Barbara Gordon: Breakout #3: Do (Not) Fear the Reaper

The Issue begins with a flashback, Barbara as Batgirl, Nightwing, Huntress, and Cassandra Cain, also as Batgirl. Barbara has doubts about the efficacy of her research, her deduction, but Nightwing encourages her, and has belief in her. This flashback only draws attention to how Barbara feels completely helpless right now. The mysterious Sparrow hands Babs more pills, and encourages her to eat and sleep. Barbara can’t tell if she has recently or not. It’s hard to tell at this point just how much Barbara trusts Sparrow. Barbara calling herself ‘Oracle’ in her head is really nice to see, as this is very much an Oracle-type mission, and I took to calling her that in my last review.

Barbara is approached by the thug that fought her in the first issue, the spectre of death looming close behind. The trippy visuals kick back in, are the pills causing this? Barbara herself comments that the pills are seemingly not painkillers as she clutches her head in pain. Returning to the flashback, the presentation is really striking, with a dollhouse showing all the characters searching for clues. I can’t put my finger on the specific issue, but it reminds me of Batwoman’s battles with Alice. A portrait of Hanah Anhala, a new character, with something behind it… That name resonates in Barbara’s mind, as she discovers a circle engraved on the prison wall. Sparrow insists Babs take more pills, highly suspicious.

Barbara is terrified as the Reaper chases her. It seems to me that the pills are the things hiding the identity of people who are attacking her, the Reaper claiming to know her identity as it grips her arm. As Barbara is shocked by the electric fence, we see the conclusion of her flashback, there was no Hanah Anhala, it was always a trap, and the building is immolated. Barbara knows that everything is a trap, as a man with glasses watches on multiple screens.

Another interesting, if oblique issue of Breakout, I really loved the structure and visuals of this one, the parallel story of past and present, highlighting Oracle’s mental state, and current lack of allies. The weirdness of Sparrow and the true identity of the Reaper (if they are a real person or not). I do worry about Barbara’s passivity in this book so far, things keep happening to her, rather than her doing things. She is on the back foot so much that if things don’t come together soon I could feel a little frustrated by her lack of agency. I wonder who the mystery observer is, I’m not up-to-date on my bespectacled Batman villains but to my eye, it feels like a mental opponent for Barbara’s Oracle persona, which is very exciting to me. I still don’t trust Sparrow.