The comics universe is fluid. The comics universe has never been consistent, or big on continuity. Be it Marvel or DC, we can run into a million versions of alternate universe, time travel, youngling version, teen version, chibi, manga, or what-have-you forms of signature characters.
Thus, DC declaring a reboot of its universe is far less traumatic to me than say, White Wolf declaring they are rebooting the World of Darkness, or Wizards of the Coast rebooting the Forgotten Realms to mesh with their rebooted MMO-inspired Dungeons and Dragons.
(Incidentally, I'm not fond of either reboot. White Wolf's new World of Darkness at least opens up new possibilities, but the fluff in the old one was better. I have just blanked the latter out of existence in my world - reading about Khelben's death is about as far as I'm going in that timeline.)
I've never been that strong a comics fan to care one way or the other though. At most, I follow plotlines here and there. The odd Wolverine storyline, a few seminal Batman graphic novels said to be the most pivotal in comics history, is about it. I get the rest of my info from Wikipedia and a lot more fanfiction where storylines get to be a little more 'adult' than ever would be allowed commercially, Comics Code not withstanding.
But one character did catch my attention amidst all these cross-overs and leakage of comics-verse into popular culture. A character of our times and for my generation. One built less from the mind of one author, but from a collaboration of folks making lemonade out of a lemon. The Joker shoots Batgirl and cripples her. From that defining moment, Oracle is born.
I adore Oracle. She's the one female character in comics that has the greatest chance of being portrayed in a manner closer to realism, than hypersexuality. No skin-tight outfits, acrobatic stunts that end up with legs spread wide open, gratuitous exposed skin, or plastic boob jobs.
She still has her weaknesses, the wheelchair and her paralysis is a defining part of her character, if not the only part. She can still be a plot damsel in distress like most women in comics are, if necessary. But that's not the only aspect of her character.
Oracle is smart. She's a hero of the Infomation Age. She's a symbol of brains over brawn, of infomation and interconnectivity being just as important or even more so, than physical butt-kicking. That's so bloody rare in comics. The most mental activity you tend to see is telepaths doing the squint-eyed constipated push.
Barbara Gordon is also smoking hot. In a very real way. She has glasses as the Oracle. Somehow it makes her fucking hotter. She's depicted as a lot more real than the cardboard spandex-ed athletes that ape the men doing crimefighting. Part of that hotness is her strength of character, that derives from her origin. A setback, a disability that echoes the troubles real disabled people face in real life, but her strength of will and spirit finds a new way, a new purpose, to become a superhero. Again. That's a lot truer heroism than the original Batgirl, who was just a cheesy girly sidekick who talked back to Batman.
So it's little wonder that the Internet has responded with some frenzy at the thought that Barbara Gordon as Batgirl is being revived in the reboot.
I have to admit that I'm firmly camped on the Oracle side of things. Batgirl has always been Batgirl. Cheesy. Immature. Hee hee hee. Girls just wanna have fun. Wheeee. That sort of portrayal. Oracle is the more mature, wiser woman who can still kick your ass and take your breath away.
Now I wouldn't mind if the new reality has her as Batgirl on the internet, or as an android or something. That would be a decent excuse to show her delighting in some virtual physicality, but still have her wind back down to reality of disability at the end of the day. Because miracle healing is a really cheap way out of things. It's saying that characters can't be compelling unless they can move on two legs. Or maybe that the franchise wants to sell a Batgirl movie but Hollywood doesn't want to cast an actress that sits on a wheelchair for all of the film. It totally dilutes what makes Oracle Oracle though.
Here's a bunch of people with lots more vested into the comics universe explaining it a lot better than I can. Jill Pantozzi. Debi H. Linton. And this tumblr thing is just fan service.
I guess we'll know come September. I wonder what DCUO or Batman: Arkham Asylum/City game franchises will do.
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