Graphic Novel Review: Batgirl: Year One

Batgirl: Year One by Scott Beatty & Chuck Dixon, pencils by Marcos Martin, Inks by Alvaro Lopez, colors by Javier Rodriguez. DC, 2023 ( (c) 2003). 9781779516831. Contains #1 – #9 of the series.

First, this book has a beautiful design, with great images of Batgirl in action, drawn from the graphic novel, on the title page and the page before each chapter in the book. They’re colored differently from the rest of the illustrations, usually with just one color, and add to the sense of Batgirl as a complete badass.

Note: The book opens, as all great stories do, with a superhero vs. supervillain fight in what looks like a library.

Post-college, Barbara Gordon wants to become a detective — she thinks her computer skills will be an asset to the police department — but her dad, the not-yet Commissioner Gordon, opposes the idea. Barbara opts to find a different path. So she takes martial arts classes, applies to the FBI (they turn her down), and even breaks into JSA headquarters to leave a note to be forwarded to Black Canary. None of that works, so she sews a Batman-ish costume to wear to a police fundraiser masquerade. When Killer Moth attacks and tries to kidnap attendee Bruce Wayne, Batgirl steps in to save him. Batman is not impressed with the new Bat-hero. Neither is Barbara’s father. She spends the rest of the book earning their respect and dealing with Robin’s crush on her.

The pacing is perfect and the art is stunning. Martin and Lopez make the action look at once light and serious, though even they can’t make the villainous Condiment King look like anything other than a joke.

If you haven’t read a superhero book in a while or in, like, forever, there might not be a better choice than picking up this reissue.

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