Batgirl Steps Out Of The Darkness With New Costume, Creative Team
By Nick Tylwalk
Returning Barbara Gordon to the role of Batgirl was a move that appealed to traditionalists, one of few to trend that way during DC’s New 52 initiative. What’s coming up for the character, though, is anything but traditional.
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After losing everything she owns in a fire, Gordon will start over from scratch in Batgirl #35, which goes on sale October 8. The changes come thanks to a new creative team, with Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher handling writing duties and Babs Tarr taking over on art.
The first thing that’s impossible not to notice is that Gordon is sporting a brand new Batgirl outfit that she assembles herself. Stewart told MTV that there’s a specific reason it looks like one readers could also put together if they shopped at the right stores:
"Barbara is forced to make a new costume for herself when her old one becomes unavailable. The new one is something she’s able to make herself, shopping at the various boutique and vintage stores in Burnside. It also reflects her youth and style. Unlike Batman or Batwoman, she no longer needs to stay in the shadows, and in fact learns to embrace the spotlight."
That reference to Burnside? It’s apparently the “cool, trendy borough of Gotham,” a.k.a. the one that you never knew existed. Gordon has plans to leave the shadows and psychotic villains usually associated with Gotham to the rest of the Bat-family so she can concentrate on grad school, but enough trouble finds her that she can’t leave Batgirl behind.
Though it’s certainly a drastic change, it also stands a pretty good chance of becoming a real alternative to the grim atmosphere that hangs over most of the New 52 titles. We’ll see if readers embrace it in just a few months.