By Scott Peterson, Kelley Puckett, Damion Scott & Robert Campenella (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-84023-266-8
After Gotham City was devastated in an earthquake (Batman: Cataclysm ISBN13: 978-1-56389-527-2) it was abandoned by the US government in a spookily prescient foretaste of what would happen to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005 (see Batman: No Man’s Land Volumes 1-3, ISBN 13’s: 978-1-56389-564-7, 978-1-56389-599-9, and 978-1-56389-634-7 respectively). In the rubble, a number of heroes struggled to protect the innocent. One of these was a brand new incarnation of Batgirl.
As the crisis ended and a semblance of normality returned to the battered metropolis, the new heroine got her own series and a mentor in the form of Babs Gordon, the wheelchair-bound crime-fighter called Oracle, who was also the first Batgirl.
The current holder of the title is an enigmatic problem. Raised as an experiment by martial arts super-assassin David Cain, she cannot communicate since her language centres have been over-ridden in an experiment to make combat her only communication tool. An apparent runaway, she has been adopted by the Batman as a weapon in his never-ending battle, but the more humane Oracle has become her guardian and teacher.
In this first volume (collecting issues #1-6 of the monthly comic-book) the new Batgirl is trying to find her way, bereft even of the ability to learn, whilst revelling in the role of defender of the helpless, but her development as a human being threatens to diminish her capacity as a weapon, and the mystery of her past would indicate that she is possibly a two-edged sword in Batman’s arsenal…
Spellbinding, overwhelmingly fast-paced and with very little dialogue, these tales are a breakneck, supercharged thrill-ride that concentrates on non-stop action yet still manages to be heavily plot-based with genuine empathy and emotional impact. This is superb comic story-telling and should be on every fan’s wish-list or bookshelf.
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