THE DANGEROUS LADIES: Stephanie Brown is just as much Batgirl as Barbara Gordon is
Normally this is just for cosplay, but in the spirit of it being SDCC and in light of a very disappointing New 52 panel, I think I need to repost what I’ve said elsewhere to boost the signal, so to speak. Gail Simone is right — if we want to be heard, we have to make it known. I’m sending this to DC, too.
Today at the 52 Panel, Didio told an audience that they couldn’t have plans for Wally because they were working on Barry. Someone asked how that works when we have “four Robins” –– and Didio blew it off, and then told another fan that Barbara is Batgirl now because she is most recognizable…
This. All of this.
The one friend I have outside of the internet who shares my comics obsession doesn’t understand why I keep torturing myself over DC’s continuously horrible treatment of both its female fans and characters, but there it is: If we do nothing, we accomplish nothing. Of course, if we do do something, the results are not likely to be that much different, but a small chance is better than none.
Here are the facts. When the DCnU came rolling around, dozens of female characters were cut out to be left in the cold, having either been completely erased from existence or put into indefinite limbo, with little to no word on when they might be reappearing. Out of DC’s 52 titles right now, not including the incoming Second Wave, there are a measly seven books that focus solely on female characters. Five out of these seven are based around a female lead that has been in the business for 45 years or more - and are therefore, assumedly, too iconic to be given the ol’ heave-ho.
Those facts alone make me want to cry and scream and punch things on a regular basis, but then I remember how DC is currently handling many of its female characters, inside or outside of those seven titles, and I feel even worse. Catwoman, Starfire, and Harley Quinn were all given horribly skewed characterizations that focused on their rampant sexuality more than anything else, and then had that used as a tool to titillate male readers rather than add to their personalities.
Barbara Gordon has been demoted from Oracle to Batgirl and then had much of her career as Oracle erased and then crammed into three measly years.
Batwoman’s series is slowly sinking in quality from issue to issue, as the writers struggle to maintain a central storyline and throw away all coherent means of telling it.
And don’t even get me started on Voodoo.
And all this was brought about in an effort to “freshen up” DC’s universe and draw more readers in?
I’m speechless.
Stephanie Brown was spectacular. She was everything I could ever want in a female character, and her rapport with Cassandra Cain and Barbara Gordon was priceless and heart warming. She made me happy to be a female comic book reader. And then DC threw her out on the street like she was trash, and Cassandra with her, and left its readers with the mess described above.
Frankly, I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face.
