One year has gone by since we did our very first review for the Crimespree blog. To bookend our review of BATGIRL #1, we bring you (duh duh DUUUH…)
Kate (and Dan) Read BATGIRL #0! (Hey, when does Dan get top billing?)
Kate: Last year at this time we read the DC Comics re-launch of Batgirl. That was issue #1. Today you give me issue #0. What is the deal with your screwy numbering system? I will never understand how you comic-guys work. I’d hate to see how the Dewy Decimal system would work in that library! ::pushes up glasses::
Dan: You’re trying to hurt me with the Dewy Decimal system? Pfft. You’ve gotta bring the goods if you want to bring the pain. Like… like KRYPTONITE. Or even a sock filled with pennies. But don’t do that. That actually hurts quite a bit
K: ::grins while filling a sock with pennies AND Kryptonite::
D: Like I explained when we read JUSTICE LEAGUE #0, this is the secret origin of Batgirl. In issue #1, we know that Barbara Gordon is Batgirl. She had been wheelchair-bound for several years and the story starts after she’s regained her ability to walk. We jump into her story when she puts on her cape again.
K: I like this gal. She’s a book smart redhead… JUST LIKE ME! ::puts on a cape, swings on a jump rope that is tied to the dining room chandelier::
D: THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!
K: Battling against all evil, what does it look like? (uh oh) ::crashes into patio door:: (sonova…)
D: You all right there, “Batgirl”?
K: Fighting evil in the dining room… is really hard. I think I’ll leave the crime fighting outside of the dining room to the professionals.
D: Good thinking, Red. As I was saying before you went all “Indiana Jones” on me…
K: ::seeing giant bruise on thigh:: That’s going to leave a mark.
D: BATGIRL #0 explains how, and more importantly, why Barbara Gordon puts on the Batgirl suit in the first place.
K: I thought it was a little odd that a book smart redhead, like me, would fight crime if she didn’t have any particular superpowers. She doesn’t have super strength; she can’t fly; and she doesn’t have a power ring to make bulldozers with. She can’t even sling spider-webs!
D: Green Lantern bulldozers are so sweet!
K: Anyway, author Gail Simone establishes that Babs is an exceptional and driven college student.
D: Babs?
K: We’re tight ‘cause we’re redheads. You wouldn’t understand. So Babs is working on a paper for her criminology class and is interviewing cops down at Gotham PD. While she’s there this creepy Charlie Manson-esque criminal is brought in.
D: Dude has a posse of chicks with guns! How awesome is that?!?
K: ::gives Dan a sideways look::
D: Or…not…
K: It’s that creepy guy that brings out the superhero in Barbara. She may not have superpowers, like I mentioned before, but she is still extraordinary and uses the skills she has to take down the hulking creepy guy.
D: Simone drives home the fact that, er… “Babs” has the skills and smarts to make the difference that she has always craved to make. So after surviving the episode at the Gotham PD, Batgirl is born. While Batman is always shown as the GRIM, DARK AVENGER OF THE NIGHT, my takeaway here is the birth of the Batman Family.
K: I see where you’re going with this. The splash page of Batman, Batgirl, and Robin swinging through the Gotham night is pretty boss. And like you mentioned a year ago…
D: Yes?
K: … how cool is it that Batgirl is SMILING? She’s not a GRIM DARK AVENGER OF THE NIGHT. She just wants to make a difference.
D: And that is why she’s a hero.
