Batgirl #2

And the march of average Bat-titles continues. I was always a fan of Stephanie Brown as the Spoiler, but I'm less interested in her as Batgirl, because I feel like she already had this kind of adversarial relationship with the bat-family when she was Robin. Having Barbara Gordon hanging out in this book as Steph's advisor makes sense, I suppose, but I'm still sore that Birds of Prey was cancelled to make Oracle available for her appearances here. BoP was a stronger title.

The core storyline is a new drug that turns folks into berserk maniacs, affecting everyone from college students to cops. Naturally, the mystery villain who created the drug is the Scarecrow. I think it's a wise move to put Steph up against a big-time threat like this right away; it will help legitimize her if she can take him down. I'm getting a weird vibe from the monologues from both Steph and Barbara, because they both seem to be downplaying Steph's potential as Batgirl. She's not as smart as Barbara, she's not as strong a fighter as Cassandra Cain, and she's not as good a detective as any of the Batmen. So why is she the new Batgirl? Hopefully this first arc will show me why, but right now, it is convincing me of the opposite.

Lee Garbett is sort of like a scratchier Mike Norton. His storytelling is fine, but to be honest Phil Noto's pencils on the covers are so impressive I can't help but be let down by the interiors. Garbett's storytelling is decent, though, and his take on Scarecrow is pretty iconic and cool. I'm looking forward to seeing his take on the new Batgirl costume.

Average