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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
Normally graphic novels aren’t really my thing. I prefer to speed read through books, and pictures don’t really lend itself to that. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this one as much as I did. The first 3 parts were a story of the beginnings of Barbara Gorden (aka Batgirl) as she morphs into her dream profession.
If you don’t generally read graphic novels, give this one a chance as the story is definitely interesting.
You can see my video review here:
https://youtu.be/ApcnQv-ZZRk
If you don’t generally read graphic novels, give this one a chance as the story is definitely interesting.
You can see my video review here:
https://youtu.be/ApcnQv-ZZRk
I have a special place in my heart for Barbara Gordon, super-librarian and vigilante. This rehash of her origin story is great, mostly because it foreshadows/references so much of what is to come/has happened--Cassandra, Oracle, and all the rest. Comics are confusing, and there are always details from each subsequent story that don't mesh correctly, but I think that this run captured Babs' soul.
I have a few friends who really love Batgirl, so I picked this up to see. And yeah, I love Babs (even if she doesn't love being a librarian), she's totally awesome and kickass. And it seems like a good portrayal of being a girl in the male-dominated superhero world (though written/illustrated by men).
I had to dock points for storytelling, though, because there was a lot of back-and-forth in the timeline that often wasn't clear. Like, pretty much every chapter did that thing where it starts out near what will happen at the end of that chapter and then goes back to show how we got there, but it wasn't very well done so I couldn't always tell when we had caught back up to "real-time."
I had to dock points for storytelling, though, because there was a lot of back-and-forth in the timeline that often wasn't clear. Like, pretty much every chapter did that thing where it starts out near what will happen at the end of that chapter and then goes back to show how we got there, but it wasn't very well done so I couldn't always tell when we had caught back up to "real-time."
I went in with super high expectations and ... I was a bit let down. I don't know really, maybe it's cause I saw the issue covers and I was expecting to be blown away by the artwork and (with the exception of the final issue) that just didn't happen.
If this is any example of either Chuck Dixon's writing or early 2000s Bat-family books, then I plan on digging up more.
Preferred this to Robin Year One- I think Dick and Barbara's interactions are great and the back and forth between the two provided some of the most entertaining aspects of the stories in this collection.
Some of this was really good, but some of it was very confusing. I liked the beginning and end- but in the middle there was lots of time jumps that weren't explained and I just had no clue who some of the characters were- it was explained so poorly and I didn't really like some of the storylines (especially Firefly and Killer Moth). I did like Barbara as a character though and I thought her and Robin were a great team. I feel like I learnt quite a lot about Batgirl from this and I'm glad I read it and I think it was a good introduction to her character but there were other characters that turned up like Black Canary and Arrow who we were told nothing about- I knew about them and some other characters from the DC tv shows but it was like they just expected you to know who they were... which you wouldn't if you wanted an introduction to DC... Which is what I hoped this would be.
Also, something I really don't like in comics is when around the action you have weird poetic sounding text that doesn't make sense that is meant to be the main character talking from the future about what's happening in the scene in weird flowery language... I don't know how to describe it but that happened quite a lot in this and I just tuned it out because it didn't make sense to me.
I liked the last issue though and some of the other stuff throughout was good.
Also, something I really don't like in comics is when around the action you have weird poetic sounding text that doesn't make sense that is meant to be the main character talking from the future about what's happening in the scene in weird flowery language... I don't know how to describe it but that happened quite a lot in this and I just tuned it out because it didn't make sense to me.
I liked the last issue though and some of the other stuff throughout was good.
This was pretty good, but I felt it got a little weaker when Broodman and Robin showed up.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Damn good.
Batgirl is so freaking cool.
But what is there really to say? The origin story isn't big or exciting, it just kind of is. It's enough. It's awesome. Can't wait to read more about her.
Batgirl is so freaking cool.
But what is there really to say? The origin story isn't big or exciting, it just kind of is. It's enough. It's awesome. Can't wait to read more about her.