To whom it may concern at DC Comics,

I’ve been following Barbara Gordon for several years now. She was the main reason I started buying your comics, and I’ve picked up everything she’s been in. This is, I’m sad to say, going to stop. I may very well stop buying your comics altogether.

This is a direct result of putting Barbara in the Batgirl costume again. Not only is this a step back for her as a character, it’s a massively problematic move.

Barbara has chosen her own identity, independent of anyone else, inspired solely by her own struggles and triumphs. Struggles and triumphs that made her one of the most unique and powerful heroes in the DCU. She’s made a new life for herself, one that she’s happy with.

Barbara let her past go. She moved on. I fail to see why everyone else can’t as well. Particularly when refusing to do so erases one of the most prominent disabled characters in comics.

It’s rare that a disabled character gets to be a fully developed person, let alone a main player, let alone a super hero. As Oracle, Barbara is a precious rarity that many draw inspiration and comfort from. She’s one of the few times many people can see themselves in what they love.

Giving Barbara her mobility back says that you don’t care about that. About the chunk of your audience, and even those who barely know comics, who see Oracle as a role model.  

Perhaps you think you’re righting a wrong. The Killing Joke treated Barbara appallingly, there’s no question of that. The problem, however, isn’t that she was paralysed. The problem is that it was a brutal, exploitative event that was never about her at all. It was about a lack of respect and consideration for her as a character and a hero. It was about a lack of agency.

When John Ostrander and Kim Yale wrote Barbara, they gave us her point of view of what happened, and showed her dealing with the consequences. They gave her that respect and agency back. They made her a hero again.

What this move says, to me, is that the hero Oracle has been for twenty-one years doesn’t count.  That she needs to put on tights and kick faces to be properly heroic.

That only able-bodied people can be heroes.

Is that truly the message you want to send?

It’s not necessary. You have a Batgirl. Stephanie Brown finally gained the respect and stability she deserved, and she flourished with it. The Flood made the top sellers list. I’ve seen people converted through that book.

My very first DC trade was A Knight Alone, Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl, and I myself have converted people with that. Batgirl doesn’t need to be a redhead to sell books or gain new readers.

Not only are you taking Barbara’s unique, powerful position in the DCU away, you’re undermining her legacy, one of the only fully female legacies in comics. You’re saying that the Asian Batgirl and the poor Batgirl weren’t good enough, and erasing and dismissing them once again. Two characters who are vastly inspiring and compelling in their own right and deserve better.

Batgirl doesn’t need to be Barbara to be a beloved, prominent character. Barbara doesn’t need to be Batgirl to be a beloved, powerful hero.

Not even Barbara knew that at first, but she figured it out, and she forged her own path through the pain and grief. She emerged stronger than ever. To erase or undermine such a poignant journey is a shame. You’re losing something precious, and you’re losing me too.