It begins well enough, with a friend of Barbara's being implicated in the deaths of three people killed by tigers at Luke's firm, Foxtek.

This volume's weakness is a story returning the Velvet Tiger, a villain introduced at the end of Batgirl's second run as back-feature in 'Detective Comics' in the early eighties, to the fold.

That may seem a lot of the Bat-world for one volume, but it allayed my fears that the Stewart/Fletcher/Tarr Batgirl would be divorced from it and stuffed in its own pocket world. Also appearing in this collection's stories are Spoiler (whose past as Batgirl has been retconned out of DC Comics history), Batwoman, and the children from 'Gotham Academy,' which Fletcher writes solo. They begin with a story teaming Batgirl with Scott Snyder's 'robo-Batman'-her father, Jim Gordon-then move into a story featuring Dick Grayson, here a James Bond-style secret agent for an organization called SPYRAL, and his partner Helena Bertinelli. He's one of the few artists working today who knows how to construct a cover that leaps out at readers from the crowded stands and scream 'Buy me!'Īs co-writer, he and Fletcher attempt in this volume's stories to integrate their Batgirl into the larger Bat-universe. Stewart, also an artist, provides covers for each issue. In addition, her style is a refreshing change from the house style of DC's other ongoing titles. Tarr's manga-influenced artwork is at times too cartoony for my tastes, but she knows how to tell a story clearly and give her figures a sense of movement other artists never master.

They include Alysia Yeoh, Barbara's ex-roommate from Simone's run computer expert and proto-Oracle Frankie Charles and Luke Fox, son of Bruce Wayne's right-hand man Lucius Fox and star of the short-lived 'Batwing' title. Stewart and Fletcher do what no previous 'Batgirl' writers ever did: give Batgirl and her civilian alter-ego, Barbara Gordon, a supporting cast that not only gives her people to interact with (Simone's run, by comparison, was one lengthy interior monologue) but also gives her ongoing title stability and a comforting familiarity. So when I read that co-writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher and artist Babs Tarr were promising a lighter tone in terms than both Simone's run and the companion Bat-titles, I was ready to walk away from 'Batgirl' for good. I was, and still am, a fan of writer Gail Simone's run with Ardian Syaf and other artists. I really, really wanted to hate 'Batgirl Vol.

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