Batman: Batgirl

Batgirl

by Kelley Puckett, Karl Kesel (Illustrator), Matt Haley (Illustrator)

She was young, smart, talented and a super-hero. Life was good. Until the Joker came along.

A tale from Batgirl's early days as Gotham City's third major hero! From the beginning Batgirl's crimefighting career seemed almost charmed.

One of four prestige format one-off comics published in 1997 featuring the characters of the movie Batman and Robin.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Superheroes, Fiction

48 pages, Comic

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Kelley Puckett is a comic book writer. He is the creator of the character Cassandra Cain, the Batgirl who succeeded Barbara Gordon and who was succeeded herself by Stephanie Brown, as well as the second Green Arrow, Connor Hawke.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a job for Batgirl!

This is a one-shot book that coincided with the release of the greatest Batman movie ever, “Batman and Robin”.

Nipple suit Batman and Mr. Freeze… I get it.



Batgirl’s fairly new at the superhero crime fighting business having previously dipatched Killer Moth.



Whither Killer Moth?



Batgirl likes to hang with the GCPD and take down perps on the sly – then it’s enter The Joker.



And Batgirl gets to debate the merits of crime with the loony master of mayhem.

After a minor disagreement:



Despite the pseudo-porn-y/pseudo The Price is Right set-up, I’ll give my favorite Goodreaders a single guess as to who bails out Batgirl.



He gets shot in the head (hence the look of Bat-rage) and packed off to the Leslie Thompkins Clinic and Batgirl gets to ponder on going up against Mr. Freeze.

Bottom line: As a one-and-done, it’s a decent read and it has no plot tie-ins to the epic cinematic genius of Joel Schumacher.

Three groovy Bat stars.



And Power to the People!!

[Rylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Babs is just amazing

[Kinan Diraneyya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Haha. Another Batgirl story where the girl screws up and Batman rushes to help her. I suppose the writers realized that this character was always destined for terrible stories that they had to cripple her and change her name. It is so sad that it is funny. The art style, however, is absolutely fantastic.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is absolutely terrible, and not worth reading, no matter how much of a fan of Batman or Batgirl you are. There is basically no plot - the book isn't about anything. The characters are flat and one-dimensional, and this does absolutely nothing to cast greater insight on Barbara Gordon. The absolute worst thing, though, is that it totally diminishes Batgirl as a character. It is forty odd pages of how Barb is in over her head and needs Batman to save her. Just total trash.

[Adele · Rating 1 out of 5]

Произошло абсолютно ничего и все персонажи здесь такие…скучные

[Dr Rashmit Mishra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't like the art , but the book worked in detailing how Barbara's naive attempt to play vigilante actually taught her how dark Gotham crime fighting can be . However the story made Batman feel cheap sidekick and the whole story progressed very jarringly and everything that occurred felt irrational . I know its comic book but it was just so odd . Meh

[Dan Hensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but sweet. Writing for Barb, Jim, and Joker is all good. Art is serviceable. Love how this starts after Batgirl's first outing where she defeats Killer Moth, and I love the references to that. Joker is shown as both brutal and unpredictable (as he should be). My only problem with this one-shot is how short it is. Would've enjoyed it more if they doubled the length on this one.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Cuando la leí en su momento me pareció zafable, cuando la relea seguro haga una reseña acorde" dice mi hermano burlonamente, emulando mi voz como un idiota. Pero tiene bastante razón, así que hasta nuevo aviso, esta es la review.

[Ola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, but batgirl was a bit too unprofessional for my taste.

[Viktória Larišová · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, story was kinda boring and nothing really happened (and I guess I just don't get the Batgirl, eh), but oooh myyy goooood, the artwork was beautiful! :)

[Denise Malta]

I can't even rate it. It was so short. The art was great and the story was a quick and easy read with absolutely no depth to it.

[ilham · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly there wasn't much to it, but the art was so beautiful and that should count for something

[machado · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barely a plot and I felt the ending was too abrupt, but the art was beautiful.

[cauldronofevil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comic was apparently released to coincide with the Batman and Robin movie. Which has 12% on Rotten Tomatoes. And I think that’s too high. I can’t even swear that I actually saw it. But that’s how it is with trauma.

The comic starts with Barbara Gordon reading a newspaper account of her saving Billionaire Bruce Wayne’s life at at “dinner attended by Gotham’s elite” where she stops Killer Moth.

But the first thing she says is that she didn’t join the police force because she thought it would be too violent. The last story I read was that she didn’t join the force because her father wouldn’t let her and I think in Batgirl: Year One the reason was that she was too short.

I notice the trend of stretching a comic. There are four panels on a page, if you’re lucky. Still it’s good art by Matt Haley & Karl Kesel.

When she meets her dad, Commissioner Gordon she overhears that someone with green hair and white skin is breaking into an office building. She heads there and finds a note with a building layout and a name and address. She tries to take it to her dad, but he ignores her.

