Batgirl (various)

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shevek
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Batgirl (various)

So...based on a $5 used tpb I finally took the plunge into the past few years of the Batgirl mythos, after hearing a lot about the "Batgirling" (toning down of sexiness?) that Gail Simone was supposedly doing to the character. In case you weren't following, it's no longer Cassandra Cain from the early 2000s (thank heaven), it's back to Barbara Gordon. I randomly got the second TPB Knightfall Descends (Batgirl 0 and 7-13) of the latest Batgirl series (I guess it would be considered Vol 4?) which began by Simone in 2011 as part of the "New 52" and is still going now and just happens to be up to issue #52.

There's no toning down here of either sexiness and violence though all of it does get right to the plot at hand. Barbara Gordon is drawn wonderfully and oozes appeal even in her civilian identity. As Batgirl, she suffers some serious peril of getting stabbed and beaten up, drowned and choked, though the end is at least a partial triumph for her. There's guest appearances by Black Canary and Batwoman, and the villainesses (Bonebreaker, Katharsis) are appealing brand new characters. The head villainess Charise (Knightfall) is also very sexy in her evil madness. This particular volume is a good powerful story where Batgirl is up against significant odds, and it doesn't completely resolve (Charise is still loose at the end). I'd certainly recommend getting it for $5 :) I'll have to see if the rest of Simone's latest iteration is like this - despite occasional feminist ranting on Twitter, her books rarely let me down.

The only thing I'd watch out for in this particular book is the struggle Batgirl has with herself about whether she's doing too much of defending rich people and their "things". Simone always seems to tantalize with some leftist/socialist philosophy (I mean, she did have that one comic about "The Movement" vs the One Percent..but I don't think the activist millennials it was targeted to bought into it) but doesn't let it go too far.

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KnightsofGotham.com
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Re: Batgirl (various)

And then they ruined it by making her 10 years younger and changing her costume into a preteen fantasy! batgirl of Burnside is just terrible and i can't wait for them to make her an adult again
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Re: Batgirl (various)

... ehhhhh. Call me a neanderthal, but I really only liked the Barbara Gordon Batgirl in the Adam West show and a handful of cartoons. In the more serious stories she feels rather out-of-place, and I prefer her as Oracle there.
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Re: Batgirl (various)

I like this look. The suit highlights her assets nicely and the frames of her in nothing but a shirt, bra, and panties are especially hot. She is the dream babe of the Bat universe for sure.
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shevek
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Re: Batgirl (various)

Yeah, Night Lantern, but unfortunately the latest Batgirl iteration, as Knights of Gotham said, looks nothing like the Simone book above.
So today I saw that Magpie (although her original bald tri-mohawk was a bit off-putting in her comics debut...her costume redesign in the
Batman animated series was super hot as was her Catwoman-esque demeanor) was in Batgirl Rebirth #8, so I figured I'd check it out online.

Don't bother! Somehow they manage to pull all the sexiness out of the Magpie character. And she's reduced to a bit player who uses an app
to walk girls home and then robs them of their belongings. As KoG said above, Batgirl reimagined as a t**n is pathetic: terrible art, hipster nonsense, SJW preachiness (her transwoman friend complains "my doctor misgendered me!"), and ugly mundane costuming. Responsible for this monstrosity
is writer Hope Larson and artist Christian Wildgoose (who came over from Gotham Academy..I imagine the art was terrible there too?)

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Re: Batgirl (various)

That run of Batgirl wasn't too bad, but she was kind of a punching bag week in and week out, I think she even got her nose broken by Batwoman at one point, lol. Batwoman was having quite an excellent run about that time, until the writers walked out over not being allowed to finish their story of Kate and Maggie getting married, then the book went to hell with the new writer coming in and demolishing their relationship and Kate's character.
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Re: Batgirl (various)

Damn, she looks fierce in that "Knightfall Descends." She's cute in the current "Son of Penguin," though.
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Re: Batgirl (various)

For those who didn't know...the current run of "[Burnside] Batgirl" (written by Hope Larsen) has been cancelled with the latest issue #23.
The current run of "Batgirl and Birds of Prey" [written by Julie and Shawna Benson) has also been cancelled with the latest issue #22.
Plummeting sales on both.

Don't know if anyone's unhappy that these two series are done.
Seems like the biggest sales push on the Batgirl character these days is actually with the DC Super Hero Girls.
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Re: Batgirl (various)

SJW gatekeepers in the comic genre will not stop until the entire medium is dead. I agree that some heroines were way to sexualized but they take it way to far. Especially with Ms. Marvel. It's almost like its shameful to find the female form attractive. Idk i could be wrong I do tend to get dramatic.
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shevek
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Re: Batgirl (various)

No, you're correct. The Gail Simone run of Batgirl, as recently as 2011, was way better than the current runs that just got cancelled.

