One of the words that might just make into popular lexicon this year would be “Batgirling”. Though the usage and origin is confined to a narrow subset of people: comic book fans. More specifically, comic book fans that read ongoing mainstream titles. I am not one of them. That may soon be changing, thanks to the aforementioned word.

What happened was this: about a year ago, an editor named Mark Strong got artist Cameron Stewart to take on writer-duties on the ongoing DC series Batgirl.  This was a series that had recently been rebooted in the New 52 event, one that made Barbara Gordon Batgirl again. The only thing I noticed or cared about the original reboot (as opposed to this new reboot of that reboot) was that the covers were by Adam Hughes and Gail Simone wrote the series – the writer was well-known for her definitive run on Birds of Prey, the 90s series that featured Barbara Gordon in her wheelchair-ridden Oracle avatar, teaming up with Black Canary and later, Huntress. But as I have mentioned to various people who still care to listen – mainstream DC and Marvel are both too obsessed with shoving their readers’ heads up the dark cavities of continuity hell (My favorite way of proving this is to ask someone “Who is Robin right now?” and “what is the difference between Uncanny Avengers, New Avengers and Mighty Avengers?”). Add to it my basic gripe that Superman has never been used well and Batman is a self-obsessed asshole that gets a free pass from everyone just because he is “cool”, and there you have it – I walked away from DC/Marvel without looking back. With a foot in the door, to be fair, because I was still interested in the loony titles. Hawkeye by Dave Aja and Matt Fraction, Loki Agent of Asgard, and Ms Marvel, to name a few. 

But back to Batgirl. What really happened with Cam Stewart getting on board with co-writer Brenden Fletcher and Babs Tarr on art duties is a distinct change in tone. Mind you, I haven’t read the actual comics yet (read last part of paragraph above), but the sassiness of the cover and the online discussion about the change got me interested enough to check out a few sample interiors of Batgirl #35. I liked ’em quite a bit, the focus seemed to be on a distinctive teenage personality, not a cookie-cutter heroine subservient to the needs of whatever overarching plot-stuffing that DC editorial mandated. I decided to keep an eye out for the trade when it came out; but my default setting was still set to “skepticism – high”.

Until I read recently about how the success of the Batgirl relaunch, and that of other series like Harley Quinn and Gotham Academy – which is a school story set in our favorite crazy city illustrated by Becky Cloonan, she who has successfully straddled the indie scene with just as much elan as her forays into DC/Marvel territory – has led to a change in company policy. A lot of DC series are being relaunched with new creative teams in June. Which does not say much by itself, but when I hear of editorial call for pitches with “blue sky treatment” where continuity is given less preference over content. And the relaunches look good. Batgirl‘s Brenden Fletcher takes over Black Canary with artists Annie Wu and Irene Koh. Bryan Hitch, known for his widescreen action in The Authority and The Ultimates works on the Justice League of America. I get a comeuppance of sorts through a series called We Are Robin.

The city is overrun by Jokerized victims, but a small band of teenagers unites to take a stand. Their secret knowledge of Gotham City’s streets helps them survive, but will Batman take help from this young group of upstarts?

I don’t know where this may lead just yet, but if this works, it may be a great way to make these comics less cumbersome and more joyful. Because as much as one loves the grittiness of a Dark Knight Returns or a Watchmen, we do not deserve mutated fetuses of these story-lines churned out every year, dripping in blood, deaths, fake reverence that stands in for “heroism”. The need of the hour is less schlock, more aww. And yes, and a whole lot of diversity in comics. DC seems to have risen to that particular challenge, as Bleeding Cool says:

We have a black man (Dave Walker) writing one of DC’s most prominent black comic characters, Cyborg. We have a woman (Amanda Conner) writing and drawing (Emanuela Lupacchino) Starfire, often criticized for the character’s sexist portrayals of late. And a comic book creator (Steve Orlando) who already brought us a critically acclaimed gay graphic novel (Virgil), writing DC’s gay male comic, Midnighter. Criticism that despite attempts at diversity in character, it’s still a bunch of straight white men working on the comics, is a little harder to justify today.

(I probably shouldn’t even mention how worried and happy I am at the same time for the return of Garth Ennis and John McCrea’s Section Eight, one of the most deranged groups of people ever willed into existence. They appeared in the cult Hitman, and I have fond memories – and high hopes – of Messrs Ennis and McCrea)

Barbara Gordon getting shot in the spine arguably started this slow, morbid tailspin that DC fell into since the eighties. It would be fitting if Ms Gordon’s return to form – in a pair of yellow Doc Martens, no less – brings this company out of its storytelling slump.

Dear DC