"Out of the super-star studded firmament of Gotham City, where Batman and Robin shine supreme as masked manhunters -- bursts a brand-new luminary -- Batgirl! And like that very Batman after whom she models herself -- she too battles crime and injustice in a manner wondrous enough for newspapers to proclaim in banner headlines -- The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!"
The first time I read this story I was sitting in my junior high school library (because the book wasn't allowed to be checked out) reading Batman: From the 30s to the 70s. It has been reprinted so many times since than I couldn't tell you the first time I read it in color. I has been reprinted so many times, in fact, I doubt there's anyone here unfamiliar with the story: Barbara Gordon, costume party, Killer Moth, rescues Batman & Robin, becaome crimefighter. As I understand it, although "Batgirl" appeared in the comics some nine prior to her first appearance on television, she was introduced at the suggestion of TV executives who were eager to have a character that would appeal to female viewers.
Skipping ahead a bit, the first Batgirl story I ever read new off the shelf was "Surprise! This'll Kill You!" from Detective Comics #388. Unfortunately, it was a two-part story and I wasn't to read the conclusion, "Batgirl's Bag of Tricks," for another 30 years, until it was reprinted in Batman in the Sixties in 1999. That's all right. I just made up my own ending to the story. By the time I read the actual conclusion, I realized that my five-year-old self completely misinterpreted what happened in the first part... either that or my 35-year-old self simply misremembered it.
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Batgirl may be one of the early, most notable stories of a character being allowed to grow and change organically - even if much of it involved her getting subtly younger along time, in a very gradual drift towards becoming Dick Grayson's love interest.
And she was a very welcome addition, bringing many new interesting dynamics to the table. For a while there around 1977 or so it was even implied that Batman did not know her civilian identity (or at least did not insist on being certain) even though Robin knew - or at least did not hid from Batman that he had the means to contact Batgirl on her own (See Batman #286, which has the same cover date as Batman Family #17).
It would take quite some time before the character was given more spotlight, though.
DETECTIVE COMICS #363 - "The True-False Face of Batman!"
The first Batgirl story I ever read was "Surprise! This'll Kill You!" from Detective Comics #388 (1969); the second, "The True-False Face of Batman!" was the second ever, from Detective Comics #363 (which I didn't realize at the time), although I read it reprinted in Batman #255 (1974). I can't say for certain whether or not I've re-read the story in the past 50 years. The only thing I remembered about it was the cover scene, in which Batman fools Batgirl into thinking he is not Bruce Wayne by removing his mask to reveal that he's wearing Bruce Wayne "make-up." It's no wonder I didn't remember more; it's a pretty convoluted story.
Every day, a man named John Hart (a.k.a. "Mr. Brains") checks out books from the Gotham City Public Library and returns them the next day. Then the books are checked out by James Stephens. The book titles always reflect the nature of a crime committed the night before each book was returned the second time. For example, after couterfeit money plates were stolen, Stephens returns a book titled The Counterfeiters; after an armored truck carrying gold was robbed, he returned Crock of Gold; after a fortume in jewels was stolen from a wealthy Venitian businessman, the book returned was The Mechant of Venice"; and so on.
While the books are in Hart's posession, he underlines key words with "a special chemical" which can be read only with certain titnted glasses. the "key words" describe the plans for the robberies. Why the two men go to such elaborate pains is not adequately explained, other than Mr. Brains' desire to protect his real identity. (The touch of matching the book title to the crime was just a little too cutesy.) When John Hart returns Edgar Allan Poe's "The Gold Bug" (which is actually the title of a short story, not a book) and James Stephens checks it out, head librarian Barbara Gordon deduces that the pair plan to steal an Incan collection of gold insects from the Amerindian Museum because "bug is the popular term for insect" (which is not true, but whatever).
she interrupts the crime as Batgirl, and a shot is fired. The "Batmobile's instruments" detected gunfire (B&R couldn't have simply heard it, I guess), and they arrive on the scene. One of the thieves gets away, but Batman noticed that he slipped a tracking/listening device to Batgirl during the fight. In order to feed him disinformation, Batman, without saying anything about to either Batgirl or Robin, blindfolds Batgirl and takes her back to the Batcave with them, where he removes his mask revealing Bruce Wayne's actual face!
But he's wearing hair dye and wax on his face, giving Batgirl the impression that he is not Bruce Wayne, only that he wants her to think he is. (Why he was wearing "Bruce Wayne" make-up in the first place is not explained.) He is damned lucky that, when Batgirl's blindfold was removed, she exclaimed, "You!?" and not "Bruce Wayne!?" It is later explained (in a detail that had completely slipped my mind over the course of the last 50 years) that Batman intended for her to spot the make-up and play along, which she did. (He could have disguised himself as anyone, but I guess he wanted to fool her into thinking he was not Bruce Wayne at the same time. I still think he was taking a helluva chance, though.) It was also later explained that he jammed the "tracking" part of the device, but not the "listening" part.
The three of them lure the gang to a cabin and capture them, and later get a warrant to search Hart's house where they find his share of the loot. Whew! They certainly don't write 'em like that anymore!
DETECTIVE COMICS #369 - "Batgirl Breaks Up the Dynamic Duo"
One night, Batgirl tracks some thieves who just Robbed the Gotham Gothic Arts Museum across a gimmicked bridge to their hideout on Swamp Island. I question the logic of hiding out on an island, but they have the ability to lower the bridge so that it is completely submerged in the swamp to prevent pursuit. Batgirl manages to get across, just barely, and Batgirl's "multi-color light-tracer beam" interferred with the Batmobile's "electronic device" leading them to the island, too. Batgirl raises the bridge, but Batman slips into the swamp while subduing one of the thieves. Nevertheless, the three of them manage to subdue the crooks, but Batman immediately develops chills and a "mustard complexion" which Batgirl identifies as "a type of swamp fever." Sometime within the next week, he will collapse. If he should happen to collapse while on a case, it might prove disasterous.
