Dad’s home in Batgirl #41 written by Cameron Stewart and Brendan Fletcher, Babs Tarr on art, Joel Gomez on background assists, and Serge Lapointe on colors.
Babs now has Frankie on board as her Batgirl tech support…what is she called? She wants to be called – and
we’re cut off. Another issue teasing Frankie’s new role, and chances are it’s Oracle.
Babs starts of the issue about the bust a group of tech-y cultists meeting up in an abandoned estate with a giant electrical stasis pod. Babs is about to wail on them and stop their devious deeds when mecha Batman, Jim Gordon himself drops into the building, causing the group to scatter. He goes for Babs too and Babs weasels away. She recounts the encounter to Frankie until Jim stops by with coffee, debuting his new look.
Babs isn’t pleased with her Dad’s new clean shaven look, the reaction pretty much the best part of the issue. They go on a little outing to the park and Babs reminisces about a visting the park and carousel when younger. Jim admits that he is now serving as Batman. Babs is about to admit that she is Batgirl but is cut off. Later while Frankie and Babs are at an arcade (playing a Sailor Vesque videogame, heyyy) when the pod that the cult were worshiping breaks open. It’s Livewire, and she’s been…livewired. Livewire is a full blown electic elemental now and is running amok, amnesiac. Babs suits up and makes the mistake of jarring Livewire’s memory. Frankie runs in to help followed by Jim himself. Livewire teleports away and Jim turns his attention to B
abs once again: she’s under arrest!
POSITIVES
I really do like the art. I always gripe and complain about the direction of the book which has improved, I’m still not sold on this Babs, but the color palettes here are rich and pretty and have always been since they style shift. It’s everything I want from a comic when it comes to color and design. It’s also pretty animated series ready. I’m curious to see what Babs Tarr’s work looks like without the rich nearly lineless color here.
NEGATIVES
I’m not here for Jim n
ot knowing Babs is Batgirl (unless he does and this is a ruse) and rehashing the “Batgirl you’re under arrest” gimmick that Simone already pushed. This prolonged in the dark about it is laughable and I always thought their dynamic worked best when it was clear Jim knew she was Batgirl but indulged her (as in Batgirl Year One/ preboot in general from what I can recall). It’s not that it’s a bad trope per se, I just find it pretty hard for Jim to not know that Batgirl is his daughter given the various arcs that have thrown them together since the reboot.
VERDICT
It’s good. This issue brings Livewire back supped up adding some harder hitting bad guys to nuBabs current roster which has been mostly a hodge podge. I’m not fond of the going after your own daughter thing either I think that’s been done to death. Let’s try something new!
