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Batgirls #3 features a scene that appears to homage an iconic moment from Batman: The Killing Joke, but reverses the misogyny of the original comic.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batgirls #3, now on sale from DC Comics.
Although Batman: The Killing Joke (by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, John Higgins and Richard Starkings) is one of the most critically-acclaimed Batman stories, the graphic novel has often been criticized for its handling of Barbara Gordon. In the story, the Joker shoots Barbara, paralyzing her from the waist down. He takes photos of her naked and bleeding and shows the pictures to her father, Commissioner Gordon, in an attempt to drive him insane.
This story has been criticized for the way it removes agency from Barbara and makes her the victim of severe violence to add to a male character’s angst, a pattern that is unfortunately common when it comes to the depiction of women in superhero comics. However, many DC comics published in the following decades have made attempts to address the problematic elements of this story and reinterpret it in ways that empower Barbara in the midst of her personal tragedy. Most recently, Batgirls #3 features a scene that seems to address this moment from Barbara’s past with a unique reversal.
In Batgirls #3 (by Michael Conrad, Becky Cloonan, Jorge Corona, Sarah Stern, Ivan Plascencia and Becca Carey), Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain are in hiding from the mysterious hacker Seer who is determined to ruin their lives and reputations as Batgirls. Toward the end of this issue, Barbara takes a phone call from a person she believes to be Nightwing. The caller reveals herself to be Seer using technology to disguise her voice. Seer hacks into Barbara’s computer system and displays graphic images of Nightwing brutally injured on the monitors. Although Barbara knows that these images are fabricated, she is still upset and disturbed by the sight.
This scene is in some ways very similar to the scene in Batman: The Killing Joke in which the Joker shows Commissioner Gordon disturbing photos of Barbara. Like the Joker with Commissioner Gordon, Seer is showing Barbara these images in order to antagonize her and make her feel helpless and afraid. However, the scene in Batgirls has some very significant differences from the one in Batman: The Killing Joke.
The most important and obvious difference is that in this issue, Barbara is not the brutalized victim, but rather the individual being antagonized by being shown these photos. Another relevant difference is that the photos depict a man rather than a woman, and they are being shown to a woman rather than a man. Also, in Batman: The Killing Joke, the images of Barbara were real photos that the Joker took, while in the Batgirls issue, the images of Nightwing are computer-generated fakes.
As a result of these differences, the scene in Batgirls is a much more feminist portrayal that shows respect to Barbara and gives her agency. Instead of simply being used as a prop to upset her father, she is a protagonist of the story and she has agency. Barbara has the ability to retaliate at Seer for invading her privacy – an option that was not available to her when the Joker shot her and left her paralyzed. Batgirls also refrains from gratuitous depictions of brutalized women, instead using images of a tortured Nightwing. These choices all allow the issue to homage an iconic scene from The Killing Joke without becoming guilty of the misogyny that taints the story.
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