Writer's fiat: Batgirl tells Robin but not Batman, supposedly because they assume: "Rather than 'lie down' on the job, he'd keep on going, no matter what dangers were in store for him!" So they contrive to "team up" and keep an eye on him (which they could have done anyway, had they told him about his affliction and he refused to take it easy for a week), leading to the scene depicted on the cover, which is not symbolic.
So, over the course of the next week, Batgirl and Robin "show up" Batman's solo action, until he finally collapses on the seventh day. Later, Commissioner Gordon and his daughter Barbara pay a sick call on Bruce Wayne with a gift of Chinese oroanges, well-known to be beneficial to recovery from swamp fever, which leads Bruce to suspect that Commissioner Gordon may suspect that he's Batman. This ending makes little sense to me not only because Gordon wouldn't have known about Batman's swamp fever, but also what did he think was the matter with Bruce? Plus, Barbara Gordon doesn't know that he's Batman (although this may be her first clue... or her second including "The True-False Face of Batman!").
Bad science/comic book science: I tend to use both the term "bad science" as well as "comic book science," but I don't use them interchangeably. I use "bad science" when the writer misuses an actual scientic concept, such as when Spider-Man negated Electro's electrical charges in Spider-Man Annual #1 by grounding himself. I use the term "comic book science" for things that have no basis in science whatsoever, such as Batgirl's multi-color light-tracer beam: "I've adjusted the lights to the vibrations of that car's motor! Once locked into place, I should be able to follow it no matter how far ahead of me it gets!" But don't worry; there's plenty of "bad science"in this story as well, such as the Dynamic Duo following "the click of [the Batmobile's] radar gear" to follow some criminals.
The epilogue sets up a confrontation with Catwoman.
BATMAN #197 - "Catwoman Sets Her Claws for Batman"
Catwoman has supposedly reformed and become a crimefighter. Yet all of the crimes she thwarts coincidentally (?) have a "Cat" theme. For example, at a winery that uses Catawba grapes and a silk factory that makes Pulicat bandanas. She is even showing up the Dynamic Duo, and is dropping hints that she is jealous of Batgirl. When Barbara Gordon hears this, she deduces that the next crime might occur at the Gotham Wax Museum, where a catafalque laden with real jewels is on display. she and Catwoman both arrive at the scene, but Batgirl makes a very poor showing and Catwoman captures the criminals.
Next up is at a coin emporium which is displaying a collection of royal ducats issued in 1140 by the duke of Apulia. Batman & Robin, Batgirl and Catwoman all arrive simultaneously from different directions. Since the fight at the wax museum, Batgirl has determined that Catwoman used catoptrics to throw off her timing. Catwoman turns the tables on all three of the real crimefighters, and takes them to her catacombs. she had just been pretending to go straight, hoping that Batman would propose to her. when that didn't work, she captured them. While they are unconscious, she takes off their masks, only to discover the parts of their faces covered by their masks are painted black.
Comic book science: Catwoman imprisons them in a "cataphonic" trap, in which a recording of cat snarls "form an invisible cat's cradle of sound waves -- bounding back and forth like strings children put on their fingers -- which go right through your body to the brain's control center!" She leaves them to rob the kitty of a high-stakes poker game, giving Batman time to consider her ultimatum: either marry her or she will return to a life a crime. By the time she returns, the crime fighters have escaped (nevermind how; suffice it to say that it makes as little sense ans the trap itself.) Batgirl assures Catwoman that she has no romantic interest in Batman whatsoever, but Catwoman doesn't believer her. Then Batman and Robin cat-walk her to the nearest jail.
In betwen Detective Comics #363 (My'67) and #369 (N'67), Batgirl makes her actual third appearance in World's Finest Comics #169 (S'67) though she's not really in the story that much but she's still in it.
Plus, it's the first time she meets Supergirl, marks another Catwoman sighting (sort of) and the last (?) Silver Age appearance of Batman Family member.
Gotta love a Curt Swan cover.
DETECTIVE COMICS #571 - "Batgirl's Costume Cut-Ups"
This story is exactly as sexist as the cover would lead one to believe. The whole thing starts when her mask is knocked askew while she is trying to apprehend the "Sports Spoilers" gang (don't ask) and she takes the time to fix it. She herself blames her "vanity" but, Batgirl's defense, her vision was obviously obscured. To be fair, the exact same thing once happened to Captain America in his early days (see Captain America #255) which led to a complete redesign of his mask, and no one accused him of vanity.
DETECTIVE COMICS:
With #384 Batgirl was awarded a semi-regular back-up spot and a brand new (as of #371) penciler, Gil Kane. All of the stories are two-parters, except the final three-parter. Barbara Gordon also combed out her "Princess Leia" buns for a hairstyle that more closely resembled that of Mary Jane Watson, her cross-town rival.
#384 - "Tall, Dark, Handsome--and MISSING!" - A regular library patron with unusual reading habits stops coming in. Attracted to him, Barbara Gordon goes to his apartment, where she witnesses a heavily-perfumed woman departing in haste, leaving the doors open and something missing from the medicine cabinet. She follows her to a seedy slum where she is attacked by some men. She breaks down a door and finds the man, Mark Hanner, either unconscious or dead.
