Batgirl #41 // Review
Batgirl took a swan dive into Gotham River. She was ready to give up. She knew she wasn't going to, but she had no other choice. A creation of hers became her own enemy. Now she's got to find some way to defeat it as writer Cecil Castellucci continues his "Oracle Rising" story. Carmine Di Giandomenico vividly hauls the story of Batgirl's defeat and struggle for recovery to page and panel in an issue colored by Jordie Bellaire. Castellucci's opening walk with Batgirl fuses smartly with the Year of the Villain multi-title crossover in a very dramatic installment for Burnside's hero.
Oracle was an AI that Batgirl created to help her. When things went bad, Oracle was left behind. Now with resurrection and sudden awakening into self-awareness courtesy of Lex Luthor, she's feeling abandoned. Oracle is reaching out to the robotic machinations in the Gotham City neighborhood of Burnside...and she's ready to deliver that neighborhood into a technocracy that could prove to be disastrous. Oracle's creator Barbra Gordon might be the only one who can save Burnside from a technocratic totalitarian fate, but she's going to have to find a way out of near-death by drowning if she's going to be able to do so.
The hero is struggling to survive. The villain is taking over. Castellucci casts the fifth part of the "Oracle Rising" story in a very dark place. Batgirl's sense of helplessness is short-lived, but it DOES last all issue. There's a genuine sense of strength in her vulnerability that brings the hero that much closer to the reader as the arch-villain Oracle's ascension is contrasted against the subtle awareness of a total misunderstanding of basic elements of humanity that give the AI its own kind of vulnerability. It's a very clever contrast between hero and villain that makes for a very satisfying issue.
Di Giandomenico's very detailed line-work gives the rather large scope of the danger in this issue a very vivid metropolitan grounding. An AI may be looking to take over an entire neighborhood in a way that isn't exactly connected to earthbound grittiness. Still, Di Giandomenico gives the fantastically overwhelming sense of danger a very earthbound reality complete with the artist's characteristically vivid architectural backgrounds. The vivid reality of Batgirl's frustrations come across with powerful emotionality thanks to the subtle interplay of facial expressions and body language of a nearly fallen hero.
Castellucci's time with Batgirl is only a few issues old, but already it's feeling like the writer has a very profound understanding of what makes the hero unique. The fusion between art and story is also very well-articulated. This is a fairly basic hero-villain interaction that echoes a story template that goes back to the dawn of the superhero. Castellucci and Di Giandomenico give the story enough distinct personality to make it feel new and refreshing in spite of this. With any luck, the two can continue on with the series for a long time to come. It'll be interesting to see where they can go with Babs.
