Batgirl #26 answers a continuity question...

[cyberghostface]

Back in 2016 the 'Batgirl of Burnside' title tried to pass off the asinine retcon that 'The Killing Joke' never happened and that it was a supervillain-induced hallucination. Well, in the upcoming solicitation for Batgirl #26...



BATGIRL #26
written by MAIRGHREAD SCOTT
art by PAUL PELLETIER
cover by SEAN MURPHY
variant cover by JOSHUA MIDDLETON

“Art of the Crime” part one. During a high-speed chase with murderous art thief Grotesque, the villain K.O.’s Batgirl with a souped-up stun gun that temporarily fries the device implanted in her spine. (That thing that helps her, you know, walk and be Batgirl?) Babs finds herself in for a whole new world of hurt now that old wounds have been opened up—and so does Grotesque.

Comments

[matrix_dragon]

Wait, they tried to remove Killing Joke from continuity? DC, I take back half of the bad things I've said against you this year!

[janegray]

Not a fan of Killing Joke*. Like, at all. But removing it means also removing Oracle, doesn't it? It's a damn shame that we don't have Oracle anymore, but isn't it even worse if she never existed at all?

*Edit: except for the art. The art is gorgeous.

[matrix_dragon]

I meant removing Killing Joke entirely. Given how DC has made their timeline a dumpster fire, I'm sure we could get an origin story for Babs injuries that gives her a little actual respect or treats her as more than a plot device for Bruce.

[lego_joker]

Ayup. We've gotten about two or three different culprits for Professor X's injuries, and five or six for Krypton going boom, haven't we? High time Barbara's backstory got a little variety, too...

I've never seen anyone (satisfactorily) argue that the Joker, specifically, needs to be part of Oracle's origin. A broken spine, yes, but one responsible for that can be a cipher for all anybody knows or cares.

[cyberghostface]

No one really knows or cares how Krypton blew up or how Xavier lost his legs (or they assume Magneto did it because of the films) whereas TKJ is contender for one of the most famous Batman comics of all time. Whatever they tried wouldn’t stick. It would be like when they tried to change Spider-Man’s origin in Chapter One.

[arilou_skiff]

It was Lucifer damn it! Lucifer! Most seemingly significant yet insignificant Marvel villain Lucifer!

[thespis]

People have often made this argument, and I don't think it holds up. It's equating removing TKJ from real-world history with removing TKJ from DC continuity.

If Alan Moore had never written TKJ (or, at least, if TKJ had remained an Elseworlds story), John Ostrander and Kim Yale would never have responded in protest to Babs' treatment by creating Oracle.

If TKJ was removed from mainstream DC continuity, it doesn't necessarily follow that Oracle has to be removed too. Superhero origins are retconned and rewritten all the time; Babs' origin as Oracle could be rewritten so that she experiences similar injuries/trauma without the accompanying fridging and misogyny.

And tbh, the way Oracle has been shoved into Babsgirl of Burnside's backstory as a dark destructive phase of her life (Stewart/Fletcher/Tarr) or a temp gig that she dropped the moment she could walk again (Rebirth Birds of Prey), I much prefer the original n52 approach of "this is Babs pre-Oracle". It still sucks, but Oracle isn't screwed over as much.

[lucean]

But this argument doesn't really hold up for me either. If they removed TKJ, they would then need to come up with another story that allowed for the same following circumstances. Could it be done, certainly, but it will always be then in competition with the original, much more well-known story.

[thespis]

I agree that it would almost certainly never happen because of TKJ's status. Look at the New 52 - DC bent over backwards to keep TKJ in Babs' backstory even as they de-aged her back to Batgirl.

However, I don't think it's necessarily that hard to come up with another event that serves as the impetus for Babs becoming Oracle. Babs' story in TKJ isn't a complex one. She suffers a traumatic injury and loses the use of her legs. That's the only thing TKJ contributes to Oracle's origin story. The rest came from Ostrander and Yale.

And it's true that replacing TKJ with a different event would cast a different light on certain aspects of Babs' story, but the same can be said of most superhero origin tweaks and retcons. But the core of the character and the bulk of her backstory would remain the same. Done right, it could add to her story rather than take away from it. And we'd never have to see another redraw of that fucking shooting panel with the coffee cup, which is a win in my books.

[locuatico]

She never existed, since this is still a different continuity. Detective comics further confirmed this by showing the old continuity to Steph and Cass.
Current Barbara was never Oracle.

[flint_marko]

What issue was that?

[shadowpsykie]

but... we do have Oracle... there was this whole Hunt for Oracle thing that happened.., the Bird's Friend was killed over it....

[caivu]

When did they try removing TKJ? I don't remember that.

[cyberghostface]

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/6041649.html

[locuatico]

Ah yes. The asinine decision of removing something that, without her time as Oracle, has no value to Barbara's character.

[cyberghostface]

It’s still a valuable story for Batman and Joker.

[locuatico]

Is the Batgirl book about Batman and/or the joker? If not that should have no bearing.

[cyberghostface]

If it's in its own self-contained continuity, sure.

[icon_uk]

It was a story which might be valuable for Joker and Batman (though, outside of it's art and the possible origin for the Joker, it only really does have that value if it's viewed as the last ever confrontation between them), but one which took Barbara Gordon and used her as nothing more than a prop for male characters to react to.

[bj_l]

I think all her time as Oracle is back as of Rebirth. That's what the first Birds of Prey book implied to me.

Regardless, I would be perfectly happy if this story were considered an Elsewords, and we got a far better written, more interesting way for Oracle to come into existence.

[shadowpsykie]

yeah I mean... they just finished the Hunt for Oracle... so Oracle WAS a thing...

[zechs80]

The thing is though, the Bensons undid this at the very start of Batgirl & the Birds of Prey. Just like they put back in a portion of Barbara's time as Oracle (just what they never really said). They referenced the Killing Joke in that. So, it was already done.

Likewise, their run which just ended with Barbara deciding to honor the memory of a fanboy/Oracle II who reunited the group only to die thanks to the Calculator by continuing to be Oracle and be Batgirl.

The funny thing is though, the new writer apparently loves Cassandra and well with the final issue of Tynion's Tec hints of a renewed bond between Babs/Cass. You don't suppose?

[shadowpsykie]

The funny thing is though, the new writer apparently loves Cassandra and well with the final issue of Tynion's Tec hints of a renewed bond between Babs/Cass. You don't suppose?

God I hope so!

and I love what the Benson's did.

[captainbellman]

I think we're all brushing aside the real issue here: that goofy-ass expression on the face of Grotesque.

"Holy cow, I'm taller! I might have a future with the NBA!"

[oakie620]

That cover is pure Escher Girls material. The way Barbara's spine seems to turn 90° at the waist is especially egregious.

A pretty unfortunate choice, particularly for the solicited story.