“The Rest is Silence“
Writers: Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad
Artist/Color Artist/Letterer: Jonathan Chase
Review by Fay Clark
Batgirls has been on a hot streak lately. Everything is so dramatic and interesting. The plot’s taken a darker turn, rather than just telling the story of 3 Batgirls working together. In the last installment, we saw Cas and Steph in a bit of a bind, with Babs trying her best to assist. Let’s hope we get more answers in Batgirls #14.
She’s the Strong but Silent type
This is going to be an interesting one to talk about. First of all, I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. I would like to make that very clear from the get-go. We get a special issue about Cas, a silent issue with her as the lead. Sign me up! One of my first thoughts was, how am I going to talk about the writing, when there isn’t really any? This is a great reminder that even if there isn’t any text, the writing team still has to plan out the issue and create a storyboard.
So, even though the spotlight might be on the art in this issue, we have to remember that the artist wouldn’t be able to put anything on the page without Becky and Michael giving them the plot and script. This must have stretched the talents of the team to their limits, but you’d never tell. There’s an amazing flow to the story and everything we needed to know was right there, even if it wasn’t explicitly said.
A Picture’s worth a Thousand words
Everyone seems to be stretching their creative muscles in this issue… look at Jonathan Chase go! Not only has he once again handled the art, but also the colors and the lettering. He has almost complete creative freedom on this project. It must be so amazing to be part of this team, with the writing and the art all being so awesome. Everything in every panel is the embodiment of Cas as a character. Being able to bring a creation alive like this with just movement and facial expressions is such a wicked talent. Cas is not an easy customer, but Chase seems to have a handle on her.
You can feel the sheer power and tenseness of her muscles, ready to strike. Jonathan has created an atmosphere of loud silence. There are so many emotions you can see playing out inside of her head and you don’t need them explained. The use of body langue and changes in facial expressions make you feel what she feels. We get to feel like we have the ability she does, in reading changes in micro-expressions and body movement to predict people’s next moves. It is such an amazing talent for Jonathan to be able to translate to the page.
Conclusion
Batgirls #14 is my favorite issue of the series so far. There are so many special things about it, but the fact we get to focus on one of the Batgirls is a major part. I hope we see issues like this for the other girls on the team. Seeing something from their unique point of view. Definitely don’t miss this one, and after yet another outstanding cliffhanger I won’t be missing the next one either.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment
