Batgirl #48 Review
Story by Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher
Art by Babs Tarr
Breakdowns by Rob Haynes (pages 14-20)
Colors by Serge Lapointe (pages 1-10) and Lee Loughridge (pages 11-20)
Letters by Steve Wands
Review by Otha M. Johnson III
Batgirl and Black Canary team up again. But before we see this team up, Batgirl spends time with Luke Fox. The two go and take care of some little trouble in Burnside and during this time Barbara finds out some serious issues with her memory. Even though the main focus is the Batgirl/Black Canary team up, there is a lot of other stories going on.
Babs Tarr is back on the artwork and it’s refreshing to see her fun animated style in the book once again. She manages to convey so much emotion on each page. The coloring duties are split in half by Serge Lapointe and Lee Loughridge. They both give energy and a active life with vibrant colors which make the colors worth looking at just as much as the art and story. To be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference between Serge and Lee’s color jobs. A great accomplishment by both colorists.
Steve Wands letters tries to bring emotion to each characters dialogue and the sound effect scenes. I enjoyed the sound effect scenes a little more than the characters dialogue. You have to bring your patience at least for the first half of the issue. For me, the visuals slightly outweighed Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher’s writing in this issue, but I have to give the writing team kudos for at least attempting to cram so much in a single book without making it TOO overwhelming. Fans of Batwing and Black Canary will enjoy this issue as they both interact greatly with Batgirl for the team-ups. There’s nothing really in this issue that takes any of these relationships to the next level, but fun interactions to read nonetheless. If this issue didn’t try to cram all kinds of different stories, it wouldn’t feel that hectic and rushed. However, it did find a good flow towards the end of the book. Everything is smoothed out by the time you reach the last page. You’re forgetting the clutter that you’ve read in the beginning and you’re pretty anxious to pick up the next issue.
Vedict
Buy it. Even though there is a lot going on in this issue, it’s still worth the $2.99 buy. The return of Babs artwork is refreshing. The story does intrigue you. And the last page is a cliffhanger. That alone is worth the admission.
