Batgirls Annual #1 // Review
There’s really no convenient time to swap bodies with your best friend. Unexpected family reunions are probably the worst time to find yourself in the body of your BFF. This is exactly what Steph and Cass find out in Batgirls Annual #1. Writers Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad advance Gotham’s coolest crime-fighting team into the autumn of 2022 with an issue that launches the series in a whole new direction. The new chapter is stylishly realized by artist Robbi Rodriguez and colorist Rico Renzi. The three Batgirls are starting to work remarkably well together. This latest direction tests the bounds of their dynamic in interesting ways.
Steph was just helping an old lady with her cat. (It was stuck in a tree in Gotham Heights.) The old lady gave her a large silver coin. Later on, Steph and Cass were hanging out together and joked about possibly trading places. Then, they flipped the coin. It landed on its edge. The next morning, they wake up and find themselves in each other’s bodies. They’re both kind of alarmed that Babs isn’t more freaked out about it, but she’s been superhero-ing for long enough that she’s seen just about everything.
There’s nothing specific about Cloonan and Conrad’s plot that’s new or original. What gives their script its own kind of genius is the distinct personalities that they’re bringing to the page. The three-woman ensemble has an intricately-rendered rapport that gives the series an incredible amount of charm and depth. Cloonan and Conrad benefit from a familiarity that has grown immensely over the past year. The dialogue is crisp and witty. There’s profoundly clever characterization breathed in around the corners of the speech balloons. It all fits together so well.
Rodriguez delivers a sharp and stylish rendering of Gotham City that includes some very classy images of the architecture in the background. The mix of architectures makes Gotham feel like a big city that has been built and rebuilt in stages over many, many years. Rodriguez’s subtle variation in energy and temperament between Steph and Cass finds a really fascinating presence on the page as the two switch bodies. To his great credit, Rodriguez never exaggerates the physical awkwardness of the two women inhabiting each other’s bodies. It’s sharp stuff. Renzi amps up the atmosphere of Gotham City in autumn with a rich, warm color palette that adds to the dramatic resonance of the issue.
The whole creative team has shown a great deal of progress over the course of its time together with Babs, Steph, and Cass. The annual shows the poise and nuance that come with an ample amount of experience together as a team. It’s been fun to watch the team grow together on both sides of the comics. It’s not very often that teams match up this well. With any luck, the three characters, the two writers, and the two artists will continue to haunt their own distinctive corner of Gotham for quite some time.
