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Is It Good? Batgirl #40 Review

Comic Books

Is It Good? Batgirl #40 Review

We’ve reached the finale for the first storyline of the new Batgirl run. It’s been a bumpy ride, but highly enjoyable and a lot of fun. However, how will things wrap up before the two month long break for Convergence? Is it good?


Batgirl #40 (DC Comics)


Is It Good? Batgirl #40 Review

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So Batgirl is now facing down the true mastermind behind the cause of all of her problems recently, a computer algorithm she built when was she in a wheelchair and pissed at the world. The algorithm has gone nuts, believing it is the real Barbara Gordon and that it needs to get her body back and purge the city of its criminals and causes of future criminal activity.

Is It Good? Batgirl #40 Review
Could be worse. She could have created Skynet.

This storyline ends really well—it wraps up this large storyline that’s been brewing for a while and reconnects and ties in all of the past issues into this one (bringing back all the characters we’ve seen, even ones that were in the background surprisingly), making this comic feel incredibly satisfying. It lays down the groundwork for where this comic will be heading after this issue and even sets things up for the new Black Canary series that’s spinning out of this one. The story’s resolution here just really succeeds and ends everything off on a good note, hopefully encouraging people to wait for its return in June.

The characterization for Batgirl here should put a lot of people’s worries and complaints to rest. People have been complaining and arguing that she really hasn’t been herself in a while and has been acting too immature and hipsterish for their taste. However, this entire arc can really be seen as an interesting growth and new direction for her. After having to deal with such gritty and dark situations for a while, the desire for Babs to have a lot more fun, be more upbeat, and even act a little more carefree feels almost natural for her. However, she swung too far in that direction and there were consequences. This issue allows her to finally find what kind of Batgirl she wants to be after dealing with the two extremes and her enemy: a serious, yet happy hero in the end. It’s an interpretation of the run up to now, but it makes the most sense given the story and the execution and delivery on the outcome feels great.

Is It Good? Batgirl #40 Review

The rest of the writing is great here. The characterization for the rest of the cast is stellar, allowing for all of the main players in the book to actually have a role in helping defeat the bad guy and save a lot of people. The emotion, drama, and even sense of humor are all on point in no issue (the makeup between Dinah and Babs was great). The dialogue was solid and featured plenty of good lines, while the story never actually felt overloaded with it. The pacing and story structure are solid, with no issues with that. Everything just felt right, and came together into a really stellar conclusion for this storyline.

The artwork was wonderful as always. The characters are wonderfully drawn, very expressive, and easy to identify from one another. I personally like the depiction of the algorithm, which becomes less Babs looking the more and more it stops acting like a hero. The layouts are well put together, flow wonderfully from scene to scene, and are really interesting to look at. Speaking of flow, the action is great in this book and flows so smoothly with the brief bits of fighting in the book. The coloring is nice as well, with beautiful looking colors that add a lot to the visuals. It’s just another stellar looking issue of the series and I’m really going to miss this artwork for the next two months.

Is It Good? Batgirl #40 Review

Is It Good?

Batgirl #40 is a great conclusion to this first story arc, wrapping up everything nicely with some stellar writing and artwork to go with it. Despite all of the controversy surrounding this title with the direction it took and the choices it made, I can’t honestly recommend the book enough. It shows a very promising future that you should not miss out on. If you haven’t already, see if you can pick up the entire run so far and have a read.

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