Why doesn't DC do more with the OTHER BATGIRLS in Batman's history ?

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

to the OP, presumably there is some vampire in the ranks at DC currently with some weird fixation on Babs. I mean she's ok, but the story of "whos the best Batgirl" isn't as simple as "Whos the best Nightwing". I like Babs as Batgirl, but really she was kind of one of those characters that had largely moved on from that, Stephanie is just as good a Batgirl as Barbara, if not better, and Babs was popular as Oracle.

Karen Page, Bucky, Barry Allen, some characters are better off dead or in changed roles, at least for long periods. Bab's was one of them.

[sakuyamons]

to the OP, presumably there is some vampire in the ranks at DC currently with some weird fixation on Babs. I mean she's ok, but the story of "whos the best Batgirl" isn't as simple as "Whos the best Nightwing". I like Babs as Batgirl, but really she was kind of one of those characters that had largely moved on from that, Stephanie is just as good a Batgirl as Barbara, if not better, and Babs was popular as Oracle.

Karen Page, Bucky, Barry Allen, some characters are better off dead or in changed roles, at least for long periods. Bab's was one of them.

I mean, the way she had to retire was rather awful, but even if you wanted to 'retcon' TKJ (Which I have no problem with that), she outgrew the role of Batgirl and now in her solo she is being written as a quirky XD superhero when she wasn't like that in...Batgirl:Year One for example, and she is not like that in BatBop

Batgirl of Burnside would have fit Steph's character better, and Steph as Batgirl was way more mature.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

Barbara outgrew the Batgirl mantle and they are making her stay on it, it's almost if Dick dropped his Nightwing mantle and went back to the green leotard.

^^yep. I LOVED DICK AS ROBIN. Do I want to see him go back to that? NO.

Not to mention that poor Barbara even if she's the one that gets the more spotlight suffers as well, deaged, Batgirl solo makes her act like she's a 18 year old Millennial, and if the Killing Joke was bad already, that unnecessary sex scene with Bruce made it worse.

See? Nobody wins.[/QUOTE] yeah and it's just irritating as Babs wasn't created to be written like a teenager, heck when we first saw her she was older than Dick, working as a librarian and later as a congresswomen for chrissake! So yeah, bad mischaracterization for Babs.

[Godlike13]

You don't have to like Burnside, its not for everybody and thats fine, but Babs isn't written like a teenager. You guys are exaggerating and misrepresenting. So what though if she is written like a Millennial. What is she suppose to written like, a middle age women? She is suppose to be a Millennial. Modern takes on characters is how characters last through different decades.

[MajorHoy]

You don't have to like Burnside, its not for everybody and thats fine, but Babs isn't written like a teenager. You guys are exaggerating and misrepresenting. So what though if she is written like a Millennial. What is she suppose to written like, a middle age women? She is suppose to be a Millennial. Modern takes on characters is how characters last through different decades.

If you truly wanted to get back to the original version of Barbara Gordon, she should be written more like a woman in at least her mid-to-late 20s/pushing 30.

[Godlike13]

Which would still make her a Millennial. Obviously they wanted to go back to their most recognized and marketed Batgirl but they didn't want to go back to the 1960's. DC also wants its characters to continue to appeal to modern audiences, and that means modern interpretations.

[Frontier]

Not just Arkham. Beware the Batman, which I refused to watch because of its depiction of Anarky, HAD Babs as Oracle, HAD Lady Shiva as a villain, and yet when it came time to give Batman a teenage girl partner, they went with Katana. If that doesn't show how much they clearly HATE Cass, I don't know what does.

Well, Katana was certainly Batman's partner for that show, but she was definitely not a teenager .

[godisawesome]

I think Comic!Babs problem of being perceived as a "Millenial" is perhaps a misstatement of the criticism given to her Burnside/Rebirth incarnation; it's more that the contrast to her established abilities and maturity when she was Oracle makes her Millenial aspects feel like the negative stereotype a lot of people mock. I mean, you could argue that Pre-Flashpoint Babs was just as much, if not more of a Millenial than her current incarnation, but that she was more the methodical and wise-beyond-her-years ideal some Millenials seem to want to be. Current Babsgirl has traits that are far more "generic young heroine" than Millenial; Baby Boomers and Generation Xers had some of the same negative cliches associated with them, after all. Some readers probably feel that a Millenial Barbara Gordon could have been done while maintaining the power of Oracle; I for one still find myself frustrated that she seems to have been "demoted" in a way, since it feels like they're pursuing a perceived ideal version for he character from back in the 80's (an overall less dangerous and intimidating interpretation) while the rest of the family is still looking forward.

As to the OP...

I think the issue is less one fo blatant favoritism and just that the lack of faith DC has in female BatCharacters collides with the somewhat touchy regard WB and their affiliates have on an Expanded Batfamily, with the result being a perpetually lopsided Batman Family gender ratio where they seem to shrink from any expansion in the Batgirl side. For the latter (the doubt in an expanded Batfamily), simply look at how they address multiple Robins: most adaptations really want to only use two, with the only exceptions being Batman Unlimited and Young Justice. For the former (the lack of faith in multiple Bat-female characters), just look at how DC took a scythe to that entire side of the Batfmaily in the New 52: Steph and Cass were flat out banished, Helena was retconned to a parallel Earth variation even though her mini has been a clear Bertinelli story, and the Birds of Prey were initially divorced from their Gotham connections, without even Babs.

