Exclusive DC Preview: 'Batgirl' #31

DC has provided ComicBook.com with an exclusive preview of Batgirl #31 from writer Mairghread [...]

By Russ Burlingame

DC has provided ComicBook.com with an exclusive preview of Batgirl #31 from writer Mairghread Scott, with art by Paul Pelletier and Norm Rapmund.

You can see it in the attached image gallery.

In the issue, Barbara Gordon volunteers to campaign for a congressional candidate who is targeting corruption within the Gotham City Police Department. While she is doing this, her personal life is thrown into chaos with an ex-lover showing up out of nowhere at the same time her father (CGPD Commissioner James Gordon, natch) objects to the rhetoric of Barbara's favored politician.

Batgirl (2016) #31

Batgirl (2016) #31 Gallery

Scott, who took on the series with #25 back in August, is telling some of the darkest and most grounded Batgirl stories in years. While everything from The Killing Joke through 2011's New 52 reboot was pretty standard Bat-family fare (read: darkity dark dark dark), the DC You relaunch rebranded her as a brighter, younger, more approachable young hero in the vein of Kamala Khan or Jonathan Kent.

While the DC You publishing initiative as a whole did not exactly take the world by storm, thre were a few concepts from that era -- especially its takes on Batgirl and Black Widow -- that found purchase and have remained part of the characters' mythologies since.

"We're not abandoning what happened to Babs in Burnside or the great characters there (though in our first arc you won't see much of them, just because of the nature of that story)," Scott told DC's in-house blog when she was launching her run. "Gotham proper is only a bridge away from Burnside and while I want to move forward with Babs, fans shouldn't worry that Frankie and the gang are going to disappear forever. I like them too much."

You can see the official synopsis for tomorrow's issue below.

In this issue, it's Batgirl for Congress! Plus, masked assassins and awkward exes! Barbara Gordon volunteers to campaign for an up-and-coming reformer candidate who wants to take on the GCPD. That puts Barbara in a tough spot against her father—police commissioner James Gordon. And just when things couldn't get any more awkward, a former flame reenters Barbara's life. Personal angst and a masked super-villain hunting a mystery target. It's gonna be a long day, Babs.

Batgirl #31 is available in stores and online tomorrow.

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