Once a upon a time in the world of comics, a man named Fredric Wertham wrote a book called Seduction of the Innocent where he made accusations that the relationship between Robin and Batman was too gay. Mostly because the children that he spoke with that identified, though giving that it’s 50s science I’m going to take that with a grain of salt, as homosexual wanted to live like the two of them. Fellas, is it gay to want to live in extravagant wealth without financial worry? Also that they constantly saved one another, which I guess only women need to get saved. Fellas, is it gay to want to get saved?

To combat this, they created a Batwoman and Batgirl who were Kathy and Betty Kane respectively. They were to create a kind of Batman family like how Superman had his family of himself, Krypto, Lois Lane and Supergirl. They were unpopular and were dropped after only a few appearances. Batman comics started losing favor continually and then along came Batman ’66. It helped to revive Batman’s popularity but there was a problem in that they were still considered gay. Well, that shouldn’t be a problem? You had Batman flirting with Catwoman all the time. That shouldn’t be an issue! You had a beautiful woman portraying her, the wonderful Eartha Kitt. What could possibly go wrong…

Oh right… she’s a black woman. And if they can’t have gays on the TV in the sixties, you certainly couldn’t have an interracial relationship. What to do? Well, you follow Rule 63 and introduce the female version of a character. Thus, bursting from the twin foreheads of racism and homophobia comes Batgirl portrayed by the beautiful and racially acceptable Yvonne Craig.

Through her, Batgirl rose to heights of popularity where it was rumored she might be getting her own TV show at some point. They did something innovative with the character, which was having her be the daughter of commissioner Gordon. This twist was held over for when she was reintroduced in the comics along with her signature red hair.

Barbara Gordon would maintain the role for a long time until the dark ages of comics got her and she was crippled by the Joker. The years she spent as Oracle were important to the character as well. Since then through multiverse changing shenanigans she has reclaimed the title. Though I did like Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain in the role. Maybe one day I’ll sit down and talk about those two, especially the bullshit around Stephanie Brown’s death.

The thing I want to point out though is that sometimes a great character can come from anything. Including the nonsense that is homophobia and racism. While I might have had a kind of downer take on all of this, I think that it was worth it for Batgirl to be here.

She’s risen above giving Batman and Robin a case of the not gays and became a cornerstone of the franchise. When they made both Batman the animated series and The Batman, they included her as part of the core group. I can’t think of anyone who would not consider her in that role. Maybe I’m hanging out with the right comic book fans or the reality is that that’s where she deserves to be.