#385 - "Hunt for the Helpless Hostage" - Hanner is diabetic and the medicine the woman, Sharon, took, was his insulin. Hanner is a private detective and has been gathering evidence against gangster Web Foote. Batgirl gets him to the hospital in time, then follows him to a disco where Foote's man tells him where to bring the evidence to free sharon. He plans to double-cross Hanner, but Batgirl is there to turn the tables. She is relieved to learn that Sharon is his sister, and Barbara gets a date with him for dinner one night and ice skating the next day.
#388 - "Surprise! This'll Kill You!" - Barbara is duped by the "Air-Hostess with the Mostest" into taking her place at a costume party disguised as Batgirl. Darlene Dawson is actually a member of a jewel smuggling outfit and has been skimming off the top of the profits. She knows the jig is up and that her partners intend to kill her, so she arranges for Barbara to be killed in her place while she herself absconds with the jewels. Dawson's partners are also at the annual airline costume ball disguised as Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern. They get the drop on her, but her "weapons bag" is actually a fake.
#389 - "Batgirl's Bag of Tricks" - Batgirl manages to overcome the jewel smugglers and all but "Superman" are captured. Dawson told Barbara enough truth in her cover story that Batgirl was able to track her to her grandfather's house. Her grandfather is in on the deal, and "Superman" is killed before Dawson and her grandfatyher are arrested.
#392 - "A Clue... Seven Foot Tall!" - Barbara teams up with amateur sleuth Jason Bard to solve a homicide. They find writer's fiat clues that the police did not, which lead them to a suspect at least seven feet tall.
#393 - "Downfall of a Goliath" - The circus is not in town, so Babs and Jason conclude that the perp must be Topper, center for the Gotham Goliaths basketball team. Topper has gotten involved with Chips, leader of a numbers running racket. Jason's trick knee gives out on him at a crucial moment, but Batgirl manages to save the day.
#396 - "The Orchid Crusher" - Batgirl investigates the case of the "Orchid Killer." All of his victims have been "plain Jane" redheads, and he leaves a crushed orchid on their bodies. When Barbara finds a computer dating card in a recently-returned library book, she tries to track down the man who last checked the book out, Darren Tomkins, but it's a dead end, so she herself fills out a dating profile. the first date she attracts is a "sheepish, homely" man named Max Tournov. He buys an orchid for her from a street vendor. When he tries to kiss her goodnight, she flips him to the ground! She follows him, but is attacked from behind.
#397 - "The Hollow Man" - The man who attacked her is handsome, but he knocks her unconscious and gets away. Who should come to her aid but Max Tournov! Her next computer date is John Milman, who is even more homely than Tournov. He turns on her at the end of the date, though, and this time it is Jason Bard who comes to her aid. His trick knee gives out, though, and Milman gets away. When Batgirl tracks Milman to his address, she discovers the "handsome mugger" from before... Darren Tomkins! Darren rubber masks of "Max Tournov" and "John Milman."
His story: "Since my curly-headed boyhood--women have fawned on me! 'Isn't he pretty?' 'Isn't he a living doll?' None saw the inner me! I felt as if my beauty were a barrier--I'd hide it--mask it! I chose homely women--because I wanted to find their inner beauty, release it!... But they were all hollow inside--All of them--fragile orchids!" Batgirl points out the irony: "So you crushed them! And yet you demanded they have red hair--because that was the superficial beauty you required! You are the hollow man--finding ugliness in everything! Think about that when you spend the rest of your life--behind prison bars!"
#400 - "A Burial for Batgirl" - "For the first time ever [but not the last!] Batgirl and Robin match wits and skilld with each other." It starts when Barbara Gordon pays a visit to the Hudson University campus to deliver a first edition of a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories for the Poe festival. Hearing a cry for help from within the library, she changes to Batgirl and encounters a student fleeing the scene of a murder. She smells what she thinks is ether. The student is Hank Osher, a student radical. He is subdued by, Jack Markham, another student, an acting major. The murdered man is Amos Willard, the school's business manager. Willard plans to develop some land at the north end of the campus and is opposed by Professor Huntington, a biologist. Suddenly, Batgirl thinks she has solved the case and rushes toward a section of the library being rebuilt She is hit from behind, and when she awakens she is being sealed behind a brick wall!
#401 - "Midnight is the Dying Hour" - Meanwhile, Robin is investigating the murder of Amos Willard. Willard's finger is pointing toward a book of poetry lying on the floor, and suddenly Robin too thinks he has solved the case. He finds Batgirl behind the wall, and they both chase and subdue the perp. The clues? Batgirl realized that what she thought was ether was actually spirit gum, which led to Jack Markham disguised as Hank Osher. Robin realized that Willard's finger was pointing to the letter "POE" of the word "poetry" on the book's cover, which indicated (to hiom) that the murdered man was trying to indicate that his murderer was the student actor playing Edgar Allan Poe in the festival. So both sleuths arrived at the solution via different means. Neither one of those "solutions" would have held up in court, but I'd say Batgirl's "evidence" was slightly stronger than Robin's.
#404 - "Midnight Doom-Boy" - Andy Warhol meets Midnight Cowboy. Jason Bard (dressed like Jon Voight) is framed for the murder of "flamboyant pop-artist and wizard producer of underground movies" Billy Warlock. The whole thing was caught on film. The "cowboy's" face is not clearly shown, but the murder weapon, a cyanide-spraying cane, was fopund in his posession. After her father shows her the footage, Barbara realizes Jason is innocent because the killer's gait doesn't match his. When Batgirl searches Warlock's studio, she finds proof of Jason's innocence on another reel, but is attacked from behind by Veda, an actress Warlock passed over in favor of another, Infra-Red. Deathtrap: Veda prepares Batgiel to be covered in quick-setting plaster.
