Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Batgirl of Burnside

After an experimental surgery involving electrodes placed along her spinal cord, Barbara Gordon regained the ability to walk after being crippled by the Joker. Inspired by how the new technique maps her brain, Barbara created a security system that mimics her photographic memory rich mind. In time, her computer program wins Barbara a place in a lucrative doctoral program. Seeing a chance to make a new life outside of Gotham after her apartment burns down, Barbara enrolls in college in the neighboring borough of Burnside to complete her dissertation.

   But with new friends who work for a popular online dating app and a new university, Barbara struggles to balance her academic life with her blossoming social life. On top of all that is her duties as Batgirl, which have kicked into high gear as she's mysteriously attacked by another, more glitzy Batgirl who seemingly knows all of Babs’ secrets. Is there an impostor to the title of Batgirl of Burnside? Or is Barbara slowly losing touch with reality.

  Batgirl of Burnside is essentially a re-branding of the superhero, making her more trendy and hip. It was an interesting read that attempts to tell Batgirl’s story to a new target audience. But the image shuffle of Batgirl that left me with a lot of questions. The penultimate chapter of this book does explore how Babs regained her ability to walk but her past as a pre-paralysis Batgirl is left in doubt. In fact, it's hinted that this may very well not be her actual reality and that her life is a fraud.

  When this book started to explore the possibility of the coming DC Universe Rebirth, I started to enjoy this series. But the first third of this book was really not my cup of tea. What with the characters constantly texting and going to raves or trendy art shows, I, an older comics' reader, felt a disconnect. But by the midway point, Batgirl started to return to her roots as a martial arts practicing Nancy Drew and things started to click here.

  So is this re-branding of the Barbara Gordon Batgirl a Gen-Xer’s allegory on the overly pervasive nature of a social media driven culture? Or is it a millennial’s cry for a personal voice in a multimedia flooded society on the verge of dystopian collapse? It's up to you, the reader, to decide. Hey, it might even be a little bit of both. But no matter how you look at the revitalized Babs  one thing is certain; the seeds of DC's Rebirth begin in this volume!

  Worth Consuming

  Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

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