WOMEN IN THE PANELS - Barbara Gordon
place discrimination based on gender. At the same time, women were campaigning on issues such as pay and educational opportunities. Barbara showed the comic book world the modern woman and the readers responded well on the whole. Some readers did write to DC requesting the previous version of “Bat-girl” (Betty Kane) rather than this new incarnation, however, DC wrote an open letter back explaining that “the days of helpless female superheroes were gone”.
Geek Syndicate
Kara Zor-El – the Supergirl of the time. This friendship was brought to a tragic and unfortunate end with Supergirl’s death in Crisis of Infinite Earths in 1985. Indeed, such was their friendship, that it was Barbara who delivered the eulogy of “her friend and confident”, in Issue 7 of that universe defining maxi-series. Though this friendship was effectively lost as Kara no longer existed in the DC Universe at this point, the reboot that Crisis of Infinite Earths caused paved the way for caused the foundations of the Barbara we see today.
Yvonne Craig - Batgirl, 1966
The Original Barbara
In 1966 to help revive Detective Comics and promote the third season of the Batman TV series, Barbara Gordon was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino under the watchful eye of DC Comics Editor Julius Schwartz. She first appeared in Detective Comics issue 359 where she made a big impact by helping foil a plan by Killer Moth to kidnap Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile in the television series, Barbara was brought to life by the beautiful Yvonne Craig. Dr. Barbara Gordon Ph. D. and her heroic alter-ego, Batgirl, was almost instantly popular to both television and comic audiences. The daughter of Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, Barbara was portrayed as an intelligent, daring woman with her own career. How couldn’t she be? The sixties saw the second wave of feminism with the United States government bringing in legislation to combat w ?&?FWFV7F?fR6??7233S?????c`??F?R?Wr??B??V?vW"?&&&&?&&&&6?R?WB?b7&?6?2?b??f???FRV'F?2v?F??Wr&6?7F?'??6?Rv2??r???v?&F??( ?2??V6RF?FVB'????v?V??W"&V?G2F?VB?F??2&&&&?Bw&?v?Wv?F?&F??&?V?B?W"?B6?R?BW6?VB?W'6V?bF?f???6?66????V&?W"F???W"VW'2?F??2?WB?W"6?'B'WB??r?FR?W"6??6W"vRF?F?R??V?r&?&???F?6?w&?6???v??6?v?V?B?VBF?&???6R&WGvVV?F?RGv??GW&??rF?R6??F?W2?B6WfV?F?W2?&&&&6??F??VVBF?v?&????w6?FR&F???B&?&??2vV??2????rV&?6W2???F?W"D2F?F?W2???6?VF??r??77VRv?W&R6?Rv?W2??&??BFFRv?F?7WW&???7WW&??3#3???7F?&W"?s2??GW&??r?W"V&?6W2??F?R7WW&??f???b6??727G&??rg&?V?G6??f?&?VB&WGvVV?&&&&?B??????&&&&?V?rW?W"6?v???&Fv?&?7V6??3?B6???gFW"6?Rv26??B?B&?6VB??F?R?????r???R'??????&R?F??26W6VB?VvR6??G&?fW'7?v?F?&VFW'2?B7&VF?'2&?F??WG&vVBB??rF??2F?RFW?7FVB?W"2?W7BF???W6VB'?F?R???W"F?6V?B???v?&F????6?R????V??R6rF??22FWf??WF????b&&&&g&??&V??r7G&??r???FWV?FV?Bv?????F????V??W"v??v2?W7@?#???