Writers – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Tim Seeley, Ray Fawkes, John Layman
Artist – Ian Bertram
Colours – Dave Stewart
Letters – Dezi Sienty

When beginning this particular chapter of DC’s first weekly series in the New 52, the first thought that happened to form was ‘what is going on in this book?’ It was not because of the content, but the artwork that took a few minutes to process, and that what was on the page was indeed real. And it was. The art was far different than anything that had been seen in this title previously or anything that had been seen in the New 52 even. It was shocking and so jaw-dropping, so different and it looked as if it had crawled from the pages of a Fantagraphics book and definitely had no place being here. But after reading the issue, said artwork by Ian Bertram really starts to grow on you with its expressive and kinetic style. And reaching the end, it can be stated that it would be incredibly satisfying to see Bertram’s work on every single issue from here on out. That diverseness and outsider quality, all of the things that make it so different, make it incredibly appealing. Whether it was a one-off or whether there will be more, it was a great decision on DC’s part for trying something out of the box. All of that aside, Batgirl continues her investigation trying to clear her father, Alfred and Julia sort out some family stuff, Stephanie Brown learns some things about her father and Batman and Catwoman have a few words courtesy of our team of writers. Once again, this series and this issue specifically play into that theme of fathers and daughters and the authors of this tale shows just how complicated those relationships can be. True, while villainy and superpowers and the like might come into it, underneath it all, it all boils down to love, the love of a father for his daughter and the love of a daughter for her father and when things go wrong, it can make life harder than it should be. Altogether, a satisfying issue made all the better by the addition of Mr. Bertram.

3.5 out of 5