http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.ca/2012/11/on-batgirl-12-by-gail-simone-ardian.html
I've mentioned them before, but it really can't be said too much that toobusythinkingaboutcomics is just about the best place to go for comic discussion, at least as far as I'm concerned.
Anyway, here's my response:
I'm pretty sure I've got this issue holed away somewhere in the house. That I'm not 100% sure is a testament to how forgetable I found it.
I know I've said this before, Colin, but I really can't get behind this book like you do. One small sticking point is that one looks like a superhero, and the other looks like a movie adaptation of a superhero. There are just the two characters whose designs clash with the new 52-niverse because they weren't updated with everyone else: Batwoman and Damian-Robin. If nothing else it's a testament to the lack of overall editiorial oversight or cohesive vision for the setting.
Regardless, I have to point out one section of your text here:
"The fact that it's Gordon and not Kane who takes the lead in the operation to free the imprisoned Rickey, for example, shows that there's a measure of appreciation that's quickly developed on Batwoman's side. After all, Kane wouldn't ever let an untrustworthy amateur take the point in a mission that's as dangerous as this, and Simone trusts us to note this without her having to ladle on the schmaltz."
Obviously the real reason Batgirl is in the lead is that it's her title- which is certainly fair enough. Even if we had been treated to a tale of an uber-able Batwoman, completely outshining Batgirl in every way, that would be fine so long as the viewpoint character was Gordon. That can be her story, otherwise I'm reading a Batwoman title.
But as you've pointed out here, the two ARE treated as equals, that Batwoman almost immediately recognizes Barbara as such, and for that I have to ask, why? What was the clue that told Batwoman she could count on Batgirl to effectively pull her weight? In my mind, there was none, beyond the editorial fiat stating to push Batgirl to the forefront as the more "iconic character".
It's incredibly difficult, your argument notwithstanding Colin, to see the need for both a Batwoman and a Batgirl title. And before you say it, I know, I know! The multiple Batman titles and Batman-style comics (Nightwing, if nothing else, though he's obviously quite unique from Batman..) would argue otherwise, and it IS a good thing to have more female-lead comics out there, but I just don't think Batgirl is the book to get more people into the medium.
If not for how aware I am that they're pushing Gordon as "the one true Batgirl", whatever that's worth, then I would be asking why the solo book for Barbara? The strategy for a good many of the 52 books is to go the team route, built around one solid selling character, but allowing dark horses to take off from there, with the fingers crossed result of finding other popular characters to launch a franchise with, examples of which being Tim Drake Robin being the lead in the Teen Titans book, Red Hood leading in his eponymous book, Booster Gold as the centre of the JLI book, as well as, to an extent, the Green Lantern books.
Considering this hook/lead-character-with-surrounding-team strategy, it seems like it would have been a natural to make it "Batgirl and the Birds of Prey". The character chemistry is already there, though necessarily altered by the change from Oracle to Batgirl, and it's not as though Gail Simone hasn't worked with this premise before.
Actually, to answer my own question (well, to answer it twice, since the "pushing Barbara to the forefront" is the other reason she got her own title) I wonder if having "Batgirl and the Birds of Prey" would have made too glaringly obvious the reduction of ability that would have taken place going from Oracle to Batgirl? If so, it's unfortunate that an idea for a cool book is thrown out immediately for the sake of hiding away the fact that they are trying to fit a square shaped Oracle into a circle shaped Batgirl.
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