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Batgirl, Vol. 1: Beyond Burnside by Hope Larson, Raphael Albuquerque, Deron Bennett, Dave McCaig
boards_books_and_brews's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
Batgirl, Vol. 1: Beyond Burnside
Written by Hope Larson
Art by Rafael Albuquerque
Book 76/250
Genre: Fantasy, Superhero
Format: Digital, Graphic Novel
Pages: 144
Published: 2017
Rating: 3.5/10
Art: 5/10
Collects Batgirl (2016) 1-6
This just didn’t do it for me. I am not the biggest Batgirl fan to begin with, and taking Babs out of Gotham and letting her tour through east-Asia was just an odd fit. Also, how does nobody recognize her? Her mask hides next to nothing!
eileenthecrow's review against another edition
1.0
how can it be even worse than the worst batgirl run to date (batgirl burnside)
labunnywtf's review against another edition
4.0
Batgirl vs...Asia, basically.
It's been awhile since I read Batgirl, and there are a lot of volumes I don't have access to, but I fell right back into this so easily. There's no big continuity that starts this particular series off, and as a N00b to comics, I appreciate this more than a lot of writers can understand.
The artwork is fantastic, as ever. And we even get a little Poison Ivy cameo in the last chapter (or whatever you call that in comic book speak), which was wonderfully thrilling to me.
One thing I notice with every Batgirl series, and which drives me nuts every time: Why do so many people refer to Barbara Gordon as Barbara Gordon? Like, "Hey, Barbara Gordon, ready to go out to eat?" Like...why? Why is this a thing?
It's been awhile since I read Batgirl, and there are a lot of volumes I don't have access to, but I fell right back into this so easily. There's no big continuity that starts this particular series off, and as a N00b to comics, I appreciate this more than a lot of writers can understand.
The artwork is fantastic, as ever. And we even get a little Poison Ivy cameo in the last chapter (or whatever you call that in comic book speak), which was wonderfully thrilling to me.
One thing I notice with every Batgirl series, and which drives me nuts every time: Why do so many people refer to Barbara Gordon as Barbara Gordon? Like, "Hey, Barbara Gordon, ready to go out to eat?" Like...why? Why is this a thing?
ploppypooh's review against another edition
4.0
The plot did not at all make sense. But it’s a fun volume to look at! And that is all that I was asking for, really.
daileyxplanet's review against another edition
4.0
This is my first Batgirl trade proper, so I have nothing to compare it to. It is adventurous with comedic coloring as well, and it was fun. I look forward to reading more.
hellocookie's review against another edition
3.0
DC’s Rebirth reboot surprised the heck out of me in a really good way. Many of the titles are actually good and DC is slowly working some of the old fan favourite continuity back in the mix, erasing the mess that was the DC New 52. To be fair, the New 52 really wasn’t so bad and gave us a lot of really solid titles, including Aquaman (no really), Animal Thing, Swamp Thing, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman, and Batgirl… most notably to me, the Batgirl of Burnside by Brenden Fletcher, Babs Tarr and Cameron Stewart.
Here within Rebirth, the story hasn’t really been reset, thankfully. The previous creative team rebuilt Barbara Gordon quite a bit, trying to erase the horrible Killing Joke continuity that’s plagued her character for ages. For Batgirl: Beyond Burnside, writer Hope Larson (Who is AC?, A Wrinkle in Time) more or less picks up where the story left off but picks Babs up and drops her into Japan, citing a change of scenery for her to get away from the drama that has surrounded her in Burnside. Boys, supervillains… you know, the usual stuff that a young adult deals with. Unfortunately Babs doesn’t know the meaning of a vacation and after running into a troubled childhood friend, she’s forced to make Batgirl an international vigilante and get some upgrades to her fighting skills by learning and competing in the MMA.
I really wanted to like this story. I really, really did. And it’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s more that I felt like it wasn’t a very satisfying arc. Outside of Babs herself, we were missing the characters that helped give Babs more heart, like Frankie. She’s in it but barely. The Batgirl of Burnside shines with her friend by her side and it noticeably took away some of the emotion of the story without her. I get that Larson is trying to build up her Batgirl but to me, Frankie is now a vital part of Babs and helps make her who she is.
