Better Living Through Junk Culture

I’m not the sort of guy who drops money on the many comic statues, nor do I typically go for Japanification of American pop culture concepts (memories of the Marvel Mangaverse event, doncha know), so DC’s Ame-Comi concept has pretty much passed me by.  The digital comics DC has been releasing through Comixology featuring the Ame-Comi line-up intrigued me, though, largely due to the creative teams.  Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti are writers whose work I often enjoy (and even when I don’t, I at least think it’s still usually pretty interesting, and in the good way, I mean), and that initial Wonder Woman arc had art by Amanda Conner.  Tempting as hell, but I didn’t cave.  The preview art for Batgirl, though, that grabbed me.  Sanford Greene’s take on the designs was fun and flirty without seeming like fan service (impressive, considering how fan servicey those statues sometimes look), and it had an animation-inspired style without actually seeming like he was trying to slavishly copy an anime/manga (which makes sense, seeing as a quick look at his ComicBookDB page shows he has worked on spin-off books for the Justice League Unlimited and Legion of Super-Heroes cartoons, among many others).

The finished artwork by Greene did not disappoint, and he’s definitely someone I’m going to be keeping an eye on from now on.  And hey, Palmiotti and Gray’s story got off to a fun start, too.  Batgirl was the level-headed, logical Babs we’ve come to know and love, and this Robin (named Carrie!) has a personality as big as all outdoors.  She’s going to be fun, I can tell.  I don’t know if I’ll be getting the rest of the Ame-Comi digital books, but I’m in for the second and third parts of Batgirl.  And considering how few digital books I buy, that’s huge.