Enough already! I know that "The Dark Knight" rocks and is kicking the crud outta every movie around, so much so that it's been sold-out pretty constantly here in NYC (or at least, while I'm not at work it's sold out), so I thought to pay a little tribute to Batgirl in the form of...a pathfinder! (And, it's a great tribute because the original Barbara Gordon was a librarian before she was Batgirl and is pretty much a web librarian now as Oracle.)
Those of you non-librarian types out there might not remember what a pathfinder is, but it's merely a list of resources to help students begin their research. But, this one is for fun and I'm going to try to whip-it-out in 45 mins (or less, depending on if any students come to the needing my help).
Character Origins:
Although DC Universe does NOT have a separate listing for Batgirl under their "Heroes & Villains" sections, they do have a listing for "The Birds of Prey" so I'm guessing that's about as close as it gets. Therefore, I'll give you a pretty general overview of the history of the character in a paragraph or less.
She was introduced in 1961 as "The Bat-Girl" and was created by Batman's original creator, Bob Kane. I haven't read any of books with this version of her in them, so I cannot really comment on this version of the character at'tall. I can, however, say that I've read many books with the Barbara Gordon Batgirl character (Comish Gordon's daughter, named after her mutha) (1966-1988) and quite enjoyed them. I read "The Killing Joke" (1988) in the day (need to read again, been on the hunt) when Batgirl gets shot and paralyzed by The Joker and then becomes Oracle (see: The Birds of Prey for continuation of the Oracle character). Then, our favorite bat-girl Huntress takes over for Batgirl in 1999, only for a couple books (I cannot recall how many). Then she becomes The Huntress and has her own books (short story arcs), shows-up in Batman and is currently a regular on The Birds of Prey. My all-time fave is Cassandra Cain, the product of assassin David Cain's loins, therefore complicated, tortured (like all good Batman-related characters should be) and testy. She debuted in a Batman book in 1999 (wearing the previous incarnation's costume), and began her own series 2000-2006. And, now she's back with a six-issue miniseries that you MUST buy (cause I have the first one and it's grrreat).
The Batgirl Pathfinder, Draft One
Books:The DC Comics Encyclopedia (Hardcover)
by Michael Teitelbaum (Author), Scott Beatty (Author), Robert Greenburger (Author)
DC Comics Covergirls (Hardcover)
by Louise Simonson (Author)
The Essential Batman Encyclopedia by Robert Greenberger (Paperback - Jun 10, 2008)
The DC Comics Encyclopedia by DC Publishing
Batman: The Complete History by Les Daniels (Paperback - Jun 2004)
DC Comics : Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes by Les Daniels and President of DC Comics, Jenette Kahn (Hardcover - Oct 1995)
Batgirl: Year One (Batman) by Scott Beatty and Chuck Dixon (Paperback - Dec 1, 2003)
Batgirl Vol. 1: Silent Running (Paperback)
by Scott Peterson (Author), Kelley Puckett (Author), Damion Scott (Author)
Batgirl #1 by Peterson (Comic - 2000)
Web Sites:
Wikipedia: Batgirl (Normally I'm not that into Wikipedia, but for this kind of thing, it's good for external resources and the bibliography lists/foot notes)
Wikipedia: Cassandra Cain
Wikipedia: Barbara Gordon
Batgirl Was a Librarian (this is mostly about librarians, but there are a few bits about Batgirl PLUS it's a fun site and inspired me when I was getting my MLIS)
Okay, so I was trying to keep this post short and failed, but by linking to Wikipedia I basically gave you some of the web sites I've used without listing them all. Tips when searching: I think should you research Batgirl, it's easier if you use her names: Barbara Gordon, Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain and Betty Kane.
If anyone knows of any reputable Batgirl web sites, please send them to me and I'll add them asap.
Editors Note: The photo in this post is a painting by Alex Ross, he's unreal.
Not-so-subtle-note-of-encouragement: Read the Cassandra Cain series, they are probably all in trade paperback (bound volumes with multiple comics in one volume) by now. They are grrrreat!
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