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Batgirl #37
Writer: Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher
Artists: Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart, and Maris Wicks
Cover Artists: Cameron Stewart
Publisher: DC Comics

The new creative team continues to give their Batgirl a more youthful appearance, both in the artwork as well as the direction of the story. This is a little peculiar, given the extensive history and experiences the character has lived through. The underlying plot twist to this story was actually that Dagger Type was hired to draw out and target Batgirl by an unknown benefactor, who remains unknown through the end of the issue. However, this was largely overshadowed by the backlash from readers that promptly followed the reveal that the person masquerading around town as Batgirl was in fact a male. Given the wonderful job Gail Simone did with creating Alysia, a trans woman, and developing her relationship with Barbara, the introduction and treatment of Dagger Type was poorly handled. What could have easily been a strong arc about identity was muddled down in a childish attempt to produce a peppy, “young” book. This book is trying so hard to emulate the younger generations, with its social networks, and instant messages and selfies, that it’s missing the boat on what makes Batgirl, Batgirl. 2.5/5

Batman Eternal #36
Writers: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, Kyle Higgins, and Tim Seeley
Artists: Fernando Blanco and Marcelo Maiolo
Cover Artists: Tommy Lee Edwards
Publisher: DC

With Hush captured and Bard being closely watched, Batman can finally turn his focus onto the multitude of other things plaguing Gotham. With over half of this series published, readers are only now just finding out who the villainous mastermind is, though if you’ve read Hush’s original introduction to the DCU, you might’ve already guessed it. The Riddler is the perfect villain to have orchestrated such an elaborate plan, given his level of intelligence. However, with The Riddler playing such a huge role in Zero Year, the recently finished event on the ongoing Batman title, it feels a little bit too soon to have him back as a main villain. It’s always nice seeing the Bat-family working together, even if Batman is uncharacteristically rude and aggressive towards Tim. And while the future still remains unclear, if this is the end of Bard’s reign of terror, his victory was remarkably short lived. 4/5

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Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net