#anyway I am ONCE AGAIN on my 'let Babs move on from being Batgirl' agenda

[fantastic-nonsense]

A friendly reminder for those of you who either don't know or have forgotten that Barbara Gordon voluntarily retired as Batgirl before the events of The Killing Joke:

"There're others out there now who can do this as well or better than me, with less pain. I'll help them, maybe without letting them know. But I'm done going out there myself." -Batgirl Special #1 (1988)

She had also retired the mantle at least once before, back when she decided that she could do more good as Congresswoman and lawyer Barbara Gordon than Batgirl:

I even failed...as the police commissioner's daughter! What good does it do for Batgirl to toss them into jail...and Babs Gordon to parole them out? "No use masquerading any longer...And it's the only way I can really fight crime--prevent it--through prison reform!" -Detective Comics #422 (1972)

Part of the tragedy of TKJ's fridging of Babs is that she was retired and living a normal civilian life when she was shot; she was targeted purely because she was still living with her father, not because of any activities she was doing.

She's also expressed on multiple occasions that she has moved on from her time as Batgirl and is more than happy to pass the mantle on (in certain circumstances, to certain people):

"I've put my life as Batgirl behind me...as much as possible. It helps that I've passed the name onto Cassandra. It gives me some...distance." -Harley Quinn Vol. 1, #10 (2001)

"Ooh! What's that?" "Something you've earned the right to wear." -Batgirl Vol. 3, #3 (2009)

When people say that Babs should go back to being Batgirl after being Oracle, or that she should be "both" Batgirl and Oracle at the same time, it removes something fundamental from Barbara as a character. It's a reader that won't let Barbara grow up, move on, and permanently develop past her Batgirl days the way all of the male Bat characters are allowed to do.

Tim asked Dick to return to Bruce's side as Robin after Jason's death in his introductory story, and Dick had the perfect response to that:

"I don't believe this. That man raised me. I've gone through hell with him and because of him. Don't lecture me about him until you've cared for him and loved him as long as I have. And the first thing he taught me was how to be a man--not how to become a kid all over again." -A Lonely Place of Dying, Part 3 (1989)

That statement applies to Barbara as much as it does Dick. No one would ever suggest that Dick should return to being Robin after being Nightwing for 30+ years. No one would ever say that "Dick can be Robin and Nightwing at the same time, he doesn't need to give up Robin. Let him keep being Robin and he can be Nightwing half-time." It's the same argument. It makes no sense, and it denies Babs the same agency and permanent character growth every other (male) Batfamily member is allowed to have. And it's been called out not once, but twice:

"Y'know, a lot of the time it's like you Batguys want me to hold onto the past because you can't get over it. Understand--I have." -Birds of Prey Vol. 1, #8 (1999)

Take a lesson from Marv Wolfman's and Chuck Dixon's dialogue, y'all: let your heroes grow. Let them change. Let them move on to new roles and become mentors to those they pass their mantles to. And let them keep that growth and stop forcing them back into roles they outgrew long ago because you can't move on or accept change.

#dc comics #dc meta #batman meta #barbara gordon #batgirl #oracle #dick grayson #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #barbara gordon meta #(also yes I am aware that editorially the Batgirl Special was written to retire Babs specifically to prepare for TKJ's release #which makes TKJ even worse by the way #but that doesn't negate or invalidate Babs' dialogue in that issue) #anyway I am ONCE AGAIN on my 'let Babs move on from being Batgirl' agenda #at this point I don't even care if its to Oracle (which I would prefer) or a brand new role #but PLEASE make her vacate the Batgirl role I am *begging*