The retooled Batgirl book hits comic shops across the country today.  The series, previously written by Gail Simone, has been taken over by writers Cameron Stewart and Brendan Fletcher, with Stewart and artist Babs Tarr providing the art for the interiors.  The announcement of the new creative team resulted in a lot of very positive press coverage.  That may actually be an understatement.

Comics Alliance said:

‘Batgirl’ To Become Best Possible DC Comic With New Creators Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr And Brenden Fletcher

From Bleeding Cool:

The Yellow Doc Martens Batgirl Is A Smash Hit

From The Mary Sue:

Batgirl’s Redesign Already Has a TON of Fan Art

i09 praises the new Batgirl costume:

Batgirl’s New Uniform May Be The Best Damn Superheroine Outfit Ever

Other artists were inspired by the new Batgirl costume to do their own redesigns:

Batgirl Redesign Sparks Phenomenal Response by Other Artists

The Hollywood Reporter:

DC to Relaunch ‘Batgirl’ Comic Book Series With New Creative Team

and there’s plenty more out there.  The response, so far as I can tell has been overwhelming. Also, I’ve got to say, if there was anything that tempted me to break my boycott of DC Comics, this book might be the one.  Take a look at this sample page from the new creative team’s first issue:

Take a look at how the dialogue flows from one character to next, while at the same time maintaining separate characterization.  Look at how the art captures each scene perfectly and separately. Take a look at how expressive and emotive that art is. It’s quite good. It’s almost enough…maybe one day.

In any case, just bc I’m not buying it doesn’t mean others can’t. It also doesn’t mean I can’t promote it. It’s a comic book featuring a woman (yeah, she’s batGIRL…I won’t get into that), which is something that’s always welcome in the world of comics. It also features a female artist in Babs Tarr, which is something the comics world doesn’t have enough of. The press is amazingly positive about this all new direction, so I can’t help but feel this could be the makings of a really good, strong run on Batgirl. Go pick it up!

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Update:

I knew that there was bound to be someone who didn’t care for Batgirl’s new direction, and here’s one with some valid criticisms: Cure For Kryptonite.

Rumor has it that Barbara will make this new costume herself out of items she finds at various vintage boutiques and thrift stores. I guess I can see the folksy, light-hearted charm, but the problem is Batgirl isn’t really a folksy, light-hearted character.  She’s gritty and dark, and that’s what makes her so interesting.  She is (or at least was) a shining example of determination and unrelenting will, with a splash of vengeance. Think about it: Barbara has seen her friends and family members die, she witnessed her own brother become a mass murderer, she has been beaten and tortured countless times, not to mention she was put through all the events of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke…  Oh and did I forget to mention that she was paralyzed for years, but still managed to fight for good despite of her handicap!

That’s the character I want to read about, not little miss trendy’s adventures in Gotham city.

The new creative team will start their run with a fire burning all of Barbara’s previous possessions.  I think that’s an accurate symbolic representation of the new direction; all of Batgirl’s great history and character development going up in smoke.

Like I said, it’s great that the industry is recognizing the younger female demographic and writing heroes for them.  It’s just a shame that DC had to destroy one of my favorite characters in the process.

I sympathize and agree with much of this criticism. For all that I do think DC appealing to their female readers is a good thing, one of the big reasons I’m don’t read DC Comics is because I was invested in the characters and their history.  They threw so much of that away with the 2011 reboot.  A lot of what I liked in Barbara Gordon was wrapped up in a character who came to terms with the horrible violence that befell her and went on to become Oracle, a character with a unique and substantial role in the DC Universe.

There’s also a more mild complaint I have that this tonal shift in the series is dramatic–in much same way that Daredevil’s early, swashbuckling adventures by Stan Lee do not mesh well with Frank Miller’s grittier, urban DD tales. The two styles are so different that sometimes it comes off as two different characters.