Among the progressive cohort of millennials, it is shameful for a white cis straight male to find the female form attractive. Simply mentioning it, when the statement is unbidden or unwanted, is considered "catcalling", which is of course considered "harassment". The comic buying consumer base has been mainly straight white (and black) males since forever, and basically continues to be to a large extent even now. Despite the gatekeepers' best effort to chase the old boys away, they have basically been unable to garner a new, more diverse audience for most comic books, because the audience they are trying to capture simply is not interested (they have other interests already, like anime/manga, or K-Pop, or TV shows, or food trucks, or posting a lot on Instagram, etc.) The claimed 40% percentage of women buying comics is a lie..it's more likely to be closer to 10-15% given what I've seen at stores and comicons. I was at a Comicon last weekend, and the panel on "Women in Comics" (hosted by Amy Chu..it was actually very tame with a lot of geeking out and very little politics) was tiny, and had more women on the panel than in the audience.
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There is no middle ground for the SJWs. They can't abide by pretty much anyone being sexy in comic books. The women have to lose all of their curves, and the men have to do the same with their bulges, looking and acting like feminized betas (for example, the current Hawkeye, or Amadeus Cho the Go-gurt Hulk). People get hired to write books because of their identity, and not because of their talent. Heterosexuality is almost never the answer. In the rare cases that it still is portrayed (such as the X-Men Wedding Special where Kitty and Colossus get married, or the Rogue and Gambit book which is a sexy romance), the #movetheneedle folks are still supporting it. But yes, comic book stores are closing and the industry has been contracting for quite a while. This is not due to politics - it's actually due to competing media, and the failure to capture the new audience of millennials - but as the industry contracts, the professionals within it treat it more and more like an exclusive club where you have to adhere to ideological standards to gain entry, rather than the thriving business it once was. Anything outside that domain, the gatekeepers try to harass and
kill and denigrate into oblivion.

This is sad, and I don't know what can be done about it, other than of course continuing to try and #movetheneedle, which seems to be working in specific cases like the support for the Jawbreakers book. It's just a sea change in the culture I suppose - the Internet in general causes people to flee to their echo chamber and embrace strident political extremes. I personally prefer the days when everyone (regardless of gender) was allowed to look hot, and the chips could simply fall wherever they may.
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Re: Batgirl (various)

What bothers me as of late is that we're told that there can be no criticism of any special groups: trans, gay, lesbian, women etc. The message is "mind your own business". But yet for some magical reason straight male sexuality is some sort of communal property that everyone (except straight men apparently) get to have a say in. Tell us what kind of women we can like. What's bad for us. What's good for us. That everything we do is bad. Even labeled "toxic". Gee can I refer to toxic femininity or toxic transgenderism? No. But toxic masculinity is fine to label and attack. Note these SJWs inernalize NOTHING. No internal exploration or criticism or "cleaning up their own back yard". Everything they do is to attack, tear down, criticize one sexual orientation - straight men.

Perhaps some of these people should take their own advice and "mind their own business". When did straight male sex become the village bicycle everyone gets to go for a ride on? Communal property everyone has a say in? When did MY CHOICES become open for attack, ridicule and "adjustment". Who is anyone to "fix me" when they themselves scream murder when someone dares to "fix them"? Me liking busty super heroines is NOBODY'S BUSINESS.

People in this industry BETTER start worrying. If heterosexual men get brow beaten down and disconnect then the porn business is shot and all of us producers are feeling this. And no there is no alternate markets that will compensate. Women don't view porn the way men do. Its not like if you take steak and ribs off the buffet and put vegetables all the vegans will come. Things are not interchangeable. Looks are not interchangeable. People are not going to spank off to Rose Tico compared to a brass bikini princess Lea. Be all post modernist as you like but reality won't bend to your will. Trees are not trees cause they decided to be trees.
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Re: Batgirl (various)

Update: the Batgirl series is continuing with #26 in August (what happened to 24 and 25? no idea).

Batgirl has a new costume that returns to the classic version (except for a reduced facemask)...see the thread that hagarb started about that.
The costume is designed by the respected Sean Gordon Murphy (of the excellent Batman:White Knight) so you can trust its excellence.

However, Murphy won't be drawing the series - it'll be drawn by Paul Pelletier and Elena Casagrande,
and written by Mairgrhead Scott, who has pretty much mostly written Transformers comics for the past six years. So this should be interesting. Maybe!

Check the series out especially beginning with #27 when the new costume debuts.
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Re: Batgirl (various)

shevek wrote:
8 years ago
Update: the Batgirl series is continuing with #26 in August (what happened to 24 and 25? no idea). .
According to dccomics.com, Batgirl #24 will be on sale 6/27 and Batgirl #25 on 07/25.
Hey, check my artworks, featuring Batgirl facing a very brutal villain:https://hborges77.deviantart.com/galler ... or-rematch
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shevek
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Re: Batgirl (various)

Hey everyone! The main Batgirl comic is good again, thanks to the comic book-experienced writing style of Maighread Scott (she is NOT a Young Adult novel writer). #25 and #26 were on point, and so is Annual #2, according to this new review by Yellow Flash. Start picking it up again if you want good
stories, and not only that: Sean Gordon Murphy's redesigned return to the tight-and-sexy Batgirl costume of yore is debuting in issue #27. Get back to your comic book shop and #movetheneedle!!

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I just read issue 26 and I think it is awesome. I like the story, love the action and the art is very well made too. Very inspiring. Can't wait for issue 27.
Hey, check my artworks, featuring Batgirl facing a very brutal villain:https://hborges77.deviantart.com/galler ... or-rematch
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