Warning: contains spoilers for Detective Comics #1059!
Gotham City's forgotten version of Gotham Girl, returns to Detective Comics with a new costume for a three-part backup story that explores mental health. ‘Gotham Girl, Interrupted is a story that takes its name from Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, Girl, Interrupted, which delves into a teenage girl's experiences in a psychiatric hospital in the late 60s. Gotham's own version of Supergirl will share a similar story following her release from Arkham Tower.
Gotham Girl has had a tumultuous comic-book run. From her inception, Claire and her brother, Hank, were depicted as wannabe heroes who were experimented on with Bane's Venom, granting them Kryptonian-like powers. The downside: with each use of their abilities, their lifespan would decrease. During Tom King's Batman run, Bruce Wayne took the pair under his wing, not knowing that Bane, with the assistance of Hugo Strange and Psycho Pirate, was manipulating them for his own purposes. This resulted in a devastating confrontation when Gotham and Gotham Girl sided with Bane against Batman, leading to Hank's death. Using silver Kryptonite, Bruce managed to return Claire's powers to her without the deadly side effects. However, the ordeal left her mind fractured and Claire turned herself in to Arkham Tower to seek psychiatric treatment for her trauma.
In Detective Comics #1059, by Iceman writer Sina Grace, and artists David Lapham and Trish Mulvihill, Claire returns to the streets of Gotham to reclaim her name as Gotham Girl. Back in the halls of Gotham High, Claire finds that the name ‘Gotham Girl’ is now being exploited for an online gossip magazine, and to top it off, she must prove to everyone around her that her mental health is stable. Like Batman claiming he doesn't need the Justice League, Claire prefers not to ask for help from others. When one of her classmates, Andre—another former resident of Arkham Tower—approaches her during play rehearsals, she begins to panic. He says that she’s been missed at Arkham’s group meetings. He touches Claire’s hand and for a moment, she dissociates, imagining blasting his hand with heat vision and destroying the school theater.
Claire convinces herself that it’s best to internalize her struggle, fearing that if anyone realizes there’s still something wrong, she’ll get locked up in Arkham again. In an abandoned Wayne Manor, Claire hides away, continually having to patch up the building whenever her powers go haywire. The medication she’s been taking only seems to inhibit her abilities and she’s certain that nobody could possibly understand what she’s going through as someone struggling with grief and trauma on top of being a superhero. When she finds Andre's dead body at the end of the issue, things only get worse.
'Gotham Girl, Interrupted' tells an important story for those struggling with mental health or know someone who is. Hopefully, the issues will provide Claire with the she needs for her recovery, be it in or outside of the newly helpful Arkham Tower. So far, the forgotten Supergirl, Gotham Girl's, return looks promising.
Look for Detective Comics #1059 available now wherever comic books are sold!
