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Writer: Hope Larson
Artists: Rafael Albuquerque & Dave McCaig
Summary
Batgirl begins to unravel Teacher’s plan while protecting her childhood friend.
Positives
I love the cover by Rafael Albuquerque. It shows that this is going to be a tough fight for Babs and creates an intimidating impression of Teacher. I also love the yellow dragon. The cover is drawn incredibly well and sells the book.
The interior art is drawn by Albuquerque with colors by Dave McCaig. I love it as well. McCaig has a unique style of coloring that helps this book be unique. The backgrounds are very colorful and interesting. Additionally, I love Albuquerque’s faces. Babs and the rest of the characters are very expressive. This helps tell the story and get the reader in a character’s head before reading a single word.
I like the way Hope Larson tackles education. There’s an idea presented that certain test scores are meant to decide a person’s entire future. There is some truth in that which is scary and unfortunate. Our education system is flawed and puts kids under a lot of pressure. The people that Teacher recruited to work for her are kids who have been beaten down by the system and don’t think that they are good enough to do much else. They constantly refer to each other as dumb and they need Teacher’s plan to become smart. That’s all very interesting.
Verdict
This is a strong issue. The art is great throughout and a lot of fun to look at. Larson presents interesting motivations for the villains and ideas about the education system both of which work very well. As usual, Larson characterizes Babs very well. She is fun and upbeat but has her limits and can be tough. I recommend checking this issue out; it’s a fun read.