I genuinely believe the lack of other Batgirl appearances (outside of Cass's video game appearance, JLU cameo, and Greg Weismann having Steph cameo in YJ) is because other producers are already skittish about a large Batfamily, and then it just exacerbates the lack of faith in Batgirl as anything aside from being the distaff counterpart. That may change, but it's still taking longer than it should.

[sunofdarkchild]

The problem is that Didio is a marketer who thinks he's a writer when he isn't. His creative decisions are based entirely on what he perceives as a character's marketability and not on any creative vision or sense of continuity or good writing. If he thinks that there is an issue with a character's marketability, he will not put any effort into making that character more marketable, but will simply seek to destroy and replace that character with a more 'marketable' version. How many other editors would reverse decades of company policy and mandate that a long-standing and beloved character be written out of existence just because he didn't like that character's description at a Six Flags ride?

It's why Didio was proud, even years later, of his decision to kill Stephanie Brown off. Most people see a horrible story and a disrespectful and sexist end to a character that doesn't hold up to scrutiny. But all Didio sees is that more people were talking about Steph afterwards, making her more 'marketable.'

[GamerSlyRatchet]

As I mentioned, Beware the Batman had ALL the circumstances for Cass to show up, and yet they went with Katana, a character whose popularity at the time wasn't on Cass's level. (Following the Suicide Squad movie that's likely changed)

Katana, especially the way she was portrayed in the show, is a VERY different character than Cass, and as much as I love Cass, she wouldn't have fulfilled the role Katana did in the series without some MAJOR changes.

[Assam]

Katana, especially the way she was portrayed in the show, is a VERY different character than Cass, and as much as I love Cass, she wouldn't have fulfilled the role Katana did in the series without some MAJOR changes.

Fair enough.

[Aahz]

I'd be careful what you say about Bette. Her fanbase is small compared to the others, besides Charlie, but man, they are JUST as passionate as Cass and Steph fans. yeah, as Bat-Girl she had zero personality, but Flamebird is a pretty damn cool heroine.

But that makes it again very unlikely that they use her as Batgirl and even if she has a passionate fanbase as Flamebird, that identity is just not big enough to do something with her appart from playing support character for Batwoman.

[millernumber1]

Babs already has a foothold, and she has the simplest and most relevant origin in regards to the Bat mythos. She's the most recognizable and accessible Batgirl. And the more they use her as Batgirl the less sense it makes for them not to use her Batgirl.

Hey, know what? Damian as Robin didn't have a foothold in non-comics media until they decided to use him. They already had two perfectly good Robins to use, Tim and Dick, from the previous animated series. Why'd they have to go with the new hotness?

It's a circular argument to say that Steph and Cass don't have a media foothold because they don't have a media foothold.

Yeah, but I think you're exceptional in this regard. Most fans develop the strongest attachment to the first version they encounter (assuming they like the character in the first place).

Actually, I like Steph best as Batgirl, even though I grew up with Cass in the cowl. I like Cass best as Black Bat - the more open mask does a lot for me, especially when drawn by Trevor McCarthy or Dustin Nguyen.

It's not for mockery, I don't fall in such nonsense. It's to show you how ridiculous is thinking DC hates Steph and Cass. Yeah, I think some writers prefer some characters than others but I don't think DC hates their characters. Or contrary, why DC reintroduces Cass and Steph again if they hate them?

1) "Show you how ridiculous" is pretty much "mocking".

2) If DC didn't hate Cass and Steph, why'd they keep all four male Robins, but delete two of the three Batgirls for 3 years?

I hate Bette's new codename Hawkfire.

I really like it, but I came to love Bette through Rucka and then Blackman/Williams's run on Batwoman. So I'm a filthy casual fan of Bette.

I believe that as the Executive Editor of DC, DiDio has a lot of power over creative decisions, and, like all human beings, his bias on certain topics affects his decisions.

He's actually not in an editorial position right now - he's a co-publisher. He definitely has a ton of power, but much less than he used to, and I think Rebirth was actually a sign of that loss. Now, the people who are replacing him in power are doing things you don't like that much (I speak here of the Snyderites, with their Harpers and Dukes ), but I think they're clearly on the rise.

However, in terms of the historical narrative of Cass and Steph, I think it's clear that Didio and a party I can't currently identify (because no one has publically taken credit for Evil Cass or War Games, but it's clear there was someone else pulling strings for those storylines) are a huge part of why they have been handled so poorly for the past 13 years (with occasional moments of good).

[Assam]

He's actually not in an editorial position right now - he's a co-publisher.

My mistake. I honestly forgot what his current position was so I checked Wikipedia and they had both Executive Editor and Co-Publisher listed.

Pretty much agree with most of you said in you multi-quote post, save for your thoughts on the Black Bat suit. While I like most of it, the arm bandages really work for her, I can't stand the mask.

[millernumber1]

Pretty much agree with most of you said in you multi-quote post, save for your thoughts on the Black Bat suit. While I like most of it, the arm bandages really work for her, I can't stand the mask.

Haha, I really like being able to see Cass's face.