Set relatively soon after Bruce Wayne took up the mantle of the Batman in Gotham City, Batman Confidential tells the stories of Batman’s early outings. It has been a colossal hit, with fans eagerly awaiting each and every issue. I first jumped on to the book at issue 17, because of the Batgirl/Barbara Gordon story being told. I am so glad that I did, and look forward to getting my hands on a TPB of the earlier issues.

Batman Confidential 17 and 18 tell the story of Batgirl’s first encounter with Catwoman. There isn’t a Batman to be found in these issues, and when we’re dealing with one of my favorite characters, Batgirl, the less Batman the better.

At the end of issue 17, Batgirl was faced with a nasty dilemma: follow Catwoman in to the Gotham Hedonist Society’s meeting, starkas, or high tail it out of there. She knew that Catwoman didn’t think she would follow. She thus knew she had to go in there.

Issue 18 starts just as a million comic geeks were hoping it would – with a very naked Barbara Gordon, holding her cape in front of her to cover her… pretties. She finally surrenders her cape, and with nothing but her mask for an identity, she enters in to a room full of very naked Gothamites.

Fabian Nicieza has a really firm grasp (sorry) on the character of Batgirl, and her internal dialogue is, what I believe to be, spot on. This is exemplified with a few fantastic gems in the opening pages, such as “Is he looking? He better be looking…” referring to her … you get the picture. And on the next page, as she is pushing through a crowd of people she hastily admonishes a passerby with a “That better be your finger…”

And through it all she is expressing her hate, her “pure, unadulterated, livid, vivid, justifiable hatred…” for Catwoman. The inner monologue is why you read this book: everything else is just the cream on top of the cake.

Within moments Batgirl has the object of her attention – a notebook of her father’s that Catwoman has stolen – and after a very naked and quick dust-up amidst Gotham’s nakedist, Batgirl is out of there. In this though, we once again get a good grip (sorry) of why Batgirl was allowed to continue being Batgirl: she is feisty, well trained, and strong.

It’s obviously not long until Catwoman catches up with Batgirl, because as good as Batgirl is, Catwoman is at least her match in this arena. They end up scrapping in a garbage yard (or tip, as we call them down in Australia), where a great scene shows how to get a little puppy to drop a notebook: the answer is not threatening her with its life in front of a bunch of other dogs, as a note.

The twist, that was inevitable in a series of issues that is scheduled to run for 5 months in total, is that Catwoman needs “the notebook to save someone’s life!” Barbara is unsurprisingly baffled, but doesn’t have a lot of time to deal with the confusion as Catwoman is shot, from a distance, by an as yet unknown assailant.

Kevin Maguire’s artwork is really something to behold. However he does have a bit of trouble with faces at times, with some very ungainly expressions. That being said, the very first page that I am currently looking at, has a near perfect pose of Barbara – yes, sure, she’s very naked, but the biting of the lip is a small detail that, I think, perfectly sums up what she was thinking.

But apart from the previously mentioned facial expressions which tend to run 50/50 good/bad, I really love Maguire’s work. It is especially fun to watch how he continually manages to cover up everyone’s naughty bits, with a raised hand here, a well positioned turn, and my favorite, a bowl of fruit – in particular, a pear – to cover Barbara’s ass.

All in all, this book gets 5 out of 5 for me, something I haven’t done in awhile. I know the artwork doesn’t necessarily score that high, but Nicieza’s story and the 80% good artwork simply cannot be denied a full mark. Make sure you try and get your hands on this storyline as soon as possible; you will not regret it! And try and do it for something other than the rampant nakedness of the first 9 pages.