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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.\u00a0That may soon be changing, thanks to the aforementioned word.<\/p>\n
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<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0This was a series that had recently been rebooted in the New 52 event, one that\u00a0made\u00a0Barbara Gordon\u00a0Batgirl 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\u00a0Birds of Prey<\/em>, the 90s series that featured Barbara Gordon in her wheelchair-ridden\u00a0Oracle\u00a0avatar,\u00a0teaming 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\u00a0too 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\u00a0that Superman has never been used well and Batman is a self-obsessed asshole that gets a free pass\u00a0from 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.\u00a0Hawkeye\u00a0<\/em>by Dave Aja and Matt Fraction, Loki Agent of Asgard,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Ms Marvel,<\/em>\u00a0to name a few.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But back to Batgirl. What really happened with Cam Stewart getting on board with co-writer Brenden Fletcher\u00a0and\u00a0Babs 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”.<\/p>\n Until I read recently about how the success of the Batgirl relaunch, and that of other series like Harley Quinn\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Gotham Academy\u00a0–\u00a0<\/em>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 –\u00a0has led to a change in company\u00a0policy. 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<\/a>” where continuity is given less preference over content<\/a>. And the relaunches look good. Batgirl<\/em>‘s Brenden Fletcher takes over\u00a0Black Canary\u00a0<\/em>with artists Annie Wu and Irene Koh. Bryan Hitch, known for his widescreen action in\u00a0The Authority\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Ultimates\u00a0<\/em>works on the Justice League of America.\u00a0<\/em>I get a\u00a0comeuppance of sorts through a series called\u00a0We Are Robin.<\/em><\/p>\n The city is overrun by Jokerized victims, but a small band of teenagers unites to take a stand. Their secret knowledge of Gotham City\u2019s streets helps them survive, but will Batman take help from this young group of upstarts?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 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\u00a0Dark Knight Returns\u00a0<\/em>or a\u00a0Watchmen<\/em>, 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\u00a0less\u00a0schlock, more aww. And yes, and\u00a0a whole lot of diversity in comics.\u00a0DC seems to have risen to that particular challenge, as\u00a0Bleeding Cool says<\/a>:<\/p>\n We have a black man (Dave Walker) writing one of DC\u2019s most prominent black comic characters, Cyborg. We have a woman (Amanda Conner) writing and drawing (Emanuela Lupacchino) Starfire, often criticized for the character\u2019s sexist portrayals of late. And a comic book creator (Steve Orlando) who already brought us a critically acclaimed gay graphic novel (Virgil), writing DC\u2019s gay male comic, Midnighter. Criticism that despite attempts at diversity in character, it\u2019s still a bunch of straight white men working on the comics, is a little harder to justify today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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