Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1: Orange is the new Bat

Barbara Gordon has always been more than Jim’s daughter. And while her role has changed several times over the years, across many different runs, fans have never really seen a story like the one Mariko Tamaki has penned for Barbara Gordon: Breakout.

The series currently sits on “ongoing” status with no clear total issue count, meaning whatever story Tamaki wants to tell will have to be stretched over a long period of several issues. This is already quite different to Matt Fraction’s current run on the mainline Batman title, which is more focused on an “episode of the week” format rather than long continuous narratives.

Barbara Gordon is a character who has been, for a long time, filled with possibilities for solo storylines and character development beyond her role as another member of the Bat family. In its 23 pages, the first issue of Barbara Gordon: Breakout goes over her entrance and introduction into Supermax but doesn’t plant any seeds for a longer-form storyline.

Amancay Nahuelpan’s artwork comes across as distinct, keeping the same overall designs. Jorge Jiménez has established the Fraction Batman run, but with Nahuelpan’s own approach to line art and detail. The characters seem to pop forward towards the reader, with three-dimensional faces and reactive posture that enhances each overall scene. Several different filler characters are allowed to crowd one page or even one panel without it becoming too dense for the reader to follow the storyline.

Pacing is this issue’s most noticeable problem, as the story frequently speeds up, slows down, and uses single-page flashbacks to weave together its story without actually doing much of anything. There are also some pages that only use a handful of panels, which leaves the action scenes to end up feeling quite static.