DC Comics giving Batgirl costume a makeover.

I'm a comics nerd.  I was collecting comics back when comics were $0.25.  I started with Spiderman, (I think I had the biggest Spiderman collection ever until we moved from NYC to NC) moved to Batman and Superman, then to Justice League and Avengers and from there it expanded on to various other titles and comic companies.  I heartily jumped on board when Dwayne McDuffie along with other DC writers and artists, formed Milestone Media, and brought us great titles like STATIC, and ICON.

Now DC Comics are going to roll out a new Batgirl costume, which I think is a good move.  It totally looks functional, and I like the idea that if she wanted to she could unzip the jacket and no one would know.  Totally would hide her secret identity.

Here is an excerpt from Entertainment Weekly Online about the event.

On Thursday, DC Comics announced that a new creative team will be taking over Batgirl this October with a story that has protagonist Barbara Gordon losing everything in a fire and starting over from scratch. The new creative team consists of co-writers Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart, along with artist Babs Tarr.

The team broke the news over at MTV, dishing on what readers can expect from their run: after losing it all, Barbara Gordon moves to Burnside, Gotham’s hip, Brooklyn-esque neighborhood, for grad school and good times.

Looking at the design of the costume, it is totally believable in that it is functional and does not look like stretch pants that would not be flexible in a fighting situation, as well as providing body armor.  This new look gives Batgirl both.

Here is another view of her costume drawn to highlight the different pieces of her uniform, (that's what this is now...not a costume, a UNIFORM, which sounds better for the purposes of being a crimefighter than costume.)

So, what are your opinions on the new costume?  And do you think that heroes should have more functional outfits, or stick with spandex?