I felt like writer and artist weren’t quite in sync here either and neither was colourist Dave McCaig. None of it is BAD, but it felt like they weren’t working as a team to better the story overall, they were just sending in their parts for a paycheque. Albuquerque is an artist I’ve been following for quite a while now and I LOVE HIS WORK. American Vampire, Eight, and Huck both are just extraordinary and feel like they’re stories that he wants to tell. On Batgirl, Albuquerque’s feels stiff and lifeless. McCaig’s colours didn’t really feel right either to me. They felt a little too neon or something? When McCaig colours some of the villains (such as The Schoolgirl), the pastels really work and the palette compliments the story. I know that McCaig is a good colourist so it seems bizarre to me that it felt so off for this story.
Ultimately I think the thing that really got to me was again, the lack of heart to the story. I didn’t care about the characters, I didn’t care about the villains, and I definitely didn’t really care about what the end game was when it came to the finale.
Verdict:
Skip it. I was disappointed by the story here and don’t really consider this particular arc vital to Batgirl. It doesn’t have a lot of significant impact on her continuity and doesn’t set up a lot one way or the other for the subsequent issues. I’m definitely going to check out what follows this arc because I think Larson may have just needed a little bit of a warm-up with the character. The whole creative team is excellent but it feels like they need to work on their dynamic together. I look forward to seeing what they do together in the near future.
Here within Rebirth, the story hasn’t really been reset, thankfully. The previous creative team rebuilt Barbara Gordon quite a bit, trying to erase the horrible Killing Joke continuity that’s plagued her character for ages. For Batgirl: Beyond Burnside, writer Hope Larson (Who is AC?, A Wrinkle in Time) more or less picks up where the story left off but picks Babs up and drops her into Japan, citing a change of scenery for her to get away from the drama that has surrounded her in Burnside. Boys, supervillains… you know, the usual stuff that a young adult deals with. Unfortunately Babs doesn’t know the meaning of a vacation and after running into a troubled childhood friend, she’s forced to make Batgirl an international vigilante and get some upgrades to her fighting skills by learning and competing in the MMA.
I really wanted to like this story. I really, really did. And it’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s more that I felt like it wasn’t a very satisfying arc. Outside of Babs herself, we were missing the characters that helped give Babs more heart, like Frankie. She’s in it but barely. The Batgirl of Burnside shines with her friend by her side and it noticeably took away some of the emotion of the story without her. I get that Larson is trying to build up her Batgirl but to me, Frankie is now a vital part of Babs and helps make her who she is.
I felt like writer and artist weren’t quite in sync here either and neither was colourist Dave McCaig. None of it is BAD, but it felt like they weren’t working as a team to better the story overall, they were just sending in their parts for a paycheque. Albuquerque is an artist I’ve been following for quite a while now and I LOVE HIS WORK. American Vampire, Eight, and Huck both are just extraordinary and feel like they’re stories that he wants to tell. On Batgirl, Albuquerque’s feels stiff and lifeless. McCaig’s colours didn’t really feel right either to me. They felt a little too neon or something? When McCaig colours some of the villains (such as The Schoolgirl), the pastels really work and the palette compliments the story. I know that McCaig is a good colourist so it seems bizarre to me that it felt so off for this story.
Ultimately I think the thing that really got to me was again, the lack of heart to the story. I didn’t care about the characters, I didn’t care about the villains, and I definitely didn’t really care about what the end game was when it came to the finale.
Verdict:
Skip it. I was disappointed by the story here and don’t really consider this particular arc vital to Batgirl. It doesn’t have a lot of significant impact on her continuity and doesn’t set up a lot one way or the other for the subsequent issues. I’m definitely going to check out what follows this arc because I think Larson may have just needed a little bit of a warm-up with the character. The whole creative team is excellent but it feels like they need to work on their dynamic together. I look forward to seeing what they do together in the near future.
xsleepyshadows's review against another edition
4.0
I love this Bat Girl so much. I've been very impressed with Batgirl, Volume 1: The Batgirl of Burnside series and I'm glad they are continuing with this one. You really take a journey with her as she is visiting Asia to learn some more things about herself including some martial arts. I love the idea of Fruit Bat but I wish they did some more background stuff on her because she's quite the mystery and they just kinda put her in there. She's believable as a wise teacher character with a very similar sounding history to batman. Honestly, with her even getting special training reminds me of batman and now with her having her own company I'm hoping that's where they take her. This book has a lot of characterization on Babs and is a great read.
The couple of things that bother me...
Some characters I think either need more work or not to be there at all. Like, I NEED to know more about fruit bat. Instead of having her in there for a brief moment they could have made the whole book with her instead of this Kai nonsense. A fresh young superhero pairing with a elderly one that has the skill to teach but needs the help would be amazing. I can even imagine her having moments with her family that they have no idea she's still doing hero stuff thinking she's a helpless young lady now vs. her being a hero and teaming up with bat-girl...GIVE ME THAT!
