scans_daily: USA Today Leaks How Barbara Gordon got her Spine Back

espanolbot (

espanolbot) wrote in

scans_daily,
@ 2011-12-12 10:40 pm UTC

Entry tags:

char: batgirl/oracle/barbara gordon, char: harley quinn/harleen quinzel, creator: gail simone, title: batgirl

USA Today Leaks How Barbara Gordon got her Spine Back

Massive Spoilers
Apparently she went to a clinic in South Africa that specialised in spinal injuries, and that's how her paralysis was cured after three years as Oracle.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2011-12-12/Batgirl-comics-story/51830078/1?AID=4992781&PID=4003003&SID=1w5y8vwb3c6rd

IF that is the case and not just some misinformation on the part of Gail, that explanation...

Kind of leaves me underwhelmed. On the one hand, it's definately not the cop-out, cheap explanation of "her injuries weren't as bad as she thought" or "Zatanna cured you with a potion made from ground up pixies and the dreams of orphaned stampcollectors!", and is actually something of a credible explanation in reality as well...

But I don't know, something about it just doesn't seem to gel. Doesn't really have an umph impact or something.

Also, heh, so both Steph and Barbara spent some time in Africa to recover from plots involving their injuries/deaths? Okay then.

For legality, a Christmasy moment with Harley and Babs,

Ah, Kara/Babs one of the less pronounced friendships in the DCAU. Apparently they're close enough to spend Christmas together (as opposed to Kara spending it with Clark and the Kents) as stated in the Justice League Christmas episode.

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	no subject icon_uk 2011-12-12 11:06 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, Kara/Babs one of the less pronounced friendships in the DCAU Ummmm, wasn't there a whole episode where Supergirl and Batgirl team up to deal with Livewire, Ivy and Harley? And South Africa sounds like an odd choice for spinal surgery, is it particularly well known for it's advance spinal treatments? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 13 comments) (Show 13 comments)

no subject

espanolbot
2011-12-12 11:09 pm UTC (link)

They have good, relatively cheap hospitals there I think. I remember there was a thing a few years back of people from the UK going there for surgeries as the queues were shorter than the ones back home etc.

They did have a group of supersoldiers who were immune to pain though, in the series Dark Angel, which also featured a computer hacker who fought crime despite being left wheelchair bound after an assassin shot him in the spine.

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	no subject shadowpsykie 2011-12-12 11:23 pm UTC (link)
	"Zatanna cured you with a potion made from ground up pixies and the dreams of orphaned stampcollectors!" =-O (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject lieut_kettch 2011-12-13 03:16 am UTC (link)
	That wouldn't work. Everyone knows you need to add the souls of unborn puppies to bind the ingredients together. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject cypherfdp 2011-12-12 11:25 pm UTC (link)
	HOW BARBARA GOT HER SPINE FIXED: she went to a special spine doctor who fixed her spine THE END (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 7 comments) (Show 7 comments)

	no subject espanolbot 2011-12-12 11:26 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, kind of a cop out ending isn't it? (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Expand) (Hide 6 comments) (Show 6 comments)

	no subject sherkahn 2011-12-12 11:37 pm UTC (link)
	There ARE pages of the actual preview in the USA today article, if anyone cares to read them. (Reply to this)

	no subject v_various 2011-12-14 06:17 pm UTC (link)
	"a host of baddies in upcoming issues (...) including the "man-hating female assassin" Gretel" Oh my god, how is this even going to work so that I don't end up hating everyone involved? (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject jlbarnett 2011-12-12 11:58 pm UTC (link)
	this seems strange to me, because I thought they were acting like it was some mystery. Even to Babs (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	no subject rocketlindy 2011-12-13 12:11 am UTC (link)
	Could kinda be "a mystery" in the sense that she's still awed by the fact that it worked--like, "I can really walk? I can really do this? I can really do that? Whoaaaaa. Is this real?" (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Expand) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject mullon 2011-12-13 12:13 am UTC (link)
	I was hoping she would recover through physical therapy, and several issues would cover it. (Reply to this)

	no subject fifthie 2011-12-13 01:09 am UTC (link)
	So are people actually seriously recovering from spinal injuries these days or is this just fake-ass comics magic dressed up as 'realism'? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Expand) (Hide 7 comments) (Show 7 comments)

	no subject fifthie 2011-12-13 01:10 am UTC (link)
	Cause like if the former then GREAT and I need to pay more attention to things / if the latter then I'd kind of rather they'd gone with the less-insulting option of just having Zatanna go like ENIPS DELAEH (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject kenn_el 2011-12-13 03:55 am UTC (link)
	ITA! So long as Babs was restricted to Gotham and it's 'real world' type setting I was OK with her immobility, but as soon as she branched out into the JLA and the larger DCU, it almost seemed that she had to make an effort not to regain mobility. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject silverzeo 2011-12-13 02:44 am UTC (link)
	What's the name of the website that debunks medical concepts and laws in comics and show with real stuff? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject jlbarnett 2011-12-13 03:49 am UTC (link)
	Polite Dissent? (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject mommy 2011-12-13 04:14 am UTC (link)
	That's the thing that makes me headtilt the most, followed by 'Why would Barbara want to go back to a codename that includes the word girl?' (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Expand) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	no subject autohobbs 2011-12-13 08:57 am UTC (link)
	Well, I guess I'm dropping this title :( God I miss Stephanie. (Reply to this)

	no subject thatnickguy 2011-12-13 01:22 pm UTC (link)
	It's South Africa. We don't have to explain it. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Expand) (Hide 3 comments) (Show 3 comments)

	no subject his_spiffynesss 2011-12-13 01:32 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, sort of like how Africa cured Steph of being dead? (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Expand) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject eyz 2011-12-13 01:37 pm UTC (link)
	I'd have preferred if this was a "sequel" to that story with the Calculator/Uternet virus/thingie...only it took her time to completely recover, and it wasn't stable or definitive... Less of a "happy conclusion", sure. But less miraculous and more comic book-based... I dunno... (Reply to this)

	no subject grazzt 2011-12-13 06:01 pm UTC (link)
	I was hoping that Mortal Kombat vs. DC was canon, and Barbara got her spine back by learning how to rip someone's spine out with her bare hands from Sub-Zero, doing it to a supervillain, and having it installed as a replacement. (Reply to this)

	no subject icon_uk 2011-12-13 10:41 pm UTC (link)
	The brains ability to cope with damage, especially stroke victims is truly awe-inspiring, but I don't think it works in connection with a spinal injury that involved an actual destruction of a portion of the spinal cord. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Expand) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject kirke_novak 2011-12-13 08:35 pm UTC (link)
	At this point, I doubt ANY explanation would be satisfying, unless they made an entire arc about Babs getting her legs back - like when Booster tryied to prevent TKJ from ever happening. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	no subject angelophile 2011-12-13 10:11 pm UTC (link)
	My conclusion from reading this and the comments here makes me think, "There really is no way to do this story well." Why they're trying remains unfathomable to me. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Expand) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject r0b666 2011-12-15 03:11 pm UTC (link)
	Sooooo if we sent Christopher Reeve to South Africa Superman Returns wouldn't have happened/sucked? (Reply to this)