Batgirl (2016-) #27

by Mairghread Scott

[Quirky Cat]

The last issue of Batgirl left us off with an anxiety inducing cliffhanger, though I can’t really say that this one treated us any better, truth be told. There’s been a lot going on in Barbara’s life lately, but she never seems to be able to fully escape her past.
At first I hated the villain Grotesque – and I don’t mean that I hated how horrible he was. Rather, I felt like they were trying too hard to make him…well make him live up to his name. I also took the whole art thing a bit too personally. He’s grown on me a bit, as far as Batgirl villains go. I think I’ll be happy when they move away from him, which is sort of looks like they’re doing now.
There were some parts of this issue that I really enjoyed. There are things that happened in Barbara’s past that we can’t just pretend didn’t happen – like the Killing Joke. That’s been coming up a lot lately, thanks to certain things happening to her chip.
What I thought was interesting in particular about this was how Barbara handled it all. The insight on how she believed everyone (such as her father) felt about what happened to her – or more accurately their inability to deal with it all. It was an interesting perspective – though one I hope she can resolve with time.
Loved the artwork for this issue. They did a great job of showing not only what was happening to Barbara on a physical level, but a mental one as well. That will make more sense when you read the issue, I promise.