I like the villain in Batgirl, Volume 3: Mindfields because when a character you don't know arrives out of no where that we don't know but Babs claims they were friends as kids comes in you kinda have to take it on her word. Later you find out this out of the blue character is the villain who altered Babs mind and the Villain is actually crashing in our heroes' apartment was really unique and good...Kai is a childhood friend who happens to be the criminal she's after. It's kinda the same formula except bad because Kai is POINTLESS. Who cares about him? Throw him away and bring in Fruit Bat! Seriously, I also feel it's out of character for bat-girl to be I'm suspicious of this dude then I think I'm in love with him. Boo!
The art is good...but I really really really miss Babs Tarr. ~Ashley
The couple of things that bother me...
Some characters I think either need more work or not to be there at all. Like, I NEED to know more about fruit bat. Instead of having her in there for a brief moment they could have made the whole book with her instead of this Kai nonsense. A fresh young superhero pairing with a elderly one that has the skill to teach but needs the help would be amazing. I can even imagine her having moments with her family that they have no idea she's still doing hero stuff thinking she's a helpless young lady now vs. her being a hero and teaming up with bat-girl...GIVE ME THAT!
I like the villain in Batgirl, Volume 3: Mindfields because when a character you don't know arrives out of no where that we don't know but Babs claims they were friends as kids comes in you kinda have to take it on her word. Later you find out this out of the blue character is the villain who altered Babs mind and the Villain is actually crashing in our heroes' apartment was really unique and good...Kai is a childhood friend who happens to be the criminal she's after. It's kinda the same formula except bad because Kai is POINTLESS. Who cares about him? Throw him away and bring in Fruit Bat! Seriously, I also feel it's out of character for bat-girl to be I'm suspicious of this dude then I think I'm in love with him. Boo!
The art is good...but I really really really miss Babs Tarr. ~Ashley
readingwhereitrains's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
natopotato's review against another edition
4.0
A ver si se mejora lo que dejó Stewart. Entretenido, algo interesante pero esperando ver como evoluciona después de esta "introducción".
PD: Batgirl/Babs se sigue levantando la misma cantidad de hombres que Nightwing/Dick se ha levantado mujeres, ¿es una competencia esto?
PD: Batgirl/Babs se sigue levantando la misma cantidad de hombres que Nightwing/Dick se ha levantado mujeres, ¿es una competencia esto?
owlyreadsalot's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this graphic novel and especially loved that this took place in Japan, South Korea, and other places along the map. It was a nice change of pace, but also shows a superhero's job is never done, or on the back burner.
Babs is happy to get away for a little, but like I knew it would be, the villains are never that far away. Vacations are almost non-existent. She meets up with Kai, who is staying at the same place she is checked into. He ends up being at the center of most of what goes on in this read.
The villain in here being a girl whom Batgirl calls "Sailor Clown" with a connection to Kai, that Babs does her best to get to the bottom of. An appearance by her favorite Superhero Fruit Bat who is 104 years old and still has some fight in her, helps her with a fight against this mystery bad girl.
There's a lot going on in this novel, with her possibly starting a relationship, getting knocked out in a fight against an MMA fighter that has connections with the first villian of this story, more traveling locations that adds further to Batgirl Vol. 1: Beyond Burnside. And so much more.
I found that I really enjoyed most of this read and where it lead, how she got to travel around while figuring out what was really going on around her. It was fun and interesting. Looking forward to reading more like it.
***I received this copy from DC Comics via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***
Babs is happy to get away for a little, but like I knew it would be, the villains are never that far away. Vacations are almost non-existent. She meets up with Kai, who is staying at the same place she is checked into. He ends up being at the center of most of what goes on in this read.
The villain in here being a girl whom Batgirl calls "Sailor Clown" with a connection to Kai, that Babs does her best to get to the bottom of. An appearance by her favorite Superhero Fruit Bat who is 104 years old and still has some fight in her, helps her with a fight against this mystery bad girl.
There's a lot going on in this novel, with her possibly starting a relationship, getting knocked out in a fight against an MMA fighter that has connections with the first villian of this story, more traveling locations that adds further to Batgirl Vol. 1: Beyond Burnside. And so much more.
I found that I really enjoyed most of this read and where it lead, how she got to travel around while figuring out what was really going on around her. It was fun and interesting. Looking forward to reading more like it.
***I received this copy from DC Comics via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***