The Problems with the Bat Family Part 2

Batgirl/Barbara Gordon: I almost wrote Oracle since that's still who I think of Barbara being. And honestly I think she was a better character when she was. Barbara has suffered from DC not knowing what to do with her. As Oracle she managed to do something even Dick struggled with at times and that was getting out of Batmans' shadow. She was someone EVERYONE in the DCU needed. Now she's just another crime fighter in Gotham that sometimes works with Batman. 

Now maybe I've missed some good stories, maybe there are good ones in her series. But whenever I see her show up she isn't written well. Sometimes Barbara is FAR too meek/sweet when she used to be a take command sort of person that would let her opinion be known. The other extreme is her being someone with major attitude problems even when the situation really doesn't call for it. There's also the take where she comes off incredibly dim for someone with such a high IQ. (Ex: In Heroes In Crisis she helps Harley Quinn just because they both were traumatized by Joker. She then knocks out Ted, takes down Boosters' forcefield and almost gets Booster killed.)

The most DC seems to do with her--from the point of view of someone that's not reading her current series--is have her go on series of dates with different guys. I've heard some rather depressing things about what DC is doing with her which is very sexist and uses her like some kind of fetish. It's hard for me to really argue against these claims.

I lost count of how many solicits I read that talk about who she might date now. The Arkham games had her with Tim, the Killing Joke movie had her hook up with Bruce, she's dated Dick and Luke in the comics. Everyone seems to want her. Is this why DC wanted her to be Batgirl again? Dating was never the big focus for either Cass or Steph in their series.

They had love interests but that wasn't important to the plot. I don't care about her love life, she's so different from her previous self that I find it very hard to even like her anymore. Most of the time I really can't stand her and don't want her to be with any character I like. And she used to be one of my favorite female characters. It's just so disheartening, more so when you consider Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown.

I always felt Cassandra was the best Batgirl, (*1) when she wore the mantle she was often an equal to Batman in a way no other Batgirl has been. Both Cass and Steph currently feel like their lacking since so much of their history is gone. Cassandra used to be adopted by Bruce, was about Jason's age (it's been speculated that she was slightly older) and had stronger bonds. Now she's what, 16 and barely around those she used to be close to? Steph is kind of part of the family but not really. All of that was thrown away to have Barbara return to the role as Batgirl.

The Robins can move on but Barbara can't. Since having the Robins assume another identity that's not so closely linked to Batman usually relates to them growing up to become their own people this is especially troublesome.

For a more obvious example of how much Barbara has lost just look at the upcoming Birds of Prey movie and comic. Despite creating the team she's no longer a part of it yet Harley Quinn is.

Red Robin/Tim Drake: I think DC has struggle with what to do with Tim for awhile. Even though the other Robins have some problems with their directions I think they all have a better defined idea of where they fit. Tim couldn't remain Robin once Damian took the role and while the Red Robin series had potential the direction ended with the reboot. No one had their history for awhile which limited what could be done.

Tim didn't get his own series, most of the DC writers didn't know what to do with him. A lot of ideas were also stopped by editorial. I don't really understand why Bendis had Tim briefly return to the Robin role but I do agree that he needs a name that doesn't have Robin in it. Drake however isn't a name that really makes sense given his surname.

Part of the problem with the Robins is how DC waters down their characters or hypes up their personalities to the extreme. Their usually boxed in with one character trait. Tim is smart, hence he's the smart one sometimes at the expense of the others. He's the best detective and now he creates robots, etc. In some cases we get a build up for a story (Tim being "dead"/kidnapped) and it just fizzles out. It's barely mentioned in other titles (though this is a problem in general with the current DC books) and it really doesn't feel like it amounted to much.

His team up with the his friends and bond with Jason is nice. I just don't see what's being done with either. The former will be dealt with in Young Justice and the latter is kind of being dropped. While I thought Tim and Jason making amends was a good development (thought admittedly I was waiting for more backstory for it) most writers used it for an excuse to dump them together in the background.

It wasn't always handled well (Robin War) and later on Tim seemed to just stop caring...I think? I didn't really understand why Tynion had Tim of all people question why Jason was in the bat cave with the family for Kates' trial (granted everyone else seemed far too giddy before that for such a serious topic.) Then Tim and others call Bruce when Jason shot Penguin...then they do nothing but still expect Jason to help them when they call?

I feel like Tim should be one of the most reliable members of the bat family. It's just so strange that despite so many writers favoring Tim he's constantly being pushed to the side.

*1 I know many get upset about this but note I didn't say best character. I just feel like Cass stood out more--in a positive way--when she was Batgirl. Barbara used to be tied with her on my favorite female character list with Steph just slightly behind.