Reasons to Heal Oracle: Part 1

In the last post, we ranted on the ways Barbara could be healed. Now we consider why that story line could be important. Why it would be great to see a walking, even more kick ass Oracle who could lead the Birds of Prey in the field or remotely. An Oracle who could have independent or team adventures, traveling the world tracking information. And most importantly, an Oracle who could be an equal to Batman, and a visible member of the Justice League. Besides the fact that this would be great to read, we see a few main reasons DC should do this story. Here is the first.

-Barbara Gordon should be more of a gateway character for girls to read comics. We find it really interesting that since Killing Joke, millions of kids have watched various animated versions of Batman, and all have involved Barbara as Batgirl. It seems that equal numbers of boys and girls watch these shows, but the majority of kids who go on to read comics are the boys. The current position of Barbara Gordon may have a lot to do with that. Imagine a boy and a girl watching any of the cartoon Batman adaptations. He is imagining himself as Dick Grayson's Robin, while she is thinking the same thing about Barbara's Batgirl. Now, what happens when they are a little older and look into reading the comics? The boys never seem disappointed to find that Dick has grown up to become Nightwing (and substitute Batman). Nightwing is an independent hero, with team leader experience, but still Batman's closest ally, and lead of his own solo series (assuming this situation will resume). Like Bruce, he is both a world-class fighter and a detective. Boys can see he is a better character than he was as Robin. But what happened to Barbara, the character the girls loved? She was shot by the Joker in one of the most misogynistic stories in DC history. The shock of learning of that event is enough to send many girls running for the door, as they had little or no hints of this from a general pop culture that still seems to recognize Barbara as Batgirl. Now Barbara as Oracle has been developed into a scary-smart hacker, team leader, and master of information for the Birds and the wider DCU. But even though Oracle has become a great character (at least under Simone), often playing an important role, she remains in a behind-the-scenes supporting role.

Reading Barbara in a supporting role in front of the computer screens is quite different than a Barbara who is both a fighter and a detective. But that is not to say she should go back to being Batgirl. Many of the fans who want Barbara restored to health seem to think she would go back to that role. But the Batgirl role has now been redefined by the two later Batgirls as a sidekick role for a young hero in training. Barbara could possibly redeem the position to be something more, but the current Batgirl role has shrunk so that it would no longer fit her. Dick outgrew the Robin character, but Dick moving on the Nightwing role let him become a hero who displays the ability to mix both physical and mental talents, much like Bruce. But while Barbara as Oracle is smarter than almost anyone else, bound to that chair, she doesn't join with the other members of the Birds/Bat family in a street fight, and she has to rely on her team. The potential of Barbara Gordon's character is unnecessarily held back by an injury that other characters have recovered from. So even though in most of the history before The Killing Joke, Dick was a teenage/college sidekick while Barbara was an independent adult character, now Dick gets to be Batman while Barbara sits in front of a computer screen in the batcave. And if you are viewing this from a feminist perspective, this situation is problematic.

With the return of Birds of Prey, Gail Simone's magic pen may fix some of the more recent damage done to Barbara's character. But it is easy to see why many fans, and girls especially, prefer the more active hero Barbara from the Batgirl years and TV adaptations to the current Barbara as supporting character in the comics. A healed Oracle would be the best option to finally give Barbara Gordon a more prominent and visible role as both a genius detective and an active field commander, but in a bigger and better role than before. And that characterization could bring more girls into reading comics (and make reading Birds of Prey even better for current fans).