Batgirl

Batgirl finds herself on the hit list of a villain called Mirror in this new series. Having lived through an accident, Mirror is suffering survivor's guilt that has driven him to reverse the results of similar lucky breaks, including Batgirl's recovery from a gunshot-inflicted spine injury three years earlier. Batgirl grapples with proving her recovered abilities to herself and others while trying to stop Mirror from "correcting" any more miracles. In another story, Batgirl confronts Gretel, a villain who gains satisfaction from controlling men's minds telepathically and causing them to kill. Throughout the volume, Batgirl uses her characteristic brains-over-brawn style to get at the heart of her opponents' weaknesses, even heading to the library to do background research. Verdict Simone's perspective as a woman contributes veracity to the character, and Syaf and Cifuentes's stunningly realistic art style is refreshing in their portrayal of a superheroine with a normal physique. While many male comic book fans will enjoy Batgirl, this series has the potential to attract a large female readership, perhaps even those who are new to comics. Librarians will love it, too.-Heather Williams, Whatcom Community Coll., Bellingham, WA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.