This particular edition of Superhero of the day is long overdue. Today we highlight Babara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle.
Barbara Gordon was played on television by the recently deceased Yvonne Craig.
We all went into shock when Alan Moore produced the Killing Joke, and shot Babs in the back via the Jolker. Fans thought she was a goner.
Enter the comic geniuses of Yale and Ostrander. The power couple of DC comics saved me from Comic Book Hell by writing two of my fave books, Manhunter and The Suicide Squad. I was not the only one rescued. Barbara Gordon was rescued from comic book oblivion, she was converted from a victim in a killing spree to a survivor and inspiration.
Barbara Gordon is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. The character was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. At the request of the producers of the 1960s Batman television series, DC editor Julius Schwartz called for a new female counterpart to the superhero Batman that could be introduced into publication and the third season of the show simultaneously. The character subsequently made her first comic book appearance as Batgirl in Detective Comics No. 359 titled, "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!" (1967) by writer Gardner Fox and artist Carmine Infantino.[1]Written as the daughter of Gotham City police commissioner James Gordon, her civilian identity is given a doctorate in library science and she is employed as head of Gotham City Public Library, as well as later being elected to the United States Congress.
In addition to appearing in other DC publications, she receives her first starring role in Batman Family which debuted in 1975, partnered with the original Robin, Dick Grayson. In 1988, following the editorial retirement of the character's Batgirl persona in Barbara Kesel's Batgirl Special No. 1, Alan Moore's graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke depicts the Joker shooting her through the spinal cord in her civilian identity, resulting in paraplegia. In subsequent stories, editor Kim Yale and writer John Ostrander establish the character as a computer expert and information broker known as Oracle. Providing intelligence and computer hacking services to assist other superheroes, she makes her first appearance as Oracle in Suicide Squad No. 23 (1989). She is featured in the one-shot comic Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey (1996) written by Chuck Dixon, which later became the monthly title Birds of Prey starring both characters. The series depicts her as a great intellect uninhibited by her paralysis, skilled in the martial art of eskrima. Employing Black Canary as her partner and field agent, Oracle later operates as the leader of a full team of female crimefighters who engage in global espionage missions, under writer Gail Simone. In 2011, following a company wide relaunch of all DC Comics titles, the character's mobility is restored and she is given a starring role in the eponymous Batgirl monthly comic, as well as Birds of Prey, as part of The New 52.
Following the release of The Killing Joke Gráphic Novel,comic book editor and writer Kim Yale discussed how distasteful she found the treatment of Barbara Gordon with her husband, fellow comic writer John Ostrander. Rather than allow the character to fall into obscurity, the two decided to revive her as a character living with a disability.
John Ostrander
Ostrander made his DC Comics debut by plotting the miniseries Legends which was scripted by Len Wein and penciled by John Byrne. Following Legends, Ostrander and artist Luke McDonnell launched the Suicide Squad into their own title in 1987 and developed several characters for the series. Later that same year, he and actor/writer Del Close created the Wasteland series with a rotating roster of artists.
From 1987 until her death from breast cancer in 1997, Ostrander frequently co-wrote with his wife Kim Yale including on the Manhunter series. It was while working together on Suicide Squad that they recast Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl, into the information and computer specialist Oracle.
Ostrander has been a frequent collaborator with artist Tom Mandrake. They have worked together on Grimjack, Firestorm the Nuclear Man, The Spectre, and Martian Manhunter. Ostrander's in-depth explorations of morality were used in his work writing The Spectre, a DC Comics series about the manifestation of the wrath of God. His focus on the character's human aspect, a dead police detective from the 1930s named Jim Corrigan, and his exploration of moral and theological themes. In issue #54 (June 1997), the creative team introduced the character Michael Holt as a new version of Mister Terrific. Following the end of The Spectre series, they moved onto a Martian Manhunter series. In December 2006, a story-arc titled "Grotesk" by Ostrander and Mandrake appeared in Batman issues 659-662.
In 1990, Ostrander launched an ongoing Hawkworld series which followed Timothy Truman's limited series of the same name. In 1993, the title was cancelled and relaunched as Hawkman with art by Jan Duursema.[13]
At Marvel Comics, Ostrander has worked on X-Men, Bishop, Quicksilver, Heroes for Hire and the Punisher, as well as the Western mini-series Blaze of Glory: The Last Ride of the Western Heroes.
He has written the Elfquest character Jink for WaRP Graphics, Hotspur for Eclipse Comics; Lady Death for Chaos! Comics; Magnus, Robot Fighter, Rai and the Future Force and Eternal Warrior for Valiant Comics. He was one of the main writers on Star Wars: Republic for Dark Horse Comics, and his story arcs include "Twilight", "Darkness", and "The Clone Wars" stories. He is the writer of Star Wars: Legacy. An unreleased Doctor Who audio drama titled "Deadman's Hand" was written by Ostrander for Big Finish Productions. As announced, the story was to feature the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex.
Ostrander contributed to the Silver Age Sentinels anthologies of short stories from Guardians of Order.[He was nominated for the Comics Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. In 2010, he co-wrote Secret Six issues 14-18 with writer Gail Simone. Ostrander maintains an online presence on the World Famous Comics Network[15] and writes a weekly column on the ComicMix site.
Kim Yale
Yale's first published comics work appeared in 1987 in the New America limited series,a spin-off of Timothy Truman's Scoutseries published by Eclipse Comics. She married a fellow comics creator, and frequent collaborator, John Ostrander the same year. Yale and Ostrander developed the character of Barbara Gordon into Oracle, and wrote her origin story in the short story "Oracle: Year One" published in The Batman Chronicles #5 (Summer 1996).
The two also co-wrote Manhunter, a series which DC launched in the wake of the Millennium crossover. Their collaboration on Suicide Squad included the "Janus Directive" storyline in issues #27-30 and the creation of the character Dybbuk in issue #45 (Sept. 1990). Yale served as an editor for DC from 1991–1993 and oversaw licensed titles such as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
She was also heavily involved with the Friends of Lulu, an organization promoting women in comics, working as a member of the board. Yale wrote an ongoing column in the Comics Buyer's Guide, in which she detailed her battle against breast cancer. The Kimberly Yale Award for Best New Talent has been named in her honor. Yale died of breast cancer in 1997, aged 43.
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