Barbara Gordon has held many titles over the years. She was the very first Batgirl. She became an information broker to the superhero community as Oracle. She helped found the Birds of Prey. Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 puts Barbara into a new position: inmate. Following the ending of Batman #9, Barbara is arrested, tried, and placed into Gotham’s new Supermax prison. Unlike Arkham Asylum, Supermax isn’t stocked with supervillains but with dissidents against Vandal Savage… and corrupt guards meant to keep the inmates in check. As Barbara works to solve the mystery surrounding a series of brutal murders within Supermax’s walls, she must also fight to survive.
What makes Breakout #1 terrifying is the situation that Mariko Tamaki and Amancay Nahuelpan have placed Barbara in. There’s no last-minute rescue from Batman and the rest of the Bat Family. There are no computers that she can hack into. On top of that, the fact that she’s Jim Gordon’s daughter has placed a target on her back. One of the few glimmers of light is that Barbara has enough brains and skills to outlast her fellow inmates, and both are put on display throughout most of Breakout #1.
Tamaki throws a curveball into the mix with the revelation that Barbara planned to get caught, despite Batman’s reservations. But on a single page, she also reminds readers what makes Barbara such a compelling character: once she makes up her mind, no force in the world can stop her. She chose to be Batgirl on her own, she chose to become Oracle rather than let the Joker’s assault define her life, and she’s choosing to help others who can’t help themselves. That’s not just the mark of Batgirl or Oracle, but the mark of a true hero.
DC
Nahuelpan has proven himself an artist to watch, thanks to his work on titles like The Flash and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Casey Jones. With Breakout #1, he once again delivers the same hard-hitting, grittier fight scenes that made Casey Jones so great to watch. Every fight that takes place in Supermax feels like a fight for your life; hair gets pulled, cutlery gets turned into weapons, and each punch is directed at the softest, weakest parts of your opponent. It’s here that we see how skilled Barbara is, as no one touches her yet she manages to lay out scores of opponents, with the carnage reflected in her glasses’ lenses.
Tamra Bonvillain also deserves major credit for her color art, specifically the way she portrays Supermax. While Nahuelpan depicts it as a towering fortress of steel and glass, Bonvillain gives it an obsidian hue that stands out against Gotham’s stormy purple skies. It also provides a sharp contrast to Arkham Asylum; if Arkham was a haunted house, Superman is a black hole that seems all but determined to envelop prisoners in its orbit.
Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 delivers a tense, gritty, page-turner of a first issue, and the start of a murder mystery. It’s also a reminder that whether she’s Batgirl, Oracle, or in her civilian identity, Barbara Gordon isn’t someone you ever underestimate.
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