6 Autobots
allhailgrimlock

Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

I'm a well read grad student who's bluntly honest about all things, although I try to be most honest about myself.   

Currently reading

Separate Orbits
Yael Mermelstein
Progress: 119/427pages
BATMAN #53 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman53, TomKingBatman53
BATMAN #54 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
MattWagnerBatman54, TomKingBatman54
BATMAN #52 ((DC REBIRTH)) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman52, TomKingBatman52
BATMAN #51 ((DC REBIRTH)) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
LeeWeeksBatman51, TomKingBatman51
Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer (2018) #1 (of 2)
Al Ewing, Humberto Ramos
Champions (2019-) #4
Jim Zub, Jacinto Benavente
SUICIDE SQUAD #46 ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
JosLuisSS46, RobWilliamsSS46
SUICIDE SQUAD #45 ((SINK ATLANTIS)) ((DC REBIRTH )) ((Regular Cover)) - DC Comics - 2018 - 1st Printing
JosLuisSuicideSquad45, RobWilliamsSuicideSquad45
Champions (2019-) #3
Jim Zub, Jacinto Benavente

Beautiful, adorable, and thought provoking

Batgirl (2011-) #37 - Babs Tarr, Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart

Each issue of Batgirl that I've read by this creative team has tackled something timely.   The first was about stealing private information via the internet and exposing secrets, the second was about popular culture and the obsessive fan cultures and what that can do to people, and this issue?

 

This issue had so much to it.   The usual Babs using her brains.   The friendship between women.   The fight scenes.   Batgirl makes an appearance, of course.   And then there is the issues of identity and art.   An artist begins making pieces that are based off Batgirl.   There are photographs, in chichi people assume that Barbara is modeling and that it is egotistical of her.   She is not.   She realizes that her identity is being claimed by the artist, especially when she sees the image of her in the wheelchair. 

 

There is something that ties this issue and the last together: each of her foes - twin girls last issue, and one man this issue - is hired by someone they cannot track.   They are not told his identity.   They simply know that they've hired them to kill Batgirl, and the twins even assume that Batgirl was the one who hired them.  (She did not, although this has happened in the DC universe before.   Harley Quinn hired people to take her out, although she didn't remember it later on.   I believe she did that in her sleep.)

 

I like that there's this socially conscious awareness of how the internet, media and arts affect our lives.   That being said, this isn't the deepest look into these issues possible.   I do believe one can do a lot with twenty five pages, but asking one to cram in an exciting script, some good lady friends, smarts, and a social issue that is explored in intimate depth is a bit much.   I'm willing to overlook the fact that the gender issues of a man dressing up as Batgirl and trying to claim her identity as his own isn't really delved into too deeply.   I'd like for it to have been given anything, and there is not even a passing nod to what this means as far as gender goes, but I'm willing to admit it might be a bit too much to ask of less than thirty pages which are heavily illustrated. 

 

To credit this story, it would have taken more time than it could give to tell that story, too, and it didn't try.   The story was about art and identity and while they didn't need to throw in the transvestism just for the shock of it all - and Babs is shocked when she sees this - I could appreciate the art and identity issues without them talking about gender itself.   

 

I enjoyed it five stars worth.   So five stars!   Hurrah!   This is turning out to be a favorite series.