After reading this issue, I know how this arc
will end. Gordon will come home and walk into study. He will notice
that his notebook is missing. With a tired and resigned, “Barbara”, his
daughter will walk into the room. With a head hanging low in shame, she
will start to mumble she lost the notebook. Before she can get the
words out, Bruce Wayne will walk into the study to the applause of the
live audience. He will hand the notebook to Gordon making some excuse
like he took it and forgot to return it. Gordon will say “OK” and walk
out. Beaming Barbara will turn to Bruce to thank him, and Bruce will
give her a playful knock to the chin with a witty and clever one-liner.
The canned laughter and applause will rise as the screen fades to black.

For
an industry that complains about the need for female readership, and
specifically a company that launched its own female oriented line of
graphic novels, DC does a good job reducing women to stereotypes. This
issue opens up with the quintessential “Let the boys clean up your
mess” moment. Batman swings in to get the lowdown and save the ladies
from themselves. Batgirl and Catwoman are just girls and can’t handle
things themselves. Thank goodness the Man showed up to set things
straight.

Batman gets them back on track, and the story
moves forward. Stereotype #1, the Femme Fatale, gets her package, and
betrays the others by leaving. The second stereotype, the precocious
teenage girl who should know better but can’t help herself, Batgril,
runs off to chase the lost notebook. At this point, I think they should
change her name to “Gidget”, or Gidget the Batgirl, and be honest.

The
art is passable. The colors are a bit too bright and cartoony. The
artist must have felt the sitcom vibe and has colored up the page to
match the necessary levity.

Gidget runs off and gets
herself in another quandary (of course!). Hopefully Batman will be
around to save her again. Aww shucks, if Gig wasn’t so cute, she might
actually get a stern talking to one day.