Batgirl #19
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Daniel Sampere
DC Comics, $2.99, color, 20 pages
OK, this is what I'm talking about.
I love Gail Simone's work, and I was delighted when I learned she would be the writer on Batgirl (and again, when DC tried to remove her, and fans howled outrage). Not only is Simone a talented writer, but she clearly loves Barbara Gordon. Who better to write the series?
But I have to say that I wasn't quite as entertained initially as I thought I'd be. Batgirl was good, but not great -- certainly not as inventive, surprising and just plain twisted as Secret Six and other Simone work. Frankly, I was beginning to wonder if Simone liked Batgirl a little too much -- that she was reluctant to complicate Barbara Gordon's life, because Simone just wanted the character to be happy!
Well, I don't think that any more! This issue features a confrontation between the members of the Gordon family that smashes the status quo. Batgirl and Mom Gordon confront the psychopathic James Gordon Jr. in ways that cross bridges that can't be uncrossed. And then James Gordon Senior shows up and ...
Well, I honestly don't want to spoil any of it. You'll just have to take my word for it that this is a turning point for the series that promises much darker days ahead for Barbara. So maybe Simone does love Barbara Gordon a little too much. Don't you always hurt the ones you love?
Meanwhile, I don't mind spoiling one Big Reveal in this issue, that Barbara's roommate is transgender. I don't think I can spoil that, since it's been touted all over the media for weeks as "the first transgender comic-book character!"
Well, shrug. I mean, really, comics are lousy with characters who can switch genders, so the idea has been broached -- and somewhat explored -- before. And, heck, Simone herself has alread broken ground all over the place vis-a-vis gender roles (Ragdoll alone coves a lot of bases). And besides shapeshifters and sorcerors and whatnot, I think Science Police Officer Shvaugn Erin of the Legion of Super-Heroes could legitimately be called the first transgender character in comics, and that was years ago, so what's the big deal? I don't mean to minimize the prejudice transgender people face, or the problems they deal with in media representation, but when it comes to Simone's work in general and this issue of Batgirl in particular, it's probably the least surprising (or interesting) revelation in the book.
But, OK, Batgirl's roommate is transgender. Fine. Maybe now the character will be less of a cliche. Who knows, it might even make her interesting!
Replies
I've enjoyed the title and since I have no idea what the difference is between transgender and gay the room mate reveal doesn't affect me at all. I like the drama that Simone has put in with Barbara's brother.
There are those who feel that Barbara Gordon was way more relevant as Oracle than Batgirl and Babs as Batgirl never had to carry a series. So if the roommate and the psychotic brother are the most interesting part of the book, well....
Yes, that was spoiled; it may have been touted over the media for weeks, but I get my comics news from here.
No worries; now I've got to see the rest of it. I don't believe there's ever been a story with all four Gordons together in the same place.
A transgender person is a gay person who undergoes hormone treatments and ultimately surgery to change from one sex to the other.
Mark S. Ogilvie said:
I dunno if I would even call a transgender person gay. Gay people are generally happy with the sex they are; they are just attracted to other people of the same sex. Transgender people identify as the opposite sex, as if a genetic mistake occurred at birth and they were assigned the wrong body. So they use modern medicine to change sex.
For some reason that's a puzzling concept to me. A transgendered person just doesn't like the sex he/she was born into? That's it? Perhaps I'm being dense but I don't see how thats a serious problem. I don't like my body all of the time either, but I'm stuck with it.