When improvement isn't or how DC hurt Batgirl by trying to save her

It's been nearly a year since DC's Batgirl last made headlines. Last March, there was a large uproar about a variant cover featuring Batgirl and the Joker, which referenced The Killing Joke.

 

On social media, the outrage machine flared up almost as soon as the cover was released. Some claimed that the image invoked sexual violence against women (saying that it can be inferred that the Joker raped Barbara in the Killing Joke, or at the very least the fact that he still took photos of her after she'd been shot was violation enough). Others objected to the fact that the image reduced Barbara to a cowering damsel in distress.

Still others objected to the image on the basis that, even as a variant, it was inappropriate for a book aimed at younger readers. The first two objections aside (I'm not looking to debate either of those points here), it was this third objection that stood out. Batgirl had made waves a few months prior with a major reboot, giving the character a new costume, new local, drastically altered personality, and a new style in art and writing.

Social media embraced the new outfit before the book premiered. Articles championed the changes as appealing to less traditional comic book readers, and specifically appealing to younger female readers. Writer Cameron Stewart proclaimed on social media that he hadn't heard a single valid criticism about his new take on the character. Outside the comic book readership, the world seemed to welcome this new Batgirl with open arms.

But among comic book readers, it wasn't quite the same reception.

Selling things that don't exist

     In the early 20th century, there was a con man named George C. Parker who specialized in selling New York landmarks to gullible tourists. He sold Madison Square Garden, Grants Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty. He apparently sold the Brooklyn Bridge numerous times, and lead to that particular con becoming famous. Parker, of course, never had a bridge to sell, nor did he have the Statue of Liberty, but people saw something that they liked and decided they'd be fools to pass up buying something so amazing.

     We look back at those people and we wonder how they could have been so gullible, but we still make those mistakes today. People have bought blocks of wood in parking lots because it looked, on a quick glance, to be an iPad at a price that was too good to be true. The stories pop up in the news a few times a year, and we laugh at someones foolishness. But we all make this mistake to a lesser degree all the time. Sure, we're not buying landmarks or wooden iPads, but we still buy things that turn out to be a bit of a fraud all the time. Why, you ask? Because the entertainment industry sells them to us.

Let me start with a small example:

 

This is the cover to Nightwing issue #29, released this past March. Looking at this cover, we see Nightwing surrounded by his foes. In fact, this cover features almost every, if not every, antagonist that Nightwing has faced since this series launched under the New 52 banner in 2011.  You've got the Joker, the Trickster, Saiko, Tony Zucco and many others. The cover also exclaims "Ambushed!". 

This cover is clearly selling us a thrilling issue of Nightwing in which all of the adversaries he's faced to date team up and attack him. This sort of ambush isn't new. The dogpile of villains is something that happens to every hero now and again, and it's a great thing to show how on top of their game the hero is. Batman #1 of the New 52 started with Batman in a similar situation. 

I would buy this issue, and I'm pretty sure you would too.

But guess what? This cover has absolutely nothing do with this issue.