#405 - "The Living Statue" - The whole scene is being "watched over" by a giant shot of Warlock's head painted on the wall. While Batgirl is helpless, Veda destroys the film clearing Jason. Just as she is about to cover Batgirl's head and face with plaster, she is attacked by Infra-Red. Batgirl frees herself from the plaster and captures Veda. Later, Infra-Red reveals that a camera hidden in the eye of Warlock's painting recorded Veda's entire confession. Then there's a "surprise ending" in the last panel concerning a plot point that had never been mentioned until then.
#406 - "The Explosive Circle" - A library book found at the scene of a bombed building leads Batgirl to investigate Shelley Simms, part of the "tear down the establishment crowd" who lives in the heart of the "where it's at district." The book is titled It's Your City... Take It, and was checked out by Shelley for her boyfriend, Mal. Shelley is not a radical, but Mal is. However, he is woring on behalf of a real estate developer who wants to raize an historic landmark to put up luxury townhouses. Deathtrap: Mal gets the drop on Batgirl and traps her in the basement land-mined tenement while he goes off to blow up the Traymore Mansion.
#407 - "One of Our Landmarks is Missing" - Bargirl manages to free herself using her cape and boot tro trip the rocker-switch controlling the minefield. From there it's just a matter of capturing the perps. Shelley seems to think that she and Batgirl are of different generations, but the last we see of her she is carrying a sign which reads: "Batgirl is Groovy... But the Establishment is Square!"
With #408, Batgirl gets a new regular penciler who will last for the remainder of the feature: Don Heck.
#408 - "The Phantom Bullfighter" - Barbara Gordon is in Spain in pursuit of a rare original manuscript "of fighting-bulls and men" by the late prize-winning novelist, Alan Termagent (Ernest Hemingway...?). Her guide is Don Alvarado, who takes her to see a bullfight. The matadoe is El Grandos, who, in his mid-thirties, is past his prime. He gets in trouble and his mentor, the lame Manolo El Viejo, retired after a career-ending injury, rushes to his rescue. Before he gets the chance, however, a young man named Paco, just at the beginning of his bullfighting career, rushes from the stands and saves El Grandos. Neither El Grandos nor Manolo appreciate it, however.
The next day, El Grandos picks the next bull he will fight (El Diablo) and its back-up (El Aguila) from Don Alvarado's ranch. They stay overnight. That night, Barbara sees someone sneaking around and quickly changes to Batgirl. She is knocked unconscious, however, and the next day El Diablo is found killed with El Grandos' sword.
#409 - "Night of the Sharp Horns" - Later that day, Barbara notices one of Don Alvarado's swords missing from a wall display. That night, suspecting that El Aguila will be the next target, Batgirl keeps watch. Sure enough, someone tries to fight the bull. It is Paco, although he denies killing El Diablo. Paco gets away, then suddenly someone appears riding El Aguila in an effort to trample Batgirl. she trips up the bull and its rider is revealed to be (can you guess?)... Manolo. Manolo believes that El Grandos is slowing down and so contrived to save his life by killing the bulls. El Grandos agrees to retire, leaving room for Paco to establish his own reputation.
There are a lot of holes in this plot, including the fact that no one can figure out who the red-hedded Batgirl is even though there is a red-headed librarian guest in the house.
#410 - "Battle of the Three M's" - The titular "three M's" stand for (of copurse) mini, midi and maxi. The drama begins when Mamie Acheson, "the world's best-dressed woman" (who today would be called an "influencer") breaks her leg skiing before making the pronouncement the world is waiting on,. Fashion designer Rigby sends his man Milt to anticipate which style Mamie might choose, by hook or by crook. First he tries to snag two books returned to the Gotham Library by Jules Thayer, Acheson's personal couturier designer, before they are properly checked back in, bringing himself to Barbara Gordon's attention.
Next, Milt tries to spy on Thayer, but Batgirl is staking him out and runs him off. Milt's boss, Rigby, owes money to a loan shark called Serpy, and must find out the new fashion trend or be killed. Batgirl breaks in but is caught and put in a deathtrap: she is strpped to a machine designed to cut dress templates from patterns.
#411 - "Cut... and Run" - Batgirl manages to free herself, just before Milt comes back to free her himself. (He may be a crook, but he's not a murderer.) Batgirl contacts Mamie, but she doesn't believe her. She is in wheelchair-bound and wearing a cast due to her broken leg. When she goes on a cruise, Batgirl follows. Good thing, too, as two of Serpy's men throw her overboard, wheelchair and all. Batgirl saves her, and when Mamie unveils the new line, it is neither min, midi or maxi, but a Batgirl-style leotard.
#412 - "The Head-Splitters" - A socialite divorcée wakes up with a splitting headache and "her head cracked like an eggshell... as if her head had been squeezed in some enormous vice!" Discussing the case with his daughter, Commissioner Gordon mentions that the victim "doted on wigs," and BAM! just like that the "mystery plot" is revealed on the first panel of page two. Barbara incorrectly concludes, "That's strictly a no-clue, dad! What now-gal doesn't dig wigs? Even I have been tempted." Commissioner Gordon decides on the spot to give her a wig for her upcoming birthday, and instructs her to buy "a real glamorous one--the tops!" for herself and he will pay for it.
