[NIGHT OF THE OWLS NOTE: If you’re reading all the tie-ins this week, I’d put this after BATMAN & ROBIN and before BATMAN (which will spoil the ending of this issue).]

This is my first issue of BATGIRL since Stephanie Brown was doing her thing, and I’m probably not going to rush to jump on the book from here, either. I’m here for the Night of the Owls stuff, and insofar as that goes, this issue was solid. Batgirl fights a female Talon (as the cover suggests) with a past slightly more convoluted than some of the other Talons we’ve seen so far.

This issue does advance the “Night” plot a little, though, not in an indispensable way, but enough that it’s not just Batgirl vs. the Court’s assassin.

My gripe is that there’s a whole extra background story to it that, in the end, I think probably doesn’t add much. I’m not sure exactly what Simone was going for, but I think she could’ve done more with the material.

But aside from that, this is a chance to see Batgirl handle the threat of the Court in her own way, and there’s some nice stuff to look at. I found the art a little uneven at times, but when it’s on, it’s really on.