Batgirl #19 review

Batgirl’s entry for DC’s month of surprising gatefold covers suggests she may have to murder pesky brother James Gordon Jr. He’s the guy who’s been sniffing around Gotham hatching lunatic plans to terrorise his father, mother and sister. Without revealing who he was, he even took Barbara’s roommate Alysia out on a date, and gifted […]

Batgirl #13 review

The gimmick cover promises that this is a Death of the Family Prologue. And if one page counts as prologue, that it is. For the rest, though, this is the continuation of Batgirl’s battle with Knightfall, and that’s fine by me – we’re in the middle of a gripping storyline and I don’t want it […]

Batgirl #0 review

Here’s the DC New 52 origin of Batgirl. Bang goes the daft-but-charming costume party business, in comes a moment of desperate bravery during a tour of Gotham police headquarters. It’s still the same old Barbara Gordon, though: bright, bold, with a few good self-defence moves and the element of surprise – well, what massive thug […]

Batgirl #7 review

Batgirl battles new reprobate Grotesque, whose unique selling point is that he likes the finer things in life. Except shoes … he’s a barefoot bad guy. The devil-masked foe’s not exactly dripping with charisma but as filler villains go, he’s entertaining enough. The real reason to buy this issue is a sizeable scene in which Batgirl […]

Batgirl #5 review

I love a mystery and there’s a fine one here – how can the number 338 cause a mobster to murder his three loyal sons and try to kill himself? How is knife-happy strongwoman Gretel connected? And why does her hair switch from green to pink? Batgirl is less keen on the intrigue, she just […]

Batgirl #4 review

“Oh Barbara, get over it. Really, it’s beyond tiresome. An assault put you in a wheelchair, but you’ve had a miracle cure. Stop whining about it. Sure, there are still thousands of wheelchair users in the world, but you’re not betraying them by regaining the use of your legs – you never asked to be […]

Wonder Woman and origin(al) sin

Every day, people come up to me on the street and ask the same question: ‘I know Superman came to Earth in a rocketship and Batman saw his parents shot, but what’s the origin of Wonder Woman?’ In the past, I’ve explained that she was a clay baby given life by the gods after her […]

Batgirl #2 review

There comes a time in every cover’s life when the logo has to be compromised. For the Batgirl masthead, this issue is it. OK, so it’s only #2, but look at that gathering of verticles … there’s Batgirl, tombstone, villain and logo shadow, it’s like a flaming totem pole. Lose the bat-background, move the ‘Batgirl’ […]

The Fury of Firestorm, the Nuclear Men #1 review

Ronnie Raymond is Firestorm. And Jason Rusch is Firestorm. And together they’re Fury. Oh dear. One of my favourite concepts in comics – kid with crappy home and school life becomes a colourful, fun superhero- is blown apart as instead of one likeable Firestorm, we get two idiot ones. First there’s Jason Rusch, whose prejudices […]

Batgirl #1 review

Barbara Gordon is Batgirl again. She couldn’t walk for three years, now she’s back on her feet and kicking arse. But not that well. As we join her, tackling a gang of murderous home invaders, luck and psychology play as big a part in her eventual success as physical skill. Because while years of handling […]