USA Today Leaks How Barbara Gordon got her Spine Back

[espanolbot]

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.

Comments

[icon_uk]

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?

[espanolbot]

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.

[halloweenjack]

Not to threadjack, but I wanted to put this up high where more people might see it:

Monique van der Vorst, two-time Paralympian, paralyzed from the waist down for half her life, is now walking, after being hit by a bicycle. No cybernetics, magic, etc. (The story has kind of a comic book aspect, though, as she wants to compete in the '16 Olympics... as a cyclist.)

[shadowpsykie]

"Zatanna cured you with a potion made from ground up pixies and the dreams of orphaned stampcollectors!"

=-O

[lieut_kettch]

That wouldn't work. Everyone knows you need to add the souls of unborn puppies to bind the ingredients together.

[cypherfdp]

HOW BARBARA GOT HER SPINE FIXED: she went to a special spine doctor who fixed her spine

THE END

[espanolbot]

Yes, kind of a cop out ending isn't it?

[sherkahn]

There ARE pages of the actual preview in the USA today article, if anyone cares to read them.

[drexer]

"In the new book, Gordon spent three years in a wheelchair before going to a clinic in South Africa that specializes in a procedure allowing patients to walk again."

What The Categorical HELL!?

"a host of baddies in upcoming issues (...) including the "man-hating female assassin" Gretel"

Really? Good for you Gail, because what we really need is another straw-women feminist portrayal in comics.

"Barbara was an inspiring figure in the wheelchair. We want the story of her difficult and courageous recovery to be inspiring, as well. Her rehab isn't a magic potion. Recovering from trauma is often a long, painful struggle with many missteps. We have to be honest and respect that and show it. If we can't do that, I wouldn't agree to write the book."

DC editorial has already shown respect enough I think, by saying what they really think about the worth of a human being directly related to their mobility and how everyone should just save the millions needed to give themselves some magic-science treatments and get better.

I wish I could see this from a brighter perspective, but despite all the good writing that I've seen at s_d from Simone's part, it doesn't really matter how good that writing might be because all the underlying foundation still stinks. That and it just sounds really that she's too enamoured with a character she really liked and always wanted a chance to write with a certain status quo, and she can't bring herself to admit that the character has now lost most of its gravitas from the last thirty years.

[icon_uk]

"a host of baddies in upcoming issues (...) including the "man-hating female assassin" Gretel"

Really? Good for you Gail, because what we really need is another straw-women feminist portrayal in comics.

Isn't it rather a major assumption that she's a "straw-woman feminist" since we have no evidence either way?

[leikomgwtfbbq]

I kind of agree with you here.

Maybe I'm just a cranky, obnoxious, unadaptable, stupid person, but... I just don't like that Oracle's been "fixed," no matter how realistic the spinal surgery solution is. Gail's been doing a fantastic job writing, as usual, and I have a huge amount of respect for her, and I reeeeeeeeally want to like the new Batgirl series, and I've been trying, but I just can't get over the fact that Oracle's gone.

I liked the ongoing story of "I'm paralyzed now? Fuck that, I'm going to be a superhero anyway, using my SUPER-LIBRARIAN skills, and by the way, I can still kick your ass nine ways to Sunday." I liked having a superhero proving that you can still kick ass even if you can't swing from rooftops anymore.

I guess I'm just being difficult and resistant to change. I wish I didn't have so much trouble adapting, because I feel like I'm being a stick in the mud by not being so hyped for Babs-Batgirl's return.

[v_various]

"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?

[jlbarnett]

this seems strange to me, because I thought they were acting like it was some mystery. Even to Babs

[rocketlindy]

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?"

[mullon]

I was hoping she would recover through physical therapy, and several issues would cover it.

[fifthie]

So are people actually seriously recovering from spinal injuries these days or is this just fake-ass comics magic dressed up as 'realism'?

[fifthie]

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

[jeyl]

Well, this does give Barbara and Simone a +1 in the respect charts. Barbara is living in a world where super heroes have been brought back to life. Of course there would be something to fix those legs of hers in some way. I always found her being in a wheelchair in that super hero environment like a car owner who laments on having a flat tire when she's no more than a mile away from the gawddang car service center.

Still, I will always prefer Stephanie's Batgirl over this new Barbara Batgirl hands down. Where Stephanie worked to prove that she was ready for the mantle and the responsibility, Barbara is doing things that prove she should not be Batgirl. Cripes, even Stephanie could teach her a thing or two.

[kenn_el]

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.

[silverzeo]

What's the name of the website that debunks medical concepts and laws in comics and show with real stuff?

[jlbarnett]

Polite Dissent?

[kenn_el]

Still no logical reason for the most WTF aspect of the new series? Which is WHY IN THE WORLD would someone who went through 'The Killing Joke' move in with a roommate she didn't know previously? I would think it would be nerve-wracking enough for Babs to ever answer the door casually again, much less have someone she just met with the ability to let any Tom, Dick, or Joker into the apartment. There are ways to build a supporting cast without making the heroine seem dangerously unstable.

[mommy]

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?'

[autohobbs]

Well, I guess I'm dropping this title :( God I miss Stephanie.

[thatnickguy]

It's South Africa.

We don't have to explain it.

[his_spiffynesss]

Oh, sort of like how Africa cured Steph of being dead?

[eyz]

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...

[grazzt]

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.

[mrosa]

I was reading The Brain That Changes Itself recently, about paralyzed people, stroke victims, etc. who manage to learn how to use their limbs again, and I think this would have been a great chance to explore neuroplasticity in comics. It's almost cutting edge science and with some good old techno-babble, you could use it to explain her suddenly healed spine.

[icon_uk]

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.

[kirke_novak]

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.

[angelophile]

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.

[r0b666]

Sooooo if we sent Christopher Reeve to South Africa Superman Returns wouldn't have happened/sucked?