DC Comics
Batgirl #22
By Dan Horn
June 16, 2011 - 12:04

DC Comics
Writer(s): Bryan Q. Miller
Penciller(s): Pere Perez
Inker(s): Pere Perez
Colourist(s): Guy Major
Letterer(s): Carlos M. Mangual
Cover Artist(s): Dustin Nguyen
$2.99 US



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Late one night, Stephanie Brown, aka Batgirl, is contacted by Bruce Wayne, activating her for a Batman Incorporated mission in the UK. Putting her Reaper investigation on hold, Steph makes the trip under the guise of a Cultural Studies trip and meets up with her chaperon, the lively Beryl Hutchinson, Squire to the UK's Batman surrogate, Knight. But, before Stephanie can go about her official business, the villain the Orphan pulls off a clever heist that sends anti-time leaking across Britain, and it's up to Batgirl and Squire to stop him.

Batgirl #22 is a brilliant juxtaposition of national norms, a great semester-abroad escapade. The ever-humorous Bryan Q. Miller uses Beryl's vernacular and the dialogue between her and Stephanie to dryly hilarious effect. Miller adequately sums up some very funny American presuppositions of the UK, highlighting the idiosyncrasies of the English through sly Oliver Twist, GMT, and Abbey Road references, and, to be honest, it's a bit astonishing that he's accomplished such a fully realized madcap adventure in just these few pages. Well, I guess we've seen him do wonderful self-contained stories like this before, but it never ceases to impress. One of the many fantastic things about Miller's writing is that while some of his contemporaries *cough* Tony Daniel *cough* bog stories down with unbearable triteness, Bryan Q. deftly employs cliche to elevate his whimsical gestes.

Pere Perez returns to pencils in this issue. He's done a really phenomenal job on this series, a title which has often seen Perez and fan-favorite Dustin Nguyen swapping issues. To keep up with Nguyen and to make such seamless transitions from one chapter to the next is testament of Perez's pencilling abilities. His panels are always dynamic and a pleasure to pore over. He's absolutely one of the best minimalists in the business today.

It's going to be hard to see Miller's run on this title come to its inexorable end this summer. I'm not sure what will happen to Stephanie Brown after this, what with Barbara Gordon resuming her work as Batgirl. It will definitely be a sad day for many readers. I mean, this is the girl who slapped Bruce Wayne in the face for messing around as the Insider when he returned! It's hard to believe she'll be relinquishing her role as Batgirl, but seeing her evolution in Miller's revamp of the character has been a blissfully entertaining, character-driven saga of redemption.
Rating: 9/10

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