What's your opinion on Barbara Gordon? Do you like her better as Batgirl or Oracle?
Such a good question, and a multi layered one to get me out of my sads, thank you
There's a degree to which Barbara as Batgirl is the most iconic. If you believe there should be a Batgirl, she is the Kendrick. Sorry Steph and Cass, but this isn't the big three. The common man doesn't know about anyone but Baraba as Batgirl. But why Batgirl?
I loved Batgirl what I was young, specifically the version of her from the little remembered the Batman show from the mid 2000s. Per DC rules at the time, Robin was in "already on another show" jail at the time so Babs was introduced first
Here, she is firmly a, y'know, child, hence "girl" with some very proto spider-gwen energy, and I think the tmnt 2010s was reheating her nachos for April. Dick eventually does join and they have kind of a sibling relationship which I'm sure bothered little girl shipper me, but now I find quite cute. (Also I wanted the action figure just. So bad and we couldn't find it anywhere with the limited selection up here in the north until we randomly found her in a terribly broken box that was covered in nothing but Spanish, I think a probably screamed)
When I think of Barbara as Batgirl moments I love, the relationship with kara is big one. Love how much fandom has latched on to it, and I love how gay it is. I find the papa version of this very dull, but this super bat hits good!!! I love that Kara is not in the justice league Christmas ep because she and Babs are skiing!!! Gay!!!
One of the bigger Babs as Batgirl problems is that she's so defined by the men in her life. She's not just Batman's sidekick, she's also a daddy's girl. And she's dating the heir apparent. Or at least- she should be
I mentioned the Batman 2004 being formative, and I'm sure that the btas Batgirl was big for me too. I know my sister had her action figure which later became mine, I Iove her design, she was the #3 in the btas deck of cards. You all know I love a ginger gal!
But Timm being a lover of one of my least favorite Batman ships ever?? And putting this in, of all things, the killing joke, somehow making it even worse??? Has ruined his version of her for me. I can't put that back in the box. I find her simultaneous little girl "I call my father daddy and have a stuffed bear and I go by the moniker girl as my own choice" but also "me and Batman are fucking" gross. I think it's frankly, not interesting and also, yucky.
Which of course, brings us to Oracle. The killing joke? Once again yucky, I'm not saying anything special here. But I do think that oracle is a life gives you rotting husks of lemons and you reinvest ten fold situation.
You look up the history of Babs, she's a PhD in library sciences. There are a lot of kick ass ladies in the batverse, I like that she gets to be a different kind of hero. Why shouldn't she be the informatiln gatherer, regardless of disability?
But when you google "disabled superheroes" she's the first woman on the list. As a disabled woman, she matters to me.
Disability is a thing that happens to people. A lot of people. By the end of our lives, all of us will have times when we are incapacitated in some way, whether that's a weekend or the rest of our lives. I like that Barbara is an easy reflection of this.
I love that she's in her wheelchair when she's in birds of prey. Female friends obviously! But also. Girls we can't all be angsty fighter in tights to be a team. One of us has to top
It matters to me that she doesn't stop being desirable once she's paralyzed. @sonofcarnelian you know what panel I'm about to post
I think Dick and Barbara as couple when they are Robin and Batgirl are cute, though I also love him with Kori. I think that Nightwing and Oracle are two grown-ups who choose each other and are hot!!!
Get a ROOM!!! Curly hair wedding, say less. Nerds in love!!!!!!!
So all things being equal, I like both! And I think there should be room for both. But I think that Oracle leaves her with more room to be an interesting thing onto herself, let's her spread her wings a bit more.
Critically, I can see a world where she is more ambulatory, a comic arc where that's justified. But I don't think a grown woman who endured what she did needs to go back to being "some guy"!girl. I don't think you should put that back in the box, either.
