Writer: Hope Larson
Penciller: Rafael Albuquerque
Batgirl continues to be an extremely impressive book. Much of that is due to artist Rafael Albuquerque, who continues to make this one of DC’s best-looking books month after month.
Hope Larson continues to give the book an international flair, setting the issue in China. The culture has a huge influence on the story, which has been a fairly recurring theme throughout what we’ve seen from this new run of Batgirl so far.
What I still love about the book is that there’s still a heavy detective element, even given the larger, globetrotting scale. That’s impressive. That’s easier said than done. She’s really claiming that moniker of “world’s greatest detective” by actually doing it all over the world.
Larson’s characterization of Barbara continues to be on-point, faithful to the character’s long history while also making her fresh and exciting for new and old readers alike. My biggest complaint with the previous run was that they spent too much time making Barbara enticing for new readers and not enough time respecting the character’s history or even reminding readers that she’d been around a long time before the book began.
Barbara’s a young woman still, but not as young as recent comics tried to make her out to be, so I’m liking the balance we’re finding within these pages. This continues to be a strong series that should make Batgirl fans happy.
