CREDITS: Written by Ty Templeton; art by Brandon Kruse and Rick Burchett.
REVIEW: In a very real way, I'm a bigger Batgirl fan than I am a Batman fan, so it pains me to give this issue a bad review, but I must. A lot of it is down to Brandon Kruse's art, which looks fine, makes use of facial expressions and is frequently dynamic (see page 7 and the guard hitting his face on the side of the panel, for example), but often slows down time, transitioning through the same moment from panel to panel, in a way that falls flat and saps the energy out of the page. The fight between the two women is full of moments where either could get the upper hand but just stands there talking, with their opponent's back to them. The issue is sluggish for it.
But logic problems abound as well. The campus police are adamant that Talia should show them some kind of student or faculty ID, never noticing the huge gun holster on her hip. Talia knows who Batman is, and yet asks whether Batgirl is his girlfriend or kid sister. We spend an inordinate amount of time faffing about with the glow-in-the-dark chemical Barbara's spilled on herself, and nothing ever comes of it. And writing all this up in a diary seems damn irresponsible and dangerous for a masked hero.
But Batgirl does what she does best - improvise with what she's got! She uses what she knows of chemistry (not her best subject) to create tear gas and get the better of a physically superior opponent. And that's worth a few brownie points at least.
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