Notes
Good-Bye, Oracle–Hello, Batgirl
As part of its massive “reboot,” DC Comics will make Barbara Gordon Batgirl again. This means, though that her 20 year history as Oracle, peerless hacker and information broker with an eidetic memory, leader of The Birds of Prey and one of the few examples of a differently-abled hero in comics, is gone. Some readers are relieved to see a wrong righted–the paralyzation and humiliation of Bat Girl in The Killing Joke. Others are sad to lose Oracle. Many are conflicted. Andy Khouri writes about the “Price of Restoring DC’s Disabled Heroine.” DC Women Kicking Ass writes about Barbara Gordon’s journey from Batgirl to Oracle. Jill Pantozzi suggests that “Oracle is Stronger than Batgirl will ever be.” Yours Truly, RDJ writes about a misogynist wrong being righted in “The Importance of Being Batgirl.” And Jill Pantozzi talks with new Batgirl (and old Oracle) writer, Gail Simone.
Categories: Notes
Tagged as: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, ableism, Alan Moore, Alex Ross, Barbara Gordon, Barbara Randall, Batgirl, comics, comics history, continuity, Dan Jurgens, Denny O'Neil, disability, feminism, gender, John Ostrander, Kim Yale, Len Wein, Oracle, Paul Dini, reboots, sexism, superheroes, the ladies
Published by Carol
Carol Borden was editor of and a writer for the Toronto International Film Festival’s official Midnight Madness and Vanguard program blogs. She is currently an editor at and evil overlord for The Cultural Gutter, a website dedicated to thoughtful writing about disreputable art. She has written for Mezzanotte, Teleport City, Die Danger Die Die Kill, Popshifter and she has a bunch of short stories published by Fox Spirit Books including: Godzilla detective fiction, femme fatale mermaids, an adventurous translator/poet, and an x-ray tech having a bad day. Read and listen to her other shenanigans at Monstrous Industry. For her particular take on gutter culture, check out, “In the Sewer with the Alligators.”
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