Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5 Review
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Amancay Nahuelpan
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl
Variant Cover Artists: Rafael Albuquerque & Marcelo
Maiolo; Nimit Malavia; Hayden Sherman
Editors: James Reid & Rob Levin
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99 US/Variant $4.99 US (Card Stock)
Release Date: September 9, 2026
Barbara Gordon has made a new friend in Supermax. And unlike
Sparrow, Myrna Shelton doesn't try to keep her doped. Yet despite their pact to
protect their fellow inmates, screams echo through the prison cells at night.
Barbara and the former GCPD officer wonder if they can convince a guard to work
with them. Yet, like the TUCOs who arrest any police officer who steps out of
line, the guards seem loyal to Police Commissioner Vandal Savage.
Who keeps killing inmates and staging them as suicides in
Vandal Savage's private prison? And who can Barbara Gordon trust amid this
twisted game of murder and revenge? Let’s leap into Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5
and see!
Story
After someone attacked Barbara on her first night in
Supermax, Sparrow looked after her. The nurse assisted her back to her cell and
gave her medication to help her deal with her injuries. But instead, the drugs
gave Barbara hallucinations. And they didn't do anything to ease the headaches
from her concussion. Now, Sparrow occupies a bed in the infirmary. Someone beat
her mercilessly. Realizing she may not survive, the doctor calls to let someone
know Sparrow's fate.
In Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5, Myrna Shelton looks after
Barbara. The GCPD officer kicked Barbara against an electrified fence to banish
Sparrow’s drugs from Barbara’s system. After Jim Gordon tells Nightwing he sent
someone into Supermax to look out for his daughter, Myrna tells Barbara that
she is loyal to her father. Still, after Sparrow tried to keep Barbara safe,
Myrna couldn't protect Sparrow.
As Mariko Tamaki's story follows Barbara Gordon and Myrna
Shelton's efforts to find who is killing inmates in Supermax, the story also
provides a glimpse of Vandal Savage. Everyone believes that the Gotham City
Police Commissioner is calling the shots. That was one reason Barbara let the
TUCOs arrest her. But the Torus put Vandal Savage in a position to help them.
As more deaths rock life in Supermax, everyone begins to
feel a little like Anarky. He thought he was striking a blow for the little guy
in Gotham. Instead, one crime family used him to ignite a war between their
rivals. And inside Supermax or outside, no leader like the Minotaur seems
capable of uniting the warring factions in Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5.
Art
Hands pass a folded piece of paper along until Barbara opens
it. A view through the bars of an infirmary window lends the note greater
context. While the doctor speaks into a cellphone, the callee uses a
rotary-dial landline. As she slips into the infirmary, Myrna shields her
features behind a stack of freshly laundered towels. But when she pulls away
Sparrow's oxygen mask, Myrna's features betray no softness.
As Amancay Nahuelpan portrays life in Supermax and Gotham,
orange and green battle for dominance. Red links Vandal Savage with his aide,
while ripples in the sky above the exercise yard evoke the visual distortion
Barbara noticed after Sparrow doped her. Red also invades the prison yard as
people unleash their anger. Yet in a realm filled with green, Tamra Bonvillain
fills panels with yellow as inmates lash out against each other in Barbara
Gordon: Breakout #5.
Ariana Maher fills white balloons with black uppercase
dialogue, while Barbara's black lowercase thoughts in green paper scraps evoke
handwritten notes. The dialogue shrinks when people lower their voices to avoid
being overheard. Yet enlarged uneven black uppercase dialogue links Vandal
Savage with an inmate in his private prison. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing
this story with us.
Final Thoughts
Barbara Gordon used to watch over Gotham from her office
high above the city. When she learned that inmates were dying in Vandal
Savage's private prison, Barbara gave up her perch to investigate among the
crowd. But as people fight and die around her, Barbara lacks her former
perspective. Unable to access electronic communications and digital
information, Barbara must reassess not only the players but also their
objectives in Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5.
Rating 9/10
To look inside see Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5.
For what happened last time, see Barbara Gordon: Breakout #4 Preview.
For what happened last time, see Barbara Gordon: Breakout #3 Preview.
For what happened before that, see my preview of Barbara Gordon: Breakout #2.
For how this series started, see my preview of Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1.
For how Vandal Savage's TUCO squad caught Barbara Gordon, see my preview of Batman #9.
