Batgirls #5 - DC Comics

BATGIRLS No.5, June 2022

Finally providing Oracle with something more to do than simply communicate across a commlink or devise technological devices, Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad’s narrative for Issue Five of “Batgirls” certainly must have hooked many a perusing bibliophile with its fast-paced opening. In fact, the titular trio’s awesome fracas with the horribly heinous Saints genuinely sets this comic up with a seriously scintillating start as Barbara Gordon once again dons her bat-suit and demonstrates just why her incarnation of the cowled character was so popular “during the Silver Age of Comic Books.”

Disappointingly however, things do then seem to wane once the Bird of Prey roars away on her “classic” bat-bike and leaves her two protégés to yet again face the increasingly tedious, reoccurring antagonist known as the Tutor. This confrontation, which at least somewhat excitingly occurs inside “the creepy, abandoned Arkham Asylum”, arguably feels like little more than a re-tread of the writing team’s prior instalment, and only differs from what has previously been penned before when Cassandra Cain breaks off from her tête-à-tête with Stephanie Brown to singlehandedly confront “a scene out of a zombie movie.”

Luckily, for those booklovers able to navigate Spoiler’s extremely text-heavy investigation into Cody Kline’s patient records, there is some light at the end of the tunnel in the guise of a civilian-clothed “Babs” visiting her evil ex-boyfriend Charles Dante to discern just how Gotham City’s homicidal underground artist escaped the psychiatrist’s custody. Regular readers will already know that the art therapist is actually the supervillain Spellbinder, so much of the palpable tension presented in this predicament is cleverly generated simply by them waiting for the hypnotist to strike at his prey, rather than them discovering his secret identity.

Proficiently pencilling this twenty-two-page periodical’s panels is Jorge Corona, whose ability to depict Gordon speeding her way through the trials and tribulations posed by the Saints is genuinely scene-stealing. Indeed, it’s a pity that the red-haired crime-fighter isn’t made more prominent throughout this publication, or her battle against “these nasty ex-operatives” of the Magistrate lengthened, so that the Venezuelan artist can sketch her just a little bit more; “They may be seasoned killers, but they’re outclassed. And easily manipulated. Kinda tragic, actually.”

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