Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl came into my life with a brutal punch to my gut. A character that I had known about peripherally for years, she appeared fully before me just when I needed her most. For a time in middle and high school, I had stopped reading comics, deeming myself both “too cool” for comics and too tired of feeling like I’d read all of the ones that represented me. But I missed them desperately, and eventually, that kind of yearning would lead me back to the library. I went in with a mission, to find female led comics, ones I hadn’t already read, and hope and pray that maybe that love would come back to me. That’s when I found Gail Simone’s Batgirl, and within one issue I was rapidly being pulled back into the comics world.
Simone’s Batgirl picks up after the end of The Killing Joke in which Barbara Gordon is shot and violated by the Joker. Here, Barbara has a kind of experimental technology in her spine that allows her to continue as Batgirl, while also dealing with PTSD from the Joker’s act of violence towards her. This run is one of my favorites moments in comics ever, Simone deals with Barbara with such care, passion, and understanding. She allows her to be a fully complex and developed character–who is dealing with very real and deep trauma, but who is also a hero in the midst of it. Reading this run solidified Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl as one of my favorite characters of all time, and also led me to read so many other Batgirl comics.
One of the things I love most about Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl is that you get to see her grow. Through being Batgirl as a young teenager, to being the expert hacker Oracle, to being Batgirl again, Barabra has this story that allows for readers to see so many different aspects of her character and her life, and to truly feel like you’re growing up with her. She moves from this happy go lucky teenager, to someone full of much more darkness and pain–but someone who is still so committed to helping others and doing better. She’s also insanely smart and is continually depicted as a literal genius–she has no superpowers, she just is that smart, is that dedicated, is that wonderful. And as much as I hate The Killing Joke and the ways in which it damaged Barbara’s body for the sake of men, I do admire the ways in which so many writers, especially female writers, have taken that story and examined it, grappled with it, and integrated it into Barbara’s story in a way that still allows for her to be affected by it, but also still be in control of her own life, her own body, her own destiny.
Barbara to me, feels very real, like she is someone I know deeply and truly. So many of the comics I’ve read about her have given me this fuller picture of her, a deeper understanding of who she is and how she’s living. And that’s a big part of what makes Barbara so special to me. I feel like I know her intimately, and I see so much of myself in her–and to see her strength, resilience, and brilliance on the page has been a big reminder for me that I too can be strong and resilient. Barbara makes me braver. Barbara reminds me that I am smart, I am capable, I am more than the worst thing that’s happened to me, and even when my burdens feel so heavy I can still be loved. Barbara, even in the midst of pain, continues to be a reminder of the healing power of love–both of giving it and receiving it. She is the kind of person who gives love easily, but finds it harder to take, just as I do. But over the course of time in reading about her, I have seen her become more accepting of love, more open to allowing community so deeply into her life. Barbara as a hero has reminded me of so many things that I am capable of, while also reminding me that I become more capable of those things when I allow myself to be loved and invite people close to me even in my pain.
I am so eternally grateful that I found Batgirl in the library that day, and that there have been writers who have understood her so deeply, have given so much care and love to her character, and that have in turn made me love her all the more.
Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl Reading Recommendations:
Batgirl #0-34 by Gail Simone
Batgirls #1-19 by Becky Cloonan
Batgirl and Robin Year One by Chuck Dixon & Scott Beatty