So she suits up and goes there herself. It implies that this is her second adventure.

It’s a nice touch that she is in it for the excitement, but she knows she’s not well equipped or trained. She tries to warn the people inside the house that they are in danger, but they are afraid of her.

”Who do you think you are?”
”I’m Batgirl, you idiot! Look at me!”

Thugs break into and Batgirl apparently kills one of them with a fireplace poker.

Then Joker comes in and shoots all the civilians. Joker also knocks Batgirl out. As she goes down she sees there was a boy hiding behind the couch.

Batgirl and the boy wake up alone in a locked room. Batgirl pulls up a floor board and they crawl under it to escape.

She distracts the thugs guarding her and the kid which gives the kid the chance to run away.

Then she stumbles into a room with the Joker.

Then the Batman shows up. Joker shoots the Batman.

It’s an odd story. It doesn’t quite work for me. Barbara learns that Joker is really nuts. Joker - SPOILER ALERT - almost kills Batman.

Batgirl worries that she’s not that young anymore. Huh? She is still sleeping in Commissioner Gordon’s house but we’re never given an idea of how old she really is and she’s drawn fairly mature.

I’ll give it 2 stars for the excellent are and there were some good bits about her being naive and new to the job.

So 3 stars, but hardly worth a 50 page special. This could have been done in 32 pages easy.

[Rizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the few good things to come from the Schumacher Batman films was a series of one-shots showcasing some characters who appear in those films. But make no mistake, these are post-Crisis canon, not Burtonverse. And this is one of the few modern comics showing Babs' time as Batgirl, so it's a fun little addition to the timeline. It's not going to challenge your perceptions of the character or anything, but it's enjoyable. Kelley Puckett is the definitive Batgirl writer (regardless of who is wearing the cowl) so you can't go wrong.

[Mik Cope · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet little tale of Batgirl finding her feet in the crazy world of the Joker. I thought Puckett captured the insane random violence of the Clown Prince of Crime quite well. Batgirl is a little bit out of her depth, but manages to at least rescue the kid (who will presumably be traumatised for life having witnessed what happened to his parents). And then the real superhero shows up and resolves the situation.

[Josh Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story that fits perfectly in the Batgirl Year One time frame. Entertaining, well written story, EXCELLENT art, just not long enough. Would have liked to see this fleshed out into a longer arc. It’s over before it gets started.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite a good story. I'm surprised it hasn't yet been collected, or has it?

[Alex Rankine · Rating 3 out of 5]

like 2.5 bc it was a weird and unnecessary year 1 extension and batman is in it for literally no reason but the joker interaction was interesting

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too rushed. This needed more pages to tell the story effectively.

[ziad · Rating 3 out of 5]

barbara as batgirl is great but her as oracle will always be better and having her go back to batgirl is one of the dumbest decisions dc has ever made

[Robert Bussie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is nothing special but the art is fantastic. The coloring is flat, but the big, bold colors is amazing.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good little stand-alone tale. Nothing overly special story-wise but the artwork is great.

Happy Reading, everybody!

[Ramón S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

very poor comic book. the best thing is the art but even that is not outstanding

[Zeus · Rating 3 out of 5]

lowkey a nothing burger but i love the art and i like barbara so

[JD Comics · Rating 5 out of 5]

Batman: Batgirl, written by Kelley Puckett and illustrated by Matt Haley, is one of four stories released in 1997 in prestige format to promote the film Batman and Robin (yeah. That film). This story takes place after Batgirl: Year One. Barbara Gordon is starting to enjoy being a superhero and is looking to do more. Unfortunately, she has bitten off more than she can chew as she finds herself face-to-face with the Joker.

Puckett wrote a good Batgirl story. The story definitely shows that Babs is truly meant to be a superhero, and she gets a chance to show her deductive skills in this book. I also like the scene wherein Puckett was able to humanize one of the antagonists. However, what I did not like is the Joker’s motivation in this story. I know the Joker is very unpredictable, but his motivation for destroying a building was pretty shallow, even for the Joker's standards. Puckett could have at least given the Joker a better motive that is more believable.

This is a good story to read before The Killing Joke because it shows that Batgirl and the Joker have a history together, although the Joker did not know that Babs is Batgirl in The Killing Joke. I will say though that, as much as I love Brian Bolland’s art, Haley drew the better Barbara Gordon (blasphemy). I really enjoyed the art in this book.

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[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A batgirl story that is early on in her career. Some nice character touches, especially her first meeting with the Joker. Not much else happens but it is a fun, inconsequential read.

[michelle eskin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

I liked it but I wish it was longer, because it is very short and rushed, but it was exciting

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is good, the story is enjoyable, but very brief.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. The best part was reading this with my daughter. The art work is pretty good, but the story is lacking depth. Not the best Batgirl stuff. Pass this one by.