Batgirls #3 - DC Comics

BATGIRLS No.3, April 2022

Considering that a quarter way through this comic Barbara Gordon realises that her super-team are spreading themselves too thin by dealing with multiple problems, it’s difficult not to imagine some readers feeling equally as bamboozled by this publication’s numerous sub-plots. In fact, up until Oracle’s decision to fully focus upon Tutor being “responsible for putting innocent Gothamites under [a] trance”, the titular characters appear to be being pulled all over the place, whether it be from the constant threat of the Seer, another battle with the deadly Saints, Stephanie Brown’s strange susceptibility to the mysterious street artist’s Fear Gas derivative, the bizarre number of street-level thefts occurring within the local neighbourhood, the identity of the mass-murdering Hill Ripper, and even who amongst the central protagonists makes the most drinkable coffee.

Fortuitously though, once writers Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad pen the Batgirls attending an underground art show at an old shipyard, this twenty-two-page periodical’s narrative arguably gains some considerable traction and even manages to shed a little light on one of Babs’ former romantic relationships. Sure, the authors can’t seemingly help themselves muddy up the waters a little bit by having the likes of Tarsus, Valentine and Assisi ‘pop up’ towards the end of this publication simply to serve as a reminder to any perusing bibliophiles of their deadly presence. But at least circumstances ensure that the two opposing groups don’t actually engage one another on this occasion, and instead allow “One Way Or Another” to simply continue its depiction of Tutor’s Machiavellian machinations; “It’s just… After what happened last time, and then again tonight… I feel like the weak link. I just don’t wanna be a liability, ya know?”

Indeed, debatably the highlight of this comic is Brown and Cain’s rematch with the masked wall-scrawler inside a derelict ship, which intriguingly has Cassandra single-handedly fending off the gas-guzzling entertainer’s deadly attacks against her team-mate, after he casually casts 'Spoiler' into another zombie-like trance. This fight sequence is incredibly well pencilled by artist Jorge Corona with plenty of bone-crunching blows and dynamically drawn acrobatics. Furthermore, the action really helps highlight just how savagely tough the previously-named Orphan can be when supposedly cornered, courtesy of the young woman ultimately besting her smart-mouthed foe even when at a major disadvantage.

Story: Becky Cloonan & Michael Conrad, Art: Jorge Corona, and Colors: Sarah Stern & Ivan Plascencia