"Before Stephanie became Batgirl, she definitely had a checkered past and not the highest success rate of being a hero," said Miller. "The whole world before this comic is saying, 'Stop doing what you're doing. We don't want you doing it.' But Stephanie didn't listen, because she's stubborn in the best kind of way."
 

Oh frabulous day! Batgirl #3 was mega awesomeness for my Steph and Babs- loving heart. Happy days are here again! As always, I have my complaints, but overall I was very pleased with this issue.

I'm going to try to do what I did last time and do a page by page review, since a few people liked it.

Page 1: Cool, moody opening page that just happens to have a mention of Steph's time as Robin. Hurray!

Page 2: Steph, at least all your college parties haven't been boring. Babs is giving Steph a chance to solve things on her own here, which is the first good sign of things to come. She can't stop Steph, so she's working with her. Her little internal monologue about keeping her alive long enough to kill her is acceptably snarky and again gives me a feeling of Babs/Canary.

Page 3: I really like Steph's trepidation about both needles and Black Mask. Really  nice character beats. Also, I LOATHE needles myself. Steph is brave to plunge it in there. Here's hoping Steph conquers her fear of the new Black Mask in the same way and kicks his ass, and we can all watch and enjoy.

5/6: Scarecrow kills thugs, Steph kicks thugs.

7: I lovelovelove the panel where Steph crosses her arms and glares waaaay up at Scarecrow. It's such a Steph pose! She's so small compared to him, but she's totally confident and you know she's gonna kick his ass. Or knee him in the stomach, which she does.

8: Steph remains snarky even while drugged. That's my girl! Scarecrow is disappointed he has a little girl thrown at him, but he's about to find out he can't take her. It's such an old comic book trope, but I love it when the villain underestimates the hero because of her size/sidekickness and then gets an ass whoopin'.

9/10: Ah, the ex-boyfriend of rage. The way Tim's acting lately, he would say that shit too (in fact he has). It's very Steph that Tim's one of her fears- she's always measured herself up to him, and of course, she has issues there. I like that even through the mindscrew torture of Tim attacking her, she still kicks out a him.

11/12: Babs starts to root for Steph and show concern for her. The touching the screen in concern  was a nice touch. So was the "We've been here before, haven't we? On the brink of death?" from Spoiler!hallucination. She certainly has.

13/14: Steph starts to break down under all her self doubt. And what's more, Bab's breaks down and calls her Batgirl. I think this is partly what motivates Steph to get her heroic resolve on and wake up- acceptance from Babs at last. I love Steph's expression when she breaks Scarecrow's foot. The pop-psychology stuff she spouts may be a bit stilted, but it's fun to connect it to Steph's situation- she could have become someone else wherever she landed, but she chose to come back to Gotham to make things right. That's what makes her a hero.

14/15: Hell yeah, she's brave enough. You coulda seen the "I'm Batgirl" thing coming a smile away, but I still love it. I love it when heroes proudly shout their names, especially goddamn Batgirls. And Babs reaction is great. Finger steepling and mentory pride ftw!

16/17: Steph pulls a stellar bat exit- no cops push her around! But, unlike Batman, she at least leaves a snarky little note saying thanks (so perfectly Steph...but man, now he's going to have to wash it off his window. What'd she leave it in too, lipstick? I'm going to go with water soluable bat-paint. ) Steph making her Mom waffles is adorable. I love that she's working on her relationship with her Mom.

18/19: Professor Babs is reaching out and helping people! She should be more than an assistant professor but whatever, maybe she's trying not to be conspicuous. Also, like Steph asking for class hours. Shows a bond of respect starting to be built.

20/21: Not sure how I feel about Babs appropriating The Vow. She put her own twist on it, but she should do it somewhere else and make it her own tradition. But I do know I love that Babs is behind Steph 100% and I love Steph's utterly sincere smile when she promised to look out for Babs too. All Steph ever wanted was acceptance: no tricks, no manipulations, no stupid boys club games. And now she's finally got it. She's finally got some sincere guidance. Squee!

