At the end of 2012, Gail Simone was infamously fired from DC’s Batgirl and then quickly rehired when the fan backlash kicked in. Now, Simon is once again off of the ongoing Batgirl title, but she will reportedly have a new DC project to replace it.
MTV News has revealed that the new Batgirl creative team will be writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher, with Babs Tarr as the new artist. The new team takes over with Batgirl # 35, as Barbara Gordon loses everything she has (even her Batgirl costume) in a fire, which forces her to reevaluate her life and reinvent her Batgirl persona.
“Batgirl has really been put through the wringer in recent years,” explained Stewart.”Just prior to the start of our story [Barbara Gordon has been] pushed to the breaking point and decides that she’s had it with misery and darkness and wants a change. She wants the opportunity to have some fun and live the life of a young, single girl in the city, so she packs up and moves to Burnside, the cool, trendy borough of Gotham, to focus on grad school.”
Fletcher added that “Barbara allows herself to be immersed in youth culture for the first time, exploring the social side of life in Burnside. That’s not to say there isn’t mystery, of course! Try as she might to live a ‘normal’ life, Barbara very quickly finds herself drawn back into the world of crime fighting.”
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Regarding Batgirl’s new look, Stewart said “the new [costume] is something she’s able to make herself, shopping at the various boutique and vintage stores in Burnside. It also reflects her youth and style. Unlike Batman or Batwoman, she no longer needs to stay in the shadows, and in fact learns to embrace the spotlight.”
“We really wanted to make this a book with a light tone, of fun and adventure and mystery, and let the rest of the Bat-family deal with the darkness,” continued Stewart. “She’s got problems, and conflict, and enemies to fight, but our priority was to make this a really fun, rollicking read.”
Batgirl # 35 will be released on Wednesday, October 8.
