Batgirls, Vol. 1

2.5 stars

The initial section of this, consisting of three shorts originally published in Batman, rushes quickly through the setup, seeing Steph, Cass, and Barbara forced into hiding. Once we get to the stories published in the actual Batgirls series though, things slow down, allowing for character interaction and some touches of domesticity in between patrolling the streets and joyriding in a car appropriated from some villains. Indeed, it might have been a bit too slow when spread out over six issues - the Batgirls do take some time to get around to doing anything - although, at least for me, it works fine in this collected version.

The main villain is decent, fitting well with the Batman mythos as well as harking back to the Batgirl comics set in Burnside. However, there are also other villains, adding some complexity to the story. Two of these are largely in the background, presumably being saved for future instalments, while the remaining gang are set up to be menacing, but eventually prove to be a damp squib. It's also notable that both Cass and Steph insist on being called ‘Batgirl' although the writing is good enough that this is less confusing than it might be.

The art is perhaps likely to be the biggest divider of opinion. For me, it worked better than I thought it would, cartoony without being too sketchy or weird, but I doubt everyone's going to agree. It's not a truly great story, but it's fun and I found the characterisation good (assuming, of course, you accept that Cass and Steph are still teenagers, but that's comics for you). And there's enough set-up that there's clearly room for plot development going forward.