Barbara goes to the Crowning Glory wig salon, the "favorite of the socialite wig-set," and orders a custom-made wig from Vazly and his partner Wanda. Tina Lansbury is also there at the same time, and both women order identical wigs. Lansbury is a recent divorcée and is on the social register, whaile Barbara Gordon is "nowhere." Vazly himself makes Lansbury's wig, while Wanda makes Barbara's. But it is only Lansbury's which has "the special mesh-foundation cap." In order to demonstrate which is which, Wanda places Lansbury's wig on a wig stand, activates it, and the wig crushes it. That night, however, the cleaning woman switches the two wigs.
The next day, Barbara recieves the one intended for Lansbury. It comes with the following special instructions: "To insure proper fit for your Crowning Glory, please sleep in it the first night! Should any problem arise... phone at any hour! Yours for eternay beauty... Vazly." In the middle of the night, the wig begins crushing Barbara's skull. She calls Vazly and he, thinking it is Lansbury, demands $100,000 (which the first victim refused to pay). Barbara doesn't have $100,000, but she scrapes together as much as she can and sets off to pay it. When Vazly and Wanda see Barbara getting out of the car, they realize the wigs were switched. (By this time they know that she is the daughter of the police commissioner.) When Barbara enters the shop, Vazly and Wanda play dumb and try to convince her that it's all a dream. Wanda makes some adjustments and sends her on her way.
Little does she know, however, that Vazly and Wanda plan to kill her anyway, to keep her from telling her dad. (Apparently their plan for all the other extortions was that the victims would be too scared to tell.) After they give her time to get sufficiently far away, they activate the wig. Suddenly, Batgirl comes crashing through the wondow with the killer wig in her hand! (On her way out of the shop, Barbara spotted the crushed wig stand and realized the plot.) She drops the wig and floors Vazly with a right cross, but Wanda puts the wig on her head and activates it!
#413 - "Squeeze-Play" - But Batgirl had already deactivated the wig so she was in no danger... of having her head crushed, anyway. Batgirl beats up on Vazly some more, but Wanda gets away. Batgirl sees two empty wig stands on the shelf: one with her name on it and one for a "Mrs. Elliot." Both stands have codes written beneath the names. Hers is "32-F-76." Those are not her measurements, obviously, nor her phone number, but her address is 21 East 65th Street. The code on Mrs. Williams' wig stand is "291-6-BW," so Batgirl immediately knows where to find Wanda. ["You do too, reader--if you've unlocked the code-key as quickly as Batgirl!"]
Batgirl arrives at the ex-Mrs. Sanders-Elliot's apartment and catches Wanda in the act of extorting money from her. Wanda has already gotten all of the cash Mrs. Elliot had onhand and released her from the wig, warning, "Remember--I retain the power to re-activate your splitting headache--whenever or wherever I choose! Wig--or no wig!" I'm not quite sure how that would work (perhaps she was bluffing), but apparently it wouldn't have worked with the police commissionaer's daughter. They skuffle and Wanda tries to strangle Batgirl with the wig, but Batgirl gets the better of her. Later, when Barbara Gordon models her new wig for her father and Bruce Wayne, both of them prefer her natural red hair.
#414 - "Invitation to Murder" - Jason Bard buys theater tickets to celebrate the first anniverary of he and Barbara meeting. He asked for tickets for the second and was surprised he was able to get them because the show was reportedly sold out. When they get to the theater, they find it completely empty except for one other couple in one of the boxes. then, as the play begins, the barrel of a 30-30 Winchester carbine appears over his shoulder aiming at the couple in the box. He disrupts the shot and gets into a fight with the would-be assassin, giving Barbar the opportunity to switch to Batgirl. The shooter gets away, but is forced to leave his rifle behind.
The rifle bears a stamp: "Property of Mesa Productions." Jason recognizes the shooter's voice but can't quite place it. By this time, Batgirl has changed back to Barbara, and they go to check on the couple in the box. they are Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Tiz and Robbie Marlow, "Hollywood's royal couple," celebrating their second wedding anniversary. Jason and Barbara assume that the power couple bought out the house in order to be alone, but they didn't. They tickets were given to them as a gift from an anonymous admirer who apparently set the whole thing up. Jason then realizes that his tickets are for the seventh, not the second. (He had asked for the second, which was sold out, but the ticket-seller heard the "seventh" which explains how they were able to get into a sold-out show... sort of. This explanation also relies on the ticket-taker not realizing they had tickets for another performance when the arrived.
#415 - "Death Shares the Spotlight" - Barbara leaves, supposedly to call the police, but actually she calls the auction house which handled the props when Mesa Productions went bankrupt in an effort to trace the would-be murder weapon. She learns that a lot of a hundred such rifles was sold to "Billy Baily's Shoot-'Em-Up Rodeo" right there in Gotham. she heads directly to the Gotham Arena where the rodeo is putting on a show, still without calling the police like she's supposed to be doing. Her plan is to find someone with powder burns on his hands, which would indicate he was the would-be killer. Unfortunately, the rodeo is staging an Indian attack against a wagon train and all of the performers have powder burns. Meanwhile, Jason Bard finally realizes who the shooter is based on his voice.
Back at the rodeo, the star performer is introduced: Big Chuck Walla. Using a "mini-zoom lens," Batgirl spots powder burns on Walla's white gloves. He hasn't been in the show so far, so she knows he must be the killer. Suddenly, Walla himself notices the powder burns, becomes paranoid and leaves the show mid-performance to butn the gloves in the arena's incinerator. Batgirl arrives too late to stop him, but "cleverly" tricks him into confessing. She wasn't really all that clever, but Walla is all that stupid. I doubt whether the gloves would have been convincing evidence in a court of law, anyway, given that Walla was the lead star in a western show featuring gunplay.
