Barbara Gordon: Breakout #6: WE ARE SO BACK! (Mostly)

I don’t know if it’s just me, but the change of artist for this issue has totally refreshed my stamina for this book. Pablo M. Collar has made it so much more digestible, and the new characters introduced have infinitely more personality in the few panels we’ve seen so far. The expressions are more fun, and the characters themselves carry themselves with more confidence. Maybe the craziness of Savant and Creote just makes this more fun, but I finally feel like I’m in Gotham again, here are the colorful individuals I’ve been craving! As much as I’ve praised Nahuelpan’s art, I can’t help but reassess, Collar makes Barbara look so much more determined and less, dare I say gormless? I think the inks and colors suit Collar’s less realistic art better too. The action is a lot more free-flowing and impactful, though it does bug me how much more competent Savant and Creote are than Barbara has been in fights thus far.

A small thing, but eyebrows are such an important way to allow characters to express, and giving Barbara such distinctive ones has improved her design tenfold, while I have very much enjoyed Nahuelpan’s paneling I do fear I was being a little rash in my praise when Collar’s art has improved this book for me so much. Savant and Creote intend to rescue Babs, and I am glad someone has decided to be proactive here, the BREAKOUT in the title is finally starting to show. Just as Barbara’s investigation starts to get somewhere, discovering a false wall in the cell where Sparrow was killed, they are interrupted by the guards. It seems these walls are key to breaking out for everyone, as Creote’s insider tells them to listen to where the rats travel.

After yet ANOTHER mysterious assailant takes out the guards that have accosted Barbara, we cut elsewhere to the murder of the prison warden, and a certain lawyer, announcing Babs will be going to trial. I love this. No ifs ands or buts, lawyer Two-Face is criminally (hah) underutilized, and as an Ace Attorney fan, this kind of absurdity makes me giddy, and I think Collar’s much more fun and stylised art is going to make this portion of the story even more exciting. A change of scenery will also be good for this book, as there has been little effort in making Supermax an interesting location. I think the grounded nature of this book has been holding it back, and Savant, Creote and Two-Face are the exact types to rescue it. Whatever other layers the prison has could also make it more interesting, though I think Impel Down from One Piece has spoiled my perception of fantasy mega-prisons. I’d love to see something like that here, but I think we’ve missed the boat there.

I can’t wait to see Two-Face’s kangaroo court, and potentially some actual breaking-out in this breakout book! Huzzah! We’re getting somewhere! And I’m glad, as I didn’t want to feel like I’d been wasting my time, or Tamaki was spinning her wheels any longer, though the plot cul-de-sacs of the past few issues have really dragged this book down, I think it could all even-out into something with a passing grade by the end.