Rating: 5/5
This is the first Batgirl title that I've read, and it was great. Years ago Barbara Gordon was shot by the Joker and crippled. Recently, she was able to recover her ability to walk and she donned the Batgirl mantle once again.
What made this work for me is that Barbara struggles with the decision to go back to actively fighting crime. There is a mix of confidence and uncertainty that makes her relatable. The appearances of Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne could have detracted from the book, but the creators pull it off with a style that I felt enhanced the book without taking Barbara out of the spotlight. The art is pretty solid. About what I've come to expect from DC artists.
The subtitle for the volume, the Darkest Reflection, is appropriate in a number of ways. The main villain that Batgirl is confronting calls himself the Mirror. The obvious connection to the title is that mirrors show a reflection. The Mirror uses his costume to show his victims their true self before killing them; each victim is someone that narrowly escaped death in the past. Barbara's internal struggle with becoming Batgirl again plays on the subtitle as well. When she can't stop the Mirror because of a flashback to the time when she was shot plays into that. If she can't get over that shooting, will she ever really be able to be Batgirl?
As serious and dark as the writing can be, it is able to retain some levity. This mainly comes through in the Dick Grayson story, but it appears elsewhere in the book. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who likes reading superhero stories, particularly DC readers.
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