Well, I’ve been defending this DC reboot for a long time and my days of that are over. Instead of defending the reboots, I’ll be holding my breath in a wait and see pattern after this newest news.
Gail Simone (a fantastic writer, whom I love) is relaunching Batgirl with a new #1. That’s not so surprising, they’re relaunching everything. What is surprising and sad is that Batgirl will no longer be Stephanie Brown, one of my favorite characters in the DCU who is in one of the best books they’re currently publishing. Seriously, Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl is one of the best titles they have and I had been reassured that they were taking a “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” approach.
What does this mean for Alan Moore’s Killing Joke? And Barbara’s tenure as Oracle? And where will Stephanie fit? Does Stephanie even have a place in this relaunched DC Universe? I’m trying to approach all of this calmly and without preconceived notions of dislike, but I’m seriously reevaluating whether or not I’m going to be carrying over some of these titles once the relaunch happens. Sure, maybe they’ll get some new readers, but DC doesn’t even want to think about how much money I’m handing them every month. And seriously, Batgirl is, right now, one of my few MUST READS every month and with this change it goes into my “maybe I’ll buy it pile.”
In any case, without further ado, here’s Gail Simone’s statement from DCU’s The Source:
Writer Gail Simone sent us a few words about today’s BATGIRL #1 announcement:
“Barbara Gordon is pretty much my everything. Because of the Batman TV show, she was the reason I fell in love with superheroes. Because she was a redhead who could kick ass, she is the reason I fell in love with comics. She was always forward-looking as Batgirl, a girl who was smarter than the male characters, who had class and elegance and style, as well as tough-as-nails grit. For a long time, there was simply nothing else like her in comics, and for me and a lot of other readers, her every appearance was joyful and explosive.
For many years, I got to write the character as Oracle, and there is to this day, no character who means more to me. This is classic Barbara as she was originally conceived, with a few big surprises. It’s a bit of a shock, to be sure, but we’re doing everything we can to be respectful to this character’s amazing legacy, while presenting something thrilling that a generation of comics readers will be experiencing for the first time…
…Barbara Gordon leaping, fighting, and swinging over Gotham. Now, when citizens of that city look up, they are going to see BATGIRL.
And that is absolutely thrilling.”
What do you guys think? Am I overreacting? Or should there be a place for Stephanie Brown in the DCU?