Batgirl, Volume 7: Oracle Rising by Cecil Castellucci

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 37-44, the first eight of Cecil Castellucci's run on Batgirl.

The first six issues pick up with the Terrible Trio (fresh off having been defeated by Batgirl in Mairghread Scott's last issue) stumbling upon the Artificial Intelligence for Oracle, Barbara Gordon' hacker identity back when she was in a wheelchair.

This plot was frustrating. At six issues, this feels bloated and padded. There's a lot of Oracle whining and plotting revenge and just being overly dramatic. I also think the author, in writing about Barbara's financial state after she was pushed out of Gordon Clean Energy, doesn't really understand how corporations and stocks and such actually work. He's decided he needs Barbara to be broke even though she'd still be a millionaire at this point, but the story demands it.

The art is not pleasant to look at. It's not awful, but just kind of meh. I do think she does have some nice developments towards the end of the arc, but it's a slog to get through.

Next up Issue 43 and 44, which is, a tie-in to City of Bane. What I did find impressive is that you didn't really need to know anything about that event to understand this story. Essentially, we learn Bane took over the city and it ruined some real estate. Seems believable enough. At any rate, a Fantasy writer has found a way to actually create the world of his imagination, and wants to take his love, and his best editor there. However, Batgirl and Jason Bard get in the way and end up involved in a fantasy fight. It's interesting and I think the writing does some things to forward the relationship, as well as leaving us with a big question about Jason for the next volume.

Overall, the main arc is a bit annoying at times, even though it does have some good points. The last two issues are surprisingly fun and do some clever things, even though they're by no means masterpieces. So I'd rate the book somewhere between 2.5 and 2.75 stars, we'll round it up to three stars and call it okay.



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