Do new Batgirl costumes mean a new Batgirls DC series is coming?
How to announce a Batgirls project while not really officially announcing it (yet)
Update: DC has yet to announce or confirm a new Batgirl or Batgirls title (see below), but it has released artist Bruno Redondo's connecting covers for writer Tom Taylor's Nightwing #84, 85, and 86 - part of the 'Fear State' crossover Batman Family storyline - that show off new costumes for Barbara, Stephanie, and Cassandra.
Here is each cover individually along with the full connected image:
The publisher has also released Redondo's new Batgirl design in greater detail:
Do new costumes mean a new series?
No, but it sure doesn't curb expectations.
Stay tuned...
Original story follows
Batman writer James Tynion IV is "very, very excited for" something related to Batgirl coming later this year.
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In an interview about Batman #106 coming later this week, Tynion gave the strongest hints to date that a Batgirl (or Batgirls) title would be coming from DC later this year - even confirming that there are creators already involved on this mystery project.
"Honestly, the plans we have for Oracle and the characters in the direct orbit around Oracle are big," Tynion told Newsarama. "One thing that we wanted to do was reground Barbara Gordon at the center of the Batman mythos. Barbara Gordon is the key supporting character for Batman in Batman. She's the key supporting character for Jim Gordon in The Joker. And she's the key supporting character for Dick Grayson in Nightwing."
Barbara Gordon recently reclaimed the mantle of Oracle in 2019, and appears in this week's Batman #106 firmly in that role (and that chair). And it's not just her, as other Batgirls Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain have been orbiting cloe by, with what could be read as the beginnings of some connections to a formal group for the trio.
That's not just speculation, as Tynion confirmed - it's about "a new way to evolve the Batgirl mythos…"
"So, she is up front and center in all of this, and through all of those appearances we see that she's building this new direction for herself in a new way to evolve the Batgirl mythos with Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown," the writer explains.
"That's going to culminate just a little bit later in the year in a way that I think fans can probably predict, but it's something that I'm very, very excited for and we've got some incredible, incredible creators, who are going to pick up the baton and carry the next steps forward for Barbara."
DC recently announced 11 new titles coming later this year (and two more today with Infinite Frontier and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow), but Batgirl wasn't among them.
Stay tuned for more on the Batgirl(s), as well as Tynion's Batman title and the entire Bat-line in general here at Newsarama.
Of course, Batgirl is one of the best female superheroes of all time.
Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)