Batgirls #18 – Becky Cloonan/Michael W. Conrad, Writers; Robbi Rodriguez, Artist; Rico Renzi, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The penultimate issue of this series finds the Hill under assault by a group of snipers—seemingly revealed to be the obscure husband-and-wife duo of Gunhawk and Gunbunny. The villains have blamed the Batgirls for their shooting spree and issued a demand that the girls surrender to the police for their “crimes”—which leaves the Bats both fighting against the villains, and potentially against the authorities. While they do have one officer in their corner, Renee Montoya is acting awfully by the book in this run and has proved to be a thorn in their side. As the three Batgirls struggle to figure out their next move, the writing team finds some great opportunities for emotional moments—both between the two core Batgirls as they discuss what they’ve learned from each other, and with Batman as the caped crusader guest-stars and finally puts some old demons from the pre-New 52 era to rest.
This series has been one of the strongest books in DC’s lineup for a long time, and that’s heavily due to just how much love it clearly has for its lead characters. Cass and Steph have received some quibbles about how young they come off in this series, but I think it gives the series some real youthful energy. It’s been great to see Alysia Yeoh taking a major role in the back half of the series—maybe even being set up as a fourth Batgirl. The main quibble I have is with the inconsistent way it treats Barbara Gordon, including essentially having her use a wheelchair as a disguise this issue. But the series gets some great material out of how much the Batgirls have inspired others, and the final pages of this issue see one major supporting character step into the limelight in a way that could bring the gunners out of hiding. Whatever comes next for the Batgirls, any successes will owe a lot to this book.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
