Hi Gail. Do you feel that there has been a backlash against Barbara Gordon as Batgirl from fans of Stephanie & Cass? I keep reading all these supportive posts about Steph & Cass, but I am finding that a lot of Steph fans are falling into the trap of takin

Okay, sure, there’s been some backlash from Steph and Cass fans, for a lot of different reasons.

But, well, I don’t blame them at all. I haven’t sat and argued with them, because at the base of it, what most of them are saying is they want Cass and Steph back. I not only agree with that, I tried really hard to make that happen.

Everyone has a Batgirl they love, if they love Batgirl at all. Or they like more than one. I am in no position to tell people what version to love.  The truth is, the reason I turned down Misfit-as-Batgirl AND Steph-as-Batgirl when they were assigned to me is that I had become a massive Cass fan. Even loving Steph as much as I came to love her under BQM’s pen never totally took that sting away.

Honest to god, the early Cass Batgirl stuff and BQM’s Steph run were some of the best comics DC has published with female leads EVER. I don’t expect people to stop loving those characters because a new girl is in the suit. It’s understandable to be a little resentful. I don’t want to argue those readers out of it, it wouldn’t work and it’s obnoxious to try.

Every time a character takes a mantle, some readers, maybe a LOT of readers, will complain about the character who is now out in the cold. I can’t complain about people complaining, I have felt the exact same way myself. I feel that was NOW about some books.

But also, ‘backlash’ is kind of a tricky word, it makes it sound like a tidal wave or a conspiracy. It’s just opinion and opinion is always fine.

There are some hard facts that sometimes, people don’t want to face. The new Batgirl sells twice what the old one did, it gets tons of rave reviews, the hardback tpb collection made number four on the New York Times bestseller list, the highest position of any New52 book that month, it got a great review in the New York Times, Starburst, and lots of other well known non-comics media, it’s a very high volume digital seller, I am told.  You know, it’s a success by any standard that is meaningful, EXCEPT that some people might not care for it, whether because of Cass, or Steph, or the loss of Oracle…all those things are valid. I have no problem with anyone who won’t try it for those reasons. OR if it’s simply not to their taste.

But sometimes I see on Tumblr, in particular, people saying it’s unsuccessful or horribly reviewed, and that does seem a little bit of a stretch.

The main thing is, I get that Batgirl, like a lot of choices in the new52, are things that some readers really passionately object to, and I understand and sympathize. I wish those characters were back, too.

I don’t think it’s a ‘backlash,’ really. It’s just opinion, opinion is always fair game. I feel bad for readers who miss their pre-new52 favorites. I am an optimist, I hope they come back in some recognizable form.