shobogan:

To whom it may concern at DC Comics,

I’ve been following Barbara Gordon for several years now. She was the main reason I started buying your comics, and I’ve picked up everything she’s been in. This is, I’m sad to say, going to stop. I may very well stop buying your comics altogether.

This is a direct result of putting Barbara in the Batgirl costume again. Not only is this a step back for her as a character, it’s a massively problematic move.

Barbara has chosen her own identity, independent of anyone else, inspired solely by her own struggles and triumphs. Struggles and triumphs that made her one of the most unique and powerful heroes in the DCU. She’s made a new life for herself, one that she’s happy with.

Barbara let her past go. She moved on. I fail to see why everyone else can’t as well. Particularly when refusing to do so erases one of the most prominent disabled characters in comics.

It’s rare that a disabled character gets to be a fully developed person, let alone a main player, let alone a super hero. As Oracle, Barbara is a precious rarity that many draw inspiration and comfort from. She’s one of the few times many people can see themselves in what they love.

Giving Barbara her mobility back says that you don’t care about that. About the chunk of your audience, and even those who barely know comics, who see Oracle as a role model.  

Perhaps you think you’re righting a wrong. The Killing Joke treated Barbara appallingly, there’s no question of that. The problem, however, isn’t that she was paralysed. The problem is that it was a brutal, exploitative event that was never about her at all. It was about a lack of respect and consideration for her as a character and a hero. It was about a lack of agency.

When John Ostrander and Kim Yale wrote Barbara, they gave us her point of view of what happened, and showed her dealing with the consequences. They gave her that respect and agency back. They made her a hero again.

What this move says, to me, is that the hero Oracle has been for twenty-one years doesn’t count.  That she needs to put on tights and kick faces to be properly heroic.

That only able-bodied people can be heroes.

Is that truly the message you want to send?

It’s not necessary. You have a Batgirl. Stephanie Brown finally gained the respect and stability she deserved, and she flourished with it. The Flood made the top sellers list. I’ve seen people converted through that book.

My very first DC trade was A Knight Alone, Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl, and I myself have converted people with that. Batgirl doesn’t need to be a redhead to sell books or gain new readers.

Not only are you taking Barbara’s unique, powerful position in the DCU away, you’re undermining her legacy, one of the only fully female legacies in comics. You’re saying that the Asian Batgirl and the poor Batgirl weren’t good enough, and erasing and dismissing them once again. Two characters who are vastly inspiring and compelling in their own right and deserve better.

Batgirl doesn’t need to be Barbara to be a beloved, prominent character. Barbara doesn’t need to be Batgirl to be a beloved, powerful hero.

Not even Barbara knew that at first, but she figured it out, and she forged her own path through the pain and grief. She emerged stronger than ever. To erase or undermine such a poignant journey is a shame. You’re losing something precious, and you’re losing me too.

okayla:

Dear DC,

I’m used to being disappointed by you, in all honesty. I’m black and a woman, so god knows you guys don’t always deliver. But I’ve never been so appalled by your decision making as I have been with the announcement of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl.

I know that all the announcements have not yet rolled out, but there is no writing or plot point in the world which can justify such an insulting move.   Her initial paralysis was insultingly, dismissively handled – and you’re doing the same thing now.  I just am stunned you are handling this so callously.

I’m not even going into the whole insulting nature of waving a magic wand and giving her the ability to walk despite everything. I can’t even put it into words how bad that is, it’s just that terrible of a decision.  

What has bothered me especially is a grown woman going back to her teenage identity. We wouldn’t dream of Dick returning to the role of Robin, would we? And I’m guessing Roy isn’t about to slip on a yellow hat and gloves any time soon. But why is it that the female heroes are forever stuck in their role as ‘girl’? Batgirl was one of the few female legacies we have – being passed on to younger generations as the others moved out - now the founder is taking a giant step back? This isn’t progress, this is regression.

 Nobody is going to congratulate you on your newfound ‘diversity’ (which apparently is latin for adding a couple of black men) if you continue making the same mistakes and poor handling — but with more characters. You claim you wish diversity and progress, but all I can ever see you making is giant strides backwards while you wonder why everyone isn’t bending over backwards to congratulate you.

I don’t care that Adam Hughes is on covers, or Gail Simone is writing, heck even if you got Marcus To to do the penciling - I cannot ethically buy this book. Everything about it feels like an insult — an insult to me as a woman, and to fans of DC.

adventuresofcomicbookgirl:

Not quite as short as suggested, but much more concise and only one and a half pages single spaced.

