One day I would like to ask Batgirl scribe Bryan Q. Miller, “How exactly do you channel a kick-ass 18 year-old superheroine so well?” Miller has taken a character that could do no right in the Bat-books and morphed her from the bumbling gang war-starting Spoiler, into a new and impressive Batgirl. In this one-shot Valentine’s Day issue Miller pairs Stephanie with Klarion the Witch-Boy, and the hijinx ensue.
Before I get into the story I feel like I need to give a shout out to Dustin Nguyen’s fabulous artwork, it is a thing of beauty. His take on Batgirl, the blue Wizard-boy Klarion and his man-cat familiar Teekl is awesome. The way he drew the difference between Limbo and Gotham City was stark and right on.
Stephanie Brown/Batgirl is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters in the DCU, whether she is spouting witty dialogue via inner and/or outer monologue. I mean come on ‘Accio Fist’, who wouldn’t want to be that quick witted when it comes to battling a witch is a duel of magic?
Ok, I’m getting ahead of myself… In Chalk (heart) Outline Batgirl comes across a corpse missing it’s heart and her “investigation” leads her to Klarion performing a ritual to try and get his familiar Teekl to return to him.
Silly, silly little blue witch-boy, all your cat wanted was some love on Valentine’s Day and what do you do? Separate him from the cat he loves, and now he is out tearing out hearts trying to find true love. This leaves it up to Batgirl to track Teekl down and help Klarion re-couple with him, too bad this requires the love of a good cat. Bringing everything back to the above mentioned trip to Limbo to find the giving tree of familiars in order to break Klarion’s selfish spell.
The signature Bryan Q. Miller comedy comes at the end of the book as Stephanie is being put down and pseudo-bullied by the evil and wicked Jordana, leading to a kiss, the promise of a future team up and a frog.
After two one-shot issues in a row I’m eager to get back to the Batgirl story with Proxy, Oracle and Batman Incorporated. Still, this issue is definitely worth a run to your local comic book store to add to your collection, or even monthly pull list.
Rating: 8/10 (a must buy)