Batgirl 3: Death of the Family

My daughter is a collector and loves these.

Batgirl must face a deadly Talon even after the Court of Owls has been defeated and uses the help of Catwoman to do it. Then, Barbara must conquer her fears of the Joker and face not only him but her brother as well and save Gotham from two deadly psychopaths!The third volume to Gail Simone’s Batgirl series brings us issues #14-19 of the series along with Batman #17, the Batgirl story from Young Romance #1, and Batgirl Annual #1 all encased in a hardcover edition similar to the previous volumes. The book starts with the Annual and has Batgirl and Catwoman teaming up against remnants of the Court of Owls. Admira Wijaya and Daniel Sampere did the artistry here and did a really good job. The story worked, having both Batgirl and Catwoman act in-character and brought the Court of Owls back into reality and not just a “once-and-done” event. The book then moves into the Joker story with Daniel Sampere doing art this time with Ed Benes. These issues fit very well and it plays into the Batman #17 issue by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo which finishes it off. The Young Romance section written by Ray Fawkes and drawn by Julius Gopez ties into a previous issue but seems a bit pointless overall. The book ends with the remaining Batgirl issues written by Ray Fawkes to start with and Gail returns at issue #19 and Daniel does all the pencil work. These issues deal with Batgirl’s brother and the terror he causes to her family; much like the Joker did a few nights before.Overall, this was a great read and the Joker story and her brother’s tale led right into each other very well. The Young Romance issue, while nice to be included, seemed pointless overall. The art was nice all around and really fleshed out some of the characters and the minor villain Firebug was designed really neat. Speaking of which, the back of the book contains some neat character drawings as a bonus. Worth the sticker price, definitely.

I'm guilty of not reading any of the Death storyline until this collection. I'm very tired of crossovers, the countless event titles each year and, frankly, sick of DCs shenanigans and start-stop failures. I do, however, openly admit that I follow Gail Simone's work with fervor. Her talent and perspective alone has time-after-time won me over to titles I never previously gave any credit or time to. Yes, even Atom.Batgirl has always been a favorite of mine, regardless of Simone's involvement. But if you're looking at this collection you're either already well-aware of how far she's elevated the Batgirl bar with the first several issues (or couple volumes, depending how you read them), so her written needs no review.I can't comment on it's relevance to the rest of the Bat titles in this event - I won't be able to until the rest of the books are dropped to super sale prices a fair piece of time down the road - but as a Batgirl title this is spectacular. It's Simone taking every bit of her talent and cranking it to 11, trumping her previous issues and, as far as I'm concerned, overshadowing even Snyder's work on Batman. It functions well as a standalone stretch and bleeds seamlessly into past and current (as of this review) story lines, with no sense of staccato speed bumps over not reading the crossovers.That art is excellent. It truly is some of the best in the DC universe right now outside of Capullo's work on Batman. Different colorists weave through the collected issues but his lines remain strong enough to keep a constant pace on the visual narrative. The angles are crisp and exciting and sense of motion excites.It's a wonderful collection; a joy to read through in one sitting. Also, some of the best Joker dialogue in recent memory.

I complained in the review of the previous volume about the changing of artists during the book. Well, this volume is worse. They use even more artists and only one of them is top notch, Ed Benes. New regular series artist Daniel Sampier's work is a distant second to Ed's. Next would be Greg Capullo who penciled the Batman issue contained in this volume. The other couple artists used don't even bear mentioning. It's sad that the best book in the New 52 has a revolving door of artists. Art took a big step backwards as a whole in this volume. Art 3 stars.The storyline with Joker and the one with James Jr were both awesome. The couple issues that Ray Fawkes took over as writer were surprisingly good considering how much I had come to love Gail Simone on this series from the previous volumes. I'm just glad that he didn't try to write for Babs the way Simone does. His focus on Jr helped him out, I think. Overall, the writing was top notch and that's somewhat surprising considering this was a tie-in to several other Bat titles. A lot of times I feel that crossovers lack something because of all the characters thrown together. This wasn't a company wide crossover so that probably helped. Writing 5 stars.A step down overall from the first 2 volumes. The story was fantastic but the art held this volume back.

