does not paint her in a competent and successful crimefighting light. Failure is a teacher, but when she fails so often at what she's supposed to do - be a hero and stop and incapacitate murderous bad guys - it undermines her cred and capability as a hero worth rooting for. She always needs help from others. Does she even learn from her mistakes by the end?
I hate that I've become critical enough in my reading that I've noticed these details and flaws, as, and I *don't* think I've made it clear before, Batgirl/Barbara Gordon is my all-time favourite superheroine.
Still, it's better than her subsequent 'Burnside' run, which drains her IQ further and infantilises her. Like the Barbara Gordon is young, fresh-faced, and inexperienced. After everything she's gone through in the New 52? Yeah, bullshit.
At least 'Batgirl, Volume 5: Deadline' is never boring or offensive (except for the vampire story).
Thus concludes my reviews of Gail Simone's New 52 'Batgirl' comics. What a dark and weird ride!
Superhero comics are weird, with weird continuity, and weirder company and writer schedules and deadlines.
'Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Darkest Reflection' remains one of my favourite comics ever. It is one of the comics that got me started on reading DC and Marvel over ten years ago now.
Whatever the quality:
Batgirl Forever.
My review of 'Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Darkest Reflection' can be read here.
My review of 'Batgirl, Volume 2: Knightfall Descends' can be read here.
My review of 'Batgirl, Volume 3: Death of the Family' can be read here.
My review of 'Batgirl, Volume 4: Wanted' can be read here.
Final Score: 3/5
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