To say that things have been complicated for the Batfamily in the current Batman run would be a little bit of an understatement. Vandal Savage continues to control Gotham with his own brutal and corrupt brand of “justice” as Police Commissioner with an all-out war on Batman and his allies. Last week’s Batman #9 even hinted at the most devastating turn yet, with it suggested that Barbara Gordon would end up behind bars. Now, Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 is here and reveals the truth to that tease, delivering a solid start to the prison break thriller Batman fans didn’t know they needed.
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Written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Amancay Nahuelpan, Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 reveals that Barbara wasn’t so much as apprehended by Savage’s TUCO thugs as she set things up so that she could be captured deliberately and for a good if not dangerous reason: Savage is using the Supermax facilities to punish and control not criminals but his own enemies. While the issue is a lot of setup designed to orient readers—and Barbara—with her dangerous, high stakes mission, it’s a solid read with all the makings of a prison thriller and a great one at that.
Rating: 4 out of 5
| PROS | CONS |
| Exciting, fresh premise | Babs is a little too prepared |
| Barbara Gordon kicking butt |
Breakout #1 Shows Off Barbara’s Brains and Brawn
Going into Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1, it would seem that Barbara is the latest target of Savage’s brutal administration, but the issue makes it clear pretty quickly that is far from the case. Instead, it’s revealed that Barbara going to prison is actually all her idea. With the Gotham Assistant District Attorney arrested and imprisoned by Savage and then having ended up dead by so-called suicide and other of Savage’s enemies meeting the same fate, and with Batman among Savage’s targets, Barbara has a plan. Getting arrested and sent to prison was by her design as the only way the Batfamily can get to the bottom of things is to do it from the inside.
It’s a plan that is both genius and insane, but Tamaki does a great job of laying out Barbara’s thought process and just how carefully she’s planned this. This isn’t Barbara going in blind or even helpless. This is a calculated, tactical move and she’s prepared for it. Her family ties are going to be a problem, as is the dynamic in the prison yard and Barbara wastes no time establishing that she’s not going to go down easy. As the narration sets up the story, we get some great scenes of Barbara not only getting the lay of the land but throwing some serious punches as well. It’s the action scenes in the issue that really shine with Nahuelpan’s art showing off just how capable and brutal Barbara can be. The issue also wastes no time in letting the reader—and Barbara herself—know that there are going to be aspects of this mission that haven’t been accounted for as the issue ends with a bit of a cut to black that suggests things are about to get very scary and very personal very fast.
It’s that hard shift from badass to terror in the final panels that might actually be the weakest element of the issue, however. Not that it’s not good for the story—it definitely sets things up for the next issue. Instead, it just feels a little jarring as the whole issue to this point we’ve gotten the impression that Barbara has accounted for almost everything and is at a greater advantage only for that last panel to suddenly yank the rug out from under things in a way that feels disorienting, but not deliberately so. Even with that tonal shift, however, Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 is a fantastic comic and a great kickoff to what might be one of the most exciting Batfamily stories in a while.
Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1 is on sale now from DC Comics.
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