Now Look Who's Walking

(Via)

Barbra Gordon: Once Batgirl, shot down by the Joker, was made to live the remainder of her days in a wheelchair as the Oracle, the ultimate computer hacker, and helper of many heroes within the DC Universe. And then the DC Universe was rebooted.

The news was confirmed Monday by Gail Simone, writer of DC's new Batgirl series and also the author most responsible for Barbara Gordon's activities in the last several years.

The Killing Joke, the Alan Moore comic where Barbra was shot, is one of my favorite stories and one of the most infamous comics of all time; it changed the way people looked at, read and wrote comics. It shook the entire DC universe and seeing it retconned will be weird. But I'm hopeful, and I hope the stories they can tell will top The Killing Joke.

Spoiler Alert:
They won't.

See after the cut for the first cover of the Batgirl series, and a few words from Gail Simone.

Batgirl #1

“Barbara Gordon is pretty much my everything. Because of the Batman TV show, she was the reason I fell in love with superheroes. Because she was a redhead who could kick ass, she is the reason I fell in love with comics. She was always forward-looking as Batgirl, a girl who was smarter than the male characters, who had class and elegance and style, as well as tough-as-nails grit. For a long time, there was simply nothing else like her in comics, and for me and a lot of other readers, her every appearance was joyful and explosive.

For many years, I got to write the character as Oracle, and there is to this day, no character who means more to me. This is classic Barbara as she was originally conceived, with a few big surprises. It’s a bit of a shock, to be sure, but we’re doing everything we can to be respectful to this character’s amazing legacy, while presenting something thrilling that a generation of comics readers will be experiencing for the first time…

…Barbara Gordon leaping, fighting, and swinging over Gotham. Now, when citizens of that city look up, they are going to see BATGIRL.

And that is absolutely thrilling.”
Gail Simone on the announcement of Batgirl #1.