We’ve been waiting for the official word from DC Comics, and now it is here. Want to know what is going on with Batwoman, Catwoman, and Barbara Gordon as Batgirl? Take the jump already!
Batwoman #1
J.H. Williams III, Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder
Batgirl #1
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes
Batgirl’s going to have to face the city’s most horrifying new villains as well as dark secrets from her past in BATGIRL #1
Catwoman #1
Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Guillem March
Meet Catwoman. She’s addicted to the night. Addicted to shiny objects. Addicted to Batman. Most of all, Catwoman is addicted to danger. She can’t help herself, and the truth is – she doesn’t want to. She’s good at being bad, and very bad at being good.
Birds of Prey #1
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Jesus Saiz
The Birds of Prey are Gotham City’s covert ops team, taking down the villains other heroes can’t touch.
While it is good to see Batwoman finally get a confirmed launch date, I think the biggest news in this latest round of relaunch releases is the return of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. We’ve known the Death of Oracle storyline was a bit wonky, and when Barbara started feeling her feet and toes again, the road to her return was pretty much written in the books a couple of years ago. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to see a lot of fan backlash since we don’t know the fate of Stephanie Brown…
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Whether Batgirl is or isn’t Barbara, I might have to check it out just because it’s Gail Simone writing. And while I’ve never heard of the writer before (I know & like Saiz), the line-up of the new BoP looks intriguing. Does anyone know who the woman with the gun & the tattoed arm is? I’m thinking Rose/Thorn or Roulette.
Regarding Birds of Prey: Not crazy about Black Canary’s new costume, Katana looks pretty cool. Poison Ivy (pretty sure it’s her) on the Birds of Prey is an interesting choice. Can anyone tell who that is in the center?
And finally, aren’t all Gotham-based heroes more or less “black ops?”
See I thought Katana’s costume (assuming that’s her) looks very ’90s in it’s styling, especially the little shoulder pads which look very Image in origin. And while I don’t hate Black Canary’s outfit it looks like it’d be better if she ever crossed over with the Marvel U and got some of the Nova Force.
Who is Stephanie Brown?
She was the blonde Batgirl, she used to be Spoiler, the daughter of the Cluemaster and one time love interest of Tim Drake.
That picture of Catwoman is incredibly sexy. Relaxed and dangerous at the same time
I’m with JG. I don’t think anyone is going to blink with Stephanie Brown no longer Batgirl.
And I agree, the Black Canary costume looks like some 12 year old’s dance recital costume.
So…. two red-headed female Bat-family members? Hopefully, that won’t confuse new readers.
I will miss Stephanie as Batgirl, but I’m willing to accept the drastic changes of this relaunch. And maybe Batgirl will still be really fun. :)
I’m pretty torn . . . I like Barbara Gordon as Batgirl and I like Stephanie Brown as Batgirl. With Simone writing, I think this will be a success so long as they find an interesting direction for Babs to take. But I’m also nervous we haven’t heard anything about Stephanie Brown OR Tim Drake yet.
What about Betty Kane, Cassandra Cain, Kathy Kane (apparently never existed) and Kate Kane? I’m assuming that’s Kate up in the Batwoman solicit, but what about the rest. ;)
Don’t know that we would hear anything about them. To the vast majority of people, they are nobodies. This revamp/relaunch/WHATEVER is about the core of the characters/brands/Movie&ToyIP’s. No kid wants a Stephanie Brown toy. They want Batgirl. And Batgirl is Babs. Robin is Dick Grayson.
BOP is fair game, as the average person on the street doesn’t know BOP. But there is an awareness of Catwoman and Batgirl and some fairly clear ideas of who and what they are.
Batwoman is a new creation by and large and is also fair game.
I wouldn’t really call Batwoman a new creation since she came out in 1956, but I think I know what you mean, the version of her that came out in 1956 was effectively erased by Crisis and as far as your average guy on the street is concerned they probably wouldn’t be surprised that there’s a Batwoman but wouldn’t know anything about her.
I understand, Chris – but here’s the weird thing: DC announced Dick Grayson is Nightwing and Robin is Damian. So they are clearly keeping some of the original continuity in place. The question is “how much”?
I honestly don’t need Stephanie to be Batgirl. She can Spoiler. She can be someone else entirely. The same goes for Tim Drake and Red Robin. I just don’t want DC to make the mistake of wiping them away entirely.
Reeaaaaly? Wow. That’s odd/interesting. I’m not sure how to reconcile that in my head. It’s going to require a whole encyclopedia on what the history of these characters is and is not.
I am excited about all of these but I am also concerned about one thing: How long before Barbara is back in a wheel chair?
I mean DC seems to love chopping off Aquaman’s hand, is all I’m saying.
Having Barbara back as Batgirl is all well and good… but frankly it’s sad that DC is taking its only prolific disabled character out of the picture.
And the less that is said about them taking all the decent character development that’s been done with Catwoman in the past few years and turn the description of her into something so cheesy and patronizing that the editors of Hustler would reject it. Judd Winnick, I am dissapoint.
Damn. I only got into DC comics in the last two years. Got into Batgirl at #15 and loved it and now she’s going! I will still buy the book as I’m aware of Gail’s rep and having the original back cannot be a bad thing but I will miss Steph.
None of those costumes look any good when compared to their previous costumes, except for the middle lady that I don’t recognize.
on Birds of Prey, I mean…
Meh. Babs as Batgirl is going too far back for me. I liked Stephanie, I know I’m the minority. But reverting all the way back to Babs being Batgirl…we’ve seen those stories. It kinda seems like they’re swapping Steph for Babs, which is sad cause I really enjoyed Babs as Oracle. I thought she was a good character and had an important role in the DCU.
And as much as I’m worried where they’ll stick Steph, I’m more concerned now about Tim.
Batwoman should have stayed buried in the past along with the other horrors from the late 50s and early 60s, like Bat-Mite, Ace, the Bat-Hound and the Batman Family Summer Fun issues.
I know that red hair with the gun… she was an amazon in the Outsiders I think, Grace, that’s her name! She’s the only tattooed red hair that has been on any bat-family book I know.
Maybe it’s supposed to be Rose Tattoo from the Wildstorm Universe? She seems a little small to be an Amazon like Grace, plus not that they can’t have changed things a bit, but Grace has both arms tattooed. It would have been kinda cool if Looker had been on the team, her power set is pretty cool (similar in a lot of ways to others, but she can control vermin and turn to mist at night and that’s pretty cool). I have other ideas, but again, their highly unlikely and mostly just wishful thinking. It’d be sweet to see Rose and Thorn again, split personality whose crazier side controls plants, but two plant controllers would be way much on one team. But I’ve realized that there are a crap ton of redheads in the DCU.
Wow! This really looks…bad. If I was a new reader I wouldn’t go anywhere near these comics, especially Birds of Prey. Kill it now, while you still can!
I know I might be alone in this, but this is shaping up to be 90’s Image all over, with the Shamylayan twist of being fully endorsed by a major comic publisher.
The mystery gal might be Rose a/o Thorn as well. Grace would be cool, too.
Rose/Thorn sounds like the best guess so far. She looks too small and un-Asian to be Grace.
Hey, I thought about Rose and Thorn too! Granted, had I read further down before posting I may not have done so, but the thing that makes it seem unlikely to be her is that isn’t that Poison Ivy above her? It’d be really weird having two people who can control plants.