Batgirl #19

Batgirl has been a terrible book from the very beginning. I have never been a fan of Gail Simone, and I feel she is a horrible writer of female characters. I know I'm in the minority when it comes to this, but I stand by my feelings. She does not write strong female characters, she writes female characters as bullies. Every character she writes seems to have the entire world against them, even if that isn't the case. It's tiresome.

My main problem with this issue is not the line that Simone has Batgirl cross, even though it is yet again the opposite of what Barbara Gordon's character has been for her entire career. I can overlook that inconsistency because that's become the norm with Simone's writing. No, the problem I have is the way Barbara's roommate, Alysia, was revealed to be transgendered.

Comics, when done correctly, have always been a place for people that are different to find a voice. Whether they are gay, straight, handicapped, white, black, religious preference, or whatever, you can find a character somewhere in some title that you can identify with. Batgirl was a perfect example of this when the Joker shot and paralyzed her. She became Oracle, and did not let her handicap slow her down for one second. In fact, she became an even more important character as Oracle than she ever did as Batgirl. Until Gail undid all that with this latest series during DC's New 52 relaunch.

I feel the way Babs' roommate's revelation was handled was a slap in the face. A mere four panels after hearing the news, Babs gets a call and leaves. No discussion of how Alysia has been dealing with things, no thank you for confiding in me, nothing other than a hug and "I gotta go." And that's the last it was even mentioned in the entire issue. It was like in issue #18 when she found out Robin had been killed. We basically saw Batgirl say "That's sad. Anyways..." Granted, last issue wasn't written by Gail Simone, so maybe all of these insensitive character acts have been mandated by the sloppy editor work that has plagued the DC offices the past couple of months. What I do know is, this "outing" just seemed like a publicity stunt. Yes, the story can be gotten into in more detail in the next issue or longer, but the way it was introduced was shameless. Nobody reading that could have any sympathy for Alysia or have any sort of connection. It was basically disregarded.

I've been wanting to drop Batgirl for a good while now, but I've toughened it out, hoping it'd be better. I thought the Death of the Family stuff would've been great, considering her history with the Joker. But they, like the entire event, were crap. I thought the aftermath of Robin's death would allow Barbara to show some concern for someone, but got a two panel blow off. Now this. A hug and a "See ya." Well, that's exactly what I'm saying to this book. WTF indeed, DC. But my F does not stand for "Fifty-Two."