Betty Kane / Bette Kane Appreciation 2018

[Herowatcher]

It's Time.




The Beginning!

[hotroddii]

Never seen any of that before - thank you.

I have been a Bat-family fan since I was 3 years old ... collected comics since I was about 8 - and never knew of Bette's existence until I was 19 (and even then it was as Flamebird.)

She don't get much love because her past isn't very well publicized.

I'd love to see, even a one-off Multiverse story featuring the adventures of Batwoman and Bat-Girl.

[Immortal Weapon]

It always annoyed me in the Batwoman book how Kate treated Bette has a rookie hero who needed to be trained when Bette been Flamebird longer than she been Batwoman. Even referencing her time with the Titans.

[Chickfighter]

It always annoyed me in the Batwoman book how Kate treated Bette has a rookie hero who needed to be trained when Bette been Flamebird longer than she been Batwoman. Even referencing her time with the Titans.

Yes, although I think they pretty much retconned that statement later, possibly even changing that dialogue when it was collected in trade, so that Bette didn't have that history in the New 52 timeline. I was disappointed that they felt the need to completely revamp the character by literally gutting her (yes, literally). The name and costume change was unappealing. And I felt giving her a new traumatic background was also unnecessary. I always felt that having a happy if somewhat frivolous reason for being a heroine was one of the things that made Bette standout from the rest of the comics world where it seems like every character now has to be some sort of Batman clone with some sort of dark traumatic past. Why not for once have a girl who started out simply because she wanted to meet that cute Robin (Grayson)? At least she did finally get to come back and defeat the hook guy who gutted her before being pushed out of the book.

I'd love to see Bette come back as Flamebird at some point. Maybe Bette and Stephanie Brown could be a new team in a mini called Blond Justice or something. Another option would be to let Bette show up in Grayson as an old flame(bird) from time to time.

[joybeans]

The trade has her saying that she was a superhero, and had fought Deathstroke. Only the Teen Titans name was removed.

Is Bette Kane still related to Kathy Kane? In Morrison's Batman Inc Silver Age flashbacks with Kathy Kane, there is a mention of a "Bat-Girl" (obviously not Barbara).

[The Lucky One]

I've always had a fondness for Betty, humble origins aside, because one of my earliest exposures to Batman was "Batman: From the 30s to the 70s," and she's disproportionately represented there for her overall importance to the canon (meaning, she's in two stories). In some ways, I think Chuck Dixon's work developing Spoiler in Robin's solo title was an attempt to do a more progressive, modern take on Betty, hitting many of the same tropes.

One thing I was surprised to learn is that Bob Rozakis actually brought her back as Bat-Girl in the late '70s, over a decade after her last appearance, in Teen Titans, with characters openly wondering who she is and why she doesn't have red hair. Betty acknowledges that her identity was taken by "that other Batgirl" but vows to become the better-known Bat-Girl again now that she's back in the costume. I honestly have no idea if that was Rozakis making a joke or if he actually believed that might happen, but obviously it didn't; she appeared only once more pre-Crisis (Batman Family #16), and even that was only on a newscast being watched by Robin and Batgirl, and she got beaten up to boot. Poor Betty. And that was it for her pre-Crisis, pre-Flamebird, save a non-costumed cameo at Donna Troy's wedding years later.

So, yeah. She falls into that nebulous zone where she's not a Golden Age character, so guys like Roy Thomas have no interest in reviving her, but obviously when you think Silver Age Batgirl, you think Babs. Still, she'll always be the first Bat-Girl I was ever exposed to (if only by 30 pages or so).

[OBrianTallent]

Years ago, right after the original Crisis, I wrote my own little story re-imagining Bette as a bit of a spy. I would love to see her show up in Grayson and her history somewhat restored with Kathy Kane and inserting her into Spyral. I loved the fact that she was a 'hero' because she wanted to impress Robin/Nightwing and not necessarily because she had the best motives in the world. Originally Bette was an Olympic level athlete which could easily be played up in Spyral as well.

[jules]

Originally Bette was an Olympic level athlete which could easily be played up in Spyral as well.

It's a great cover, if nothing else. If there's a tennis tournament in town, then she plays it as cover for her spying activities. If the tour doesn't oblige at the right time and place, you set up an exhibition match at that location for her to play instead.

Nice though it was to see her making appearances, she did rather get the short end of the stick in Batwoman so I'd like to see her back in something else. Not sure how much of her link to Kathy still exists, but I believe they are at least still cousins by marriage, so Spyral would be the perfect place to put her.

And even if Dick isn't currently using the Nightwing name I'd love to see her take back its Flamebird counterpart. Because "Hawkfire"? Meh.

[Herowatcher]

Loved that Betty came out of retirement as Bat-Girl again to join the Teen Titans West.

[OBrianTallent]

Loved that Betty came out of retirement as Bat-Girl again to join the Teen Titans West.

That was my first ever issue of Teen Titans. I found it in a back issue bin at a used book store and immediately grabbed it because it had Wonder Girl whom I knew from a back up story in Wonder Woman that had recently come out. Started a life long love of the group and characters. Boy do I miss those guys. But on topic...I also immediately fell in love with Bette Kane and her spunky attitude!!

[Herowatcher]

Betty Kane has been intelligent and athletic since the beginning and yet writers continually
make her prove herself to others over and over through the years.

Damn, this girl can't get a break.

[Herowatcher]

That was my first ever issue of Teen Titans. I found it in a back issue bin at a used book store and immediately grabbed it because it had Wonder Girl whom I knew from a back up story in Wonder Woman that had recently come out. Started a life long love of the group and characters. Boy do I miss those guys. But on topic...I also immediately fell in love with Bette Kane and her spunky attitude!!

LOL..I found a lot of my original Teen Titans comics in boxes tucked in a corner at used book stores in my youth.
Those were fun times searching for back issues and learning about DC super-heroes...no Internet back then.

I was excited to see Bat-Girl make a comeback in TT #50.
Bat-Girl, Golden Eagle and Lilith were my favorite West members.

[Herowatcher]

[byrd156]

LOL..I found a lot of my original Teen Titans comics in boxes tucked in a corner at used book stores in my youth.
Those were fun times searching for back issues and learning about DC super-heroes...no Internet back then.

I was excited to see Bat-Girl make a comeback in TT #50.
Bat-Girl, Golden Eagle and Lilith were my favorite West members.

I'm currently rereading all the Titans history and I really wished that Titan's West as a concept was handled better. Characters like Bette, H&D, etc would get sent out West and wouldn't be seen again for a while.

[Herowatcher]

I'm currently rereading all the Titans history and I really wished that Titan's West as a concept was handled better. Characters like Bette, H&D, etc would get sent out West and wouldn't be seen again for a while.

I believe DC's Implosion incident of the 70s contributed to the Teen Titans cancellation at that time. Just when we were introduced to Teen Titans West too.
I remember being mad when Bat-Girl showed up next in Batman Family vol.1 #16 and was knocked down by D-list villain. This was the start of her poor treatment by DC writers IMO.