DC Teases "The Death of Oracle"

At the DC Nation panel this morning DC released cover art from various projects, including "Dark Supergirl" returning in James Robinson's Justice League. The most intriguing to me though was of Batman standing over what appears to be the grave of Oracle. Described as a "game changer" by one of the panelists. There is also a Jim Lee piece of Batman strangling the Joker in mid air...I assume this is from the upcoming continuation of "Dark Knight: Boy Wonder" or whatever it has been retitled.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=28785

 

Maybe she won't die and the title means she'll return as Batgirl?

 

Who knows, if that happens they will have three Batgirl's running around with one Batwoman! I'm intrigued is all I know. The Batfamily stuff DC has planned for the next year and a half is exciting.

 

No exclamation point in the thread title? You're slipping, Admiral_Young...


I need to catch up on the last few issues of Batgirl I still haven't read yet, but it seemed like they were already setting up someone who could fill in for Oracle in a pinch, at least as far as Steph is concerned anyway...

 

Haha...

 

Who's Oracle?

 

Barbra Gordon? The first Batgirl who was crippled by the Joker in Alan Moore's famous "The Killing Joke" during his vendetta against Jim Gordon. Babs became a computer hacker and information broker called Oracle and also operates the Birds of Prey.

 

What's sad is "The Killing Joke" was supposed to be and Elseworlds, but someone in DC Editorial wasn't paying attention.

 

I was actually going to ask about that.

I was rereading it the other day and noticed the "Elseworlds" logo, and said:

Well, wait, if this is "Elseworlds," why is Babs in the chair?

 

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I always thought Babs was more interesting as Oracle than she was as Batgirl and I'd hate to see her go back to wearing the cape and cowl. Even if they cure her injury (which I think would be a bad idea BTW), I think they ought to keep her in the puppet-master/mentor role as that's where she really shines.

As for killing her outright...I'd say that smacks of running out of ideas and will only mean they'll have to bring her back sooner or later, because nobody stays dead.

Of course it's possible they're just "killing" the Oracle persona and either have Babs take on another pseudonym or finally retire. I'd rather they not do that either, but it beats most of the alternatives.

 

For some reason I don't think this is going to be a literal death. We have two Batmen, I don't see any reason why we can't have multiple Batgirls either

 

Killing her outright will allow DC to introduce Chloe Sullivan in a similar role.

 

Maybe that's what they're secretly planning. I already don't like the DC Chloe though.

 

No, it honestly wasn't intended as an imaginary story. (The Elseworlds branding wouldn't debut for another three years after The Killing Joke.) The Killing Joke was intended to go into continuity, but after crippling Barbara, no one had any idea what to do with her. John Ostrander and Kim Yale came up with an idea and made her, indisputably, more important to the DC Universe as Oracle than she ever was as Batgirl.

 

I can't see how any of this is correct, the first title to be published with an Elseworlds logo was 'Batman: Holy Terror' which came out in 1991 (Yes 'Gotham by Gaslight' came out first but it does not have the logo) 'The Killing Joke' was released in 1988.

I've never seen a house ad or a single printing with the Elseworlds logo on it nor any indication in interviews that this was suppose to occur anywhere but in the regular DCU. The idea that is it or was suppose to be an Elseworlds seems to be an urban myth.

 

If they were going to do that, they would have done it when they relaunced Batgirl a while ago.

Instead they use Spoiler as the new Batgirl. Which is a great series by the by.

 

Huh. Must've got some wires crossed there. I did read KJ about a month ago, and I read something that had an Elseworlds logo on it in the same timeframe--although I guess that isn't particularly noteworthy.

 

Batgirl really is a great series, isn't it? I loved the recent issue with Supergirl.

I'll be honest. I wasn't expecting to like Batgirl, but I was willing to give it a shot. Spoiler-to-Robin-to-Spoiler-to-Batgirl just didn't seem like any sort of sensible arc for Steph; I couldn't see her adopting yet another identity, and certainly not Batgirl, what with the baggage that identity has. But the series has surprised me. It's basically "Batman Beyond with breasts," and Steph has been compelling as Batgirl.

If I have any complaint with Batgirl, it's that she's written as being a little too inexperienced; she's been a costumed vigilante for at least five years at this point, she's trained alongside Batman for crying in the mud, so her "Oops" moments ring false.

I can't wait to see Dustin Nguyen's take on Batgirl in a few months.

 

I think they've actually writing her like while she has been fighting crime for several years she's not been fighting crime with a bat symbol across her chest. That takes someone with a certain level of responsibility and maturity and Steph is learning about that in her book. I think the Bruce Wayne Road Home one shot touches on my theory nicely.

 

Alan Moore has stated repeatedly that KJ was intended to be an Elseworlds in interviews. They may not have had the logo, but they have had the concept since the late '40s, calling them 'Imaginary Stories.'