What is DC doing with Batgirl?

[lorraine]

Is it weird that I prefer this Lego Batgirl over the current horrendous comic version of Batgirl?
Damn, B of Burnside should've never been written. What a tragedy.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

I'd rather take the love interest than the cringy foolishness they're doing with her in the comics now.

yep, and "cringy" is exactly the right word lol. Everything interesting about Barbara was thrown to the wind so she could be portrayed as too young, wearing a stupid Rue 21 costume, leave that garbage in the "new 52" where it belongs lol. there's no media synergy pulling her in that direction anyway I assume it's just "52 leftovers". When Barbara was first introduced in the silver age she was already a librarian, and somewhat of a detective in her own right, in like her mid twenties, she's definitely older than Dick, so she was created to be written to that type, if DC wants that type of Batgirl use Steph, who a lot of people want to see back in the role anyway.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

Is it weird that I prefer this Lego Batgirl over the current horrendous comic version of Batgirl?

No, but if you had asked me ten years ago if I would prefer Lego Bargirl portrayal over current comic portrayal I would have laughed.

[Digifiend]

Isn't it more the case that The Lego Batman Movie depicted Batgirl at the age she's at NOW in the comics, but Bruce and Dick at the ages they were at when they first appeared (which is a good decade younger than they are nowadays). Hence why Batgirl became Batman's love interest instead of Robin's.

Obviously, that means you can't cite the movie at all when complaining about anything in the comics. It's comparing apples and oranges, seriously!

[joybeans]

Isn't it more the case that The Lego Batman Movie depicted Batgirl at the age she's at NOW in the comics, but Bruce and Dick at the ages they were at when they first appeared (which is a good decade younger than they are nowadays). Hence why Batgirl became Batman's love interest instead of Robin's.

Obviously, that means you can't cite the movie at all when complaining about anything in the comics. It's comparing apples and oranges, seriously!

A 21 year old isn't going to become a Police Commissioner any time soon.

[Flash Gordon]

Batgirl of Burnside is a much richer take on Babs.

[Godlike13]

After seeing Lego Batman, i didn't have a problem with its depiction of Babs. It was different, closer to Congresswoman Gordon mixed in with Batman Beyond Babs, but enjoyable. It not like she showed any romantic interest in Batman.

[Badou]

Batgirl is the brand. Giving that up to be called Batwoman would be a mistake, imo. You are going from a higher tier to a lower one. They want to keep her as a young adult who is trying to balance a hero life, college life, and a personal life. So using Batgirl is fine.

[TheBatman]

So, I just got out of Lego Batman, and something that really didn't sit right with me is Barbara Gordon's role. We don't need to rehash the controversy about the sex scene in that Killing Joke movie, but generally speaking it now seems that DC is set on positioning her (at least to casual fans of their movies) as a grown woman and love interest for Bruce.

Fine, whatever, but a few things bug me about this apparent creative direction: First, they're really just going to keep calling her BatGIRL, anyway? A lame "Batboy" joke doesn't cover up how anachronistically patronizing that is. Second, this leaves them with NO young female heroes, which seems contrary to their marketing push at younger girls. Third, this leaves very little room for Kate Kane to carve a niche for herself in the cinematic Bat Family.

I know the comics are still different from these movies, and the movies I mentioned arguably aren't indicative of what they're going to do in the DCU if they ever get around to introducing either female Bat-hero, but with these being her last two film roles, it seems like a pattern that speaks to the mindset of DC executives regarding her character.

Well, for one thing, Babs WAS a grown woman when she made her first comic book appearance. She was a college graduate librarian with a PhD. She was far more likely to be Bruce's love interest than Dick's.

Batgirl is the codename she's best remembered for. They probably keep it for tradition more than anything else, whether she's portrayed as a teen or not.

And I'm sorry, but unless you're Dick Grayson or Barbara Gordon, I doubt WB cares about carving out a niche for most Bat Family members. Which is smart. We don't need to see a billion Batfamily members onscreen anyway. Dick, Babs, and, if Dick is Nightwing, a replacement Robin is really all that is needed.

[UnderTheRedHood]

Comic wise I can't stand her outfit and i dislike the direction her comics have taken...



I prefer that one.

[hotroddii]

I loved the new costume and direction initially... but it has dated very quickly.

Time for a return to a classic costume.

And tell Batwoman, Barbara wants her hair color back!!!

[bat_girl_cc]

DC is ruining Babs as a character and Batgirl as a mantle...all for a niche that barely exists anyway...the sales numbers don't lie...DC *ited on dozens of thousands of loyal readers in favour of a supposed younger girler and more modern generation that's into the abomination that we have now going by as Batgirl.
All we can do is hoping that DC's dumbiness don't last much longer.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

DC is ruining Babs as a character and Batgirl as a mantle...all for a niche that barely exists anyway...the sales numbers don't lie...DC *ited on dozens of thousands of loyal readers in favour of a supposed younger girler and more modern generation that's into the abomination that we have now going by as Batgirl.
All we can do is hoping that DC's dumbiness don't last much longer.

Some of us definitely do not like what the Batgirl book was offering before the Burnside revamp. We're not the majority, obviously, but it's silly to dismiss fans of the current direction as not even really existing.

[bat_girl_cc]

Some of us definitely do not what the Batgirl book was offering before the Burnside revamp. We're not the majority, obviously, but it's silly to dismiss fans of the current direction as not even really existing.

Sorry if i sounded rude on my rant earlier, but i when i saw this thread i had to vent lol.
The point is, this change will lead Babs to limbo in the long run, you realize that right?

[bat_girl_cc]

DC should be smart enough to do the most logical thing on this case, Barbara becomes Oracle again, the current "tone" of the Batgirl title is dropped to a more serious and less silly one, the costume is dropped and next year they give the mantle to either Cass or Steph...everybody wins