The Series We Need And Deserve: Reviewing ‘Batgirls’ #5

If there was a challenge thrown down for one to crack open an issue of Batgirls and try not to smile or feel happy or giddy at least one time, seems very likely it would be a challenge that most would quite happily fail. When one finds that comic book that brings the superhero action, great character depth, fun gorgeous artwork, and wears its heart on its sleeve that is a book that needs to be cherished and devoured every month.

The tone is set the moment the book is opened, and one look is given to the artwork from Jorge Corona and Sarah Stern. Describing Corona’s art style in words feels so hard to do because it’s better to actually look upon it. Wordwise though I would say that it feels rough, detailed, down-to-earth yet whimsical all at the exact same time. Action scenes are bursting off the pages with energy, we start with a car chase from a street-level POV that feels like we’re looking upward at Gotham looming over us. All the paneling choices deepen these feelings as we get great closeups of people or moments or actions as well as those greater wide shots that give us deeper glimpses into this world.

More life comes from the fact that Stern’s color palate brings a lot of darker greys and tones for the city around them while never shying away from the bright greens, purples, blues, and every other color under the sun to give these stories vivid colorful life. All the fantastical elements stand out from their designs but adding bright splashes of distinctive color to each of them, from the Saints to the Batgirls to their awesome car (and scene-stealer) Bondo, takes it up to the next level.

Another element to speak about is how this story taking place in that mid-evening not quite late-night moment has exactly that feeling because of the coloring choices that make it feel authentic. Sometimes there is the instinct to make night scenes brighter but as shown here is very easy to make them dark but also popping with color and all-around visible.

Becca Carey picks up the energy-filled baton and runs with it on the lettering side of things. This is an emotional book as noted above and that can be felt, as can all the distinctive personalities, through the dialogue as things like font size changes and styles really emphasize words or tones/volumes and shows those personality flairs that set each character apart. Words bursting out of the standard bubble style is always a fun element to see brought into play, as are the varying style of SFX dotting the pages including the more mechanical ones. Fido robot’s little ‘woof woof’ could melt even the coldest ice hearts around.

There is a ton of fun on the pages already but the choice by this creative team to have the third person narration caption boxes is one I support 100% because it perfectly fits this run’s tone. The purple box color and the almost typewriter-like font choice sell it even more.

A book with multiple leads can be hard to juggle, but not with Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad at the helm. As a duo they handle their trio cast so well, making sure everyone gets their moments and has bits of their own story coming out away from each other while also deepening their bonds as a family. All that while providing some fantastic action beats, a super intriguing plotline with Tutor and Charles Dante/Spellbinder, and just a boatload of fun/adorable/silly/heartfelt/every other emotion type of moments.

All of that fits between the covers because every single issue feels completely jam-packed in the best way possible. Sometimes bouncing around can feel a bit much, but here it’s never too much and no part of the story feels underserved. Taking a normal-sized comic and making it feel like three comics piled together at once is a great talent to have. Even when the book takes on a horror aspect (and I really hope the mention of Cass watching Night of the Living Dead is part of an issue with them bonding over horror because that would be amazing) it never loses an ounce of that fun but properly weighty energy.

Together this team has given the Batgirls their own fleshed out and lived in corner of the world, and I hope it goes on for years to come.

Batgirls #5 is available digitally and in print from DC Comics.