Over the course of DC’s upcoming Fear State event, present-day Gotham City will increasingly begin to look like its Future State incarnation as the Scarecrow ushers in a new era of terror with the widespread use of his fear toxins. As Gotham plunges into chaos that brings the entire Bat Family to the front lines, Barbara Gordon is set to face off with a new villain, the Anti-Oracle, who works to turn Barbara’s own technologies against the city it was built to protect.
In preparation for Fear State, Batgirl’s got a slick new costume courtesy of artist Bruno Redondo, who’s been working on DC’s ongoing Nightwing series along with Tom Taylor, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott. Ahead of the Anti-Oracle’s first appearance in Nightwing #84, Tom Taylor took to his Twitter page to share a trio of interconnecting covers from the series spotlighting Babs’ new threads.
Debuting an all new Batgirl costume for Babs. Steph and Cass as Batgirls. Tim Drake. And Nightwing’s sidekick, Batman, even makes an appearance on @Bruno_Redondo_F‘s connecting covers for our Nightwing 84, 85 & 86. pic.twitter.com/vjWcoMSHDb
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) July 1, 2021
The new costume bears a number of broad similarities to Babs Tarr’s fantastic 2014 Batgirl redesign, but Redondo also shared a more detailed reference sheet of the new costume’s design — pointing out a number of the minute touches that have been added as both style choices and reflections of where Barbara’s at in her life. In addition to her signature yellow accents being shifted mainly to her cape’s interior and her bat emblem, the reference sheet details how the spine of Batgirl’s costume is now reinforced in order to assist with her cape’s movement. The costume still features a heavy emphasis on pockets, preparedness, and practicality, but it’s more streamlined than her more recent look in a way that makes it look more suited towards swift hand-to-hand combat.
From what we’ve seen of how Gotham changes in Future State, the city’s on the cusp of becoming the kind of place where technically non-powered people like Barbara and the rest of the Bat-Family truly need to stay ready at all times for the fight of their lives. Barbara’s never been one to back down from those sorts of situations, but her latest costume change indicates that once Fear State properly gets going, she intends to hit the ground running.
The Fear State event kicks off on August with I Am Batman #0 from writer John Ridley and artist Travel Foreman, and Batgirl’s new costume debuts on the trio of interconnecting covers of Batwing beginning with #84, from Tom Taylor and artist Robbi Rodriguez, in stores on September 21.