To whom it may concern at DC Comics,

I am writing to tell you that the decision to revert Barbara Gordon to Batgirl has made me decide to stop reading your comics after five years of steady and loyal readership. I am a young woman who would represent relatively new readership, the sort your company claims it’s trying to court with added diversity in the reboot. But instead, your erasure of Barbara Gordon as Oracle and erasure of comics most prominent disabled hero, as well as what looks to be the erasure of my other two favorite characters- one of whom is Asian, the other of whom is a lower class assault survivor, and both of whom have been erased by your company before- has driven me away. Sorry this letter is so long, but as it is my farewell, I figured I should not leave anything out.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about Barbara- when it looked like you were going to regress her two years ago (before the new Batgirl title debuted) I wrote in my concerns. You listened to fans like me and kept Oracle. But it appears you’ve gone in this direction again, and I will restate my reasons why this upsets me enough to leave if only because I feel it’s right to let you know as a former customer.

I first started getting comics five years ago, when I was barely fourteen. Almost immediately my three favorite characters were Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown and Barbara Gordon as Oracle. Oracle inspired me with her strength and ability to reinvent herself. I loved the legacy she had passed onto Cass and Cassandra’s strength in carrying it out and how Cassandra followed her moral convictions and turned her back on the wrong things she had been taught as a child. Stephanie Brown was her best friend, a plucky self-made hero who never gave up and even got to be Robin! She like Cass and Babs, was constantly strong, constantly moving forward to reinvent herself.

So I cheered when these characters were treated well. When Steph became Batgirl, her title was wonderful. I mourned the loss of Cass though, but held out hope for her return. Meanwhile, Oracle remained a unique and independent hero, mentoring Steph, inspiring and leading other heroes as the information hub of the DC Universe. Batgirl was part of her and it was the legacy she passed on, but she was more powerful and unique than ever as Oracle. Not only that, but she gave a little representation to the disabled community.  I know of countless who love her for that. Giving Babs her leg use back when real life people do not have that choice, and treating the move like it means she’s more effective now, a wholer person and a better character, is unbelievably offensive..

So, you can see, by regressing Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, you have taken my three favorite characters away from me in one move. I have heard no news of Stephanie and Cassandra in the reboot. Even if they still exist in some capacity, they have has their accomplishments, legacy and identities erased by returning Babs as the one “true” Batgirl (as trusted professionals like Gail Simone seem to be selling Babs’ return that way) and tossing these two away. Never mind that from what I can see, Stephanie’s title did pretty well, it still gets to be tossed aside like nothing.

Batgirl is a name that inherently speaks of youth, being new to the job and not Batman’s equal in experience. Barbara is none of those things. There is no reason a thirty plus woman who is one of the world’s most seasoned heroes would let herself be called a girl- especially when Katherine Kane, not any older than Babs and certainly less experienced, calls herself “woman”. So are you planning to deage Barbara Gordon and strip her of all her experience? That’s the same as depowering her, and it’s gross.

The fact is, Babs has outgrown Batgirl and sticking her in that role again is as ridiculous as sticking Dick Grayson the scaly panties again. Wouldn’t that be demeaning and degrading to his character? But Babs is a woman, so she doesn’t get the respect Dick does. Women can be regressed; they can have their accomplishments erased.

Cass has finally JUST returned in an independent role with her own place in the DCU, only to be immediately erased again. I sort of doubt DC’s commitment to diversity with this treatment of their most prominent Asian character who had the longest running title of any person of color in their company.

This company cannot just put pants on some women and call it a day and then say they are diversifying and trying to attract a female audience. Not when in one fell motion, you trashed the disabled woman, the Asian woman and the poor woman.

I have a blogroll of mostly women bloggers and not a single one of them is happy with this decision. Women are more likely to be the “new fans” attached to Cass, Steph and Oracle. It’s the straight white aging male who wants to regress to Babsgirl and the Silver Age.

 Your company never saw fit to put Cass and Steph in outside media, so of course they aren’t as recognizable as the Barbara Gordon Batgirl. Still, the average Joe doesn’t know who Barbara Gordon is. They won’t care if Batgirl is a redhead, Asian or blonde, just as long as she’s in a recognizable costume and easy to understand. In fact, Dick Grayson as Robin is a far more recognizable property than Barbara Gordon Batgirl, but again, I don’t see you regressing him to Robin for that reason.

Come September, I am gone for good. This move had convinced me you do not care about the characters I care about, and are not really committed to diversity or your audience. It is with a heavy heart I make this decision, but it is what’s best for my wallet.