Batman Confidential #17-21

I had passed on this when it first released, hoping that the story would be collected in a TPB, but it seems that is not the plan for most of these Confidential arcs, so now I'm picking up the ones I missed out of dollar bins at comic shows. I found these in a bin in Charlotte last week, and while they weren't fantastic, they were pretty fun comics.

Fabian Nicieza has a simple heist story where Catwoman grabs the Commissioner's notebook from Batgirl, so Batgirl spends 4 issues chasing her to get it back. That's just about all the plot there is in this, with the enjoyable parts coming from the dueling captions as the two ladies take each other's measure. This is their first meeting, so the competition is fierce is speed, strength, fighting ability, hotness, and even their boldness. Catwoman at one point flees through a nudist club, forcing Batgirl to follow in only her mask. There are a few other good moments, such as when Batman enters the picture, but things take off when the Riddler becomes involved and Batgirl must then chase him through Arkham. There are some nice quick scenes as she takes on some Bat-villains (she avoids the Joker). The five issues don't really go very deeply into story or even character, but they are fun.

As always, whenever Kevin Maguire works on a comic, his art is the best part of the package. The facial expressions are fantastic, and the tearing and disappearing costumes are an amusing running joke. The nudist scene followed the required Austin Powers rules of placement to make sure everything stayed clean. I do wish Maguire would do more sequentials, his work elevates this simple story into an enjoyable ride.

Fair