On Twitter this morning, Cameron Stewart at last announced his much-rumored project. With the art of newcomer artist Babs Tarr and co-author Brenden Fletcher, Stewart will become the next writer on BATGIRL.
Though BATGIRL has had other guest writers, this will be the first time that previous writer Gail Simone has left the book after the controversy over her abruptly scheduled departure led to her return to the book. While rumors of a secret project have swirled, it is not yet known what Simone will be working on following this changeover; however, an announcement has been promised in the near future.
This creative team changeover comes with a new makeover for Batgirl, who will be receiving a more armored look and a slight color scheme makeover more in line with her classic Yvonne Craig look.
In an exclusive MTV interview, Stewart announced that his run would see Barbara moving out of Gotham, with a lighter feel than the previous run: “She wants the opportunity to have some fun and live the life of a young, single girl in the city, so she packs up and moves to Burnside, the cool, trendy borough of Gotham, to focus on grad school… She’s leaving it all behind her. We really wanted to make this a book with a light tone, of fun and adventure and mystery, and let the rest of the Bat-family deal with the darkness. She’s got problems, and conflict, and enemies to fight, but our priority was to make this a really fun, rollicking read. ”
Rumors of this announcement first surfaced this past Tuesday, when an anonymous user posted a rumor to 4chan’s /co/ comics community shortly before deleting the thread that Stewart’s new project would be a Birds of Prey relaunch featuring a lineup of Cassandra Cain, Kate Kane, Stephanie Brown and Harper Row. Other sites, such as Gotham Spoilers, echoed the speculation, also correctly predicting that Stewart would be involved with the new BATGIRL creative team. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Stewart himself seemed to address the rumors, posting swiftly-deleted teaser tweets:
The new creative team will be debuting with issue 35, whose solicit follows:
BATGIRL #35
Written by CAMERON STEWART and BRENDEN FLETCHER
Art by BABS TARR
Cover by CAMERON STEWART
MONSTERS Variant cover by KEVIN NOWLAN
On sale OCTOBER 8 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED TBarbara Gordon is no stranger to dusting herself off when disaster strikes… so when a fire destroys everything she owned, she spots the opportunity for a new lease on life — and seizes it! Following the rest of Gotham’s young adults to the hip border district of Burnside, Barbara sets about building an all-new Batgirl… and discovers all-new threats preying on her peers! It’s a re-invention of Batgirl from the boots up, by the incredible creative team of Cameron Stewart (BATMAN INC.), Brenden Fletcher (WEDNESDAY COMICS), and rising star artist Babs Tarr!
