When the working day is done, oh girls… girls just wanna have fun. We get the working day with Batgirl, as she finishes up her business with the Cobblepots. Meanwhile, Josie & the Pussycats continue having fun.
Batgirl 11
Written by Hope Larson
Art by Chris Wildgoose, Jon Lam and Mat Lopes
Barbara Gordon finally gets to go one on one with kind-of ex-boyfriend Ethan Cobblepot, the son of the Penguin, who is trying to take over Burnside with his roll-out of new phone apps. He wants to push his father out of the way and he does so like you would expect any young hipster entrepreneur would – with a… flash mob…?
With every issue, writer Hope Larson manages to pull something else out of her hat that’s just so weird that it works perfectly. A flash mob gathered to attack the Penguin under Ethan Cobblepot’s – Blacksun’s – command probably would have worked if not for Batgirl’s presence. Even though Batgirl saved Penguin from the mob, he doesn’t seem all that interested in returning the favor.
Batgirl eventually figures out how to take care of Blacksun and does so pretty easily – who would have figured that a hipster tech nerd would have problems with hand-to-hand combat?
With every issue of Batgirl, I just can’t wait to see what Larson does next. Every issue has been an absolute winner so far.
Josie & the Pussycats 7
Written by Marguerite Bennett and Cameron Deordio
Art by Kelly Fitzpatrick, Audrey Mok and Jack Morelli
Much like every issue of Batgirl tops itself with wackiness, Josie & the Pussycats continue to go on an escalating scale of adventure every issue. After getting “sued” for plagiarism by Alexander Cabot last issue, the gang walks down the red carpet for an award show. Though, Melody isn’t exactly keen on being there and Valerie is… well, she’s Valerie.
The weird cultural references continue as the girls skip out of the award show to go to a local benefit concert and find an EDM group and their band of robots trying to stuff the ballot box for the Band of the Year award.
Yep, a Les Miserables reference. I was not expecting that.
Anyway, for reasons I try not to worry myself with, Josie & the Pussycats use an EMP to knock the robots out and thwart the evildoers and then rock out at the benefit, once again learning that valuing the needs of your friends is as important as anything else. I feel like Josie has to learn that lesson every issue.
As far as I’m concerned, she can learn that lesson every issue, because this book is amazing.