DC Comics Reveals Batgirl's New Costume
DC Comics is revamping Batgirl and she's got a new creative team behind it and it will come complete with a new costume design for her new adventures in Gotham City. That costume redesign comes from artist Sean Gordon Murphy and it is going to be revealed on the cover of Batgirl #26.
If you're familiar with the comics and the previous Batgirl costumes, this one was inspired by the character's outfit from Year One with the grey, yellow, and blue color scheme. Obviously, it has more of a modern stylish look to it, though, especially with the bat logo that will hook on to a backpack. The gloves, boots, and utility belt also have been tweeked, and she doesn't have a full cowl. The following comes from Polygon.
The series is being written by Mairghread Scott with art by Paul Pelletier and Elena Casagrande, and this is what Scott had to say in a statement:
“This is supposed to be a version of the costume that she was working on when she still lived with her dad. That’s why it looks so much like her original Batgirl: Year One outfit — like, she’s with her dad. She can’t get out back to Burnside, and this is like the emergency. So the version that she was working on [back in the day] that she had stashed here just in case. It helps us with the story a little bit too, because it’s a little less bright — we wanted her to be more stealthy, and we want her to be able to integrate some more tech with the belt.”
I like the new design! It's got a cool stylish look to it that fits the character and its a good combo of old and new.
Batgirl will be taking on the returning villain named Grotesque, who according to Scott, was "originally, this sort of adrenaline junkie who liked to steal the finer things in life, but he got sent away to Blackgate. Now he’s back and we learn that his time in prison has really changed him." Scott said.
This villain is dark as he is an artist that creates insane pieces of art using human beings. "Things like Perseus with the Head of Medusa, but maybe it’s got a real person’s head. Or a still life, but made up of human hands. He’s still stealing things, of course, but it’s different now — he’s escalating. And Batgirl has to stop him."
He's like Hannibal Lector! This sounds like it going to be a rough villain for Batgirl to take on. But, it's explained that this will also come with an internal struggle with her implant:
"The implant that allows her to walk is shorting out. But when that happens, [Babs’] is just like, ‘Oh, okay, my legs aren’t working, I can deal with that. It’s fine.’ Because she was Oracle for a long time, you know? She knows how to operate without the chip."
The use of her legs isn't all that she's dealing with, though:
"We decided that this implant is in her spine, it’s got to hook into her brain somehow. So that’s the risk — she’s a girl who can survive anything as long as she has her brain, but what happens if her brain is suddenly becoming an unreliable place? My mom had a brain tumor, so I pulled a lot of what Babs is going through here from her — it was a lot of awkward conversations like 'Hey, so, you know how it felt when you were brain damaged?'"
"Because that’s scary, you know? My mom was a professional grammarian for years and suddenly it was a struggle. She had to think about things like ‘what if the language centers of my brain stop working? How will I feed myself, how will I feed my family?’ So that’s what Babs is going through, she’s worried that her eidetic memory might not be perfect and her investigative skills might be failing."
That adds a whole new interesting dynamic to the character that ads so many more layers to her. She's definitely going to be going through some complicated times. In the end, the are focused on staying true to the character.
"It was important to us that the art communicates her as a hero rather than a pin-up or a victim."
The new team kicks off in Batgirl #26 and Batgirl Annual #2 this August, while her new costume debuts in Batgirl #27 on September 26th.
What do you think about the new costume and the direction they are taking the character?