Art By: Javier Garron
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 10, 2014
Darkness Falls
For us fans of the Gotham Goddess this issue is bitter sweet because it is the last issue of Batgirl that Gail Simone will be writing. But wipe the tears from your eyes, because creators coming and going is the nature of the beast and Batgirl will live on and be heading in a new direction to keep the character interesting. God I hope I'm not just blowing smoke. For Simone's final issue we'll be heading to the strange land of Five Years From Now and see if our Batgirl has finally come out of the darkness she's been experiencing since the beginning of the New 52, but judging from the cover I don't think that will be the case. Let's check out our favorite female bat and see how Gotham is faring from her protection in the future. Oh man I hope it's good.
Explain It!:
Our story begins Two Years From Now, where Barbara is getting married on top of the GCPD building and who would of guessed that she'd marry a cop? That's sarcasm, she's notoriously a daddy's girl. This is a really nice scene and it genuinely looks like Barbara Gordon is finally happy and seeing all the doom and gloom the series has put out, this was really nice to see. Too bad that Barbara's brother James Jr. crashes the party and forces her husband Steven Harris to prove his love for Barbara by jumping off the building. It wasn't like it was a dare or anything like that, they hadn't gotten to drinking yet. You see James had a gun pointed at Barbara and Steven being the great dude that he was would rather accept Jame's demand and jump from the building than see any harm come to his new bride. It's tests like this that make me opposed to marriage.............. Cause I'm not jumping off a building. It's not like it's my crazy relative..... I'm losing focus here. So Steven dies and Barbara breaks inside and is told later that five cops had to pull her off James and she seriously fucked him up. Batgirl go bye bye now and really so does Barbara.
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| YOU SEE THAT FACE? YOU DON'T WANNA SEE THAT FACE |
Now we'll jump to what all you you came for FIVE YEARS FROM NOW!!! In this strange timeline it looks like Barbara has franchised out and we have ourselves a League of Batgirls. Making up the roster we see Stephanie Brown, Tiffany Fox and the New 52 debut of Cassandra Cain. Now these three badass ladies kick the ever loving crap out of a bunch of chop shop runners which leads to them finding out that these baddies were actually gun runners........ rocket runners? They found rocket launchers and this League of Batgirl's leader "The Black Beast" knows that only Bane would dare run rockets through her city. With this revelation we go to a flashback where we find out that after her husbands death, Barbara hunted data and what she couldn't find online, she found out for herself. This means she went undercover and became a henchwoman for multiple Gotham villains and eventually started training under Bane's tutelage. After years of training Barbara told Bane that she wanted to become him and he offered her the means in the form of venom and even when she had the opportunity to kill him, our hero stayed strong and went back to Gotham with what she learned. From then on our hero had become the brutal Black Beast and her and her League of Batgirls protected the city from the insanity it breeds.
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| I GIVE UP, DON'T BEAT ME ABOUTS THE FACE |
We get ejected from this flashback when Barbara realizes that Bane has taken control of her computer and demands their final showdown, or you know he'll blow up Gotham. Barbara goes to meet her fate and when the League of Batgirls return to their base they see a heart felt video that Barbara left for them. So you know, not completely dead inside. On their rooftop battleground Bane tells Barbara that he knows who she is and tells her that he has a pressure sensitive detonator and if he lets go of it for more than ten seconds, well you know. The two fight and Bane tries to break Barbara down emotionally by telling her that she came to him because she really wanted to die like her husband, but our girl doesn't waver and realizes that she really wants to live and tears away her Bane like mask. Barbara continues her revelation by beating the holy hell out of Bane and let's him in on a secret that she never took the venom. So Barbara beat Bane on her own and while it looks like doom for Gotham when Bane drops the detonator off the building, our League of Batgirls don't disappoint their leader and Tiffany Fox swings by and grabs the device.
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| DAMN!!!!!!! |
In the end Barbara realizes that life is worth living and that with these girls she's trained she has a family. It's all sunshine and roses from here on out I'm sure, but since this is a one shot we'll never know, but it doesn't hurt being optimistic. That's it for Gail Simone's run and Batgirl's foray into the future and what a way to go out. Gail Simone just dropped the mic big time to standing ovations all around.
Bits and Pieces:
This was a brilliant ending to Simone's run on Batgirl and the accompanying artwork by Javier Garron fit this issue like a glove. It was a action packed, tear jerking, love provoking finale that we normally could only hope for. Just a joy to read and emotionally jarring to know that it's the end. Definitely something you will need to read for Futures End, because it's definitely one of the best this event has had to offer so far. Check it out.
9.5/10
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