Barbara Gordon has to confront love and magic at the same time. To make matters worse: she also has to face a dragon in a realm of fantasy in Batgirl #44. Writer Cecil Castellucci explores inner issues for Butnside's defender in a story with deeper implications about who she is as a person. Artist Cian Tormey brings the fantastic fight with a green dragon to the page with thoughtful drama that is given depth by colorist Chris Sotomayor. The fusion of emotional drama with fantasy magic has been done countless times before. Castellucci does a pretty good job of making it feel fresh in an issue that has Batgirl confronting her own insecurities while facing a dragon.

It's a big dragon. And technically it doesn't exist, but that doesn't mean that it won't kill Batgirl if she doesn't manage to kill it first. The thing is animated by a fear that comes from love, and there's certainly a lot of THAT. Batgirl herself has opened her heart to a guy who she has been avoiding into only a few panels ago. The only way the two of them are going to be able to defeat the thing is through a different kind of fearlessness than they might have been accustomed to.

Castellucci is playing with a fun idea here, but he's not bringing it across with the kind of weird intensity that would make it truly novel. The weird fusion between a poorly-written jack fantasy novel and the inner emotional life of a gritty, earthbound crime fighter should be more of a pleasantly disorienting disconnect. Instead, Castellucci is bringing Batgirl into a fantasy world for a little bit of fun that happens to in love a big green dragon without much depth beyond the visual. Thankfully, this is fun too.

Tormey mixes fantasy with realism in a fun mash-up involving a massive green dragon that won't stop growing and a ridiculously large sword wielded by Batgirl and her friend. The visuals are fun, but without a more profound articulation between the realm of fantasy and the realm of Burnside, it's all kind of silly. Still: it DOES look cool to see Bargirl fighting a dragon with a huge sword. It's like something out of an old issue of Heavy Metal or something. Very cool. And seeing as how Sotomayor is doing such a good job with the color, the visuals in this issue feel pleasantly vivid.

The chapter comes to a close quite effectively. And though it's not terribly accomplished in its execution, Castellucci's story DOES focus on the inner emotional life of Batgirl in a way that makes her all the more endearing for fur or e issues. It's just too bad that there wasn't more of an appreciation for the weirdness of the issue amidst the action. Nana is battling some serious demons here in and out of her mind. It'll be interesting to see where Castellucci takes her next.

Grade: B