Comic Book Review: ‘BATGIRL #49’

Batgirl #49

STORY BY

Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher

ART BY

Horacio Domingues, Babs Tarr, Roger Robinson, Ming Doyle , James Harvey 

COLORS BY

Serge LaPointe, James Harvey

LETTERS BY

Steve Wands

COVER BY

Babs Tarr

PUBLISHER

DC Comics

COVER PRICE:

$2.99

RELEASE DATE

Mar 2nd, 2016

Synopsis:

To unravel the secret of Batgirl’s bizarre new nemesis, her friends must travel to strange and uncharted territory: the inside of Barbara Gordon’s spectacular mind!

Review:

Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher take us on a really wild and trippy adventure as we explore warped moments of Barbara Gordon’s memories. The villain of the arc, Fugue, has managed to get inside Barbara’s head and is stealing her secrets with plans to sell them to her enemies. While there is some fun here with great art by the various contributors (each getting a moment based on the memory), I just wasn’t pulled into this story. There was a lot of wonky nonsense of using A.I. versions of Barbara’s memories to re-map her brain so her friends could also jump into a machine that allows them to exist inside Batgirl’s mind, and battle the memory implanted versions of Fugue. Yeah, I just wrote that sentence. There’s a bit of a big reveal on who Fugue is, and how he ties into Barbara’s life but I honestly just didn’t care, and it almost seemed like a mute point. The issue ends with a sort of “can they stop his masterful plot” moment, but sorry Batgirl, I’m just not that interested if you do.

The Hey!: Some really interesting panel layouts here, and it shows the artist were having fun in the “dream world”. 

The Eh!: The story is just weak, and the usage of inception “dream within a dream within a dream” and using machines to jump in and out of memories all just felt hokey. This isn’t the type of Batgirl story for me.

The what?!: I suppose this should be the reveal of the villain, and exactly who he is and what levels of depravity he’s capable of, yet it just didn’t land on me.

Who should read this series?: If you want a weird line of wacky, silly yet serious story telling this might work for you. It comes off very cartoonish, which while not my thing might be perfect for some readers who don’t mind ridiculousness.

Why should you buy this book?: It’s hard for me to endorse this. I don’t think anyone should, unless you’re a Batgirl fan, and specifically a Cameron Stewart Batgirl fan.

Score: C

Be sure to share this article with all your friends on Facebook or Twitter using the buttons to the side!

Twitter: @Jscullycomics

Night Terror Banner   GenreVerse FOR FANBOYS, BY FANBOYS Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcasts and videos on The Genreverse Podcast Network? Available on YouTube and all your favorite podcast apps, This multimedia empire includes The Daily CoGBreaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, Anime-Versal Review Podcast, and our Star Wars dedicated podcast The Cantina. Check it out by listening on all your favorite podcast apps, or watching on YouTube! Subscribe on: Apple PodcastsSpotify |  SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play
Share the Post: