After all, none of the other New 52 graphic novels I have split like that. Anyway, so the construction of this hardback seems kinda shoddy to me, but it might just be what my copy was like. When you think about it, it’s kind of appropriate that Barbara Gordon’s book has the broken spine. 1: The Darkest Reflection” this happened… Well, this time when I opened my copy of “Batgirl Vol. You may have noticed from my other reviews that these New 52 graphic novels have had way too tight of binding and some of the text and imagery have been getting lost into the spine. The first side of the argument, the pro-walking-Barbara, is what we have and it’s best to be optimistic about these things. Overcoming her injury didn’t take the mending of body, but the strength of spirit that no bullet could ever take away.īut anyway, that entire last paragraph is kind of fruitless. Sure, she couldn’t walk but she could sure as hell still fight and make a major difference in the war against crime. Also, by pulling Barbara out of the chair you take away a role model for the handicapped. So when you look at it that way, the mythology has been watered down. Just a few years before the New 52 began, Jason Todd was revived (still a terrible idea in my opinion, even though The Red Hood book has been a fun read), and now that the comics are getting a reboot Barbara has been cured and Sarah Essen might not have even existed. The top 3 most horrible crimes Joker committed that had a long lasting impact on Batman’s history are the murder of Jason Todd, the murder of Sarah Essen, and paralyzing Barbara Gordon. On the other side though, it removes some more of the tragedy from the Batman mythology and wipes away some of Joker’s most heinous acts. Most folks don’t know about Barbara getting shot through the spine and when they think Batgirl they still think of the old Adam West TV Show or the Animated Series and in both cases the Batgirl was the redheaded daughter of Jim Gordon and she was always able to stand upright. On one side, it has potential to offer some interesting stories about Barbara regaining her confidence as a crime fighter and it also makes the book far more accessible to new readers–which is what the New 52 reboot was all about. Fans of Cassandra Cain or Stephanie Brown will groan and others who had grown fond of Barbara’s role as Oracle will be equally saddened, but here’s the way I see it: Barbara Gordon is back as Batgirl in these first 6 issues of the New 52 “Batgirl” series.

Batgirl new 52 volume 1