Batgirl #35 Review

Shark Attack

Written By: Mairghread Scott 

Art By: Paul Pelletier, Norm Rapmund, Jose Marzan Jr., Jordie Bellaire, Andworld Design

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: May 22, 2019

Let's head back down into The Den, where we last left our hero looking like Houdini, hung upside down in a tank of rising water; as the Terrible Trio tried to prove their dominance over the criminals of Gotham.  Too bad that seems to be the least of Barbara Gordon's worries because outside of her hero life, it looks like Gordon Clean Energy isn't do as well as she'd like because her check to her new landlord just bounced and all of Bab's things were thrown out into the street.  Maybe by protecting it, this will be Jason Bard's way into Barbara's heart.  Let's jump into this and see what's what. 

Mairghread Scott continues to tear down Barbara Gordon's life, while in doing so, actually makes Batgirl way more enjoyable as a whole.  There's been way too much going on in Barbara's life every since her move to Burnside and now, bit by bit, Scott is recreating the character in ways that I hope stick around after she moves on from DC Comics.  With that, this is probably one of the most compelling versions of the Terrible Trio that I've seen in a long time and where I usually just see these villains as jokes, she elevates their status with this story and makes you see that they are a threat to be worried about, not only in their creepy factor, but in their long term plans for the underground of Gotham...........as in the criminal world........ never the Gotham Underground.  

Yeah, it looks like Gordon Clean Energy will be on the outs for our hero at least as long as we have this subplot to our story that actually for the first time makes me interested in this company that's been around since before Rebirth because up until this point we've known that Barbara Gordon has been a millionaire, but has been acting like she's supposed to be poor and it's never really come off right.  Here though, we see that her income might be on the way out and not only that, but one of her oldest friendships.  It's really compelling and like I said, it's the best representation that we've ever had of this company.

All in all, the threat of the Terrible Trio comes off as real this issue, while Barbara Gordon's life falls down around her....... without her even knowing it.  It's all really good, while presented to us with some fantastic art by Paul Pelletier.  One of my biggest questions right now though are........ What's up with this Terrible Trio.  Classically, these are criminals in animal masks, but during the fight with Batgirl, she stabs Shark in the mask eye and he really seemed to react like his "real" eye was hurt.  I'm really intrigued to find out who this new Terrible Trio really is and how our hero will be reinvented going forward with her life being shaken around her.

Bits and Pieces:

The fight is on between our hero and the Terrible Trio.  It's just too bad that a bigger fight for Barbara Gordon's life is going on without her knowing it.  This was a really entertaining issue that does some really interesting things to the character moving forward.  Really though, this has been the best Batgirl we've gotten in years and I'll be sad to see Mairghread Scott leave this title.

7.8/10