Batgirl #4 Review

Writer: Hope Larson / Artist: Rafael Albuquerque / DC Comics We’re back in Gotham, Singapore, South Korea – somewhere in Asia on Batgirl’s international adventure tracking down a bio-encryption formula, and pieces are finally starting to come together in this “Beyond Burnside” story arc. We know someone called the Teacher is hoping to make a fortune on the formula, we know Babs’ own friend Kai is the human mule meant to transport it in his body, and we know Batgirl has to track down the both of them if she’s to stop the formula from spreading and save her friend from the mess he put himself in. And now we finally know who these random people are who keep fighting Batgirl at every turn:

They’re desperate kids looking for a second chance at making something of their lives, which definitely helps make them more sympathetic villains, mere pawns taken advantage of by the Teacher’s quest to cash in on a chemical formula that can make you smarter, with some minor side effects like hair loss, mania, cancer, and probably death. Some Libertarian reader probably leaned into Batgirl #4 hard, coming to the Teacher’s defense talking about how it would probably be cleared by most Asian governments and eventually approved by the FDA anyway, which shouldn’t even exist because freedom, so the Teacher really isn’t doing anything wrong and Batgirl trippin’. Either way, Batgirl found her mark and knows where to find both Kai and the Teacher, so this series is progressing right on schedule.

Over…