22: I love the purple Batgirl coming down on crooks with a huge smile. But, when I read this to Mom, she said: "So she's going to leave her hair out like that?" DC, even Mom thinks it silly!

So great issue, and finally no more angsty Babs! I do have a few issues

* Needs more Cass, but aparrently we can't have these good things so I at least want the Cass issue dealt with, to show Steph and Babs are still looking out for her.

*Babs abandoning Charlie needs to be dealt with

*The pop-philosophy was definitely a little stilted and anvilicious, and the fight was pretty standard- however, this is incredibly minor, and BQM's writing in that regard improves each issue, so...

Overall, a good issue with lots of awesome moments. Can't wait for the next.

4.5/5
 

At first this comment made me angry, but after thinking it over for a few minutes, I think I got what he was trying to say, though he didn't say it very well. Cass is already a competent, seasoned hero. She doesn't really need any training or mentorship (well, except in reading and writing, but since DC's going along with Beechen's idiotic retcon...grrrrrr...) wherea's Steph still has a lot to learn, a lot of areas to improve on and a lot of failure to deal with. I don't think he meant you can't tell a story with Cass- just that you can't tell a hero-in-the-making story, because she's already as heroic as you can get. Especially since he followed it up with "Steph's a work in progress".

Also, he might just be politely saying DC has written Cass into a corner where Batgirl is concerned.

Maybe I'm being too nice, but that's my interpretation.

But there's no excuse for this:

Bruce "saved" her.

Nope, bullshit. Cass made herself a hero way before Bruce came along. She saved herself by escaping her dad. Not to mention BABS was the first person Cass worked with.

He gave her a purpose.

I suppose that's fair. Before Batgirl, Cass was a wandering spirit/hero. As Batgirl, she got a city to protect and a specific mission.

But the really sad news:

While we'll have another passing reference/flashback Cassandra soon, I'm leaving the rest of Cassandra's story to whichever lucky duck gets to write her elsewhere in 2010.

Cass won't be involved in Batgirl? COME ON. She's an important part of the legacy, but even more than that, she's an important part of Steph and Babs life! Steph and Cass are awesome together, there's no way Steph would let Cass fall to the way side. And Babs cares about her too! Disregarding these female friendships is a horrible precedent.

I don't think this is BQM's fault- from his other interview, it was clear he was planning to have Cass reappear until DC decided they're doing something with her- now he has to leave her open for that.

But it's really sad and aggravating for me as a Cass fan. I'm  determined to support Steph and Babs, so I'll keep buying the title- and I will support Cass in whatever DC does with her- and if it turns out to be crap and more screwing Cass over, I will protest it as only an angry fan could.

I really want Steph and Cass to work together again. Their friendship is important to me. Hopefully the "flashback" mentioned will at least let us know Steph and Babs made sure Cass was okay before turning her loose to do whatever. She deserved that.

The last unfortunate implication here is how WHITE the whole Batgirl cast is without Cass. Agh, it's so frustrating. DC, you say diversity means something to you, but your Batbooks sure don't show it.

My last quibble is no mention of Charlie in the interview. I really want that to be dealt with. If Babs has a new lease on life, she should take responsibility over how she abandoned another young mentee and welcome Charlie back. Here's how I want it to be dealt with: I want Babs to invite Charlie over, apologize to her, explain that she was going through an emotional breakdown when she left. I want Charlie to get mad, call Babs out on her selfishness. I want Babs to promise never to do a thing like that again and offer Charlie a place at her home. After some soul searching, Charlie can accept. BQM doesn't have to use Charlie if he doesn't want to. We can just see her in the background every few issues at Babs place, letting us know Babs is living up to her promise. Though of course, I'd love to see Misfit interact with and annoy Steph, acting as her tagalong kid while Babs makes sly comments about "how does it feel when it's happening to you, Steph?"

I don't want these female friendships to be forgotten, I don't want Bab's relationships with her previous charges to be discarded. I want some respect for the characters, or I won't be able to believe DC won't burn this relationship too,

To end on a positive note, good things about the interview: Happy!Babs and Steph learning to be a better hero...and team ups! Can't wait!