By: Marguerite Bennett (writer), Fernando Pasarin (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), Blond (colors)
The Story: You may:
- attempt to ford the city
- caulk batmobile and float it across
- wait to see if conditions improve
- get more information
The Review: I’m going to say this up front: I kind of hate a poorly written Barbara Gordon.
Especially without the development she gained as Oracle, Barbara’s talents can run the risk of becoming an informed ability. After all, Tim Drake, Cass Cain, Stephanie Brown, all needed extensive training with Batman before they were good enough to be heroes, but Barbara stepped out of the library ready to go toe to toe with the world’s greatest acrobat. So especially in a story where there aren’t super villains or costumed alter egos, it will be essential for this story to define our young heroine.
Luckily, it seems that Marguerite Bennett knows Barbara Gordon. I don’t say writes a fine Barbara Gordon or shows a firm handle on Barbara’s character; she knows her. While I’m sure she made a conscious process of it, Bennett’s take on the future Batgirl has a depth and flow that’s so natural that one could easily believe that the story wrote itself.
What works? Well, firstly, Bennett is clearly still in touch with her youth, which avoids the awkward teen speak that comics can sometimes fall into, but it hardly ends there. There’s also the clear, yet understated, vision for the character that Bennett brings to the issue. The issue does an excellent job of casting Barbara’s heroism as a reaction to her father’s example without denying her agency and goes one step further by showing us another side of the relationship between Barbara and James Jr. Barbara’s family life receives only a few moments of notice but it’s enough to tell you the whole story.
Bennett’s plot is built around this excellent version of Barbara, exploring how a good-natured, slightly dorky kid discovered that she could be a hero. While it succeeds in highlighting the character, the plot itself is somewhat tame. These Zero Year stories have to be considered from two distinct viewpoints, first as a glimpse at familiar characters not yet formed, and second as stories unto themselves. Like her father’s spotlight last month, Barbara’s story might not seem so fascinating if it weren’t about a young Batgirl. Obviously it is, but the story could function just as well if you changed all of the names. Some people might applaud the small scale of the drama and the resulting humanity it brings out, but I wouldn’t fault anyone who wants some Batgirl in their Batgirl.
The title, “Homestead”, comes from a line that Barbara rather charmingly highlights as slightly out-of-place, but it keeps popping up, becoming stranger each time. The ending also seems a tad off, slightly at odds with its own message, but it is a satisfying way to wrap things up.
Fernando Pasarin’s pencils are a mixed bag. On one hand he draws an iconic and complex version of the Gordon siblings as well as an impressively detailed Gotham, but on the other, he has issues with proportions. Parasin’s figures tend towards excessively long torsos and seem to grow and shrink depending on the demands of the panel. One early panel depicts an unusually stiff looking Commissioner Gordon comforting his daughter. While you might not be able to place if something’s wrong at first, Gordon’s body seems to subtly defy physics and his arms would probably give the “Find the Fish” man from Meaning of Life a run for his money. Pasarin also has a habit of drawing smaller faces than we’re used to which combines poorly with young Barbara’s egg-shaped head.
Still, for any excesses in anatomy, Pasarin does a superb job of rendering fire, water, and shadow, and all three are present in abundance. I also have to admit that I can’t remember a time that a comic paid such careful attention to clothing. Maybe it’s that there are no costumes or maybe it’s the colorist’s choices that make it so striking, but between the fabrics and the rain, this is an impressively textured comic.
The Conclusion: Though it struggles against the restraints of Zero Year the way that all of its kin have, Batgirl #25 distinguishes itself through its pitch-perfect characterization and lack of preachy absolute morality. Bennett does a great job of showing without telling, constructing a scaffolding that allows the reader to easily fill in Barbara’s life.
I find myself liking the art, but highly aware that it has some serious problems. The comic has a great moody look, but it strains against strange faces and issues with proportion.
Bennett crafts an excellent version of Barbara Gordon that combines the best of her Batgirl enthusiasm with the adorkable precision that she brought to her role as Oracle. With a pixie-cut and a tactical vest, this Barbara can hold her own against the best of the character’s long and storied history. Especially if you like zombie-stories or other tales of survival and collapse, this is your issue. Though some may not get excited about a story where the villain is the weather and nothing bad can happen to the hero, Batgirl makes the best of Zero Year and comes out of the storm stronger.
Grade: B
-Noah Sharma