Just then who should arrive but Jason Bard, "saving" Batgirl from being shot... even through she wasn't in any danger becuse Walla's gun was loaded with blannks. I have no idea where Marlows are at this point; probably back at the theater still waiting for the police Barbara never called to arrive. Anyway, Tiz and Chuck were once secretly engaged, but she broke it to marry Marlow. And that, boys and girls, is motive. Jason then tells Batgirl he has to go find his date.
#416 - "The Deadly Go-Between" - Plainclothes detective and close personal friend of James Gordon Jim McClean has been killed, and the police commissioner vows to bring the killer to justice. He receives a phone call, at home, from someone claiming to be Batgirl claiming to have information concerning the murder, but Barbara overhears and follows him to the redezvous. A woman named "Jilly" is masquerading as Batgirl, but before the real Batgirl can confront her, she is accosted from behind by Jilly's two compatriots. She dispatches her assailants easily enough, but not before her father has driven off with "Batgirl." But the real Batgirl has a tracking device planted in her father's car and is able to follow.
Batgirl/Jilly takes Gordon to the headquarters of the militant group the "Ice-Men" in order to frame the group's leader, Zed Kurtz. Jilly and her friends have already planted the murder weapon and the dead detective's badge in the glove compartment of Kurtz's car. Kurtz is innocent of the murder, but he's still a pretty rough character. When there meeting breaks up, he and two of his lieutenents, who "start shooting at the 'smell' of a cop," leave through the rear entrance where they are sure encounter Gordon.
#417 - "A Bullet for Gordon" - A gun battle ensues, and Batgirl swings into action, knocking her father out of the way of a hail of bullets but also calling him "Dad" in the heat of the moment. after subduing the Ice-man, she captures Jilly, then takes her place when Jilly's friends come to pick her up. She is taken to a gangster's hideout where she continues her masquerade until she learns that "Rods" killed McClean impulsively, then took his badge thinking that he wouldn't be identified as a plainclothes man without it (Rods is not too bright), forcing his boss to concoct the scheme to frame Zed Kurtz. Gordon has followed Batgirl and is instrumental in cleaning up the gang. He doesn't say anything about Batgirl being his daughter, so she assumes that he didn't hear her blurt out "Dad" in the alleyway. A thought balloon, however, reveals otherwise.
This is a significant story in that Commissioner Gordon now knows that his daughter is Batgirl.
#418 - "The Kingpin is Dead" - This plot is loosely ("very loosely," as they say) on The Godfather (Coppola's, not Puzo's). The story begins at the Gotham Premiere of The Stepfather (starring Marlow somebody). In attendance (in addition to Commissioner Gordon, Barbara, and Jason Bard) are Floyd Marcus (reputed basis for "The Stepfather") and Larry "The Blimp" Cooper, his body guard. A 1920s roadster speeds by and sprays a hail of bullets, but it's only a publicity stunt. Then another such car speeds by, killing Marcus. Cooper returns fire but misses. In the flash of gunfire, however, the killer's face was clearly illuminated: that of Mike Marcus, the murdered man's actual stepson. Plus, it is well-known that Mike Marcus collects vintage cars.
Batgirl speeds to the Marcus estate and notices a car missing from the garage. Not long after, a moving van pulls up and the murder vehicle is unloaded. From inside emerge three men, one of whom is Mike Marcus, who tells the others to take a long trip, but assuring them a good spot in the new Mike Marcus "Family" when the heat's off. Suddenly, Batgirl realizes, "Oh, my gosh! I was wrong! Mike Marcus did NOT kill his stepfather!"
"All the clues to this startling revelation have been right in front of Batgirl's eyes all along," narrates Frank Robbins, "as well as yours! See if you can dope it out before: 'Long Live the Kingpin!'" (Don't bother, though... there's no way in a million years even someone who read the story would ever be able to figure it out on his own.)
#419 - "Long Live the Kingpin" - Batgirl left wet footprints leading into the garage, alerting the gansters to her presence. A fight ensures. One of the men's gun jams, but he knocks Batgirl out with the butt. Shortly, the police and Jason Bard arrive. Using a megaphone, they call for Mike Marcus to give himself up. He appears in the upstairs bedroom window, disheveled and wearing a bathrobe, apparently arroused from sleep. He claims not to know that his stepfather has been murdered. Then Larry "The Blimp" Cooper arrives and attempts to kill Mike for killing Floyd, but Batgirl stops him. the she spills all she knows. the whiole scheme was set-up by Cooper to frame Mike for the murder so that Cooper would inherit the crime family. Back at the theater, Cooper fired blanks at the real killer, a Mike Marcus lookalike. What clued Batgirl in was that, in the glare of the machinegun fire which illuminated the lookalike's face, she didn't see any reflection front his glasses, meaning that they were lensless. the story ends with Commissioner Gordon wondering when or if his daughter will ever take her into her confidence about being Batgirl.
#420 - "Target for Mañana" - The story begins with some action, as Batgirl and Jason Bard team up (as they have been doing with increasing frequency) to take out some small-time drug pushers. (Jason has even taken to calling her "Bee-Gee," an affectation I could do without.) Not-so-coincidentally, Barbara Gordon is set to accompany her father to Mexico City so that he can confab with local police commissioner Garcia da Vega. The men palm Barbara off on da Vega's son, Carlos, to show her the sights and to keep her entertained. Among other places, he takes her to the Fronton de Mexico to watch a jai alai match. While there he speaks briefly to "Odds" Lanyon, an expatriate American gambler.
