Who's the most ass-kicking-est DC woman? 10/11 match-up

[thebigapricot]

Today's match-up is between two women who have ability to see all. You can vote here Voting is open until 8pm EST. Remember this is all about attitude and the whole package of kickassery.

In this corner, a woman who sees all and would love to control it too. A woman who uses a computer the way a ninja uses nunchucks. A woman who kicks ass in pure bravado and occasionally with the use of Escrima sticks


Oracle

And in the other corner a woman who has to overcome a devil of a father. A woman who feels the pain of others but holds her emotions in check. A woman who has a Titanic amount of kick assery

Comments

[halloweenjack]

Yeah, sorry, but no. As much as some people hate on Alan Moore, The Killing Joke converted Barbara Gordon from a third-string, also-ran DCU character to a major leaguer whose influence stretches across titles. No freakin' contest.

[thebigapricot]

The Killing Joke converted Barbara Gordon from a third-string, also-ran DCU character to a major leaguer whose influence stretches across titles. No freakin' contest.
No. No it didn't. I'm not going to start in on the literary merits of TKJ but it and Alan Moore did not turn Barbara Gordon into anything except cannon fodder. As far as DC was concerned she was useless to them. They'd retired the character and was focusing on moving Batman to being "The Dark Knight" where characters like "Batgirl" were as superfluous as Batmite.

What converted Barbara Gordon from "the old Batgirl who got shot" to "Oracle" was Kim Yale getting angry at how the character was treated and, with her husband John Ostrander, wrote her into Suicide Squad. They created Oracle.

And as far as Batgirl being a third string character, I think second-string is more accurate if you are looking only at the contemporary use of the character in comics. She was a star of Batman family and was regularly featured in other titles. Outside of comics her impact was much more wide spread simply because of the television show and her being packaged as one of the three characters that DC could market to "girls" (with Supergirl and Wonder Woman) making her between first and second string.

[halloweenjack]

As far as DC was concerned she was useless to them. They'd retired the character and was focusing on moving Batman to being "The Dark Knight" where characters like "Batgirl" were as superfluous as Batmite.

That's my point: "third-string" doesn't mean "third-rate", just that they'd sort of run out of things for Babs to do, aside from the occasional guest appearance. (Even now, does Gail or any other writer mention, even once in a while, that she used to be a member of Congress?) Would Kim Yale have made her Oracle if she hadn't been shot?

[thebigapricot]

Her being a member of Congress hasn't been mentioned but it's one of those post-crisis things that has been changed, like her age, her origin, and her paternity.

Would Kim Yale have made her Oracle if she hadn't been shot?
Would she have had too? Characters are cyclical in DC. Aquaman is an excellent example. If Barbara Gordon hadn't been shot she may have returned to being Batgirl. Or taking on another ID like Dick Grayson did as Nightwing.

Barbara Gordon becoming Oracle does not have to include her being shot. All of the skills she utilizes as Oracle were there before TKJ. What would have been required was a good writer to see the potential of the character beyond the tights.