scans_daily | Batgirl 21 has another Nightwing cameo

A page and bit from Newsarama's preview of Batgirl 21

It's a nice action sequence, as Dick radios Babs, who is having a crisis of confidence because of... well, everything happening in her title I suppose, with the fall out of the Death of the Family, her apparent killing of her own brother, and the new Ventriloquist proving to be a major problem.

It also includes a nice exchange as we see that whilst calling to make sure Babs is okay, Dick is in the middle of interrupting a gang ambushing some police.

"Chick"? I have to assume you're talking down to the gangbanger there Dick, or else trying to get a reaction from Babs.

Of course, I've always felt Dick should have had SOME ballet training. To train for balance, poise and control, and to meet girls too of course... and my feeling that ballet dancer Roberto Bolle would have made a a fabulous Dick Grayson in his day (Though in fairness he's only 38 now but doesn't come close to looking it) never hurt. See Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C and Exhibit D for those interested in seeing why but not wanting to disturb this preview too much...)

Another page just for the pretty...

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Over-wrought, pathetically melancholic, self-pitying and trying to be deep without properly wanting to tackle the issues in a mature manner? Yep, new52 Batgirl pages, alright.

I know. I saw the title page earlier, wherein she cuts off her Bat-logo. It's all *symbolic* and *meaningful* until you notice that 40% of the rest of the material on her costume is yellow and/or bat-shaped. You sort of want to tell her, "Honey? Everyone knows you're Batgirl. Go the whole nine yards and make a new costume."

And have you SEEN what they've done to the Ventriloquist? They didn't even need to do any making-over this time! Arnold Wesker is alive and well! He's right there in Arkham!

Ugh...what a waste.

Edited 2013-06-08 08:49 (UTC)

I saw enough of it with the last issue. Seriously - someone with TK powers using a dummy suggests almost more of a 'puppet-master' gimmick or something else entirely as opposed to being in line with the old Ventriloquist gimmick? I mean, I *liked* Peyton Riley - it at lease played into the ongoing story Dini was developing and it was an interesting twist over whether something supernatural was going on with the dummy or whether it was just Peyton - so it was still similar to Wesker, but just different enough (and with him not around) that it was still interesting. But.. Yeah. This Ventriloquist just feels like Simone trying to be cool and edgy and tapping into a contemporary trend (or trends) far, far too late for them to be even remotely relevant.

Really, from the moment I saw the cover I just got the idea that they'd distilled everything that people didn't like about the Harley Quinn Nu52 makeover into an even more insultingly bad character. As with the "Death of the Family" tie-ins, it feels wrong that this is coming from a creative mind I usually esteem so well. I can't help feeling this is just more editorial meddling left, right and centre.

It could be editorial meddling, but I'll be honest in that I started losing faith in Simone right around the time Secret Six started playing to a distinct formula during each storyline (to say nothing of my feelings regarding the resolution of the story with Scandal), and her BOP revival turned out disastrous. Her characterisation of Barbara was terrible there, too, frankly, so.. I don't know. To me, it's either editorial meddling on a grand scale or just a fall from grace or whatever.

Or, even worse, some sort of mixture of both. You're right, SS did become rather dull towards the end...all that stuff about the Hell-Card and the supposed moral quandary, not to mention the end result of "everyone dies except Bane, there's a movie on the way y'know"...it didn't amount to much, did it? Wasn't even all that fun.

See if they had made this character the new Puppeteer (DC had a character by that name since the 1960's, a Green Lantern baddie who also showed up in the New Teen Titans with a memorable cover), then that would have been perfectly fine with me as using telekinesis to make puppets come to life is a cool and legitimately creepy idea, which would really work.

However, it seems to miss the point of the Ventriloquist, which is of Jekyll/Hyde idea crossed with multiple personalities, so you have the pathos of the sad and rather pathetic "proper" personality being abused by their own other personality.

Edited 2013-06-08 12:22 (UTC)

Pretty much. Even the Peyton/Scarface pair had the doll being slightly abusive and seemingly controlling her.

The new Ventriloquist would almost qualify as some sort of freaky take on the Toyman, if not the Puppeteer, as you suggest. But it's just very un-Ventriloquist like, to me.

Peyton was also a sympathetic character (with an interesting backstory), just as Arnold Wekser is in the right hands. Both are either seriously deluded and mentally damaged or are really being controlled by a murderous sociopathic puppet. The new Ventriloquist with special super powers? Eh. Not very creative. Or interesting.

Batgirl 21 has another Nightwing cameo

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