After their date, they swing by the narcotics control conference to take the fatigued Commissioner Gordon back to his hotel. On a deserted stretch of road, they are cut off from in front and behind by two cars. Gordon pushes Barbara into a steep arroyo, but then is himself knocked unconscious.
#421 - "Up Against Three Walls" - By the time Barbara makes it back to the top, her father and Carlos have been kidnapped. She also finds a note written to de Vega (now he's police chief) which says: "We hold your son and gringo Police Commissioner Gordon as hostages. Call off your harassments or they die! (signed) The Mob," but it is Batgirl who delivers it to the conference, still in progress. Suddenly the phone rings, and a voice demands an addition 12½ million pesos for de Vega and Gordon's safe return. Batgirl suggests that she be allowed to deliver it, and ded Vega agrees.
The rendevous is the Fronton de Mexico, where Carlos took Barbara to see a jai alai match earlier that same day. To Batgirl's surprise, it is Carlos de Vega who shows up to collect the ransom money. It is then she realizes that the "ransom" is actually to pay off Carlos' gambkling debts to Odds Lanyon. But the gamblers betray him and they both soon find themselves in the center of the jai alai court, the target of lethal jai alai balls. then Batgirl tosses a hand grenade (!) which the crooked players pass around like a hot potato... until she tells them it's a "dud." By that time, Batgirl has subdued them and later turns Carlos over to his father, while her father drops a hint that he knows she's Batgirl.
#422 - "The Unmasking of Batgirl" - Continuity implant Gregg Wilson shows up on Barbara Gordon's doorstep. She knew him in high school (10 years ago), but Batgirl sent him to prison two years ago. After that, Barbara became his parole sponsor. But he is far from reformed. The first thing he does is to lift the magnetic keycard that opens the room in the Gotham Library where precious manuscripts are stored. Commissioner Gordon has been nominated for Congress by the "Fusion Faction." That night at dinner, Barbara suggests that her father give Wilson a job, and he agrees. Later, Barbabra realizes that the keycard she is carrying is a fake, and heads off for the library where she finds Gregg and two others looting it of a Poe manuscripts worth 3Gs.
She is so disillusioned by the whole situation that she reveals her identity to her father and expresses her desire to run for Congress in his place.
#423 - "Candidate for Danger" - She runs on a platform of "booting the rascals out of office and gets a new nickname, despite the fact she already has a perfectly fine one she's been using all alone. So instread of running as "Barbara 'Babs' Gordon," she becomes "Babs 'Boots' Gordon" (although it's inconsistant: sometimes it's "The Boot" and sometimes simply "Boot"). Tab Higgins, her campaign manager, has managed to raise 14K, $1000 short of their goal. When one of her volunteers, Mitch, is pistol-whipped, she discovers that her campaign headquarters has been robbed, and the thief left a trail of face powder (from a broken compact mirror). Tab is very quick to point out that his boots have no powder on them, but Batgirls accuses him anyway.
"What clue to Tab's guilt was right under Batgirl's nose... and yours... ever since we met him?" story writer Frank Robbins wants to know. This is another example of "evidence" that would never hold up in court if the perp would just keep his cool, but of course they never do. She accused Tab solely on the basis that Mitch was hit on the right side of his face and Tab is left-handed.
#424 - "Batgirl's Last Case" - The political machine does its best to prevent "Boots" from winning the election, primarily by intimidation. At one point they try to lure Jason away by pretending to be Batgirl, but Barbara is there when the call comes through and follows him. On his way out the door, he bumps into a TV cameraman on his way in. Something about him seems familiar to Jason, but he can't quite put his finger on what it is. When the criminals try to kill him, Batgirl is there to help him fight them off. Suddenly, Jason realizes that the "cameraman" had the same voice as the phonecall that lured him here. (Rookie mistake.) It is all Batgirl can do to beat Jason back to campaign headquarters, where he disables a bomd set to explode when the microphonewas activated.
Barbara wins the election and moves into a new phase of her career, but actually this seems to be DC's way of ending the series... for the time being, anyway.
Between her semi-regular back-up series in Detective Comics and her next regular co-feature in Batman Family, Batgirl guest-starred a couple of times in Superman.
SUPERMAN #268:
I never had this comic as a kid; I bought it for the first time last week. As Batman is helping store a trophy, the Golden Eye of Effron the Sorcerer, in the Fortress of Solitude, he insists that Clark Kent call Barbara Gordon for a blind date next week when he's in Washington, D.C. He reluctantly agrees and ends up escorting Babs to a reception for the Emperor of Ethiopia at the White House. While there, he ends up letting some top secret information about the solar disintigrator project her learned about as superman slip to Senator Robert Cleary. Next thing Clark knows, he is being abducted by the spy ring Maze.
Babs becomes Batgirl and tracks him down to Maze's secret HQ, and is surprised to find superman alreadu on the case. Superman manages to cover up his secret identity, then later realizes that it was the magical qualities of the Gold eye trophy that caused him to blurt out his knowledge of the cobalt triggering mechanism of the solar disintigrating project.
