I almost gave this four stars. ALMOST. Surprisingly enough Batman's story is what saved it for me. I now want to read all of the Death of the Family run.Babs is still a babe who had a really rough patch and is still learning to be fully at peace with herself. The action is not missing from this volume. The characters are not missing from this volume. And the self growth is damn sure not missing from this volume.Highlights:Joker looks creepier than ever. His first close up actually made my skin c...

One of the downsides to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s runaway success with their Batman series has been the way the Batman editors have decided to tie in the many, less-successful Bat-titles into it in a desperate attempt to boost sales. Every Snyder Batman arc is an event, it seems, so with Death of the Family Batgirl has to awkwardly find a way to fit into it without appearing contrived - which she doesn’t manage to do. There are also unsuccessful tie-ins to Night of the Owls and Damian’s de...

After rating both Vol. 1 and 2 with five stars, it was disappointing that I did not enjoy Vol. 3 nearly as much as those earlier installments. While there were some great moments (the late conversation scene between BG and her roommate - "The people I love call me Babs" - for one example) it was unrelentingly brutal and bleak. The violence seemed cranked up and very unpleasant - of course much of it involves the Joker and his hired goons - to the point it was just distracting overall.

(B+) 76% | GoodNotes: A junk drawer jumble of misfit stories, where villains incline to mundane malice while drunk on cans of cliché crazy.

Remember how Catwoman: Death of the Family was a pessimistic cash-grab tie-in barely connected to the story? Well this is NOT.This does tie in with the Death of the Family rather well (and in fact, includes the penultimate issue of Batman with the Joker/Bats showdown with everything else hanging in the balance - one of the few times I re-read an issue I'd just read the day before in another TPB, because it's THAT GOOD.)Gail Simone, congrats. Also, could they give you Catwoman to rescue from the

There’s a lot of individual elements I like in this book — Barbara’s bravery, her struggles with her anger at the people who put her in a wheelchair, her sheer ferocious intelligence (and yet she spends so much time punching her way through problems, sigh), some of the family issues that are brought up… But where it ties in with the other Batfamily books, it feels clumsy. I don’t know what’s going on with Damien, with Nightwing, etc. Nor do I really get chance to care, since it’s all a whirlwind...

In my humble opinion, Gail Simone is probably one of the most consistent writers in comic books. As in, her stuff is consistently good. I'm not going to claim that she's never written any stinkers, just that I haven't read them if she has. Take this title, for example. Bringing Barbara Gordon back into her original role as Batgirl could have easily gone veryvery wrong.A lot of people loved Cassandra Cain as Batgirl, and everyone loved Babs role as Oracle.I'm still crossing my fingers that someho...

Bullet Review:There are three distinct stories (actually four if you think of it) in this collection.Story 1: Catwoman and Batgirl collaborate against the Night Court. This one is my favorite, incredibly clever and fun. I was disappointed when the story ended and wasn't addressed again.Story 2: Death of the Family. This deals with the return of the Joker, an attack on the Bat Family, and Barbara facing the man who crippled her. Good, but I think that reading only the Batgirl parts may have hampe...

I enjoyed this but it suffers from inconsistency. The first issue is a tie in to the Night of the Owls/Court of Owls storyline. It's good, has fantastic art, but it is smack dab in the middle of the previous storyline and it doesn't flow. After this issue, it goes back to the original story where Barbara finally meets the Joker again. Simone takes us through all of her emotions, which seemed real and justified, but a little lackluster somehow, maybe too short. This leads directly into the finale...

The new 52 Batgirl has recovered from her wheelchair after a few years and is out fighting crime. In this installment she deals with the Joker and her crazed brother.Almost a five star but not quite. MY GRADE: B plus.

I did not really enjoy the Death of the Family arc. However with Batgirl/Barbara's history with the Joker this tie in was done very well. I was a bit dubious of the change in artist but I think Benes art work does go very well with the storyline. The Books does start with a one shot special. With the digital art work and is more of an epilogue to the Court of the Owls storyline. Than the book continues from where volume 2 left off. Barbara's mother has been attacked in the same style Barbara was...