The media could not be loaded.  Ainda não tive tempo de ler, mas as ilustrações são muito bonitas e a encadernação muito bem feita. Mas o que surpreendeu mesmo foi o envio, nunca vi um livro tão bem embalado na vida, acho que quem preparou para o enviou embalou do jeito que gostaria de receber, merecia um aumento no salário, kkkkk! Chegou em ótimas condições e antes do prazo.

El multiverso ofrece un gran catalogo de historias y esta no es la excepción. Una gran historia dentro del universo de Batgirl y Joker.

Absolutely freaking awesome!!! I got a tiny glimpse of Batgirl in Night of the Owls and I was interested, but after this book, I want more and have placed an order to read this series!! Wow! What an excellent, exciting, very creepy story. This story has the dark, eerie atmosphere that I love from the serial killer mysteries I love to read. Batgirl is awesome! The book starts off with Batgirl investigating some arsons being committed by homeless people but that is cut off and left hanging when she finds out from a source that the Court of Owls are still active. Then Catwoman and Batgirl team up together against the Owls to save a halfway decent female Talon. As I've said before I'm not into Catwoman, but I actually enjoyed this team-up with Batgirl. This was an action-packed thrilling story, very intense, and I loved knowing the Owls are still out there working behind the scenes. Then comes the best part of the whole book as both Barbara Gordon and her Batgirl persona deal with The Joker, Barbara's psychopath brother and the kidnapping of their mother. This was freaking creepy to the extreme. Heart-pounding reading and intense to the max. Very, very disturbing storyline. I never liked the old Joker, but this new one is a deranged psycho and demented beyond belief. He gives me the shivers. We also get a lot of backstory on Barbara's shooting that paralyzed her and her recovery throughout the book. Then comes a story which I believe must be a cross-over from Batman where the Joker has all the family kidnapped and tortures them. Again Intense. Finally, the ending is emotional. the death in the family secret is revealed and closure comes to part of the storyarc but it leaves us and Batgirl drained feeling that the next volume will possibly take a new direction for her family. The art throughout is gruesomely creepy. I'm majorly impressed with this book. Just loved the intensity of it and the outstanding quality of the story.

Such a well done volume. From the adventure that turns into a heartfelt understanding between Batgirl and Catwoman; to Babs reliving and having to face her worst fears; to the touching reunion between Babs and Alysia; and to its climactic and satisfying, yet bittersweet ending, this book is a great read. The Batgirl series continues to be rock solid, and with the best story arc in this run yet, you can't go wrong buying this.

I did not really enjoy the Death of the Family arc. However with Batgirl/Barbara's history with the Joker this tie in was done very well. I was a bit dubious of the change in artist but I think Benes art work does go very well with the storyline. The Books does not quite start with a one shot special. With the digital art work and is more of an epilogue to the Court of the Owls storyline. Than the book continues from where volume 2 left off. Barbara's mother has been attacked in the same style Barbara was starting the Jokers plans for her. I do like the way Batgirl is portrayed he really has no problem killing the Joker she has rationales it, she even fantasises about it. This volume does actually have the conclusion to the Death of the Family in the Batman comic.We also get a look at the most demented member of the Gordon clan James Gordon Jr. The sibling rivalry show down. Something I like especially is in this series is Batgirls rage she fights angry and brutally. I think it is a good touch to show Batgirl bruised bleeding in fights, the only thing is on the next panel she is back to Barbara besides from a few bruises and bandages on arms and legs but her face seem the heal at a Wolverine level. Another great set of books. There is even a short valentine’s story to break up all the darkness of these issues. All in all a great series, one of the best of the Bat books.