Batgirl: truly superb comic storytelling

Well, this is quite nice:

Way back when, after Gotham City was devastated in a massive earthquake (see Batman: Cataclysm and Batman: No Man’s Land in 2000) it was written off and abandoned by the US government in a spookily prescient foretaste of what would happen to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. Amidst the rubble, a number of heroes struggled to protect the innocent. One of these was a brand-new incarnation of Batgirl. 

As the crisis ended and a semblance of normality returned to the battered metropolis, the new heroine got her own series and a mentor in the form of Babs Gordon, the wheelchair-bound crime-fighter called Oracle, who was also the first Batgirl. 

The new operative is an enigmatic problem. Raised in utter isolation as an experiment by martial arts super-assassin David Cain, she cannot communicate. Part of the process creating Cassandra Cain was depriving and overriding her language centres in an effort to make combat her only communication tool. An apparent runaway, she was briefly adopted by the Batman as another weapon in his never-ending battle, before the more humane Oracle becomes her guardian and teacher. 

In this first paperback/digital volume – spanning April 2000-March 2001 by collecting #1-12 of the monthly series and first Annual – the new Batgirl is trying to find her way, bereft even of the ability to learn, whilst revelling in the role of defender of the helpless, but her development as a human being threatens to diminish her capacity as a weapon, and the mystery of her past would indicate that she is possibly a two-edged sword in Batman’s arsenal… 

In a bold experiment, initiating writers Scott Peterson and Kelly Puckett eschewed the standard format of individually titled stories to craft a continuous string of high action, deeply moving episodes which saw the neophyte street warrior battle the dregs of Gotham City while attempting to adapt to a life where not every person was her enemy. Fast, furious, frenetic, visually expressive incidents (illustrated by Damion Scott with inkers Robert Campanella & Coy Turnbull) are interspersed with flashbacks to her lethal and cruel formative years with Cain pitting her against assassins and worse, while keeping a stunning secret of her natal origins all for himself… 

Spellbinding, overwhelmingly fast-paced and terse to the point of bombastic brevity, this is a breakneck, supercharged thrill-ride of non-stop action that still manages to be heavily plot-based with genuine empathy and emotional impact. Truly superb comic storytelling which should be on every fan’s wish-list or bookshelf.

Lady Shiva

Yet another Who's Who entry I have no memory of writing. And drawn by the great Damion Scott and inked by Robert Campanella, no less.

Batgirl

Seriously. I keep running across things I wrote and don't even remember and it's such a nice little surprise.

But now I really wish I'd tried to buy the original off Damian.

The Secret Secret Origin of a Batman Villain

This here blog, Oh, the Things I Do, has written quite a few very nice pieces over the past few days about various books I've written—some Gotham Adventures issues as well as some of the Batgirls I co-wrote with Kelley Puckett. (Much as I would love to claim otherwise, Kelley very much did the lion's share of the writing on those. And Damion Scott's artwork continues to blow my mind with its awesomeness.)

One of the issues she wrote several times about was Gotham Adventures #49—the first appearance of criminal mastermind Kim.

(That's not Kim. That's Killer Croc.)

((The big green dude, I mean. The other guy's the Batman.))

Back when I was writing this series, there were only a fraction of the places reviewing comics that there are today, so it's nice to see something you did still resonates. I was pleased that she was pleased by the Batman's detective work. I always liked this sequence—my pal/partner-in-bat-crime/hero Tim Levins, as usual, took what I thought at the time was a neat idea and absolutely hit it out of the park.

I loved what she had to say about Kim:

I like Kim as a character. He feels like a great throwback to those classical Batman stories where villains were villains for the fun of it and had elaborate schemes set up on around a gag or motiff for no reason other than the “why not?” of it. But, unlike a lot of times when these homages happen, the bizarreness and just curious nature of the crime isn’t lost on the context.
I also like that this comic sets up some interactions we’ll have with Kim in later issues. It’s a fun addition to the canon I kind of wish had been added into the fold of the main universe.
But… meh. I’m sure Kim would’ve turned into a far more sociopathic killer with like… a tragic artist background. Like he was a good traditional artist, but the art schools he applied to were all too invested into the modern movements. And he starts committing murders that represent splash paintings overlayed on the city map.

[Emphasis added.]

I had to laugh when I read that. Because what I think maybe a half dozen people know is that Kim is actually Kelley. As in, Kelley Puckett.

I mean, no, not really. Not literally. But for some reason—I don't remember why—I got the idea to turn Kelley into a supervillain. And one thing led to another, as these things do, and next thing I know, he's [spoilers!] using Killer Croc as a pawn for his crime spree before ultimately fighting (and losing to) the Batman.

I'm not sure how much most of the readers liked Kim—although, clearly, he connected with at least one extraordinarily astute critic—but he sure made me laugh. And my editor let me bring him back a few more times, so that was nice.

Would Kim have eventually turned dark? I really don't see that happening...or at least, I hadn't. Now I kinda love the idea of him trying to out-dark the Joker or Two-Face or Mr. Zsasz or something. I usually see Kelley at SDCC. Maybe I'll see what I can't goad him into doing.

(Oh...and it just occurs to me now...I'm not sure I ever actually told Kelley about any of this. Huh.)