Gail Simone & Ed
Benes “Batgirl Vol. 3: Death of the
Family” (DC Comics, 2013)
At this point, after several decades of mismanaging the
character, I’m really not sure how DC can make the fans happy. Batgirl is popular enough to support her own
comic, but still not significant enough to prevent editorial meddling. And so Barbara Gordon is shot and replaced
and healed! And all the while there are fans of each Batgirl who complain about
every change.
There’s no question that Gail Simone cares about the
character as deeply as any fan. But as
the firing/rehiring event of some months ago showed, there are limits to what
the actual writer of the comic can do.
Unlike so many of the DC writers, Simone is taking advantage
of the changed universe of the new 52 in order to tell new and different
stories. In addition to be cured, Barbara
now has an estranged mother and a psychotic brother. These relatively small changes open up new
avenues for storytelling, new dynamics to be explored.
The longer story that Simone is telling here is about the
Gordon family. What does it mean that
the long missing mother has returned and that the evil brother is on the loose?
Unfortunately the editorially mandated crossovers interrupt
the flow of Simone’s story. We have
issues that have to address not one but two Bat events. There’s a Court of Owls issue, as well as the
Death of the Family crossover. While
none of this is bad, it’s just somewhat jarring and takes away from the story
that Simone is telling.
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