We're two weeks from Comic con. I'm starting to feel the pinch. On the plus side, there's going to be plenty of gals dressed as Batgirl... And for that, It's like I've died and gone to heaven.
It's no secret to anyone who knows me. I dig Batgirl. Much to the same effect, I've grew up on the Adam West Batman TV show which introduced us to Barbara Gordon. My life would never be the same again. I was in love and she had a cape and flaming red hair. Yup, thanks a lot Batman for shaping my life.
But she wasn't the first female Bat. In the silver age of comics there was both a Batwoman and Bat-girl. They were erased from history though. The only thing that remains is the name in a newer Batwoman. But that's a story for later on.
To catch you up, for 15 years after the TV show, the comics had the librarian redheaded Barbara, daughter of the commissioner dress up in black and blue with red flowing out of her cowl. Then in the 90's Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen, decided that the joker would have the last laugh and shot her leaving her stuck in a wheelchair. She stopped being Batgirl and just became Oracle.
After years of being a character to feel sorry for, she became the back bone of Batman's organization. She was the one who did all the actual detective work for lazy writers. She was the internet at the finger tips. She ran her own Charlie's Angels style team called Birds of Prey. In that time there has been other Batgirls. Wel namely one named Cassandra who is asian and well, knows kung fu. Writers treated her bad and well, I didn't give much of a fuck about her.
So when news broke out that there would be another Batgirl comic coming out and it was unknown who would take the mantel, I was a little surprised and hopeful. Would they put Barbara back in the costume by some miracle cure to her paralysis? They did just do a mini-series that had these terribly sexual covers on them and hinted towards a magical cure for her. Would I be offended? Not at all. Frankly, I look forward to the comic books that do a sort of flash back to when she was back in tights jumping around.
Yeah, that didn't make me sound creepy. But stiff, Barbara was one of those superheroes that didn't put on the cape because mommy and daddy died. She wasn't in it for revenge. The way her character was written seemed that she did it because it was right. Because it was fun. The Batman books seem to lack that a great deal these days. It was nice to see it in there for a change.
Back to the question at hand, who will be the next Batgirl? Well, DC comics has been teasing for a while now showing covers to the first issue and well, it leads one to speculate. The first cover is showing off the Cassandra Cain batgirl outfit (the asian one) without the covered up mouth piece. So we can tell that it may not be her.. or may it?
No way, they treated her terribly. Causing her to get killed, come back to life evil and so forth and so forth. But then another comic cover to the Batgirl comic popped up soon after using the Batgirl costume that I liked the most. The one that Barbara wore and the one that I grew up oogling.
After seeing the other cover I can safely say that I'm still oogling over that. Hey, call it a sick fetish, I dig Batgirl. it shouldn't be a surprise anymore already. Besides, I think the first gal who dresses up like Batgirl for me.. well, I think I may have to just settle down with cause it doesn't get any better, I'd say. And I like the cover too, especially the dainty way she's pulling on her boots. It's a very girly pose.
But from these covers I think it's failry obvious as to what's happening here. It looks like the title is going to feature 3 different Batgrils. Cass, spoiler and mistfit. All three of them have worked with or around Barbara. Spoiler is one of those who came back fromt he dead as well. Misfit is just one of her birds of prey agents.
So more than likely they'll all be working together under the eye of Oracle, ala Tangent Joker/Mystery of the Batwoman. This is probably the best thing most of us could hope for. It's just a shame that they couldn't attach a real writer for this whole thing. It does ring true as a classy idea, the more I think about it, the more I like it.
Misfit, Cass & Spoiler all have very distinct, very strong personalities; so it would make for a fun book (especially with Babs trying to keep them under control). I really, really hope this doesn't just turn into Barbara's Angels. Although I'm pretty fucking sure it is. Look, you've got the sassy blonde, the wacky redhead and the silent asian!
Then with all these Juniors running around you have Batwoman showing up to take some Deduction going on Detective comics. As a sort of homage to the original Batwoman/Batgirl, she's also named Kate and she's making an impact in a big way.
About two weeks ago Detective Comics #854 came out. With Batman dead and buried, they gave the Detective Comics title to both the question and the new Batwoman. Yes, that's right the new one. At first I didn't much care for her. She was introduced in the pages of 52 and was introduced as a lesbian red head. Which I suppose would have peaked my interest a bit. But her character was written pretty generically.
It was only till the Crime Bible came out that I really started digging the character more and more and now I can not recommend the latest issue of Detective comics enough. Not only is she written amazing, but the look of the book itself is beyond belief. During comic con I'm definety going to have to look for some of the original art to this book. It just looks so good.
So seeing the interior works even better. If you don't believe me then look at it yourself. But you'd be a fool to say that this stuff doesn't blow you away. The look just screams out for attention. The story is still very fresh and new so you can jump on this right now and be at the same level as anyone else reading.
So I'll leave you with one of the best comic covers I have ever seen.
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