SUPERMAN #279:
I did have this comic as a kid, but it didn't survive "The Great DC Purge" when I "Made Mine Marvel"; I likewise bought it (again) last week. Batman is the "chief sponsor" of the Gotham Folk Festival and also acts as M.C. (which makes about as much sense as the President of the United States hosting the Kennedy Center Awards). But something comes up and he is forced to ask Superman to fill in for him. In attendance is Comgresswoman Baarbara Gordon. When Batman calls on Superman for assistance, Babs discovers evidence which leads her to believe that Clark Kent is Batman! Hijinks ensue. To cover his tracks, Clark concocts some bogus explanation about a TV special on costumed heroes... which he then is forced to follow up on and actually do.
The only thing I remembered from reading this story some 50+ years ago is Barbara's put-down of Steve Lombard: "My friends call me Babs... but you can call me... Congresswoman Gordon!" (as she judo-tosses him to the floor). Actually, there is one other thing I remembered from this issue: this is where I learned about the (now largely obsolete) "Three Mile Limit." (I knew I learned about t in a DC comic, but I couldn't remember which one; now I know.)
NOTE: Neither of these two comics is included in the the Bronze Age Batgirl omnibus.
Let's review...
BATMAN FAMILY #1 (October 1975):
I bought this one new off the stands in 1975 and I likely would have bought more, but I never even saw another single issue. Part of that is doubtless due to spotty circulation in those days, but also I was on the cusp of dropping all comics (for a period of 18 months, as it turned out), and when I returned, I collected Marvel primarily. Like Superman #279, this one did not survive "The Purge" either, but it is included in The Bronze Age Batgirl Omnibus v1. Batman Family was graced with many fine artists, including José Luis Garcia-Lopez, Pablo Marcos, José Delbo, Irv Novick , Bob Brown and the great Curt Swan, and the first issue was drawn by Mike Grell.
#1: The origin of the Batgirl/Robin team... vs. Benedict Arnold and the Devil. On a break from Hudson University, Dick Grayson serves as aide to Congresswoman Gordon. In this story, a traitor leads an attack against the Capitol spurred on by "the specter of all the pride and greed with which we've paid for the American spirit for two centuries!" In the end, Robin gives Bargirl a (condescending) kiss on the cheek, which Batgirl follows up with a full kiss on the mouth, just to shut him up.
#2: [Reprint: Detective Comics #369, "Batgirl Breaks Up the Dynamic Duo."]
#3: Film-maker, catoon director, novelist, magician and wealthy eccentric Major Montana has built "Magic Isle of 1,000 Thrills" off the coast of Provincetown in Cape Cod Bay. Batgirl and Robin learn each other's secret identities.
#4: In this Batgirl solo story, she protects reformed criminal Tad Wolfe from underworld assassin Diamond Lilly.
#5: Batgirl and Robin protect visiting dignitaries Princess Evalina and Alexei Brund (the famed "vagabond storyteller") from Mary Elizabeth "Skippy" Mulcahy (agent of Maze, the "vastly powerful spy-for-hire network") and her cohorts.
#6: Congresswoman Gordon travels to the Matituk Indian Reservation. "Coincidentally," Batgirl is performing at the annual Prairie Festival and Rodeo. The Abraxas Corp. wants the land for a copper mine and is making "campaign contributions" to various congressmen to influence their votes. ("Babs" returned hers.) Jack Lightfoot, her guide, has been accepting bribes and worling against his tribe's best interests. Batgirl uncovers the scheme and Congress allows the Indians retain possession of the land.
#7: The husband and wife team of Sportsmaster and Huntress (of Earth-1, first appearance) have found a precious ruby in an Aztec pyramid but they can't get to it because it's at the botom of a 60-foot deep shaft, so they kidnap Batgirl and leave clues for Robin to follow. Their plan is to pit them against each other in a series of contests culminating in the "dynamite duo" retrieving the gem for them. (Seems like there'd be an easier way to go about it, but whatever.) Batgirl and Robin outwit them using their own athletic prowess. Dick Grayson estimate s that Barbabra Gordon "[has] got to be seven years older" than he is.
#8: [Robin solo story.]
#9: Congresswoman Gordon flies to Hudson University to accept an award but is greeted by political unrest, in the form of being pelted with rotten eggs and tomatoes.Over the course of the next few hours, the events she attends are disrupted by the "Joker's daughter" dressed, in turn, as the "daughters" of the Scarcrow, the Riddler and the Penguin. During one of these encounters, she learns Robin's identity. When she threatens to expose him, Robin reveals that he knows she is really Duela Dent. Then she tells him her real motive was to get him to nominate her for membership in the Teen Titans.
#10: The Cavalier comes out of retirement and teams up with Killer Moth, Batgirl's first foe. The return of the Cavalier brings Batwoman out of retirement, and eventually she and Batgirl meet. The Cavalier and Killer Moth are using the same illusion-casting technology used by Major Montana on his "Magic Isle of 1,000 Thrills" to commit crimes. they learn each other's secret identities. Kathy Kane gives Babs Gordon permission to call herself "Batwoman" if she wishes, but she decides to remain Batgirl. Barbara Gordon is revealed to be 25 years old, BTW.
#11: An assassin tries to kill Robin but fails. Batgirl captures two Maze agents dealing in leaked government information. They try to kill her, but fail. Next, the Maze organization is hosting the wedding of Batgirl and Robin in Ford's Theater (of all places). The bride and groom are drugged, and the "wedding guests" are to open fire at the words "till death do yoiu part." the Dynamite Duo snap out of it and arrest all of Maze in one swell foop. Batgirl "breaks the fourth wall" in the epilogue and explains the whole thing was really an elaborate ruse to capture Maze.(The story itself doesn't really work, IMO.)
And that concludes The Bronze Age Batgirl Omnibus v1.
NEXT: The Bronze Age Batgirl Omnibus v2.
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