Batgirl Volume 3: Death In The Family promises a monumental and emotional reunion between Barbara Gordon and The Joker, who she hasn’t seen since the pivotal events of The Killing Joke, which left Barbara paralyzed for a period of time after being shot straight through the spine (and after Joker took some very interesting photos of it (crime scene evidence, right?)). Whilst being honest, this book was actually slightly underwhelming. I always see on Twitter, Comic Vine and more that Gail Simone’s Batgirl is usually a “masterpiece” or “the pinnacle of comics”, and I always was looking forward to reading her stuff (I own the first two, or three, issues but stopped because of budget problems), however in a storyline that is as pivotal as this one, I was really underwhelmed. That being said, this book necessarily isn’t bad, and Gail Simone is a great writer, but I think Batgirl gets more credit than I feel it’s actually worth.
Let’s start with the basics of Batgirl: Death Of The Family. It starts off with a story about Barbara recovering from previous adventures and stopping arsonists and saving people from burning buildings; these arsonists however are only just homeless people. Eventually, Catwoman breaks a talon out of prison to make a deal with some old gangster who’s connected to the Court Of Owls (UGH, can we stop using them already?). This section contains some beautiful artwork, it’s photorealistic and it’s just a wonder to look at, but it only lasts a few pages and it’s quite disturbing when Batgirl enters the fray to break up the Talon fight; because the artwork changes to more of an average water-color paint style, almost as if the collection forgot to insert another issue break somewhere. Not to mention that this new artwork is subpar and somewhat fails at its goals. Overall, the story involving Batgirl, Catwoman and this Talon fella didn’t last long and was somewhat of a chore to get through (mainly because I haven’t read the issues previously) but it wasn’t long until the stakes were raised. The next issue, Barbara gets a phone call, it’s from a mysterious voice who we assume is The Joker claiming that her mother has been captured and is being held hostage. The voice tells Barbara everything and demands she make a sandwich (what?) or her mother will be killed. Eventually, Barbara goes after The Joker; but I don’t think it’s quite explained how she finds where he is.
Honestly, I expected so much more from this tie-in; I clearly understand why they couldn’t do anything that major though, considering Scott Snyder had already written and locked-in the beginning and end of Death Of The Family, Batgirl was only a mere tie-in. Yes, the reunion between Barbara and The Joker is disgusting, crazy and vile, but I didn’t care for it because I knew there would be no emotional connection; by this point I’ve already read Death Of The Family and knew that nothing serious could happen to Barbara or The Joker in this issue because of those events. That doesn’t mean the book can’t be twisted, and I believe Simone knew this, which is why Volume 3 Death Of The Family is actually about one of my favorite Pre-New 52 villains, James Gordon Jr. However, they have retconned some of his past, but the same despicable son of Commissioner James Gordon that you read in Scott Snyder’s run of Detective Comics is very, very much present here. While James isn’t as terrifying as he was before, the character still provides a psychologically thrilling drama and story, and really, you never know what he’s going to do next. It’s great, because he’s connected to Batgirl in so many ways; there’s an issue written by Ray Fawkes that James narrates and puppets the life of Batgirl. Speaking of Ray Fawkes, this collection features his issue that he wrote after the controversial removal of Gail Simone as writer of Batgirl; she did return to the book afterwards, though, which left had this collection take a drastic turn of tone. This collection is somewhat of a mess; providing the stories are great, though. The constant and drastic change in tone and artwork throws off the reader quite a bit and takes some time to get used to, as well. Hell, to finish off the storyline, they threw in the final issue of Scott Snyder’s Death Of The Family as well and that’s a COMPLETELY different style of book; all things considered, a new reader may be confused.
Batgirl: Death Of The Family was an enjoyable read and Barbara Gordon’s narration is fantastic, most of the time. However, I do not understand how people can go about saying that it’s “the best comic ever” and a “must-read”, because I honestly didn’t feel that way at all. Some elements of the story felt forced or unnecessary, but the final two or so chapters are actually quite thrilling because they take place well-after Death Of The Family and just wrap up the arc of James Gordon Jr. with a shocking ending. Batgirl: Death Of The Family is a satisfying read that is well-worth the cover price, but the assortment of the collection can be quite confusing and slightly messy at times.
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