This is kind of a mishmash of issues, some of them continuing the work Simone was doing in Volumes 1 and 2, some of them intersecting with the Scott Snyder Death of the Family work, some of them written by Ray Fawkes. The Simone stuff introduces Catwoman to the mix, which I enjoyed quite a bit. The Death in the Family stuff has its moments (Joker!), as we get a little freaked out by Joker, some ptsd moments related to Batgirl’s paralysis and fears about her mother, but overall it is a diversion

This one is... complicated. I generally enjoy Gail Simone's writing and narrative decisions, and the art in this volume (collecting various singles) was generally really good, it's just... I don't know how I feel about what's been done to Babs. Look, there's never a good way to approach the behemoth that is past comics canon: when you've got nonsense like CAPTAIN AMERICA: COMMIE SMASHER (eerily prescient for, uh, certain slash fic things), or BATMAN: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY (just, Jason Todd in ge...

Better, not by much.World: The art is still only okay. I don't really like the sense of motion and the all dark and gritty nature of the art, just my preference. The world building is probably the best part of this arc. Not only does it go into the amazing Death of the Family but also deals with Babs' past and family. Solid.Story: The story was solid for a tie-in, though if you read all the tie ins you will find that they are pretty much end the same with the dinner plate and the Joker. The meat...

My God, I LOVED this Volume! *swoons*Death of the Family really cranks up the tension with plenty of action, hard-hitting graphics and punchy dialogue. We see Batgirl face the bastard who paralysed her for three years (Mistah J) and are once again reacquainted with his psychosis and the depths of his depravity. We also learn that Barbara's brother, James Gordon Jr. is actually pulling the strings behind these hideous attacks and forcing his sister to relive nightmare after nightmare after nightm...

The first chapter, "The Blood That Moves Us"--written by Gail Simone--connects to the previous Knightfall storyline and the Court of Owls thread (which I still haven’t read, so I know I’m missing something) and features the Owl assassin known as Mary, plus Catwoman. It’s an okay story with plenty of Girl Power but didn’t have as much emotional impact as I would have liked.The Death of the Family story arc includes three chapters written by Simone; a chapter written by Scott Snyder, which turns t...

I thought this was the best volume of the entire series. This is Babs dealing head on with her past. This volume contains cute little side story and the later half mostly around James. You know James...not me James. No the piece of shit brother of Barb. This sick fuck lovesssss to fuck with his family. So he takes no mercy on them. However, the part I liked more was Joker event. If you don't know by now Barb was shot by the piece of shit and paralyzed. Now he's back, she's back walking, and she

Making me eat my hat after my review of volume 2, this volume opens with an Annual that reintroduces the Talon from Batgirl's Night of the Owls issue, who I hadn't realised was Strix, who would go on to star in Birds of Prey, and currently Secret Six. The annual has great artwork, and shows us a side of Catwoman we don't get to see very much either, plus it's a little heartbreaking too.Death of the Family takes up the bulk of this volume, with Batgirl, her mother, and James Jr. all in his crossh...

3.5 Stars Okay, this one I didn't enjoy as much as the previous volume. It is good though, but let me explain. Just like volume 2 this trade collects a few stories and, well, it feels forced. It makes me feel bad for Simone, she was setting this incredible storyline, but she had to make space for the Death of the family event. Oh Snyder, oh Death of the Family we meet again. She also has to connect later issues with the death of Robin and not only that, but the female Talon is back. For one vol

3.5 stars. I have no idea why they didn't/couldn't(?) get Gail Simone to write Batgirl and the Birds of Prey because she's the only writer aside from Dixon to truly give me a Babs to root for. Babs is not a Kate Bishop clone, she's a grown ass woman and she's better than smarmy one liners. (don't get me wrong, I adore Kate Bishop but lately comics have decided to clone her for every female led book. I have no idea why)Babs is angry in this book. Understandably so: she's still dealing with the tr...