Batgirls #17 – Becky Cloonan/Michael W. Conrad, Writers; Robbi Rodriguez, Artist; Rico Renzi, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: We now know that this series will be ending in June—which I consider to be one of the biggest mistakes DC has made in a long time. It’s a fantastic series giving an excellent spotlight to three of the company’s best characters, and this final arc seems set up to send the series out on a high. Following on the emotional intensity of the body-swapping/kidnapping arc, as well as the insanity of the Mad Hatter showdown that saw Steph transformed into a Man-Bat, the girls are looking to relax with a night out at the club. This series continues to ship-tease Cass and Steph quite intensely, with a charged dance scene as well as some comments by Steph that hint at her interest in other women. However, before we can get any deeper into that subtext, the night out is interrupted by something all too common. A mass shooter targets the club, barely missing the girls and nearly killing podcaster Grace O’Halloran’s cameraman.
This new threat, who is an anonymous sniper, throws all of the neighborhood into chaos as paranoia increases. Grace in particular seems to be spiraling, especially after losing her eye earlier in the series. This leads her into contact with an infamous Gotham gang who offers to sell her weaponry—just in time for the sniper to show up and target everyone involved, including the Batgirls. There’s a raw feeling to this issue, much more intense than this series usually is, likely due to the subtext of gun violence and how it’s a plague few people can escape from. There is also some dialogue here that probably pushed standards and practices a bit, especially a joking countdown from Steph that took me by surprised. It’s great to see Barbara working at her best too—as Oracle guiding her young apprentices from afar. People can quibble with some of the decisions made with this series, but I dare anyone to argue that these characters have gotten a better spotlight together in the last decade.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
