Written by Mariko Tamaki
Art & Coloring by Amancay Nahuelpan and Tamara Bonvillain, respectively.
The third issue of Barbara Gordon: Breakout continues the mind games of the mysterious serial killer who has been killing wrongfully convicted allies close to Barbara Gordon and her father in Gotham’s Supermax prison, which Commissioner Vandal Savage runs. In the first issue, Barbara gets herself arrested to enter the prison and take down the killer, but must navigate corrupt security, vengeful criminals, and an enemy she can only see in her head.
I enjoyed reading this issue because I love stories where the heroes are stripped of everything except their wits and determination. While Batgirl gets her shine in flashbacks, the star is the woman under the mask, Barbara Gordon. Admittedly, I’m not caught up with the main continuity in the Batman world, but the premise of this story held my attention enough that I didn’t feel the need to catch up, because the story immediately starts with high stakes as Barbara voluntarily cuts off help to avenge the death of her father’s allies.
Since the first issue, Barbara has been fighting against psychological warfare in the form of an unresolved case that haunts her, and the killing joke that once paralyzed her, grinning and cackling in the darkest corners of her mind. Three issues in with no significant progress, Barbara is starting to realize that her plan may have actually been a trap and she just walked right into it. While she has the blueprints of the prison memorized, the suspect she’s been seeing in her head has already attacked and nearly killed her a few times already, even under functioning surveillance cameras. Sparrow, Barbara’s cellmate, has been drugging Barbara with seeming painkillers that only make her pain worse, but she doesn’t seem to be the killer. All the preparation in the world did not prepare her for the blindsiding unpredictability of her mission. Since she’s cut off contact with the Bat-family, Barbara has to figure this out on her own.
The callbacks to The Killing Joke in this series are proof of how Joker’s intense rivalry with Batman has affected the Bat-family in a way that can only be explored through their perspective. I got to see more of how The Killing Joke affected her because I think Jason Todd is usually the poster boy of horrible things Joker has done to the Bat-family. However, I never read how Barbara recovered and moved on from that trauma–if she did at all–and this is a great opportunity to see if Barbara came out of that moment stronger, or if it's something that will forever hold her back.
Nahuelpan’s art feels grounded, and it worked for a story like this. There are no flashy or explosive fights, but Barbara’s hallucinations are a bad acid trip I wouldn’t wish on anyone. The darkness of the grim-reaper-like entity that’s stalking her felt looming and dreadful, and the brutality of the attacks looked vengeful. The art makes it clear that the enemy isn’t just trying to kill her; it’s torturing her, and the vengeance in those acts of torture is the only clue that this enemy is someone Barbara has history with.
Overall, this issue is a reminder that not ever superhero story has to be a full-time costumed adventure and some of the best superhero stories are told when the hero is at their most vulnerable, but their courage and strength persists.
Grade: 8/10