Two Cents: Batgirl #5

I’ve gotta be honest here, folks.

I didn’t like this issue.

Probably the most significant moment in the issue was the family drama of Barbara’s mother’s return, which is a new direction for Barbara’s past. While we now know that instead of the route of Commissioner Gordon’s adopted daughter/niece/obscure relative, as is the case in past Batgirl comics, Babs is in fact his daughter. But the reveal of Barbara’s mother was not nearly so dramatic nor did it answer any questions; instead, Barbara’s still nameless mother tries to explain herself, Barbara walks away in a huff, ho hum nothing we haven’t read before…and then there was me constantly trying to tell the difference between mother and daughter.

Seriously. The exact shade of red hair (and not a hint of gray for Momma Gordon), not to mention the exact same face, eyes–hey, it looks like they even use the same lipstick colour. Riight. And a couple of pages later you see Jim with the same  brilliant red hair. Which is totally realistic. You know what would have been cool? If Babs’ mom looked a bit more like future Barbara in Batman Beyond.

But then again, I’m biased.

You know what else would have been cool? A villain who isn’t some buxom Emma Frost lookalike with magical changing hair. After the Mirror, I was hoping for Gail to pull out a more disturbing, darker, reminiscent-of-Batman-rogues-gallery-but-brand-new villain whom I can actually hate, or perhaps care about at all. Gail is usually good at writing those…Secret Six’s Junior, anyone?

Oh, and that opening shot was really nice also…you know, with everything else DC is doing to promote strong self-respecting women in their new line of comics. </sarcasm>

NOT.

Well, I won’t stop reading the series, but this definitely was a downturn for me. But that doesn’t make me judge, jury and executioner…what did y’all think about the opening of this next arc?