Comics 101 - Barbara Gordon Recommended Reading
Introduction and Brief History
Barbara Gordon, is a DC Comics heroine commonly associated with Batman. Her first appearance was inĀ Detective Comics #359 as Batgirl. She is the daughter of Gotham police commissioner Jim Gordon. Her most notable love interest is Dick Grayson (the first Robin and current Nightwing).Ā In her debut, The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl (1967), she was attending a masquerade dressed as a female version of Batman when she stopped an assault on Bruce Wayne by Killer Moth, attracting the attention of Batman. Batman had initially advised her to give up fighting crime due to her gender, but Barbara soldiered on.
After being shot and paralyzed by the Joker inĀ The Killing Joke, she took up a new alter ego as the information broker known as Oracle. Barbara had a PhD in library science at one point in her publication history, so the role of Oracle was fitting. Continue reading for a chronological list of recommended comics!
Comics from before The Killing JokeĀ are a bit too dated for new readers and, frankly, inconsequential in regards to continuity. The only worthy comic from the time is probably The Batgirl Special by Barbara KeselĀ which was written as a set-up for The Killing Joke. (Unpopular opinion: This is partly why I personally think New 52ā²s BatgirlĀ series is the best representation of Barbara as Batgirl. There wasnāt much else before that.)Ā The Killing Joke itself does not feature Barbara very much. In fact, Alan Moore himself stated that he regretted the way he and DC treated the character as she was tortured and traumatized purely as a plot device for the male characters in the book. Still, reading it may be interesting for most fans and crucial in understanding Barbaraās history. Another older issue of note may be Secret Origins Vol. 2 #20, in which Barbara recounts how she became Batgirl (this was also the first retcon of the original origin story).
After the release of The Killing Joke, writersĀ Kim Yale and John Ostrander expressed their dislike for the treatment of Batgirl in it and decided to give the character a new, dignified life as Oracle.
Suicide Squad Vol. 1Ā #23ā24, #38, #48-66 (1989) -(Kind of old, but tells Oracleās origins with the Suicide Squad.)
The Batman Chronicles #5Ā āOracle: Year Oneā (1996) -(Aftermath of The Killing Joke.)
Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey (1996) -(Optional, but a great story about the beginnings of Barbara and Dinahās friendship and precursor to Birds of Prey.)
Birds of Prey Vol. 1Ā (1999-2009) -(Highly recommended. Pretty much her whole story as Oracle.)
Nightwing Vol. 2 #41-46 andĀ Birds of Prey #20-21Ā āThe Hunt for Oracleā (2000) -(Dick finds out Barbara is Oracle.)
Batgirl: Year OneĀ (2003) -(Revised origin story written by Chuck Dixon.)
Batman: War GamesĀ (2004) -(Optional, but the events in it impacted Barbara greatly as she loses her home and HQ.)
Booster Gold Vol. 2 #5Ā (2008) -(Optional, but a cool story and kind of an allusion by Geoff Johns to DCās poor treatment of Batgirl in The Killing Joke.)
Oracle: The CureĀ (2009) -(Optional, but itās a solo Oracle story.)
Batgirl Vol. 3 #1Ā (2009) -(Do not need to read. Basically Oracle begins mentoring Stephanie Brown and Wendy Harris and also takes a job as an assistant professor.)
Blackest Night (2009)Ā -(This is on every DC characterās Recommended Reading list because something big happens to everyone. Might as well read it as a general DCĀ āmust-readā but feel free to skip it here.)
Birds of Prey Vol. 2Ā (2010-2011) -(More Birds of Prey main events in which Barbara fakes her death.)
Post-Flashpoint, Barbara reclaims the Batgirl mantle in Gail Simoneās New 52 story, āThe Darkest Reflectionā. She had gotten an experimental surgery to regain use of her legs. This was controversial as many readers thought this was un-diversifying the DC Universe by removing important representation of disabled people. However, Gail Simone, who had been writing Barbara as Oracle for several years, expressed excitement about being able to write Barbara as Batgirl even though she was an avid supporter of Oracle as a disabled character.
Batgirl Vol 4 #1-34 (2011)
Batgirl Vol 4 #35-52 (2014) -(The New 52 series gets a soft reboot with a much lighter tone, little dialogue, and a suit redesign. Also during this time was the infamousĀ Rafael Abuquerque cover controversyĀ as well as the #37 controversy.)
Batgirl and the Birds of PreyĀ (2016) -(A RebirthĀ series that ended May 2018.)
BatgirlĀ Vol 5 (2016) -(ONGOING. This is theĀ RebirthĀ series, which is currently ongoing as of June 2018.)
I hope this guide is helpful to anyone looking to get into or read more comics!
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