Questions about Barbara's shooting

[Cassandra]

I've read The Killing Joke and adored it, but what happened to Barbara Gordon in the regular continuty directly after she was shot and crippled by the Joker? Was Dick Grayson around, did he interact with her about the issue? What was Barbara like between getting shot and becoming Oracle, and what inspired her to become Oracle? How did other characters (Jim Gordon, Bruce, Alfred, Tim, etc?) react to Barbara's shooting and treat her afterwards?

Are there any issues that actually delt with any of this? If so, which ones?

 

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

I've read The Killing Joke and adored it, but what happened to Barbara Gordon in the regular continuty directly after she was shot and crippled by the Joker? Was Dick Grayson around, did he interact with her about the issue? What was Barbara like between getting shot and becoming Oracle, and what inspired her to become Oracle? How did other characters (Jim Gordon, Bruce, Alfred, Tim, etc?) react to Barbara's shooting and treat her afterwards?

Are there any issues that actually delt with any of this? If so, which ones?

Dick was off on an other planet when it happened!!!!!When he got back he went to see her and to give her an invitation to his wedding to Starfire.Before he can give the invite to her she grabs Dick crying and they sleep together!!!!!!In the morning they wake up and he give's her the invite and she kick's him out!!!!!What a Dick right??????????

 

[Joker]

...why would she sleep with him? she's, you know, paralyzed from the waist down...not feeling at all...it just...doesnt...make sense

 

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

...why would she sleep with him? she's, you know, paralyzed from the waist down...not feeling at all...it just...doesnt...make sense

She was madly in love with him!!!! And I've dated two women that were in the same condition and both said they still had feeling in that area.

 

[David Rice]

...why would she sleep with him? she's, you know, paralyzed from the waist down...not feeling at all...it just...doesnt...make sense

I don't think they have ever addressed that issue, but I'll bet the writer was thinking she has feeling there. Besides it's a comic book and one should make best of it. In my mind Dick gave "IT" to her good! t:

But he's still a jerk for the way he did it!

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

There is an issue of Showcase that shows Babs in her wheelchair, completely depressed. She goes to the Gotham Park all day and just hangs around feeling sorry for herself.

Eventually, she meets Richard Dragon (DC Universe martial arts bad ass), and he teachers her discipline and stick fighting so she wont feel so helpless. He gave her purpose again, and she went on to become Oracle.

I'll try and fid the exact issue number in a bit...

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Think it was Showcase '94, #12, but dont quote me.

 

[Mister J]

A while back, I was looking for some more info about Babs' state of mind immediately post-TKJ and came across Batman Chronicles #5. The first story is entitled 'Oracle - Year One: Born of Hope'.

Synopsis:

After she was shot by the Joker, Barbara Gordon felt somewhat helpless, but began to rebuild her life, learning self defense techniques from Richard Dragon, and using her computer skills to track down a dangerous money-launderer called Interface and put her out of business. Following this, she decides to reinvent herself as Oracle.

From what I'm able to gather, after snapping out of her depression, in part due to realizing how valuable her mind and computer skills are, she uses a grant from the Wayne Foundation to purchase high-tech computer equipment and decides to anonymously aid her father in a case. Batman, through an alternate persona, points her toward training with Dragon (as Cap Stacy pointed out). While under Dragon's tutelage, her confidence is fully restored and she finds a renewed purpose. She decides on the Oracle moniker after having a dream where she encounters an entity bearing resemblance to the mythological Oracle of Delphi. Babs then goes on to work with the Suicide Squad, initially with the hope that they would help her gain back the use of her legs, something she has turned down at least twice that I know of (from J'onn J'onzz and Neron).

Hope that helps.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

A while back, I was looking for some more info about Babs' state of mind immediately post-TKJ and came across Batman Chronicles #5. The first story is entitled 'Oracle - Year One: Born of Hope'.

Synopsis:


From what I'm able to gather, after snapping out of her depression, in part due to realizing how valuable her mind and computer skills are, she uses a grant from the Wayne Foundation to purchase high-tech computer equipment and decides to anonymously aid her father in a case. Batman, through an alternate persona, points her toward training with Dragon (as Cap Stacy pointed out). While under Dragon's tutelage, her confidence is fully restored and she finds a renewed purpose. She decides on the Oracle moniker after having a dream where she encounters an entity bearing resemblance to the mythological Oracle of Delphi. Babs then goes on to work with the Suicide Squad, initially with the hope that they would help her gain back the use of her legs, something she has turned down at least twice that I know of (from J'on J'onzz and Neron).

Hope that helps.

Yeah, i think that Batman Chronicles #5 is the issue with Richard Dragon. (it's either that one, or the Showcase issue)...

 

[Nepenthes]

I've read The Killing Joke and adored it, but what happened to Barbara Gordon in the regular continuty directly after she was shot and crippled by the Joker? Was Dick Grayson around, did he interact with her about the issue? What was Barbara like between getting shot and becoming Oracle, and what inspired her to become Oracle? How did other characters (Jim Gordon, Bruce, Alfred, Tim, etc?) react to Barbara's shooting and treat her afterwards?

Are there any issues that actually delt with any of this? If so, which ones?

there was no direct follow up to the shooting because TKJ was always intended to be out of continuity.

I think it's interesting that if the story was intended to be canon, chances are that Moore or the editors wouldn't have considered doing that to Barbera. too extreme, gratuitous, adult etc. It was only after they realised it was an interesting development they adopted into mainstream. but they always had the option of ignoring it.

I guess Chronicles was the first time it was incorporated into continuity.

 

[Mister J]

I've seen where Moore has referenced that he wrote it as a stand-alone, but DC took to it fairly quickly. Oracle first pops up in Suicide Squad #23 (Jan. 89). They hinted that it was Babs behind the new persona in #26(?), with the full reveal of her in a wheelchair in #38 (Feb. 90).

Even prior to TKJ, it seems they were looking for another direction to take the character. She retired as Batgirl in the story right before TKJ, The Last Batgirl Story, in 1988. Moore's creation was more than they could have hoped for.

 

[BubbaGump]

It's good to know that we'll all bump into martial arts masters sometime in our lives.

 

[Cassandra]

Thanks for the helpful responces. I'd love to see The Killing Joke storyline and Barbara's transistion from Batgirl to Oracle included in a Batman movie, but I'm sure it will never happen. We got a glimpse of Oracle in the TV version of Birds of Prey and Dina Meyer was wonderful with what she had to work with, but the series didn't do justice to any of the characters featured in it, IMO, and it deserved to be cancelled. It's a shame, though.