Art By: Fernando Pasarin
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 13, 2013
In A City Full Of Desperation, There Is Zero Hope.
The Batgirl Zero Year Tie-In....... Uuuugggg! All I want is to finish up the Batgirl Wanted story arc, and we have to cut to something else again. Also the biggest problem with the Batgirl Wanted story is the lack of Batgirl. Barbara doesn't want to be Batgirl anymore, so she dresses like a ninja, and whines about it constantly. Here we have a break, and we still don't get Batgirl. But this is just me blowing off some steam, let's look at what Marguerite Bennett gives us for this Zero Year installment.
Explain It!:
We begin this issue like all the other tie-ins, and talk about the Superstorm that threatens Gotham. Well the storm isn't here yet, but the citizens of Gotham are going all end of the world crazy trying to get ready for it. Barbara gets a gun pulled on her for a loaf of bread, and a few gallons of gasoline. That might not sound like much but one of the signs read that regular gas was $24.90 a gallon. Nothing like impending doom to bring everyone together.
Back at the house Barbara and James Jr. are being evacuated from the area due to it being in a flood zone. So what to bring what to bring? Barbara decides that her father's riot gear would be a good thing to save. The two are sent to a nearby fire house shelter. There Barbara befriends a man named Henry who was evacuated from Cold Light Island. The two pass the time talking, before *que disaster music* the foundation starts letting water in, and a sinkhole opens beneath everyone. I don't know what's worse this shelter or the Astro Dome, well at least they have water here. Too Soon? Barbara puts her fears behind her, and saves as many people as she can. The survivors make their way to the roof, but the building isn't structurally sound, so the game plan is to make their way to the next building over.
Everyone's attention is momentarily diverted to Cold Light Island, as the panicking Gothamites see that things could easily be worse. The island brightens up the night as flames consume everything. Explosion after explosion erupt on Barbara's new friend Henry's home. But back to survival. They use a loose ladder to stretch across the two buildings. Henry makes his way across, but the ladder breaks. He pleads with the crowd to throw their duffel bags over to make it easier for them to jump across. (Can you see where this is going?) After the bags are over Henry tells them it isn't personal, and takes there things and leaves. That's a lesson to all you little boys and girls out there. Don't trust anybody. Especially during a disaster, especially if their name's Henry.
Barbara realizes that she needs to protect the things she loves. Gotham is her home so she'll protect that, and these people of Gotham are her family so she'll protect them, and she won't wait for a hero to do it for her. Barbara jumps the buildings and takes Henry down. The two tussle a bit, but in the end Henry falls off the building, and says as the water pulls him away, "I'll see you around." So after Batgirl: Wanted ends, expect a familiar face to be back. Barbara leads the way for the survivors to get to safety. We need a name for this storm that is affecting all these characters. Something that's awful, and when it comes you lose all hope in the things you love. Super storm Ann Nocenti? Anybody? Works for me.
Bits and Pieces:
Yet another Zero Year Tie-In that isn't needed, but I found myself enjoying this story none the less. Even though it's a pre Batgirl story, it feels a bit more like Batgirl then the current timeline. Both give us Barbara without the Bat suit, but this one gives us less depression, and whining. So win there. All in all this story gives us a lot of inner monologue to the psyche of Barbara Gordon that will shape her to become the hero we all know and love, and the artwork surrounding it set the depressing, and hopelessness nature that we felt from the people of Gotham. Maybe not the best Zero Year Tie-In, but it keeps you interested.
7.2/10
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