Bat Family: Part 2. The Girls, Batgirl.

Okay, so Batman is a very manly kinda guy. His greatest allies, as well as his greatest enemies are all men. His creators are men. Almost all of the authors who have made waves with their work have been men.

BUT.....There are a few Bat-Ladies to leave their mark. Some terrible (sorry Uma), and some amazing. The New 52 has four distinct female-centric titles within their oeuvre. We'll start with #1...

Batgirl

While she may be the best known female bat-ally, her history and storyline has become seriously problematic in the New 52. With the exception of the Batman and Robin movie (1997), Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl has always been the stubborn, genius daughter of Commissioner Gordon, who has taken up the vigilante role without her fathers knowledge. As a cops daughter, she has martial arts training, which combined with her own phenomenal IQ, eidetic memory, and computer savvy, make her a force to be reckoned with. Batman is initially reluctant to have her on team, but eventually (and often surreptitiously) aids, abets, and equips Miss Barbara. This causes a whole lotta troubled relationships. Barbara is keeping secrets from her father, who HATES Batgirl for killing his psychopath son (a whole huge gigantic "thing"). Batman is keeping a very important extra secret from his ally. Nightwing/ Grayson and Batgirl have one of those shippable will they/ won't they, complex histories. Plus there is a whole canon thing where Barbara Gordon, as Commissioner Gordon's daughter, not the crime-fighting Batgirl, is shot and crippled by the Joker. Alan Moore (please see my previous post about my Moore issues) in The Killing Joke, had the Joker simply turn up, knock on the door, and shoot her. It's almost petty in its simplicity. He destroys and cripples, and perhaps sexually assaults a teenage girl, just to fuck with her father. It's one of the Joker's most monstrous moments. Especially the moment where he stands over her taking pictures of her. Ugh.

The cripples, wheel chair bound Barbara, however, was not broken by her attack and assault. She became Oracle, the computer genius, techno-whiz, intelligence centre of an entire crime-fighting family. She also became an amazing character whose need and ability to help is not changed by her disability. As Oracle, she is perhaps of more use than the able-bodied Batgirl.

The New 52, however, finds a super advanced treatment to fix her spine and enable her to return to her Batgirl Mantle. She's got major issues, and some PTSD from her attack and temporary paralysis, and is not exactly confident in her abilities, but she's out here fighting. A lot of people feel like it is a major step backwards. Taking away her disability takes away so much diversity. For a disabled reader to see a disabled superhero, who has accepted the things she can't do, but superseded them? It's extraordinary. 

The other major Batgirl issue is this cover.

Captured by the Joker, she finds herself within her worst, most powerless moment, all over again.

A huge backlash to this cover, meant to be an homage to the original The Killing Joke, lead to it being pulled from print. All that people could see what the victimization of Batgirl, the sexually predatory actions of the Joker, and the dismissal of her entire emotional and physical journey. I'm not quite as adamantly, aggressively anti this cover. Her fear is understandable. His power is palpable. He made her vulnerable and powerless, and for her to overcome it for the second time is an amazing, cathartic, empowering moment. But I can also understand why people didn't want this cover, this image, to be the thing that people saw first. power, empowerment, powerlessness..... It's all there. I'm torn. I don't want to see this image of her, but I want to see her overcome her fear.

Ugh. Lighter note. Latest Batgirl embraces her youth. A teenage girl, on her own for the first time, living her life after trauma and struggle, and creating her identity as both Barbara and Batgirl really works for me. She embraces the social media, selfie culture, she learns to live and interact with normal people who may or may not know about her secret life. She even discovers that other people around her have their own secret lives. A trans-gender room-mate provides a beautiful  mirror to her own secret life. A psychopathic brother who is her equal and opposite (like all good enemies) puts her in an emotional, psychological and moral tailspin. Being forced to kill her brother (or so she thinks) in front of her parents, to save her family? phew. Heavy shit. Batgirl V4 and V5 work for me. I can let myself see the potential, rather than the loss.