Batgirl teams up with her father, Commissioner Gordon, to solve some mysterious attacks on women in Burnside and Gotham.
Batgirl #21
Writer: Hope Larson
Artist: Scott Godlewski
Colorist: John Rauch
Cover Artists: Dan Mora, Joshua Middleton (variant)
Publisher: DC Comics
What You Need to Know:
This is a standalone issue. What you need to know are the basics. Batgirl left Gotham proper for a Gotham suburb called Burnside a few years back. She is the protector of Burnside. Her father is James Gordon, the Police Commissioner of Gotham City. So all you need to know are the basics.
What You Will Find Out:
Batgirl is investigating the latest attack on women in Burnside. There have been five such attacks of women being found in a coma in their bathrooms. This time, however, there is a witness, the boyfriend. He describes a gooey monster that had attacked his girlfriend. Batgirl notices that the victim uses the same beauty product as all of the other victims.
She investigates the local apothecary that made the beauty product. While here she runs into Commissioner Gordon. There have been similar attacks in Gotham. The two decide to work together. Commissioner Gordon notices a shipment of bioglass. They decided to investigate the company that shipped it to the apothecary. It turns out to be a large factory where they find a goo that seems to be alive. They take a sample to the hospital and they find no trace of the goo or the bioglass on the victims.
Batgirl deduces that the creature actually absorbs the bioglass from the victims because it is a part of itself. It is trying to make itself whole. Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon decide to test out the theory. They set up in the showers in the Gotham Police Department locker room. Commissioner Gordon pours the beauty product down the drain. He is almost immediately attacked by the creature. Batgirl tries to save her father by shooting her grappling hook in it. That doesn’t work well. She then notices some bleach on the floor. She pours the bleach on the creature and it causes a reaction. It creates a gas. Batgirl notices the creature started hardening so she dives in and pours the bleach into the creature which causes it to explode and release her father.
The Commissioner wants to have the samples of the creature destroyed, but Batgirl says they should keep it for research value. He tells her that she reminds him of his daughter and gives in. It turns out that Barbara didn’t really want to study the remains of the creature. She wanted to keep it as a souvenir of her adventure with her dad. Later she calls her dad and the two have dinner together in her civilian identity.
What Just Happened:
While this wasn’t the most epic adventure ever, it was a good story about the relationship between a father and a daughter. The adventure was just a good excuse to get the two characters together. Commissioner Gordon obviously misses his daughter and doesn’t have much of a life out of his police work. Barbara loves being Batgirl and living in Burnside, but she misses her dad. This was a well-written character story by Larson and I enjoyed the art by Godlewski. For a standalone story, it wasn’t bad.
Rating: 7/10
Final Thoughts:
I enjoy this series. Larson seems to have a good sense of Barbara as a character and her strengths in writing seem to be in the interpersonal connections between the cast. Some of the standalone stories in the book are hit or miss. I would say that this one was a hit.
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