Batgirl & Her Gay Audience

Why do gay men love Batgirl?

"I think the slightly superficial and silly reason for her big gay fanbase might be that she's glamorous, bigger than life. She had a yellow purse she went crime-fighting with in the early days, I kid you not," jokes Gail Simone, writer of DC comic's new Batgirl series. Then, she adds, "But the deeper answer has always been, I think, that she represents some qualities that people all over the gender/sexuality scales want in their own lives—she's caring, and tolerant, and fierce, and loving, and stylish, and she never apologizes for being who she is. We either want to be that, or have that in a friend or partner, or both. The whole mask/closet metaphor is active as well, as many queer writers have discussed."

It's that kind character depth that has made Barbara Gordon / Batgirl one of the top female super heroes in existence, and Simone is the woman who helped placed her there. That's the impression one gets after reading her interview with Jase Peeples on The Advocate, who spoke with the popular writer about her new take on this classic hero.

Originally launched in 1966, Barbara Gordon was the “new” Batgirl, replacing a less popular version of the character. As Commissioner Gordon's daughter she was really kick-ass, held a more integral role in the "Batman family," and after being added to Adam West’s Batman television series she became a household name. Then in the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke, Batman's top villain The Joker shot Barbara, leaving her paralyzed. Barbara was soon reinvented as Oracle, which Peeples describes as "the wheelchair-bound tech genius and information broker to all the superheroes of the DC Universe. Now more popular than ever, Barbara/Oracle became the leader of the Birds of Prey, a team of female superheroes, and their self-titled comic became a fan-favorite when writer Gail Simone took over."

When publisher DC Comics decided to re-launch their universe and characters last year (with lots of gay inclusion) they decided to give Batgirl a solo series with Barbara back behind the mask. And things have been going really well for the series thus far.

"Right now, after the relaunch, there are three solo female titles in the top fifteen books at DC," Simone says, referring to Batgirl, lesbian superhero book Batwoman, and longtime gay icon Wonder Woman. Simone sees this as being good for both women creators and LGBTQ audiences. "That would have been almost inconceivable twenty years ago. The positive thing right now is seeing more and more women who have extraordinary talent entering the field and developing their own fan bases. Artists like Nicola Scott, and writers like Marjorie Liu, we're being assigned top books. It's something previous female creators had to scratch and claw and bite to make happen. I want to see that continue until gender is no longer an issue."

While Simone sees her fellow female creators as being more sensitive to gay issues, she also says there are many "straight white guys who are dead on great with LGBTQ characters. A guy like Greg Rucka cares deeply about this stuff and it shows. It's hard for me to focus on the past, or even the present, with this. I'm always thinking of what we can do to make tomorrow better and more inclusive."

Find out about Barbara Gordon's full journey to becoming Batgirl, the comic's relaunch, what we can look forward to in 2012 for the series, and what kind of trouble lesbian Batwoman and young Batgirl could get into now that Barbara's 21— over on The Advocate.