Batgirl #4

[aeka]

Batgirl has an interesting chat with....Oracle?

Comments

[mrosa]

Is she dreaming this or what?

[aeka]

Yes. Yes she is. :3

[shadowpsykie]

art so pretty, and no major spoilers, yay :D

[kenn_el]

This sequence was SO overwrought! While the writer fixates on Babs' physical recovery, she ends the issue having a chat with the roommate who should not exist and acts completely as if TKJ had never happened!

[icon_uk]

It's a dream, aren't they usually a bit over-wrought.

[aeka]

Yay! Though truthfully I don't think anything too significant happened in this issue that could really be considered a major spoiler...except for the ending maybe. :P

[jeyl]

After the disaster of #3, I was going to check this one out to see how they were going to handle this whole "miracle" thing involving Barbara's ability to walk. After seeing this, oh boy. My mind is made up. Back in the previous issues, I found that Inner monologuing can become one the laziest story writing techniques if not handled properly. Not only was it not handled properly with Batgirl, it was setting records in how many inner monologue boxes you can have in a page. It almost felt like an overly worded web comic where the writer couldn't figure out how to properly convey situations outside of just using words to describe it.

And than we get this crap. Issue #4 where her inner monologues take on a reality of it's own. This time focusing on that gawddang wheelchair... Remember how I said that this new take was an attempt to show why Barbara Gordon should be Batgirl, and I said it was doing the exact opposite? THIS IS WHY. This whole "walking again is a miracle" nonsense is insulting. Walking again isn't a so much miracle when you survive a FREAKING GUN SHOT at point blank range. That's what should be the issue here, because gunshots generally kill people. Not using wheelchairs. But that's not what's going on here. It's because she's able to walk again that's the problem. Did she not inner-monologue in issue #1 that being in a wheel chair wasn't such a bad thing? And that people unintentionally think that it's a burden when in fact it's not? Than why this? Why should being out of a wheel chair make her feel guilty when she knows herself that it's not such a burden for other people who are in wheelchairs? I remember when I was called out for saying "bound to a wheelchair" because that was insensitive. Than what's this? This story is trying to sell us on walking is as guilt ridden as surviving a gun shot. Those are two completely different things.

I have officially dropped this comic. But don't worry. Our new, "doesn't work without a man" Wonder Woman will have good company.

[darkknightjrk]

Why shouldn't her roommate exist? And how does she act like TKJ never happened?

[kenn_el]

Barbara, post TKJ, having a stranger as a roommate, makes no sense, just on the level of security if nothing else. I was referring to her final action in the issue, which I didn't realize had been posted earlier, which made it seem as if she'd learned nothing from her ordeal.

[shadowpsykie]

... i don't even know how to respond to this....

[mullon]

Fuck this. Fuck this for wasting an issue so Gail can have Barbara shoot down a legitimate complaint people had with this whole mess. It's bad enough that DC did this, but dwelling on it is wasting everyone's time and money.

[jlbarnett]

you know I'd rather it just be Bat-mite who fixed her spine. Because he wouldn't ask, would think he was helping and you wouldn't ask him to undo it because he might screw up and make it worse

[starwolf_oakley]

Was it somehow standard that Oracle was always wearing a green shirt? Just wondering.

[aeka]

I guess?? I know she wore green a lot, and even her Oracle mascot was always usually green. :P

[jeyl]

Yeah. I typed too much. Let me sum up.

Wheelchairs don't kill people, guns do. If you're going to feel guilty just for being able to walk again over being assaulted, shot and crippled, you aren't getting any sympathy from me. And this was Gail Simone's entire point. She's got survival's guilt.. over a wheelchair.

[aeka]

Hmmmm...I can see where you're coming from. However, I was under the impression the point here was that Babs got to be 'cured' from something as permanent as paralysis, when most people--I'm guessing less fortunate than her--can't and will forever remain confined to a wheel chair. She seems to be questioning her own reasons for doing so, or at least that's how I interpreted the "why do you get a miracle when so many others never will?" line. The implication here seems to be about selfishness and possibly cowardice more than anything else. Did I miss something? >.o

(frozen)

[jeyl]

Selfishness? That's what the issue here is? She's Batgirl. She didn't take this cure and show off. She took it and set back to work in being the most unselfish thing she could be. A hero who puts her life on the line to help others. If anyone who has to use a wheelchair to get around has an issue with that, they're the a**holes.

[promethea4]

She didn't always wear green, but I think it was the color usually associated with her (masks, screens, dialogue boxes, etc.)

(frozen)

[aeka]

Let me put it another way: she seems to have conflictive feelings over her cure. On the one hand, yes she's doing the unselfish thing of saving people from thugs like the ones that mugged a wealthy couple later in this issue. On the other hand, why did she get to be cured from her own paralysis when any other people will never be cured of theirs? Those same people have to learn to accept that their lives are now different and that they will never go back to living their lives they way they're used to. In other words, these individuals had to accept themselves with their disability and continue to find meaning in their lives. The fact that Barbara went for a cure to her paralysis seems to imply that she couldn't accept her life as it was and couldn't find the other things in her life just as meaningful. So she feels selfish and probably cowardly in this regard as a result.

(frozen)

[shadowpsykie]

She can feel that being in a wheel chair was not a burden while at the same time feeling unworthy of being able to walk while others can't. Recovering from a traumatic experience is not that easy...
Happiness over having survived, acceptence of current state in life, hope that life will get better, anger that life is not the same way it was before, guilt over having survived while others have not? Guilt over getting better when others haven't? frustration at yourself for being frustrated? she can have conflicting emotions. thhe fact of the matter is that is an extremely complicated situation, and people's emotions are complicated in and of themselves. no one person acts the same to the same event. but there are common reactions. conflicting emotions are one of the common reactions to trauma.

[quatoria]

Speaking as someone who actually is disabled, and has serious issues walking most days: fuck this maudlin bullshit. Holy hell have I had enough of it. This is legitimately everything I was afraid this comic would be.

[tauruschick12]

...this comic is making my head throb.

[superfangirl1]

Which I spoil. Eep. *lol*

[superfangirl1]

I really enjoy the art. :)

[brooms]

i feel like it's standard red-head pet color in comics.