Gotham City just got a lot more colorful — and a little more hip. Or should we say, hipster?
Following the departure of popular writer Gail Simone, DC Comics in recent days introduced writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher and artist Babs Tarr as the new creative team behind Batgirl. And their debut issue, “Batgirl #35 in the New 52 era” — which has been well-received by fans — focuses equally on Barbara Gordon’s social life and her work as a cape- and cowl-wearing crimefighter.
“We’re very sincere about this book,” Stewart said. “It’s not something that was conceived in a boardroom [or] put together by mandates and trying to check off a list of ‘things that are going to appeal to the kids.’
“I think it’s something that we all feel very honestly and sincerely about doing.”
Regardless of the team’s proclaimed attempts at “not trying to be cool,” Issue #35 hits readers with Batgirl’s 20-something youthful naïveté right away, as she tries to handle something even a utility belt can’t prevent: moving day.
She is relocating to Burnside, a younger, hip part of the city where texting is the first option for communication; hook-ups are random and frequent; major crime includes tablet theft in coffee shops (there’s lots of coffee in these panels); and there’s a website that’s making some residents uncomfortable over its handling of private information.
One page in and Batgirl has a new tone and a new mystery — which is solved before the last page. After all, Barbara has always given Bruce Wayne a run for his money as the Bat-brain of the clan, and she was Oracle once, before New 52.
So for this creative team, was Batgirl’s hipster makeover difficult at all? Not really, it turns out. Fletcher notes that he lives in Montreal, Stewart is in Berlin (and has spent time in Portland, Ore.) — and both have frequently been to Brooklyn (which has a clear influence within this arc).
Combined with the writers’ worldly reference points is Tarr’s energetic art style, which brings a new twist on classic designs.
Tarr says that Batgirl’s new look was a collaborative effort with Stewart, who was the first person brought on to the new Batgirl team.
“I added some streamlines to the jacket and hardware on it to make it look more like a modern jacket,” said Tarr. “The utility belt was pretty old-school, and I thought we could switch that up into something a little more trendy and new.”
Stewart says that though so many superheroes have followed the template of keeping their super selves distinctly separate from their civilian guise, Batgirl will see that the same problems can have an impact on her whether she’s wearing a mask or not.
“Generally speaking in superhero comics, they’ve got a grand history, decades of this type of storytelling,” Stewart said. “You have your costumed life and your non-costumed life. [Barbara] in Burnside is dealing with the same problems in and out of her costume. It’s just that some things will need a firmer hand, and a sort of different approach, and that’s where her costume will come in.
“I think this is going to be, hopefully, a really compelling illustration of what Gotham is, and how this girl who is linked to (the city) through her father, (Commissioner Gordon) and her experiences with Batman, can have the ability to see things in a way that other people don’t.”
Stewart says that Batgirl works best as a contrast to Batman, rather than as the same kind of character.
“The darkness and the rain and the gritted teeth and the blood — it works for Batman but, we feel, not so much for Batgirl,” Stewart said.
