This one has been on my radar for the longest time, but I admit that I'm not particularly interested in the character of Batman, let alone the character of Batgirl. though sometimes I do check out these characters when I'm between volumes for the comics I am more interested in reading. This tends to lead to my more experimental phase with comics, where I go out of my way to search for things that are either new or different to what I'd usually read. I'm in that phase at the moment with everything being between releases, and I'm desperate to find something new to check out from time to time. I mentioned that this was on my radar for a while now, and at one point I was planning on reading it but just didn't. Now, I figured it was time to check it out and see if it has anything to offer. I haven't seen a lot of interest surrounding this story though, both in the marketing and any online discussion; I think that somewhat influenced the lack of reading. Admittedly, I don't actually know anything regarding the Batgirl character, I have zero awareness of what her backstory is, who she is, and what she gets up to. I've never read or seen anything featuring her before, so this was a totally new experience for me, with no idea as to what to expect. And it wasn't so bad. The start was a confusing introduction, with references and a supposed conversation between Batgirl and her mother. This was something it was setting up for later, though it had me feeling like I had missed something.
One of the least interesting aspects of this introduction within the first volume was the immediate throwing out that Batgirl is highly against violence that leads to death. The usual morals of Batman injected directly into Batgirl. It was a bit too forced and thrown in, which didn't make me particularly motivated to continue under the assumption that the usual Batman structure would continue on into this story, and things wouldn't really be that different to stand out, beyond Batman this time just being a girl. Though the positive to this was how Lady Shiva immediately states the obvious to take note of the contradiction here: where Batgirl is against killing, the two are within a city in which hundreds of criminals are desperate to see the two dead. Ready to hunt them down and kill anyone in the process of getting to them. Where Batgirl refuses to kill, there's no limits to those that could be harmed in efforts to get to her. This is something I've always had a bit of a problem with regarding the Batman character: that refusal to accept that sometimes there might actually be a reason to kill. Some types of evil are incapable of change, and that leads to far more suffering by neglecting to address that problem with a more serious solution. It's with this that Lady Shiva tells Batgirl that the two desperately need to leave the city.
Now, I admit I'm not the easist to please when it comes to comic book art. I have a very specific set of styles that I enjoy, and the art styles can easily be make or break for me within the first few panels. It's a bad preference to have in which an excellent story could be totally overlooked by me if the art doesn't quite catch my interest. And this is something that often leads to me trying a comic, dropping it, and searching for another to replace it. With this first volume, I wasn't so sure about it at first, but it wasn't an art style that I'd say is really repulsive. It's one that has a more cartoonish and comic book style to it, without endlessly scratchy lines that makes things look rushed and lazy. Instead, in some panels it reminded me quite a bit of the art within Batman: Year One. That's quite a compliment to give due to how famous Year One is with its art, and it's clear that it gave many artists a silly amount of influence over the years. This was mostly in specific panels with little detail to it, featuring backgrounds and general world building rather than panels that saw action or close-ups of characters and their faces. Though even there the art was still pretty good. A bit more of a blocky construction to those characters. But most people won't really care and will be pleased by this.
The theme of death and not killing continues to return within the first volume, and yet again it was a nice feature that pulls back that morality of Batgirl, with the more realistic perspective of Lady Shiva by not killing people, more innocent people suffered and died as a result. Either way: blood was spilled indirectly by Batgirl for not taking action and choosing who that blood belonged to. And it was here that it was revealed who this mother character actually was: Lady Shiva. Another character I've never heard of before! This had me a little confused, which did lead to me reading up on the character elsewhere during a little break to get some extra context. So if you're like me, there may be a few moments of confusion in which you aren't quite certain what's going on or if you've somehow missed something. For a first volume, perhaps it could've done something to be a bit more clear. Although it might just be me and also the fact that I read through this after two exhausting days with probably some of the poorest reading comprehension imaginable.
I'd say it was an interesting first volume though. Some fun themes properly addressed and a bit of action that showed us this world in which Batgirl and Lady Shiva are both being hunted down, with no real manner of escaping, it's left up to them to fight to survive if they aren't to flee. The Batgirl character needs a lot more development though, I would've liked to have seen a bit more of the character, though it's probably rather intentional that they don't really display her face to the reader so soon, leading to some additional mystery into what her appearance is like. I can get behind that, it's not a bad idea to leave that up to the viewer to guess and hope is explored later on. It is something to look forward to with later volumes, after all! I will continue reading this, it surprised me more than I thought it would. And fortunately there are seven more volumes to catch up with.